The Kindness of Strangers

A few months ago, for reasons that have never been made clear, Black Magick #8, from Image Comics, was "short shipped" and I was unable to find a copy, here in Toronto.

The issue was available, on E-Bay etc. but I was loathe to go that route, when the shipping costs were usually more than the cost of the book!

When Black Magick #9 came out, I was still looking for the missing #8 and I happened to have a conversation, in The Labyrinth, on Bloor Street, with a young man who was buying a copy.

It turns out, that he was lucky enough to have received a copy of the elusive #8 because he had a standing order for that title, at 

The Labyrinth and they had actually been shipped the number of books that they had asked for!

In the course of our conversation, I lamented my ill fortune and my inability to locate a copy locally.

A couple of months later, when the next issue, #10, hit the stands, I was in The Labyrinth and the manageress, Dobi, surprised me with a copy of the missing issue #8!  I was dumbstruck and amazed, especially when she told me why I was getting it...

It turns out, that the young man that I had spoken with, had not forgotten my plight and when he decided that he was less attached to the comic series, than I was, he approached Dobi, with the idea of allowing ME to have it!

What can I say,

Kindness is the Strongest Magic

and I was deeply touched 

by his thoughtfulness.

It's not quite finished yet, the lettering still needs to be added but I made this, as a "Thank You" card, for the young man and I will ask Dobi to pass it along to him.

It isn't much but I hope that it conveys my appreciation of his selfless act and how much it meant to me.

IDW Artist's Editions

When IDW hit upon the amazing idea, of making books out of photographic scans of original Comic book artwork, I was at the head of the line to buy one!

That first book, reproducing the Dave Stevens, Rocketeer artwork, was amazing and I continued to grab each new Artist's Edition title, as it hit the shelves.

BUT

The price of the books steadily increased, here in Canada, as our dollar lost ground against the American dollar and IDW began making volumes of work, that I was less interested in and I began skipping volumes.

However, I have a feeling that I will have to make an exception in April, when this one is due to arrive:

When the stories, that the artwork in this volume reproduces, I was blown away!  I had already become a Jim Starlin fan, from his time on Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu and this sequence about the character Warlock, was just plain awesome!

Some of Starlin's later work, seemed to me, to be rather repetitious, at least in the general thrust of his story writing and I finally drifted away from being a solid fan, around the time that he was making Dreadstar at Epic, in the early Eighties.

I look forward to reliving those feelings of teenaged wonder, when I buy this volume.

Remembering Dave Holmes

On the 13th of this month, it was one year on from the death of Dave Holmes.

I met Dave when I returned, tail between my legs, to the relatively new, Andromeda Bookshop and discovered that he worked there.

A friendship developed, at least from my side and since Dave never suffered fools gladly, I always assumed that he didn't completely despise me.  So, from around 1974 until I left England, in 1980, he was a regular feature in my life and in some ways, a distinct influence.

Dave managed to push me into attempting a few things, that I would not have tried to do on my own and one of them was working on the electricity wires, in his mother-in-law's house.

I was working, at that time, for the GPO (now known as British Telecom) and I had a MINOR understanding of the way electricity worked... which in Dave's mind, qualified me to fix his problem!

The job in question, was to repair the light fixture, in an under the stairs closet, that had a "pull-chain" switch built into it's base and Dave wasn't taking NO for an answer!

Well, I sweated my way through it, very carefully keeping all of the exposed wires separate from each other and working with the crappy tools he had available.  Amazingly, it worked and I didn't fry myself or the house wiring.

That was a life changing moment for me, because I was not the most self possessed or self confident personality type and Dave forced the gift of realizing that I could do things, that I didn't think I could, upon me.

I don't think that I ever told him how much that meant to me and I am sorry for that.  In the following years, much to the amazement of my Canadian wife, I was fearless in repairing/rewiring any minor electrical issues

and

it all started with Dave!

Dave and I had lost touch, reacquainted, lost touch, reacquainted and had a tenuous contact in the last couple of years before he died.  But I never forgot him and I still don't because he is woven into the fabric of my being and as someone once said,

"You are never really dead, as long as someone remembers you".

Rest in peace.

In the interests of fair play, this photograph of Dave, was borrowed from someone who posted it to Dave's Facebook page.

Snowy Toronto Day

Here in Canada, during the winter, it is not unusual to see some snow... except, that here in Toronto,

we haven't experienced a really snowy winter in years.

This Christmas season, 2017 into 2018, has been a throwback and serves as a reminder, of what a white Christmas actually looks like.

Luckily, since the city has taken to clearing the residential sidewalks, with mini-snowploughs, my snow shovelling has been reserved, mainly, for keeping our driveway and paths clear.

It has left a lot of time, what with the minus twenty degrees C, plus the windchill, outside, to pursue my interest in cartooning and comic books.

Here is a photograph, originally posted by Deon de Lange, a comic book artist, of him using an artist's mannequin for anatomy reference.

The only three dimensional aid that I have, in my drawing room, is a life-sized, human skull, in plastic.

These muscle and skeleton mannequins, look to be very useful and the one he is using, appears to be the 11-inch figure, made by a company named 3dtotal and available from Amazon.

For some reason, in the good old USA, it would cost $100 but through Amazon.ca, here in Canada, it would cost $200 Canadian!

And then I wonder why I don't have one...

In keeping with my last posting, here is another page, of fairly basic advice, about drawing cartoons.

I am constantly surprised, when looking back through all of the How-To volumes that line the shelves in my room, how much time I wasted, in looking for the, "magic formula", that would miraculously turn me into a GOOD cartoonist.

When all I had to do, was actually grasp the importance of the basic advice being proffered, on pages like the one above.

When I think about how well the young Ty Templeton and Rob Walton, could draw cartoons, way back in the early 1980s 

they obviously GOT IT and a whole lot younger than I did. 

Here is a fairly recent example of Ty Templeton's work

and below, an example of Rob Walton's style from his relaunched Ragmop series.

They knew what they were about, when pushing a pencil across a page, all those years ago and I can only hope, that I have improved my abilities, since then.

I may not be a better cartoonist today but I would like to believe that I do have a better understanding of how to draw cartoons... if that makes any sense.