Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Images from SPACE!

And so another trip to SPACE has come and gone!
This convention was a special one for a lot of reasons. It not only marked the second SPACE appearance for Mr. Pickle Press himself, Nik Havert & myself, but it was also the largest gathering of the happy few that make up the Orange Tablecloth Front. Who or what the hell is the OTF? you might ask? Well, I'm glad you asked. Basically a few of us indy guys got together to form a support group to help promote and support each other against the staggering odds against us set up by The Man. We're not out to change the world, just to let comic book fans know that there's a huge chunk of iceberg just below the surface. Why orange? you ask? If you ask fellow OTF conspirator Bill "The Inkslinger" Wilkison, he'll tell you it's because nothing rhymes with "orange."
Above is a picture of myself (left) and Nik at the Pickle Press table just a few hours into the show. Aside from being set up across the aisle from Uko "Mr. Pin-Up" Smith, my only qualm about our area was the lighting. I wasn't the only one who noticed either. A number of artists I talked to had the same complaint.
By the way, Uko is an artist's artist and as humble as they come. More on him later...


For the life of me, I can't remember this guy's name, but he did an awesome picture of Vampirella for Nik. While the guy was working on it, I mentioned to Nik how the guy just had to be in Salem, AZ. Nik agreed and the guy was flattered. The Vampi drawing was awesome and as soon as I can get his name and website, you'll find it here, boppers.






Jay E. Fife (above) is not only a fantastic artist, but a fan as well, or most importantly, his daughter Erin is. After all, what's more important than inspiring the next generation? Jay poses here with a Wonder Woman drawing I did for her.
"What I don't get," I told him while leafing through his pin-up book, "is why does she want me to draw pictures for her?"
"Let me put it to you this way," he said, "she's not asking me to draw Wonder Woman for her."
That's probably the highest praise I've gotten since Steve The Dude Rude said, "I like that you're not afraid to use black."


Corey of Young American Comics was gracious enough to pose with a pack of candy smokes for my upcoming website deticated to the cancerous confectionary. YAC had some of the finest mini comics I've ever read. I particularly enjoyed Pair-O-Normal Investigators #1 in which Bigfoot & the Loch Ness Monster are paranormal investigators in Monstra City. Check out YAC's website, buy some stuff & support indy comics!






"Jam books" were all the rage this year. If you were an artist, it was only a matter of time before someone slipped one under your nose. For those of you not in the know, a jam book is just a piece of drawing paper, sometimes several pieces stapled together, with some form of story going on that you're asked to contribute a panel to. It's a great idea, but after about my fourth jam book, it occured to me that it's also a pretty good racket to garner some free orginal art.
The one you see above was, I believe, a hastily stapled scam to get some free art, so I got greedy and took the whole back cover. I realize it's fuzzy, but it's Nik and me standing at our table:
"Dude," says Nik, "you totally over-committed to that sketch."
"Dude," I reply, "I'm across the aisle from Uko Friggin' Smith!"
Thanks to the Slinger for that bit.
Uko was put back by the compliment.
No this isn't the back cover to a Molley Hatchet or Foghat album. I owe a Big 'Fro-sized thanks to Hollywood for providing me with this group shot of the OTF. With the exception of Joe Fuentes, the OTF were all present and accounted for. From left to right, are Mike "Can't Get Me No Satrysfaction" Indovina, myself, Hollywood, the Inkslinger & Nik. Keep it here, boppers for all the latest news about the OTF, yours truly and anything else that comes to mind. The countdown to SPACE 2007 is on...

2 comments:

The Inkslinger said...

I think that dude is Jim Foster neo-pompei@netzero.com...he got slung!

Frenzair said...

Dude! Scott here.

I've no time to read yer stuff yet. It's complicated. I had to fight "piracy" (ie my Windows version", re-install, produce, and now wait for driving directions to some suburb of Chicago. And oh, go thru HELL trying to get half a day off!! (thank you, Leslee, if you're reading this!!) Jesus, the net!

Later, Man!

Longhair