Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones

MaCab Films, the makers of the documentary Better Things: the Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones, is offering a panel on the work in progress at the upcoming San Diego Convention:

Better Things Panel Description: Comic-Con International 2011

Thursday, July 21st

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Jeffrey Catherine Jones: The Documentary — Filmmaker Maria Cabardo is joined by artists Bill Sienkiewicz ( Elektra: Assassin ), Mark Bode ( Cobalt 60) , Rick Berry ( Sparrow #6, Double Memory ), Robert Wiener ( Donald M. Grant Publisher ), George Pratt ( Batman: Harvest Breed ), Henry Mayo (Ghostbusters, Dune) and tentative Louise Simonson ( Superman, X-Factor ), for a preview and discussion of her upcoming documentary feature Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones . Using interviews with Jones and a wide range of family, friends and colleagues, the film explores the late artist’s fascinating, challenging life and unique journey through the worlds of comics, illustration and fine art. Moderated by John Butler . Room 4.



If you're interested in supporting the film with a donation, $25.00 donated here will get you an unsigned 11"x14" print of "Vampire Mother."




$75.00 donated here will get you a copy of the signed and numbered print "Native Son." Only a few left at the time of this writing.

Heroes Aren't Hard to Find Convention 2011

Here's some photos from the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find Convention in Charlotte NC on June 4, 2011. It was a good show. Last year I got a nice piece of original art by Wrightson. This year I just spent too much money on comic books.





Neal Adams.




Convention floor.




Powerpuff Girls.




Scott Hampton. Scott is working on a piece for the Art Auction. Bernie Wrightson penciled the dinosaur.




Art for the auction.




Bernie Wrightson.




Scott Hampton.




Dr. Strange.




Savannah Pedigree Comic Books.




Not sure who they're supposed to be.

1971 Comic Art Convention Art Portfolio

I recently picked up a copy of the 1971 Comic Art Convention program. In addition to a transcript of Bill Everett and Joe Kubert being interviewed by Gil Kane and Neal Adams it contains a small portfolio with some good art (and some bad art). Below is the good art. Other guests at the convention included Jim Steranko, Gardner Fox, and James Warren.




Gil Kane




Michael Kaluta




Jeff Jones




Frank Brunner




Al Williamson




Frank Frazetta

The Wrightson Completionist: Part 10

The tenth in a series of posts highlighting oddball Bernie Wrightson items in my collection.

As part of my public service, I like to highlight weird items I've had trouble finding in my 25 years of collecting Bernie Wrightson's artwork. This installment features an item listed on Wrightson checklists as "DTFF Progress Report, 1972." I've never seen one of these for sale and I was lucky to pick this up last week from a good friend of mine. It probably belonged to his older brother who would have gone to this convention. It is an eight page (two sheets, folded over) flyer on the progress of the 1973 Detroit Trip Fan Fair Comic Convention. You can see Bernie's contribution to the flyer below.




This drawing was also used as bookplate in the limited hardcover edition of The Reaper of Love.

Heroes Convention 2010

I attended the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find comic book convention in Charlotte, NC on June 5. I found out I was going at the last minute, and didn't have time to really go over the guest list.

This was the first large comic convention I have attended in about 12+ years. One thing I liked about it was that it was mostly about comic books. I've been reading about what a media event the San Diego Con has become since I attended in the 1980's, and it just doesn't sound like as much fun.

I really don't buy comic books much anymore, but a lot of the back issue prices seemed pretty reasonable to me. I picked up a stack of Gold Key Ripley's Believe It or Not comics at what I consider a bargain price. The best part of the convention for me was to see and catch up with Bernie Wrightson (see a couple posts below for the drawing I bought from him). It was really good to see Bernie happy and productive.

The biggest surprise was seeing Michael Golden. Next to Wrightson and Kaluta, he was one of my first favorite artists when I started collecting comics in the early 1980's. His work on Micronauts and Dr. Strange really stood out to me.

It was also nice to catch up with Scott Hampton. I asked him what he had done recently I should look for at the show. He suggested The Life Eaters and I was not disappointed. I'll try and post a review of it here later this week.

I'm definitely planning to go next year. Until then, here's some pictures:




The Convention Floor




Bernie Wrightson. His wife Liz on the left, writer Steve Niles on the right.




Michael Golden.




Scott Hampton working on a Batman painting. I believe this was for the art auction.




Comics For Sale.




Painting of The Thing from the art auction. I don't know who did this, but I like it.




Some art for the auction.




I have no idea who they are supposed to be, but they were happy to pose for a picture.




Darth Maul.




Star Wars Dixie Cups.




Costumed couple. I believe that is the Black Widow on the left. The guy: Nick Fury? I'm so out of it with superhero comics.




Comics for Sale.




Mike Mignola.




The Riddler.




And...it wouldn't be a comic con without an Imperial Storm Trooper walking around.

The Studio Artists at the 1978 NY Comc Con

In 1978 the four artists from The Studio (Jeff Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Berni Wrightson) were guests of honor at the 1978 New York Comic Con. The program that year featured profiles on each of the artists. Looking at these today, the write-ups seem a little pretentious: "The Composer," "The Poet." However, at the time these guys were trying to make the leap from comic books to paintings and art for art's sake. All four of them produced stunning illustrations, prints, and easel paintings. With the exception of Jeff Jones, all of them eventually returned to comic books on a regular basis at one time or another.

To help balance out the "high art" tone of the profiles, at the bottom of this post is a Bernie Wrightson drawing of an axe murderer with a bag full of heads.

San Diego Comic Con, 1985.

Below are some pictures from the San Diego Comic Con in 1985. It's weird looking at these pictures, I really don't have many memories of this convention. I remember Frank Miller was there, but we were kind of over him at that point and the line was huge to get autographs. The only pros I really recall meeting were Harvey Pekar and Rick Geary. I'm sure there were others. I have much more vivid memories of when I attended in 1987, but didn't take any pictures that year. Go figure.




Some Samurai looking guy and I'm not sure who that is supposed to be next to him.




A couple of guys dressed like pirates (I guess).




Art dealer Albert Moy. Love that Badtime Stories cover behind him.




The Gecks. I'm not sure what that was, maybe a band. We kept seeing this guy around. Scott Parrish on the right.




We called this guy "Captain Tape" because of the abundance of tape on his costume.




I'm not sure who this lady was supposed to be, but she liked having her picture taken and we liked photographing her.




L to R: Daredevil, Green Lantern, The Black Cat




The worst Flaming Carrot costume in the world.


Below: some views of the main dealers' room.