New commission received! Jeremy Dale

I decided that I rather like the theme of the commission I got from Breyfogle so i commissioned Jeremy Dale (http://www.jeremy-dale.com/) for a piece featuring Robin coming to the rescue of Wonder Girl from a villain of the artist's choice. Jeremy decided to go with Brother Blood. Jeremy did a really great job with this piece, as you can see for yourself here. Enjoy. :-)

My comics shipment from November

A pretty hefty month this time. I ordered a couple small publisher titles to see if they were good. in no particular order:

Terra 1,2
Amazing Spider-Man 576, 577, 578 (they actually shipped all 3 this timme!)
Golly 3
Guardians of the Galaxy 7
Kingdom Come Special: Magog 1
Kingdon Come Special; Superman 1
Kingdon Come Special: The Kingdom 1
Dynamo 5 18
X-Factor 37
Deadpool 4
Robin 180
Supergirl 35
Incredible Hercules 123
City of Dust 2
Nightwing 150
Stormwatch PHD 16
Booster Gold 14
Green Lantern Corps 30
Batman Cacophony 1
Captain America 44
Teen Titans 65
Nova 19
Wildcats 5
Gemini 3
Ultimatum 1
Gigantic 1
Final Crisis: Resist
Daredevil/Captain America: Dead On Arrival 1
Terror Titans 2
Avengers : the Initiative Special 1
The Authority 4
Secret Six 3
Justice Society America 20
X-Men and Spider-Man 1
Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel 1
Wingman 1
Push 1
Lost and Found 1
Titans 7
Wizard 207
Revelations tpb (Jenkins/Ramos)

Pretty hefty stack. Can't wait to dive into it!

All I want for Christmas....

Wow. It is hard to believe it is almost Thanksgiving. Christmas is just around the corner. Different families have different traditions. For example, my family make out Christmas lists but my wife's family doesn't. One way isn't right or wrong, just different. I made up my list this year and put a few trade paperbacks I have been wanting for awhile:

Deadpool Classic Vol. 1
Arkham Asylum: Living Hell
Strange Girl Vol. 1: Girl Afraid

These are on my Amazon wish list (http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2R6BN53Q4YSUM/ref=lst_llp_wl-go)

I would LOVE to be able to put commissioned art on my list, but it just isn't really practical. I have been loving Wellinton Alves' artwork on Nova. He does great 'cosmic' art. There are lots of talented artists who do commissions through www.comiconart.com but I just haven't been able to buy much lately due to other circumstances. Instead I filled up my list with practical stuff such as some tools, a chair to put in my comic reading area in the basement. I need a good sturdy bookshelf for my tpbs as well. I had to rearrange the set up in my basement a little bit. The city had to do some gas meter work on the houses in my area. they installed new meters and put new piping in the walls. In doing so they took down some of the art off my walls and a shelf where I geekishly had some action figures on display. I kind of like the new set up now though. I have an area on the wall where I can display 6 pieces of art framed. Right now I only have 5 up though. Thats a post for another time though. I guess I had better get back to work. Oh, and I REALLY need to figure out what to get my wife for Christmas..

1 Year Anniversary

My wife and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary this weekend. Our anniversary was actually November 3rd but we weren't able to celebrate then. We decided to go downtown and stay at a nice hotel for a night and go to a really nice dinner. We stayed at the Westin hotel. We got their 'romace' package. We received a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries upon arrival. The package also included breakfast in bed and a late checkout. For dinner we went to Morton's Steakhouse (http://www.mortons.com/). It was really good. Expensive, but it was delicious. We split a salad. I got the porterhouse steak and my wife ordered the Chicken Christopher. For sides we shared green beans and the bast dang macaroni and cheese we have ever had. I wanted to get dessert, but we had our anniversary cake that we had just picked up earlier that day. Our server surprised us by bringing out their infamous chocolate cake, on the house. It was delicious. They also took our picture and put it in a little picture holder which said 'Happy Anniversary'. They were really nice. The picture is the one I have posted here. We ended up eating our anniversary cake this morning before breakfast. LOL. Oh well. It was a really nice first anniversary. Tomorrow is back to work. Yay!

My comics for the month of October

Due to the high cost of shipping I get my comics shipped to me monthly. Sometimes it pains me to wait that long. Maybe I'll reduce the amount of books I buy and get them bi-weekly.. Anyways, in no particular order:
Amazing Spider-Man 573, 575 (they didn't send 574...)and annual 2008
Nova 18
The Boys 23 and 24 (I am probably dropping this title unless these 2 issues are phenominal)
Final Crisis 4
Creature Feature 1
The Odd Squad 2 (this has now been dropped, the art just doesn't do it for me)
Terror Titans 1
City of Dust 1
The authority 3
Nightwing 149
Supergirl 34
Green Lantern Corps 29
Secret Six 2
Deadpool 3
Green Lantern 35
Stormwatch PHD 15
Final Crisis Legion of Three Worlds 2
Titans 6
Booster Gold 13
Epilogue 2
The Mighty Avengers 19
Dynamo 5 17
Robin 179
Justice Society America 19
Wildcats 4
Secret Invasion 7
The New Avengers 46
Cyblade 1
Captain America 43
X-Factor 36
Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns
The Incredible Hercules 122
The Immortal iron Fist 19
Thor 11
Justice League America 26
Teen titans 64

In a stck that big there are bound to be hits and misses. We'll see!

Scan of finished Breyfogle commission!

Man, Norm sure got this to me fast, and I absolutely love the commission!

Commission Prelim from Norm Breyfogle!

I got a really cool email earlier this week with a prelim for my commission from Norm Breyfogle. Norm was the artist on Batman when I really got hooked on comics and was really paying attention to the art and specific artists on comic books. Norm's style has been a favorite of mine ever since I saw his work. His style caught me as edgy and dynamic. Last year I contacted Mr. Breyfogle about a commission. It is taking slightly longer than planned, but he has been more than professional by keeping me updated and quickly answering my questions and responding to emails. That seems rare these days, and I commend him for doing a great job so far.

I had several ideas for a commission. This is one of the more expensive commissions I have purchased, so i wanted it to be really cool (not that it wouldn't be, it is being drawn by Norm Breyfogle). I decided on having Robin (Tim Drake) coming to the rescue of Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) as she is being attacked by Deathstroke. I asked for him to do a slight alteration to try and show more of a frontal view of Wonder Girl, but I ended up going with the original. I should have trusted Norm's skill and talent with what he came up with. I am really excited about this. A commission with some of my fave characters drawn by one of my favorite artists. I'll post the final piece once I have it.

Buy this comic! Incredible Hercules!

I picked up a random stack of comics a couple weeks back, including Incredible Hercules issue 121. I had heard good things about it. I read it this morning and LOVED it. I am headed to the shop to get issues 112-120. It is written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and pencilled and inked by Clayton Henry, who is an incredible talent. The colors are by GURU-EFX. I think everyone should check this out.

Awesome Art Day!

Today I recieved 2 INCREDIBLE pieces of art from Barry Kitson: the covers to Titans issues 37 and 39. Barry is one of my favorite artists, and I have always loved all things related to the Titans.

Recommended Reading: Guardians of the Galaxy

I have to admit, I originally passed this title up, as some of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's stories just don't do it for me. I kept reading reviews for the book, and a couple friends kept suggesting I pick it up. This weekend I went out and bought issues 1-5. I read them straight through. The book is awesome. One major thing it has going for it is the pencils by Paul Pelletier. I am really happy to see Paul on a monthly title again. i have been a fan of his art for years. I have some Titans original artwork by him. Anyways, DNA (Dan and Andy's nickname) have weaved a story featuring Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Phyla-Vell (the new Quasar), Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Star-Lord, Mantis and a talking dog named Cosmo that I just can't get enough of. I read the original Guardians of the Galaxy a few years ago, and there is one character that shows up in this new volume from the old book, Vance Astro, who actually names this new team. Anyways, if you are looking for a good comic to pick up, check out Guardians of the Galaxy.

Comics Shipping this week.

I should have a pretty big batch of stuff shipping to me this week, possibly next. I get my comics once a month, to save on shipping costs. Sometime's it is rough waiting LOL. This week there aren't many books scheduled to ship, but here are a few that I think are going to be awesome:

Captain America 42: Brubaker is a genuis. I have been a Cap fan for years, but the character has gone through some odd storylines over the past 15 or so years, so I haven't followed it religiously. When Brubaker took over the book I haven't missed an issue since. This issue marks the conclusion of 'The Death of Captain America". I have enjoyed seeing Bucky become Captain America. Sure, it isn't the same as having Steve Rogers in the uniform, but it is a different uniform. Hopefully anyone who is reading this has read the issues that way I don't spoil anything. Sharon being pregnant with Steve's baby. Sharon being brainwashed to be an agent of the Red Skull. Syn and Crossbones making a mess of things. I have never really cared for the Falcon though. No offense. I am really curious to see how everything gets tied together here.

The artwork on the series has been superb as well.

Daredevil 111. Okay, I have to admit it. Several months ago, I dropped Daredevil because I was buying too many books. As much as I love Brubaker's writing, it seemed like the stories were being rehashed or dragged on too long, I was getting bored. This month though is really making me reconsider, with the introduction to a new villian, Lady Bullseye. I haven't added it to my list, but I may make the trek to a local shop to snag this.

Deadpool 2. I haven't received my copy of #1 yet, but the last few years I have enjoyed what Marvel has done with the character. I am going to give the book about half a dozen issues and decide what to do from there. I may have to drop a few titles to make room for this and Daredevil.

Golly 2. I really enjoyed the first issue of this title, written by Phil Hester and art by Brook Turner. It is very different than anything I have read before, and that is very refreshing.

Wildcats 3. I am sort of torn about this version of Wildcats. I have been a big fan of Majestic tghe last few years, as I came across the tpbs from his solo series. In the aftermath of the 'Apocalypse' Majestros seems to be a crazed dictator. That doesn't exactly thrill me, but I trust Christos Gage to work things out. Neil Googe's artwork is really growing on me.

There are a few other titles on my pull list for this week, but those mentioned above are what i am really looking forward to. I should also be getting a couple tpbs, Invasion! and Millennium. I missed out on these as a kid when they were originally released, so I am hoping they'll be enjoyable.

On a side note, my dan Brereton Wonder Girl arrived today, and it is gorgeous!

Jim Cheung is freaking awesome

My friend Jimmy picked this beauty up for me earlier this year. I had exchanged several emails with Jim Cheung prior to the show. I am a really big fan of his work and i don't make it to many conventions. Jim said he would be happy to put me at the top of his list for the show. I had a hard time deciding who to go with, but every time I see a Ms.Marvel he draws...dang. So, I went with Carol. On a side note, our cable,phone, and internet are still out, due to weather as a result of Hurricane Ike. I am at Panera right now, hoping my laptop is charged enough for me to get everything I need to get done. All the outlets here are being used by other people. Oh well.

Thanks Jimmy for picking up this commission for me. :-)

Art that my wife bought me

Okay. Yes, i should be working. I just don't feel like it though. LOL. I thought I'd share a couple pieces that my wife has bought for me for my last 2 birthdays. In 2007 she had a friend pick up a Power Girl and Mary Marvel commission by Kevin Maguire. I have always loved the comedy that Maguire is capable of showing in his art.

This next piece is a cover 'reinterpretation' she bought for me from Greg Laroque. I always loved the original cover from Flash 59, but I prefer Power Girl's look with the hair and costume he used in the recreation. Below is the original and the commission. Man, I have a great wife. :-) Just wanted to brag a little.

Yeah, another blog...

Well, I figured my other blog should be dedicated to my 'journey' and this could be about everything else. Let's see. I read comics and buy comic art and commissions. I probably watch too many movies, too. Oh well.
I think I am going to start this off with a positive note. I have been kind of bummed as I have been waiting a long time for some commissions (1-3 years) but my most recent purchase Took only about 2 weeks. I am talking about the beautiful piece below, a Wonder Girl painting by the incredibly talented Dan Brereton. Dan is an amazing artist. i was first turned on to his art by the book Thrillkiller several years back. I have been buying art for about 10 years. I used to buy a lot of cheaper commissions and pages, but this last year I decided to change that, and limit what I buy. This way I can afford nicer pieces that I will want to hold on to longer. I think this painting by Dan is one of my favorite pieces in my collection. I should have it in hand within a week or two.





I have a few commissions I am waiting on. The artists I am waiting on are: Norm Breyfogle, Ivan Reis, Kirk Lindo, and Dennis Willman. I bought a commission from Dennis on ebay 7 months ago, and I have a feeling I got shafted there. He sent me a scan a few months ago and haven't heard from him since. Luckily it wasn't really expensive.

I buy most of my comics online. It is much cheaper, and there are very few shops near me. These are currently the titles I buy:
All New Booster Gold
Final Crisis
Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds
Green Lantern
Green Lantern Corps
Justice League of America
Justice Society of America
Nightwing
Robin
Secret Six
Stormwatch PHD
Supergirl
Legion of Super-Heroes
Teen Titans
Titans
Authority
Wildcats
Necessary Evil
Odd Squad
Painkiller Jane
The Boys
Epilogue
Welcome To Hoxford
Dynamo 5
Gemini
Golly!
Amazing Spider-Man
Captain America
Deadpool
Immortal Iron Fist
Mighty Avengers
New Avengers
Nova
Secret Invasion
Thor
X-Factor


A few of those might be dropped in the near future if they don't make some changes. I'll be giving some thoughts on some of those titles in the coming days/weeks as I have time. Seeing as how I am at work right now, I had better get busy...

If anyone comes across this and reads it, feel free to comment.