Fred Hembeck reveals that a gargantuan collection of his work is on its way from Image which is great news for fans of knee squiggles.
Come February, 2008, Image Publishing will be gearing up to release THE NEARLY COMPLETE ESSENTIAL HEMBECK ARCHIVES OMNIBUS, featuring over 900 (!) pages of material written and drawn by cartoonist Fred Hembeck (who, in this particular instance of shameless self-promotion, is the actual individual typing in these very words), culled from the past three decades.
[snip] That’s how this whole thing started out, y’see–my old buddy (and veteran comics embellisher) Al Gordon’s suggested I put together a collection of each and every one of those old cartoons, including all the ones that had never been reprinted in a more permanent format previously. Al then proceeded to get his pal–and Image Publisher–Erik Larsen interested in the notion, and once things got rolling along, Erik encouraged me to expand the scope of the book to include a wide variety of additional material as well, some of which had never been seen before and some of which had turned up only in the most obscure of places.
Uhm, that’s the point. It’s what he says that counts.
I remember picking up the first collections at the original Forbidden Planet in NYC. They were a hoot!
Greatest comics news of the week! (Even if it is only Monday.)
Really good to hear.
What has Fred ever done that ISN’T essential?
I hesitate to get this. I loved me some Hembeck back in the day, but I fear that it will be like seeing reruns of my favorite early 80s TV shows for the first time in decades. They’re probably a lot better in my memory.
I’m a HUGE Fred Hembeck Fan! I have loved his art for a very long time & he’s a really nice guy. One time he wrote me a small e-mail telling me how much he enjoyed my blog. It was really a great moment. By the way, He sells his comic book “Cover Re-Creations” art on eBay. If I were not so poor right now I would buy one, very cool.
Tommy
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