Caltex98

The the third and last of Bill Galvan's hommages to John Severin's illustrations in Cracked!: 35 characters enjoying a lazy day on the boardwalk. Special appearance by Harleen Frances Quinzel and her gang of Harleys. The size is a huge 24"x18". Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Shultz approached me with some roughs of unused cover ideas and wondered if I wanted him to finish any of them? I liked this one the best: For a cover there is quite a lot of activity going on here. Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery.

After some minor hassle with the seller this page arrived: Page 10 from Lady Killer #4 which shows that Joëlle Jones knows her way around a 1958 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside pick-up and enjoys drawing cars just as much as she does vintage fashion. (I already owned the page that comes next.) Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The the third and last of Bill Galvan's hommages to John Severin's illustrations in Cracked!: 35 characters enjoying a lazy day on the boardwalk. Special appearance by Harleen Frances Quinzel and her gang of Harleys. The size is a huge 24"x18". Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Shultz approached me with some roughs of unused cover ideas and wondered if I wanted him to finish any of them. I liked this one the best: For a cover there is quite a lot of activity going on here. Click on the picture for a larger scan in my CAF gallery.

A commission I picked up from Dan Parent in July. I figured Sabrina Spellman needed some cool new way of transport (the broom is unpractical at times) and what could be cooler than my own Fiat Barchetta Spider? I'm not sure she would be content with being confided to the passenger seat, though. Click on the picture for a larger scan (and picture of the actual car) in my CAF gallery.

I am a little behind showing my modest new OA acquisitions, but here is a pin up of the main character from Dan Cooney's gangster melodrama The Tommy Gun Dolls, Frankie Broadstreet, I picked up in San Diego in July: It was the template for the promotional enamel pin so I suppose it counts as "published"? Click on the picture for a somewhat larger scan in my CAF gallery.

Probably that Donald Duck & the Phantom was (and is) two of the bestselling comic books over here.

As I have stated before: I. Never. Sell. So of course I still have my first OA (framed and hanging on the wall): In 1984 I bought this cover for a swedish arts trade publication from the artist, my friend Johan Andreasson.

As always, a great time was had by all. And what a turnout it was this year! Thank you, Brian!

I never sell anything. And should I get to know that someone wants something I own I'm inclined to hold on to it just out of spite.

Last weekend it was the Stockholm International Comics Festival, and besides hanging out with old and new friends, enjoying interesting panel discussions and in general having a good time I also got this addition to my sketchbook. When my friend Hedvig (enormously talented) volunteers to make a contribution in the sketchbook one has to come up with a terrific idea on the spot. I have always wanted to see how she handles DC Comics resident super magician, Zatanna Zatara, and as she also is an expert on drawing funny animals I thought of Amanda Conner's cover from Zatanna issue 12. What is Zatanna's reaction when she realizes what has happened? Hedvig disappeared carrying my sketchbook and returned a couple of hours later with this: Click on the picture for a larger scan on my CAF. I am sure Amanda doesn't mind. BTW, Hedvig makes way too few comics since her main source of income is work in animation and gaming, mostly character design.

Finally had the opportunity to pick up these four pages by Chynna Clugston-Flores that had been waiting for me ever since I had to cancel my trip to the U.S. this summer (due to the Scandinavian Airlines pilot strike): Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners #4 page 10. Blue Monday: Absolute Beginners #4 page 11. Scooter Girl #6, page 5. Scooter Girl #6, page 17. And a small bonus since we had discussed the difference between swedish and californian heatwaves: A suffering Bleu Finnegan. Click on the pictures to see larger scans in my CAF gallery.

Too bad I didn't know you were in Baltimore since my buddy Alan spent six hours in the Simonson line on Saturday (and I checked in with him from time to time to see how things progressed). We must have been mere feet from each other without knowing it! Oh well, maybe some other time...

Because of the Scandinavian Airlines pilot strike I had to cancel my participation in the San Diego Comic-con 2022 at the last minute. This was of course a big disappointment but recieving this artwork in the mail a month later almost made up for that mishap. I had asked my friend (and fellow OA collector) Alan D. to get the Comic-con cover variant of Betty & Veronica Friends Forever Summer Surf Party by Dan Parent, celebrating Sabrina the Teenage Witch's 60th anniversary and in connection with that mentioned the fact that me and her are the same age. So unbeknownst to me he arranged for this special greeting card drawn by Scott Shaw! and signed by some of my favorite people in the industry which I always look forward to meet: Jimmy Palmiotti, Scott Eder, Amanda Conner, Terry Dodson and the aforementioned Scott and Dan. And Alan himself of course! Me being surprised is an understatement! A big thank you to Alan for organizing this special treat!

I walked away from this years edition of Stockholm International Comics Festival (back IRL after being digital only for two years) with two sketches in the book and one commission in the works. Swedish comic genius (and accomplished blues musician) Patrik Norrman drew his characters James Hund (international playboy) and his sidekick Lieutenant Barskeback (very trigger happy). Hanna Stromberg who currently is having great success with her comic strip Our House (think Hi and Lois for the 2020:s) drew swedish Donald Duck-translator and founder of the Swedish Donaldistic Society Stefan Dios (which she has done many times before). He is obviously not amused (Caption: "Why do I have to be drawn all the tine?"). I asked Oscar Hjelmgren if he could elaborate on his previous interpretation of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, maybe a little cheesecake perhaps? Time was short because the birth of his first kid was scheduled just a couple of weeks later, but he managed to squeeze it in before baby boy Astor was squeezed out.This is what I recieved in the mail: A large (297 x 420 mm) acrylic painting of Harley at the beach, playing Frogwhack. Click on the pictures for larger scans in my CAF gallery.

A page from Harley Quinn #14 (original series) where Terry Dodson shows off his understanding how real people move and act. And on top (literally) of this is Rachel Dodson's ink brush magic. Harley in civil duds runs into Jimmy Olsen in an elevator. Click on the picture for a slightly larger scan in my Terry Dodson gallery on CAF.

When an artist approaches you and say that they want to do a hommage to John Severin's Cracked two-page spreads with a lot of interacting characters you just have to go along. Here is the Spellman Halloween costume party by Bill Galvan: I think there are almost 40 characters counting the portraits on the wall... And while he was on a roll, Bill continued with the Blossoms' christmas party: Besides the usual gang he included a couple of characters from Freshman Year by him and the late Batton Lash, and over by the stereo you can spot a couple of notorious party crashers from Hoppers, California... Click on the pictures for bigger scans in my Bill Galvan CAF gallery.