On his cover for Batman #700 (one of three milestone issues shipping in June 2010 from DC*), David Finch says:
Batman is such an iconic character and I’ve been a huge fan for so long that it was a surreal and amazing experience to draw him officially for the first time. I really have to thank Mike Marts for letting me be a part of such an important mile stone in the history of this book.
* The other two milestone issues that month are Superman #700 and Wonder Woman #700
Francis Manapul is a comic book artist living in Toronto, Canada currently working for DC comics. His list of credits include Adventure Comics, Superman/Batman, Legion of Super-Heroes and the upcoming relaunch of The Flash. In the past he’s worked on titles like Iron and the Maiden, Necromancer, Sept Guerrieres, Tomb Raider, Darkness, G.I Joe and Witchblade.
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The piece shown above one of over 40 original art pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in March 2010. Watch for announcements on this site!
Every day we will try to post an original piece and some information on the artist(s) that donated the work.
Returning as Master of Ceremonies in 2010 is Jonathan Llyr.
Jonathan Llyr is one of the most recognizable geeks in Canada today. As host of the nationally broadcast SPACE Channel’s SPACEY AWARDS for their first five years, Jon earned the respect of Hardcore Nerds everywhere when, over the years, Richard Dean Anderson had him ‘thrown off’ the set of STARGATE SG-1 (with a bonus instruction of “one shot to the kneecaps”), Bruce Campbell attacked him in the woods behind his house with a chainsaw, and Katee Sackhoff let him climb into her Viper.
Jon got his start on TV in 1998, after years of honing his skills as a professional actor and the artistic director of the Shakespearean theatre company, Tempest Theatre Group, SPACE needed someone who would wear a rubber turtle shell on his head (shades of Alan Rickman in GALAXY QUEST, anyone?) and it was a perfect fit. So, for several years, Jon appeared weekly on the cult TV show SPACEBAR as Grot, the loveably clueless alien barfly cum barkeep. Eventually trading shell for battered orange ball-cap, Jon was then seen five nights a week on DRIVE-IN CLASSICS as the genially pontificating drive-in theatre projectionist, Drive-in Dick – font of all B-movie knowledge and wisdom.
Jon’s subsequent stint as host, reporter and interviewer for HYPASPACE and HYPASPACE WEEKLY put him in close contact with stars like Patrick Stewart, Andy Serkis, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (at the same time in what proved to be an awesome media scoop!), David Hayter, Jolene Blalock, George Takei, Tricia Helfer, Steven Spielberg and many others.
Heading out into strange, new worlds with The HardcoreNerdity Network is his latest challenge.
None of this is surprising, considering Jonathan’s formative years. When he was a kid, his mom used to write him sick-notes so he could ditch school and line up on opening day for STAR TREK movies. She let him glue his Lego together in the shape of a phaser and paint it silver. She looked the other way when he put her good oven mitts on his feet so that he could be ‘Cornelius’ from PLANET OF THE APES. She made the rest of the family be quiet as he sat in front of the t.v., painstakingly making audio-cassette recordings of STAR TREK episodes so he could play them back at bedtime. That was in the days before VCRs. And when the family got one of those – Jon’s mom bought him his very first movie. It was SUPERMAN. And she let him stay home from school (again) to watch it before she wrapped it up as his Christmas present (he had to promise to look surprised when he opened it). So, really? This is all her fault.
The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards will once again be presented at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.
The 6th Annual JSA ceremony will take place on the evening of Saturday, June 5, 2010.
Jeffery Klaehn has posted an excellent interview with the great Paul Rivoche over on his Pop web-blog.
Thanks to Danny Truong for donating this great piece to the auctions! It’s massive – almost 22″ x 34″.
Djief Bergeron worked for many years in the fields of 2D-3D animation and video game design. In those years he designed environments and characters for platforms and online games. In 2005, he joined Grafiksismik Studio as a house artist working full-time on illustrations and comic books (such as The Grimoire for the late Speakeasy Comics), and has continued to freelance in comics to this – producing stories for French Europeen comics magazines. He presently works for the french publishers Soleil (“Le Crépuscule des Dieux”) and Glénat (“Saint-Germain”).
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The piece shown above is a special digital print, one of over 40 pieces featuring Wolverine donated to the Joe Shuster Awards for the Visions of an Icon Art Show and Sale by Canadian artists. The pieces were exhibited twice in 2009 – at the Joe Shuster Awards Ceremony in September and at the Speakeasy Comic Art Show in November. The original art pieces will be auctioned off on eBay in March 2010. Watch for announcements on this site!
Every day we will try to post an original piece and some information on the artist(s) that donated the work.
