Comic Book Resources

Straight for the art | Can you find the throwing star?

Usagi Hidden Pictures

I remember as a kid one of the highlights -- ok, the only highlight -- of going to the doctor's office was getting to read issues of Highlight magazine in the waiting room. My favorite feature, besides "Goofus and Gallant," was "Hidden Pictures," where you had to find all the hidden items in a picture. Now Stan Sakai has taken a page from the magazine -- page 14, to be exact -- and made a Hidden Pictures featuring Usagi Yojimbo. Tip: Always check the clouds and tree leaves first ... click on the link to go check out the full image

Straight for the art | Mark Chiarello's Josh Gibson print

Josh Gibson

DC art director Mark Chiarello shares a print he did of baseball player Josh Gibson for the Josh Gibson Foundation. The organization will sell them as a fundraiser, starting in a few weeks.

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

I believe we've reached the pre-Thanksgiving industry slowdown.

Green Arrow: Year One

Internet | A website called the Home of the Green Arrow, which supports the far-right British National Party in its "fight to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for millennia," has co-opted Jock's art from the DC Comics miniseries Green Arrow: Year One for its banner. "This is leaving a horrible taste in my mouth," the artist wrote this morning on Twitter. He has contacted DC's legal department. [Jock's Twitter feed]

Art | Frank Frazetta's original cover painting for the 1967 Lancer paperback edition of Conan the Conqueror sold at auction last week for a reported $1 million. That's nearly four times the previous record price for the artist's work -- $251,000 -- paid in 2008 for the cover to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Escape on Venus. [Spectrum Fantastic Art, via Sci Fi Wire]

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Comics Cavalcade: Goofy and Gossip Girlz

King Aroo by Jack Kent

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Straight for the art | Seth does Criterion

Make Way for Tomorrow cover

Check out Seth's latest illustration project, the cover to Criterion Collection's edition of the classic Leo McCarey film Make Way for Tomorrow. I would imagine the interior booklet is just as superbly designed.

Comics Cavalcade: Hollywood Husbands and Mexican wrestlers

Hollywood Husbands by Jefferson Machamer

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Straight for the art: antizerogravity

Mome contributor T. Edward Bak (and creator of the great comic Service Industry) has a new art blog up where he's posting sketches, illustrations and pages from his next Mome story, Wild Man. (via)

Straight for the art | Steve Epting's Frankenstein

Frankenstein

Artist Steve Epting shares this killer Frankenstein piece on his blog, noting Frank's a little late for Halloween. Well, he does walk slow...

Straight for the art | Name That Movie

This one's easy

Paul Rogers has a nifty ongoing series up now titled Name That Movie, where he presents six drawings based on a popular film, presented in chronological order, but with no sketches of actors or film stars, forcing you to suss out the name of the flick via a few props and scenic shots. (via)

Comics Time: Murder ballads and invisibility

This is the start of what will hopefully be a regular (or, more likely, semi-regular) feature where I round up any and all interesting sequential art stories, both old and new, that I happened to come across on my Internet adventures. Let me know if this is the sort of thing you'd like to see more regularly here, or if you have any comics or links you'd like to share.

On the Banks of the Ohio by Rebecca Dart

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Straight for the art: Alt-comix trading cards

Jay Stephens tradiing card

AdHouse publisher Chris Pitzer has put up a Flickr set of his Alternative Artist Trading Card Series. What exactly is that you ask? I'll let Pitzer explain:

Back in the mid-90's, before AdHouse, I was a grade-A fanboy. As such, I thought up a project where I would send my favorite artists a blank trading card for them to illustrate. I created the back, which had a brief bio, sample art, and more than likely typos. There were three volumes of these cards. And by "volumes" what I would do is make a mini-book of each series that I would then send out to each participant of that volume.

It's an impressive who's who of the then-burgeoning alt-comics scene, including folks like Joe Matt, Xaime Hernandez, Jim Woodring, Evan Dorkin, Jeff Smith and many, many more. The art's rather spiffy too. Chris Ware's in particular is rather eloquent. (via Tom)

Straight for the art: Tintin sketchbook

O'Malley's Tintin

One of the highlights for me at this year's SPX was having Top Shelf's Leigh Walton show me his impressive Tintin-themed sketchbook featuring art by folks like Bryan Lee O'Malley, Jeff Lemire, Kate Beaton, Jeffrey Brown and many others. Thankfully, Walton has put up a Flickr set of the sketchbook, so that all from near and far can revel in it. Great snakes, what fun!

Straight for the art | Cuaderno de Frases Encontradas

From Berrio's 'Conversations'

Even if you can't read Spanish (and I totally can't) this sketchblog by Juan Berrio, based on snatches of overheard conversations is still worth checking out. (via)

Straight for the art | Allan Sanders' superheroes

Sanders' Superheroes

Get your weekend off to the right start by checking out this collage of superheroes by illustrator and animator Allan Sanders. (via)

Straight for the art | Jeffrey Brown’s Haruki Murakami

Jeffrey Brown’s Haruki Murakami

Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time!, the blog that posts portraits of authors by comic creators, recently posted one of Haruki Murakami by Jeffery Brown. You can see the back story on it, also by Brown, over at Kevin Church's blog.