CAF Best of 2022 Entries - Post Them Here 0

[alxjhnsn]

My pictures didn't take so I deleted this content and added a new post. Strange.

Edited January 4, 2023 by alxjhnsn

[alxjhnsn]

I doubt that I’ll change my nominees between now and the fifteenth so I’m sending them out now.

 

It was really hard for the this year. I don’t like to put more than one item in a category which means in this case that my Scribbly covers and my Pitarra con sketch were battling it out for the 5th spot. Axe-Wielder Jon won out.

 

 

My Entries

 

Published/Unpublished Comic Book Covers

Sugar & Spike #91 Cover by Sheldon Mayer - https://cafurl.com?i=28403

This cover was published. In fact, he liked the idea enough that he used it on both S&S 91 and S&S #24. It’s a classic S&S seasonal cover set on the beach in summer. Sheldon often did seasonal/holiday based covers. It’s also classic Sugar - not quite in touch with the world.

 

 

Published/Unpublished Comic Book Splashes, Title Pages

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Comic Book Double Page Splashes and Spreads

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Interior Panel Pages

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Comic Book Pin-Ups, Illustrations, Trading Cards 

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Strip Art

Superman Strip 1291 by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and Wayne Boring - https://cafurl.com?i=28452

At this point, Wayne was drawing most of the strip, but Joe still would do faces (for consistency) and layouts (sometimes). I see him in the faces here. I love the Superman figure and the Nazi planes which as you can see in the Additional Images are going to get theirs pretty quickly. At this point, Superman was not a distance flyer so he swam the Atlantic in both directions in what seems to be minutes

 

 

Published/Unpublished Commissions/Recreations

Sugar and Spike 100 Cover featuring the Groo crew by Sergio Aragones - https://cafurl.com?i=28402

Another of my S&S faux 100 covers, this one done by the Maestro, Sergio Aragones, featuring the Groo crew as kids from Groo #92/93.

 

Unpublished Sketch Covers/Convention Sketches

Sugar and Spike Meet Axe-Wielder Jon by Nick Pitarra - https://cafurl.com?i=28425

Axe-Wielder Jon is the new epic by Nick. It’s available on Zoop. Jon is “a ruthless killer in a world of monsters and mayhem makes a precious discovery and learns what a man is willing to lose to protect what he loves most.” I can’t wait for it. I love Nick’s work. In this case, I had him add a sketch of S&S with Jon to my Sheldon Mayer sketchbook. I think he did a great job, but I hope the kids get away safely!

 

 

Sugar and Spike 100 Cover by Walt Simonson - https://cafurl.com?i=28404

Walter and Louise are two of the kindest and fan friendly people that I know. Walter doesn’t do commissions (with rare exceptions), but he will do convention sketches for fans until his hand falls off. I’ve wanted a commission from him for some time, but I never had a good idea and then it clicked. I printed my S&S 100 template (donated by Dave Aikins) and planned my attack. I had three days at Baltimore Comic Con and needed three things - his signature, a tiny Sugar and a tiny Spike sliding down it. Walt did it! Signature and Sugar on the first pass. Spike on the second. A non-commission commission! 

 

 

Published/Unpublished Media artwork (Music, TV, Movie)

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Non-Comic Covers, Pin-ups, Illustrations, Gaming Art 

No entry

 

 

Published/Unpublished Other

No entry

 

 

 

Honorable Mentions

I dislike putting multiple pieces of the same type in the contest to avoid splitting the vote. That said, the faux S&S covers are all awesome so they are in the Honorable Mention. The other Honorable Mention is the unpublished Scribbly cover with its recreation from the Harlan Ellison collection. This was hard to leave off the list, but I decided to since few people know Sheldon Mayer and his work.

 

 

Published/Unpublished Comic Book Double Page Splashes and Spreads

Scribbly 13 Cover (unused and recreation) by Sheldon Mayer - https://cafurl.com?i=28400 

Though this cover was never published it was intended for Scribbly #13 though the story idea was repurposed for Buzzy #33. Scribbly was a cartoonist who started his career in his early teens to support his family. He was Sheldon Mayer’s semi-autobiographical character. From the Scribbly, we gained the hero of heroes - the original Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel), an original JSAer. Scribbly work was very close to Sheldon and I’ve wanted a piece for a long time. 

 

 

My faux Sugar and Spike 100 covers

This was a great year for those besides the nominated ones (the convention sketched one by Walt Simonson and the commission from Sergio Aragonés, I have three others that delight me.

 

• Sugar and Spike 100 Cover featuring Beorn and Lars by Ben Bender - https://cafurl.com?i=28426 
  • Ben’s Beorn features the youngest Viking, Beorn, who shares a strong resemblance to my grandson, Lars. The family put 2 and 2 together and got this.
• Sugar and Spike 100 Cover featuring Sonic, Tails, Dr. Robotnik, and Minions by Ken Penders - https://cafurl.com?i=28505 
  • Ken Pender worked on the Sonic comic book and I thought he’d be a good choice and he was. Excellent service as well. 
• Sugar and Spike 100 Cover featuring E-Man, Nova, and Teddy-Q by Joe Staton - https://cafurl.com?i=28424 
  • Loved E-man from the first time I read his stories and I’ve enjoyed Joe’s work for a longer time than either of us would like to admit. I am thrilled with this. 
• Sugar and Spike 100 featuring Darkwing Duck and Gosalyn Mallard by James Silvani - https://cafurl.com?i=28506 
  • I had become aware of his work from a dinosaur book, but he suggested Darkwing Duck, a character he did in comic (most of his appearances) and one that I enjoy. 

 

 

Ben Bender                                       Ken Penders                                       Joe Staton                                             James Silvani

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by alxjhnsn

[batman_fan]

I just did one item

[The Voord]

My five entries were . . . 

BANK HOLIDAY (1938) original movie poster painting, artist unknown.  Heritage win from late last year and the earliest piece of movie art now in my collection:

Four JEFF HAWKE dailies by Sydney Jordan (layouts) and Colin Andrew (finishes) from the 1960 story, 'Survival' (my favorite JH adventure . . . the artwork is uniformly superb.  Some examples from my entries, including three panels in detail to better showcase the art:

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by The Voord

[alxjhnsn]

On 1/4/2023 at 9:11 PM, batman_fan said:

I just did one item

A terrific example of Dennis at its best.

[alxjhnsn]

On 1/5/2023 at 6:19 AM, The Voord said:

My five entries were . . . 

BANK HOLIDAY (1938) original movie poster painting, artist unknown.  Heritage win from late last year and the earliest piece of movie art now in my collection:

Four JEFF HAWKE dailies by Sydney Jordan (layouts) and Colin Andrew (finishes) from the 1960 story, 'Survival' (my favorite JH adventure . . . the artwork is uniformly superb.  Some examples from my entries, including three panels in detail to better showcase the art:

 

I have those two HC collections and they are beautiful. Congrats on getting the story.

[RBerman]

I'm not exactly a contender, but i submitted anyway because, why not?

1) Star Trek Mirror War #5 (2022) cover by JK Woodward. A Struzan-esque montage of characters and space stuff. Woodward has the tricky task of rendering recognizable Mirror Universe likenesses that have to both look like our Star Trek favorites while deliberately differing from them in important ways, like the buff versions of Picard and Data here, and murderous Barclay.

 

2) The New Mutants Special Edition #1 (1985) Page 10 by Arthur Adams and Terry Austin: The story that made Adams a star, back when he drew different faces on different characters. There are only a few pages in this story where the team is assembled since Enchantress separates them for solo adventures. Great body language and expressions, plus a cool atmospheric panel. This is a page I had to fight for.

3) Terry and the Pirates 'Willow Kidnapped' (December 3, 1944) by Milton Caniff. He had two audiences in mind at this point -- front line troops desirous of pin-ups, and families back home thinking of their loved ones off at war. This Sunday strip offers something for each.

4) Goldoni's Xmas Dinner (1939) for the magazine "Adam and Eve" by Fortunino Matania. Amazing detail on a small toned board, using a mix of black and white pencil and ink to make every texture shine. The priest and the young man are clearly involved in some sort of unspoken rivalry.

5) Wonder Woman #47 (2015), pages 14-15 by Miguel Mendonça and Dexter Vines. This issue was inked over printed blue lines, so I tracked down the penciler in Portugal to get the pencil pages as well. It's a great six page action sequence between Cheetah and Diana. Mendonça and Vines didn't have to spend all that effort on the foliage, but I'm glad they did.

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by RBerman

[Dr. Balls]

I submitted my Sabrina cover (Facsimile layout, the main art is the thick key-lined box):

[Dr. Balls]

On 1/5/2023 at 5:19 AM, The Voord said:

My five entries were . . . 

BANK HOLIDAY (1938) original movie poster painting, artist unknown.  Heritage win from late last year and the earliest piece of movie art now in my collection:

The hand-lettered typography on that is beautiful. Do movie posters come up under comic art auctions on Heritage or in a different auction offering? (like fine art or commercial art) I'd love to spend some time researching original movie art.

[The Voord]

On 1/6/2023 at 6:07 PM, Dr. Balls said:

The hand-lettered typography on that is beautiful. Do movie posters come up under comic art auctions on Heritage or in a different auction offering? (like fine art or commercial art) I'd love to spend some time researching original movie art.

There are usually originals coming up periodically in the selection of the ongoing printed movie poster Heritage auctions - you just have to monitor them to see if any OA is included.

I run a FB group in which movie OA sometimes come up for sale:

(3) Original MOVIE Art & Marketplace | Facebook

. . . with my own personal collection at:

2. MOVIE POSTER paintings - Terry Doyle's Original Comic Art Gallery at ComicArtFans.com

[Brian Peck]

Rocketeer at War #1
By Nick Bradshaw
After missing out on this six years ago when the artist sold it. Its well worth the wait.

 

 

Conan illustration
By Nestor Redondo
Tough choice between this and another piece by Nestor featuring Rima.

 

 

 

Shazam
By CC Beck
Another hole fill in my collection, a CC Beck featuring the Big Cheese'

 

 

 

 

"Strange Fantasies" Portfolio Page
By Mark Schultz
From a prime period in MArk's career, love the dry-brush.

 

 

Madeleine Elster Costume Sketch from Vertigo
By Edith Head 
Design done for one of my favorite films, I have been coveting something from a Hitchcock film by Edith Head.