Art

Terry Moore has been posting some of the sketches he'll have for sale at Baltimore Comic-Con, like this one of SIN CITY's Nancy Callahan. Man, he's going to have a hard time selling these doodles.

Jason redraws a page from Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron at the behest of his German publisher. I'm only posting one panel of each here. Go to the link to see the originals!

Now this is a great way to spend your money! Cartoonist Jason Young has spent the last three years slowly commissioning an array of great indie artists to redraw FANTASTIC FOUR #9, the issue co-starring the Sub-Mariner. It's a Coober Skeeber/Strange Tales mash-up that proves the talents of all involved. Young writes:

Back when the deeds of Kyrax2 were making the rounds, we'd tagged a post we never got around to spotlighting by author Diane Duane, who lists her bio as "30+ years in print, 50+ novels, assorted TV and movie work, the NYT Bestseller List a few times, blah blah blah. Also: the Young Wizards series, 1983-2010 and beyond"--the kind of long-lasting, multi-media resume that superior writers build up. In a post on her blog about DC's women troubles, Duane talked about being a comics reader and creator over the years:

Ashcan All-Stars is a new all-star sketch blog featuring Shawn Crystal, Christopher Mitten, Erik Jones, James Stokoe, Khary Randolph, Moritat, Nathan Fox, Robbi Rodriguez, Ryan Stegman, Sheldon Vella and Tyler Crook. Yikes! They are currently sketching Sin City character, such as Nathan Fox's Miho above. Much more fierce pulchritude in the link.

As many have noted, Frances Bean Cobain, long the innocent ping pong ball in a custody battle with her stability challenged mother, Courtney Love, and other family members, will be 18 in a few days. And to celebrate, she's been photographed by fashion designer Hedi Slimane, best known for his ultra-slim cut suits. Along the way Cobain shows off a tattoo based on a character by cartoonist Al Columbia (Pim and Francie) -- which should come as no surprise, since Cobain's art alter ego Fiddle Tim lists Columbia as an influence. These pictures from Slimane have gotten wide play and they are beautiful. If you scroll down the page you see his previous subject was Amy Winehouse. Given Cobain's genetic influences, (and her swift evolution from relatively healthy looking girl to goth idol) this all looks kinda creepy. But hey, it's probably all the lighting.

Two from Michael Dooley via Imprint, Print magazine's online component. Salon reprints a piece called How comics influence graphic designers with comments and examples from Chip Kidd, Seymour Chwast, Mark Chiarello, and more. And in this piece Dooley wanders around Comic-Con and talks to interesting people like David Mack, Peter Kuper and Matt Kindt.

Fresh off his Raiders of the Lost Ark/Popeye mashup, Chuck Forsman is mixing Jaws with Peanuts.. Prints are available -- collect the whole set!

Over on his blog, Norwegian superstar Jason has revealed the front and back covers for October's JASON CONQUERS AMERICA, a 32-page tribute to all things Jason:

Steam Crow is a publishers/novelty/poster/art company we've noticed at shows before because of their great display and attractive merchandise. They are not an outright comics publisher, as they concentrate on buttons, prints, art and so on but they do publish some books. Their style is distinctive -- a cute/horror/steampunk kind of mashup . They's just posted selling tips from San Diego that EVERYONE SHOULD READ, as it contains solid advice about making sales at the show -- despite being across the aisle from a giant movie booth. Although their product line makes this a bit different from a comic-only booth, the reality is that selling ancillary merchandise is a major revenue stream for most comics publishers these days, small and large, and these observations are valuable for just about everyone. A sample:

Every day in July the great Gabrielle Bell a href="http://gabriellebell.com/2011/08/01/31/"> posted a comic. . Out own July was a bit too chaotic for regular reading but it's all up now -- but only until August 15th. We caught up with our own reading, and it's a fascinating trip into a world of nosy supers, computer cables, post office frustration, lost keys, self doubt and survival. Check it out while you can ...and congrats Gabrielle.

Some lucky guy got an awesome commission.