Whatever happened to Paul Smith, Mike Zeck, and Dave Stevens?

[dudeman5000]

Admiring some of the powerhouse artists out there today, I wonder where greats like Smith, Zeck, and Stevens went. I have found myself captivated by some of Stevens covers of the 80's (Crossfire, Black Angel, Seduction of the Innocent 3-D, etc..). It would pretty cool to see these guys back in action. What do you think?

[dudeman5000]

The Mike Zeck question was asked and answered a little ways back. The answer!

 

"As Zeck's "biggest" fan, I thought I should give you an update on Mike...

 

Mike is still around doing comic related work, but not as much as he did in the 80's. His most recent work for comics included some covers for DC's Deadshot series, a pin-up in the Spider-man 2 Special Edition DVD comic, and pencil layouts for an independent book call the Wannabe. Mike has done a lot of commissions for collectors in recent years and has also done some digital penciling, inking and coloring for DC's licensing department.

 

You can see most of his commissions on Mike's website at:

 

http://www.mikezeck.com/pgs/artforsale/recreationscans.html

 

His latest project has been to develop a "sketchbook" for collectors. I actually helped Mike pick out and assemble the pieces for this first sketchbook - it was truly an honor. I wanted to give people a glimpse as to what it would be like if they could comb through Mike's flat files like I did and also give them a perspective of what some of those famous pieces everyone gre up loviing looked like in their raw pencil form.

 

You can see an announcement about the sketchbook on Mike's website at:

 

http://www.mikezeck.com/pgs/SketchbookPf/sketchbookmain.html

 

It’s 52 pages of great stuff including:

 

- A 2-color "bloodsplatter" Punisher cover

- An amazing 1980’s unpublished “psychedelic” Captain America vs. Red Skull portfolio plate

- Two amazing vintage unpublished Punisher pieces – a wraparound cover circa 1985 (done right before the Punisher Limited series) and an unused 80’s portfolio plate

- The B&W art to the both covers to the Punisher Big Nothing graphic novel

- The original pencils to some of Mike’s most famous pieces including all six Kraven covers, the Captain America Annual #8 cover, the Captain America #321 cover, and the first Punisher poster

- Rarely seen art used done for Byron Preiss and Universal Studios featuring Thanos, the Silver Surfer, Galactus, the X-Men, and Spider-man and more

- Some incredible commissions including some rare “cheesecake” art by Mike – my favorite is a whimsical Aquaman pin-up (I won’t ruin the surprise)

 

Individual copies are $20/each + shipping. They are signed & numbered copies limited to 1,000. There are discounts for multiple copies (for 5 or more, they are only $12/each).

 

By the way, I'm always looking for Mike Zeck's Punisher Art. If you have the original artwork to any of the following, please contact me - no one will make you a better offer!

 

- Any of the Punisher Limited Series covers - B&W or Color

- Any of the Punisher Posters (e.g., the one with Punisher next to the Ammo boxes) - B&W or Color

- Any of the Original French Punisher Portfolio Plates

- Any pages from the Punisher Limited Series

- Most of the Marvel Tales covers (#209-222) featuring the Punisher

- What If #10 cover

- Nice pages from the Punisher Big Nothing Graphic Novel

 

By the way, if anyone has any speciic questions about Mike's art or what he's been up to, I'd be happy to try and answer them.

 

Thanks,

 

-Chuck Costas (comiconxion@hotmail.com)

 

--------------------

Looking for the following original artwork:

- Mike Zeck Art (especially Punisher)

- Early Punisher Art (pre-1987)

- Early G.I. Joe & Transformers Art

- Boris Vallejo Paintings

- Joe Jusko Marvel Masterpieces I Paintings

- Patrick Nagel Original Paintings

- Golden Age Timely/Atlas & DC Superhero Art

- Early TMNT Art

- Mike Vosburg Tales from the Crypt Covers "

[Kevin Boyd]

Dave Stevens hasn't done a lot of comics work since making a big splash with the Rocketeer (and selling the movie rights made him a decent amount of money). As an illustrator he's done a number of paintings that have been made into prints, as well as private commissions. When I last spoke with him at San Diego, he was taking some time off for health reasons. He used to put out an annual sketchbook at San Diego, the last one was put out in 2005. There is some talk of a trade paperback collecting all 4 sketchbooks with new material.

 

http://www.davestevens.com/html/main.html

 

Dave has been known to work on film and television projects. Here's a list of some of his credits: http://imdb.com/name/nm0828349/

 

Paul Smith is still active doing the occasional comics project. A few years ago he did a series called Leave it to Chance for Image, and there has been occasional talk of that project returning, pending the schedule of writer James Robinson (the two also collaborated on the astounding "The Golden Age" series for DC about 10 years ago). He does do the occasional one-shot, or fill-in issue. I'm fairly certain he did some work on Alan Moore's ABC line on one of the Tom Strong titles and a "Marvels Comics" issue of The Fantastic Four and the occasional FF story in annuals and specials. He recently did an issue of SHE-HULK and the X-MEN: KITTY PRYDE: THE SHADOW AND THE FLAME mini-series for Marvel, and the occasional cover.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Smith_(comics)

[dudeman5000]

Thanks Kevin for the info!

 

Chris

[Pirate]

Paul Smith just did a recent con in SF (i think).

 

When I emailed Mr. Zeck this summer he had no conventions on the horizon but would let everyone know when or if he decides to attend one in the future.