The Glynn Art Association is having a public art retrospective honoring the work of the legendary Jack Davis, right there in his current hometown of St. Simons Island, Georgia. I learned about this via the Mark Schultz Facebook feed-- he's contributing a drawing and some prints, and there's involvement from Arnold Roth, Walt Simonson, Ella McBee Cart, Heidi Arhnold, Tracy Yardley, Brad Walker and many other talented artists.
Not only is Jack Davis one of the finest artists ever to grace the pages of a comic book-- or the cover of TV Guide, for that matter-- he also happens to be a warm and gracious human being who treated this particular fan much better than I deserved when I phone interviewed him for a class project way back in the mid-1990s. So check it out, please!
Showing posts with label Mark Schultz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark Schultz. Show all posts
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Xenozoic Tales coming back in a big way!
Literally. Next June (2013 for those counting the years), IDW will release Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales Artist's Edition, 144 pages printed at a whopping 14" x 20" size. It's their latest in a series that's seen big ol` versions of Walt Simonson's The Mighty Thor, Dave Stevens' The Rocketeer and others. You get to see blue lines and all that jazz, almost as if you were holding the original art in your hands. It should prove as instructive as it is aesthetically pleasing. As both an artist and an art junkie, I'm going to buy this book when it hits the streets, probably leaving a massive crater. Mark Schultz is just amazing. I've already read these stories dozens of times each, but I never get tired of looking at his pages. If you can get the regular comics or one of the many reprint books it's more than worth a lazy afternoon charting the Schultz's growth as a writer and artist. You can actually see him working through various techniques and influences, starting with Wally Wood, then Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta plus others whose work I'm actually not familiar with until he emerges as a unique synthesis of all these classic elements, his personal style as easily recognized as that of any of those other giants. The plot itself goes from EC-inspired vignettes to something more epic as Schultz gains confidence as a writer, too. It's a super cool progression.
IDW must love huge books because I've got their Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth book and that crazy thing must way thirty or forty tons. We had to hire a special heavy lifting crane to winch it into my apartment and it's left the floor permanently depressed. Not only that, but it's the first of a trilogy of books. I'm going to have to build a special annex with some sort of carefully engineered load-bearing elements and perhaps a shock-absorbing system installed in the floor to handle them. I find these kinds of books worth the expense, though.
You'd have to be some kind of nut not to be excited about this next piece of news. You're not a nut, are you? No? Great! Then, let's celebrate because it's official! At the Flesk Publications panel during this year's San Diego Comic Con, Schultz promised when he finishes his book Storms at Sea, he's going to do another issue of Xenozoic Tales. Finally! It's been something like 16 years since he left us hanging with mechanic-shaman Jack Tenrec ousted from City in the Sea and planning to head back to Fessenden's Station where the story began. The last few issues of Xenozoic Tales raised a lot of questions and its hiatus left them hanging in the air. What are the reptilian grith? What's their relationship with Hannah Dundee and how much do they know about her mysterious origins as a foundling? Can the sometimes bull-headed Tenrec maintain his tenuous new alliances, retake City in the Sea, reinstate the Machinato Vitae and restore the balance between humans and nature before destructive elements in control of his home cause another catastrophe? These questions drive me to distraction at times!
It may take a while for Schultz to get around to it, but in the meantime, here's a cartoon version. You know, for kids...
IDW must love huge books because I've got their Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth book and that crazy thing must way thirty or forty tons. We had to hire a special heavy lifting crane to winch it into my apartment and it's left the floor permanently depressed. Not only that, but it's the first of a trilogy of books. I'm going to have to build a special annex with some sort of carefully engineered load-bearing elements and perhaps a shock-absorbing system installed in the floor to handle them. I find these kinds of books worth the expense, though.
You'd have to be some kind of nut not to be excited about this next piece of news. You're not a nut, are you? No? Great! Then, let's celebrate because it's official! At the Flesk Publications panel during this year's San Diego Comic Con, Schultz promised when he finishes his book Storms at Sea, he's going to do another issue of Xenozoic Tales. Finally! It's been something like 16 years since he left us hanging with mechanic-shaman Jack Tenrec ousted from City in the Sea and planning to head back to Fessenden's Station where the story began. The last few issues of Xenozoic Tales raised a lot of questions and its hiatus left them hanging in the air. What are the reptilian grith? What's their relationship with Hannah Dundee and how much do they know about her mysterious origins as a foundling? Can the sometimes bull-headed Tenrec maintain his tenuous new alliances, retake City in the Sea, reinstate the Machinato Vitae and restore the balance between humans and nature before destructive elements in control of his home cause another catastrophe? These questions drive me to distraction at times!
It may take a while for Schultz to get around to it, but in the meantime, here's a cartoon version. You know, for kids...
Thursday, July 12, 2012
A Xenozoic tease...
Is this what I think it is? Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales and Other Stories over on a certain social network is making me drool in anticipation of what-- if it is what I believe it to be-- the most eagerly awaited and anticipated comic book event of my lifetime so far. I mean, if you think Mike Baron and Steve Rude returning to Nexus made me excited, the potential for another issue of Xenozoic Tales to go along with said Nexus has me in severe need of heavy sedation. I mean, really, Xenozoic Tales, Nexus and Love & Rockets fulfill my comics needs. They are filling enough they leave me satiated. When I have new stories from any of those series to look forward to, why should I care about re-boots and crossovers and capes and underwear and all that?
Apparently there will be some sort of announcement at one of Mark Schultz's panels at the this year's San Diego Comic-Con. He has several:
Thursday, 7/12/12
10:00a.m. - 11:00a.m.
Room: 32AB
Flesk: Celebrating a Decade of Publishing
Thursday, July 12
12:30-1:30PM
Room 4
Spotlight on Mark Schultz's Unlikely Career
Friday, July 13
11:00-12:00PM
Room 23ABC
The Artists’ Way
Friday, July 13
3:30-4:30PM
Room 7AB
75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant
Sunday, July 15
2:00-3:00PM
Room 25ABC
Cover Story
Being as ah'm a-way over here in the south-- south central Japan, that is-- I'm going to miss out on seeing one of my writing-and-drawing idols in person, the man who inspired me to try dry-brush on my graphic design entrance portfolio at the University of Georgia. The man whose comics I spent money on even when I didn't have money to spend on food. There hasn't been a new Xenozoic Tales comic since 1996, just the odd print and sketchbook now and again. And the damned thing ended on a cliff-hanger!
If you have the fat Xenozoic volume from Flesk Publications, which reprints the Schultz-illustrated stories from the 14 issue run of the original series (but unfortunately leaves out the Steve Stiles back-ups), you remember the promise near the back: "The adventures of Hannah Dundee & Jack Tenrec will continue. Look for more mystery, mayhem & intrigue in future Xenozoic stories!"
I will! I will look! You started something!
Apparently there will be some sort of announcement at one of Mark Schultz's panels at the this year's San Diego Comic-Con. He has several:
Thursday, 7/12/12
10:00a.m. - 11:00a.m.
Room: 32AB
Flesk: Celebrating a Decade of Publishing
Thursday, July 12
12:30-1:30PM
Room 4
Spotlight on Mark Schultz's Unlikely Career
Friday, July 13
11:00-12:00PM
Room 23ABC
The Artists’ Way
Friday, July 13
3:30-4:30PM
Room 7AB
75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant
Sunday, July 15
2:00-3:00PM
Room 25ABC
Cover Story
Being as ah'm a-way over here in the south-- south central Japan, that is-- I'm going to miss out on seeing one of my writing-and-drawing idols in person, the man who inspired me to try dry-brush on my graphic design entrance portfolio at the University of Georgia. The man whose comics I spent money on even when I didn't have money to spend on food. There hasn't been a new Xenozoic Tales comic since 1996, just the odd print and sketchbook now and again. And the damned thing ended on a cliff-hanger!
If you have the fat Xenozoic volume from Flesk Publications, which reprints the Schultz-illustrated stories from the 14 issue run of the original series (but unfortunately leaves out the Steve Stiles back-ups), you remember the promise near the back: "The adventures of Hannah Dundee & Jack Tenrec will continue. Look for more mystery, mayhem & intrigue in future Xenozoic stories!"
I will! I will look! You started something!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The Phony Return: Senses-Shattering!!
No, I'm not back, True Believers! I'm posting this from my desk at work while I'm waiting to do... more work. According to my contract, I get off at 4:30pm (kind of weird mandating something so personal in a legally binding contract, but there you have it) but I usually have to stay for an hour or two post-time for meetings and plannings and all that kind of fun stuff.
At lunch today I decided to look up the phrase "senses-shattering," which was a particular favorite of Marvel hypesters back in the 1960s and 70s. Why would anyone in his or her right mind want his or her senses shattered? Why was sense shattering considered a draw? There are no answers to these and other idiotic questions, but my random interest in "senses-shattering" led me to a hilarious blog where someone named Tom the Bomb deconstructed classic Marvel books before disappearing into the desert like a mirage or an Oliver Stone hallucination of something Jim Morrison would have hallucinated sometime around May 2009. Our loss.
A senses-shattering loss.
In other news, the kindly Sagawa Transport gentleman delivered a couple of boxes to my apartment last night. One contained Al Williamson Archives Volume 1 and 2 from Flesk Publications. Wow! Flesk (with the help of Mark Schultz, who also compiled their hefty and impressive Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic and wrote the most informative and ultimately heart-breaking overview of Williamson's art career to provide context for all the gorgeous art) presents full-color reproductions of Williamson's sketchbook pages, unfinished artwork, completed works unpublished elsewhere. If you love the masters of comic book illustration these slender books are a must-have. If you just love art, you need to at least look at them sometime. Sorry, but no one touches mine.
The other box contained one of those Dark Horse Star Wars books, the ones with all the old Marvel stories. By no coincidence, this book features some Williamson artwork, too-- the first part of Star Wars #50, "The Crimson Forever."
It was a very Al Williamson kind of day.
At lunch today I decided to look up the phrase "senses-shattering," which was a particular favorite of Marvel hypesters back in the 1960s and 70s. Why would anyone in his or her right mind want his or her senses shattered? Why was sense shattering considered a draw? There are no answers to these and other idiotic questions, but my random interest in "senses-shattering" led me to a hilarious blog where someone named Tom the Bomb deconstructed classic Marvel books before disappearing into the desert like a mirage or an Oliver Stone hallucination of something Jim Morrison would have hallucinated sometime around May 2009. Our loss.
A senses-shattering loss.
In other news, the kindly Sagawa Transport gentleman delivered a couple of boxes to my apartment last night. One contained Al Williamson Archives Volume 1 and 2 from Flesk Publications. Wow! Flesk (with the help of Mark Schultz, who also compiled their hefty and impressive Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic and wrote the most informative and ultimately heart-breaking overview of Williamson's art career to provide context for all the gorgeous art) presents full-color reproductions of Williamson's sketchbook pages, unfinished artwork, completed works unpublished elsewhere. If you love the masters of comic book illustration these slender books are a must-have. If you just love art, you need to at least look at them sometime. Sorry, but no one touches mine.
The other box contained one of those Dark Horse Star Wars books, the ones with all the old Marvel stories. By no coincidence, this book features some Williamson artwork, too-- the first part of Star Wars #50, "The Crimson Forever."
It was a very Al Williamson kind of day.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Mark Schultz and Gary Gianni celebrate 75 years of Prince Valiant!
Hal Foster debuted his legendary Prince Valiant strip 75 years ago on Saturday, February 13, 1937. My mom was one year old. She was an early reader, but I doubt she was reading early enough for Prince Valiant's premiere. Foster wrote and drew Prince Valiant for many years before turning it over the art duties to John Cullen Murphy, who later had his son Cullen Murphy script. Now it's a collaboration between Mark Schultz and Gary Gianni. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm more of a Schultz fan than I am a fan of either Prince Valiant or Hal Foster.
Shocking, huh?
Schultz's Xenozoic Tales is one of my favorite books, one of the comics that got me reading them again after years of anti-comics snobbery. If I had one comic-related wish, it would be Schultz returning to the fabulous Xenozoic Era for a few more stories and a completion of his unfortunately truncated epic. In the meantime we have Schultz writing this classic comic strip. He's an amazing, award-winning artist in his own right and a solid storyteller in the classic mold. The perfect fit.
I'm not as familiar with Gianni's work, but what I've seen of it has been dazzling.
Their anniversary installment features a whole lot o' Valiant characters. I don't know who all these people are. There's a woman who looks kind of like Dani Moonstar, though. And Inigo Montoya.
Wow. I really need to start reading some Prince Valiant.
Shocking, huh?
Schultz's Xenozoic Tales is one of my favorite books, one of the comics that got me reading them again after years of anti-comics snobbery. If I had one comic-related wish, it would be Schultz returning to the fabulous Xenozoic Era for a few more stories and a completion of his unfortunately truncated epic. In the meantime we have Schultz writing this classic comic strip. He's an amazing, award-winning artist in his own right and a solid storyteller in the classic mold. The perfect fit.
I'm not as familiar with Gianni's work, but what I've seen of it has been dazzling.
Their anniversary installment features a whole lot o' Valiant characters. I don't know who all these people are. There's a woman who looks kind of like Dani Moonstar, though. And Inigo Montoya.
Wow. I really need to start reading some Prince Valiant.
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