I was treated this Halloween season with this superb illustration of Gorr and Tim Green‘s rambunctious Sunny by the talented and prolific cartoonist, Kim Belding. This drawing is from a series created by Kim for the Root Beer Party, a tried and true Facebook group filled with super talented creators. You can see more of Kim’s work at Picpak Dog. Thanks, Kim!
Vincent Waller came by the studio recently for a visit and it was nice to catch up with him after many years. Vincent is a creative comrade and long-time friend of one of my studio mates, Benjamin Vincent, and he was passing through town and stopped by the studio. I first met Vincent back in 1993, when I was out in L.A. visiting. He was gracious enough to let me come by the Spumco offices, in the time he was storyboarding for The Ren & Stimpy Show. Wow, what an adventure! Vincent is currently creative director and supervising producer for SpongeBob SquarePants. Vincent drew an outrageous portrait of Zombie Boy from back in his comic book days on Spumco stationary, a portion of which I’m posting below. It was great to see you again, Vincent!
Zombie Boy by Vincent Waller
Ron Ferdinand, the artist maestro behind the Sunday Dennis the Menace comic strip, honored me with this special drawing of Dennis the Menace as Zombie Boy for my recent birthday! I was floored to have someone I admire so much who has such a history in the comic strip business create something so wonderful, especially for me! Ron has worked on the Dennis the Menace comic strip since 1981. He now does the Sunday edition of the strip for King Features which regularly runs it in about 1,000 newspapers. The strip has been in the top ten of popular comic strips almost since its inception in 1951.
And in addition to the special Zombie Boy illustration, Ron included a drawing of Dennis the Menace himself! I tell you it’s a treasure, folks! I’m overjoyed to add these two wonderful works to my wall! Thanks so much, Ron!
Here’s a Little Known Fact: Gorr’s bone helmet in his original visit to the Center of the Earth (you can begin reading that storyline here) was inspired by Mike Grell’s Warlord, one of my fave characters. I tried to match the Warlord’s eagle wing sides with bones. The Warlord really electrified my teen imagination with a mix of high adventure and fantasy. Also Mike Grell’s art was a true inspiration!
When Mat Washburn asked me to write the foreword to his Evan Yeti graphic novel, you may have heard a dull thud – my jaw dropping to the floor. Mat has been a true inspiration for me since I first encountered his work online at Evan Yeti. The idea of a young abominable snow monster is intriguing enough, but Mat kicks it up the the Nth with a compelling storyline to match his powerful graphics. I’ll have to say, having talented friends around like Mat make this whole online comics biz that much sweeter for me. Thanks for the scorching art, Mat!
Copies of the Evan Yeti graphic novel are available here.