Can A Comic Creator Run A Comic Convention?

Okay — some time has passed since   I launched the Asbury Park Comicon. And at some point I’ll write more about what went into making it a reality. I could say it was a lot of work or it was hard, but there’s no way to measure that, and hard compared to what? We’d just come off of Hurricane Sandy — I think what the victims of the storm were going through was hard, what we went through was a challenge.

But with everything that life, nature, and city politics put in our way, we did reach May 30th, 2013 and the fans showed up. As did the talent. It was a glorious, if not frantic day. Friends from as far back as high school visited to wish me well (brought together through the magic of social media), as well as family, neighbors, old employees from my screen printing days, and the comics community.

We invited some great guests, some who’ve turned into friends. I especially had a great time with Ren & Stimpy co-creator Bob Camp and punk artist John Holmstom.
camp
At one point at dinner with them, I laughed so hard I though shrimp would shoot out of my nostrils.

j_holmst
Other than that, the day was a blur with interviews, autographs, a costume contest judged by my neighborhood celebs Bryan Johnson, Mike Zapcic and Ming Chen of AMC-TV’s Comic Book Men, and Brian O’Halloran of the film Clerk’s.
883298_367704980002661_1802148819_o

screen-shot-2013-09-01-at-21811-pm
Oh, yeah — and here’s MAD Magazine’s Al Jaffee a week after turning 95 with me on the Asbury Park boardwalk. When I originally invited him 6 months earlier, he said, “Cliff, I’ll be there if I’m still alive.” To which I replied, “Me too, Al.” And a month later I was hit by a car. So never kid about that shit.

.
And it was Judie’s birthday and someone made her a special gluten free cake!

I have a lot more to say about this event, with Allen Bellman, Danny Fingeroth, Herb Trimpe, Evan Dorkin Sarah Dyer, Jim Salicrup, and will ad to this soon.

Rat Bastard Speed Painting

A quick one one of Rat Bastard
A quick one one of Rat Bastard

That’s what they call it these days, right? A speed painting? A color study, a comp, a preliminary drawing or painting, an idea. This is done with Photoshop — no pencils, no paint, no paper or board. “No muss, no fuss” as the commercial used to say. There’s about seven layers in this Photoshop image, so the shadows are on one layer, the background is on another, etc. It’s sheer play.

Secret Soldier Vs. The Master Racer

soldier.png
In my animated project, (yet untitled) Flea Market Phil is an avid reader and collector of comics. So there’s a lot of discussion about the history and minutia of comics. That means I’m working on fictitious Golden Age comics. Heres my first one: The Secret Solder trying to catch the Master Racer, a super fast fascist, who was originally created to win the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the experiment went horribly wrong. The Master Racer was not permitted to represent the German team, because he talked too fast and too much.

A Few Good Men

As always, please click the image to enlarge

dave_dilbach.jpg

phil_flea.jpg

ben_sheet.jpg

andy.gif

Here’s the first model sheets — yeah, I know these aren’t “traditional” model sheets. That must be a big shock, because I’ve always been soooo traditional. Yeah, right.

In studying model sheets over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that everybody has their own take on format. But calm down, I will make some more instructive model sheets in the near future. These are really to get across who the character is in lieu of putting together a “bible” for the project.