George Perez, RIP

 The hits just keep on coming, though this one is not unexpected.  I had the thrill of meeting George when he still lived in Queens, NY, and he graciously did programs on How to Break into Comics at two library branches where I worked. The second of those times was when he had a broken arm and couldn't doodle while he talked. Older teens packed our meeting room both times and he patiently looked through portfolio after portfolio, offering tips and advice. Thanks for everything, George and rest in peace. You earned it.

Nick Cardy RIP

I'd barely read that Nick Cardy was dying when I saw the news last night that he had, in fact, died. Cardy's art, especially on Teen Titans, was a big part of my youth. The artists whose work brought to life my favorite characters during the '60s and '70s are slowly dying, which fills me with sadness as it reminds me of my mortality as well as theirs. At least, with them -- and the writers whose words they illustrated -- they will live on through their creative endeavors and achieve a level of immortality as long as those works exist in some form and not merely in memory. I thank Cardy, and all of them, for bringing so many comic book characters to life for me.

RIP Carmine Infantino

I was sad to hear the news that Carmine Infantino had died. When I was a kid, still learning how to differentiate the various comic book artists I liked, learning how to recognize different art styles, Infantino's art stood out. It was immediately recognizable, even when paired with someone else's pencils or inks. It had flair. And I loved it. The comics world has lost another of the great ones.

NYCC Artist Autographs

I could have gotten more, but I felt funny going up to artists whose work I'm not all that familiar with. And a few others, like George Perez, had lines and my legs were not happy about the idea of waiting on another line after Friday's 70 minutes to get the Aardman Batman, never mind that there were plenty of those left at DC Collectibles on Saturday and NO line! At least, I'd met George Perez years ago and got his autograph then.

The program guide didn't have blank pages for autographs, so I made do.

Autographs

Autographs

NYCC 2012 Day Three

Spent a few hours at the con hanging out with a friend in the dealers' room, and the rest of the time in Artists Alley, getting autographs in the program book (which had little room for signatures) and taking photos. Here are some highlights.

Matthew Clark

Ron Randall

Amy Reeder

Dustin Nguyen

Cliff Chiang

Stephane Roux

Aaron Lopresti

Tom Raney

Ramona Fradon

Jeffrey Catherine Jones, RIP

I was sad to read of Jeffrey Catherine Jones' death. I believe the first time I encountered her work was in the National Lampoon and on a couple of comic book covers. I know the non-powered Diana Prince era is not the favorite of most Wonder Woman fans, but I really loved the book back then because I loved the stories. Lots of intrigue and spy/suspense type stories, which I love and some fantasy in the form of guest appearances by  Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. And while the interior art was fairly average, there were some sweet covers. Two of them were by Jeff Jones, done in very different styles; one painting-like and the other very comic bookish. Never mind the bondage aspect. I have no trouble with heroes in peril if posed realistically, male or female, and I don't think anyone ever drew the female form as beautifully as Jeffrey Catherine Jones did. We've lost a great artist. And if you've never seen these covers, here they are.

NYCC Day 2

I got there a bit later today. It was absolutely gorgeous out. I don't recall seeing such a perfect blue sky like that before, so there I was, engaging in an indoor activity!

I met up with a friend who is more into toys than comics. She's very into rubber duckies and was dressed all in yellow, complete with a yellow wig, and was handing out rubber duckies, making her very popular with children of all ages.

I also met up for a while with a flickr contact -- our first face-2-face meeting -- which was nice. Later in the afternoon, I was on my own and ended up spending all my time for the day in Artists Alley. I had a lovely chat, again, with Jamal Igle (actually, we chatted a few times over the afternoon as I had to go back to tell him I was much reassured about Supergirl after my chat with Bernard Chang -- more on that in a bit). Jamal remembered my name (well, it was only since yesterday, but he must've met a lot of folks since then) which was very cool. He's so nice and accessible.

I did talk with Bernard Chang and explained my feelings about Supergirl. He had a book of uncolored pages from an upcoming Supergirl issue he drew and I must say, it looks great. He did say that if I have concerns about how he's doing, to let him know. The email link is on the site. If you like his work, show him support. He said he's signed for just a 5-issue arc, then things are up in the air re: a regular artist for the book.

Bernard Chang

I don't collect much art or autographs these days. That was a younger me, I guess. These days, I'm happy to mostly just chat with people whose work I admire. Art and autographs are like souvenirs to show you met someone. I now prefer to take pictures of them! :)

I did get to tell Ramona Fradon how much it meant to me when I was growing up to see a woman's name in the art credits and she was responsible for many hours of entertainment for me all those years ago. She was sweet and gracious.

Ramona Fradon

I also got to tell Adam Hughes (great URL!) how much I love his art and he nicely posed for a photo. I did have to ask him to smile. ;)

Adam Hughes

One autograph I did get was Cliff Chiang, mostly because I wanted to buy the lovely set of largish postcard-sized prints "Atomic Bombshells."

Cliff Chiang

Atomic Bombshells

I also had a wonderful chat with John Lustig of Last Kiss Comics, which uses old romance comic panels with new dialogue and/or captions for wonderfully satiric results. He told me he had a deal with Dark Horse to do a line of tie-in products, such as mugs and stickers (I'm working off memory here). They should be very cool. He was selling tee-shirts at his table, among other fun stuff. If you haven't seen Last Kiss Comics, do take a look.

John Lustig

Before I left, I checked to see if Amanda Conner was back at her table and she was! And there was a line! But I got on it and snapped a few pics while she did sketches for folks ahead of me, then a couple of pics with her and the toys I'd brought. She didn't remember meeting me before, but she did remember my stormtrooper when I pulled him out for her to pose with.

Amanda Conner Sketching Supergirl

Amanda with Biker Betty Boop Rubber Duck

Amanda Warmly Greets Steve, My Little Stormtrooper

I spent some time taking pictures of folks in cool costumes. I didn't pick up much today, because, well, when you hit middle-age, you start to realize you've accumulated a lot of crap, much more than you need, free or not. So, I'm a bit fussy these days re: what freebies I bring home.

I'll blog more about that later on. I'll be back at the con tomorrow to take more pics. You can view all my pics from the con on my flickr pages. They're at the end of the NYCC and Other Comics Events set.

RIP Dick Giordano

The news that Dick Giordano has died saddens me a great deal.

This is the start of a rough decade, I fear. I was born in the '50s and grew up in the '60s. The '60s and its icons shaped me nearly as much as my parents and teachers did. We got our TV in 1958 when I was five, two years before I started reading comics. So many of the actors and creators of my entertainment are now in their 70s and 80s and I fear we'll be losing a lot of them in the next ten years. The other day it was Robert Culp, who starred on the groundbreaking show "I Spy" with Bill Cosby in the mid-'60s, the first integrated TV show that co-starred a black actor. Culp was one of my all-time favorites. He was 79, just a few years younger than my father. The first link cited a fall as the cause; this report says he had a heart attack.

And now, Dick Giordano.

Dick Giordano was one of a few comic book artists whose work I could recognize immediately back when I was an adolescent, even when he was inking only. There were others, of course, but mostly, they were tied to a particular character in my mind. It took me years of careful comics reading to learn to distinguish who was drawing what and even then, I had to double check the story credits for most of them. But not with Dick Giordano, along with Carmine Infantino, Vince Colletta, and Joe Kubert.

There was just something about Dick Giordano's work and it wasn't long before I found the "tell." It was how he drew women. Not that they were always pretty though not sexualized, although that was true. And not the expressive eyes, though that was true, too. It was their lips. Somewhere, more than once, there would be a little circle or oval, usually on the bottom lip, to suggest moisture, perhaps. It was just one of those things that would jump out at me. With the other artists whose work I came to recognize easily, it was the overall body shapes or the way they drew their lines. But with Dick, it was those luscious lips that caught my eye first.

His inking made every artist he inked better. His solo art was functional for telling a story, clean, crisp, and attractive. The books he edited were clear and the stories cohesive. The characters were consistently written. His work epitomized DC for me. His name was attached to so much of what was good about DC.

End of NYCC

 

I think I mentioned that I don't do panels really, anymore, at cons, nor do I get autographs and sketches, as a rule. First, I won't pay for an autograph, and I can afford only so much for sketches, and I hate waiting on lines for that. But I do like to get at least one moment with a favorite artist, if I can. Last year, it was Amanda Conner who nicely posed with one of my little Star Wars Stormtrooper action figures. This year, it was Jamal Igle. 

He was very nice. We had a lovely chat about Supergirl. I explained my history with the character, growing up with Kara, boycotting DC for almost a decade after she was killed in Crisis, how happy I was to have her back, how frustrated I was with how she was depicted (the whole Super Slut period) and how I wanted to support the book and yet wanted the book changed to better reflect who she was (a teen girl!), which led to me telling him he saved Supergirl, because it isn't just the writing, but how normal and realistic she looks now. I bought the little booklet he had of his art and when I asked how much for him to do a quick headshot sketch of Kara inside, he said he'd do that gratis. He was super nice to do that, and I'm happy to add this to my collection.

RIP Marshall Rogers

According to The Beat, Marshall Rogers has died. Damn. At 57, he was way too young to leave us. I loved his art. And at a comicon in 1978, I got to meet him and got the above. He was an amazing talent who will be greatly missed.

RIP Bob Oksner

Bob Oksner died. Here's Mark Evanier's obit. I hadn't realized he was 90. Wow. I mostly knew his work from the '70s, specifically on Supergirl, inking Carmine Infantino. The above is from Supergirl 1.

While I'm at it, here Infantino and Oksner show off Kara's new costume in SG 13. Superman is underwhelmed. The best he can call it is "something." It happens to be probably my favorite SG costume, though I very much like the one above it, with the V-neck tunic. I just don't like the sleeves ont hat thing. The spandex sleeves are more flattering to Kara. And for anyone worried the skirt's too short, she's wearing tasteful blue panties underneath.

Gee, her adoptive dad hardly recognizes her in her new costume. Then again, he's a bit beefed up since his last artist, so I'm amazed she recognizes him.

Carmine Infantino had some wonderful inkers over the years, but Oksner over his pencils was a good fit for Supergirl. Bob Oskner was one of the good ones.

The Perks of My Job

First, it looks like I'll be going to the NY Comicon on the Friday, for the preview for profressionals, including librarians. For free. My library system sent out an email about it, which my bosses and I assumed meant we could go. So I registered. Yeeha!



Second, I offer this photo. Back in the '80s, when I was YA librarian, I discovered the Teen Titans APA (I was a Waitlister, meaning I got the mailings if I paid postage and could contribute, but I wasn't officially a member as membership was limited to 40 or so, so I was waiting for an opening), thanks to a then-friend I knew from fan fiction (for TV shows). She was also a member of the APA and a Wingnut and one of the real life folks who got drawn into the Donna Troy/Terry Long wedding issue as guests (she was the plump blonde, one of the women ogling Dick Grayson's butt, as I recall, if you have the issue).

She was visiting me from FL and she knew George Perez, who at the time, was living a few subway stops away from me. So she called him and got us invited over for a few hours one afternoon. While there, I got him to agree to do a library program for teens. He ended up doing two for me, for teens looking to break into the comic book industry. We had a great turnout, which was to be expected, both times, and he was as nice as could be. This photo is from the first of the two programs.