Ken Kelly Spotlight

Ken Kelly is a friend to the Apes. He’s going to be contributing to the Conspiracy illustrated novel. If you look to the left you’ll see an angry Ursus daring you to click on him, that’s one of Ken’s pieces.

He’s also been a friend to the crew at BLAM! Ventures since we were booth neighbors at a Big Apple Con a few years back, so we’re kind of fond of him here. While we’ll be doing a profile on him here at some point in the future, I just wanted to point you in the direction of something that showed up in my Google Reader tonight.

(Sorry, no apes in these pictures, so you get a couple of giant crabs)

Ken’s Robert E. Howard series of painting has been featured on the Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog. It’s a gorgeous collection of paintings from the late ‘70s through to 1980. For those of you not familiar with Ken’s work (and you really should be, or we’ll have to send Ursus to “help” you get familiar with them) go check it out!

Lost in the shuffle

Here's a picture I seem to have forgotten to post. It was the other art wall.

Look close, you'll see a sketch of Steranko's cover! Click for a bigger view.

Sanjulian Draws!

Both of the artists who provided the images for our exclusive prints had been signing for us daily at the con. I showed Joe Jusko hanging out and being interviewed on Thursday, now it's Sanjulian's turn.

Here he is on Saturday signing and sketching on the large banner featuring his art that we had made for our booth.



And at the table during the signing.


Despite the fact that none of us spoke Spanish, and Sanjulian didn't speak English, we got along really well and he's wonderful person. Joe Jusko had said that Sanjulian was a big influence on him as a kid, and ironically enough, their booths were next to each other in the artist's section of main floor (nothing we planned, just happy coincidence).

A fan of Sanjulian's who had just met him the first day of the con was kind enough to hang out each day and help us with translations (his names escapes me, but I will find out and update as we owe him a thanks).

The Apes universe hasn't seen the last of Sanjulian's brush.

A Conspiracy artist stops by

Leo Leibelman came to the booth last night to say hi and was kind enough to pose by his contribution to the book, a painting called "The Song."

Why is it called that you may ask? You'll have to wait until spring 2010 when you can buy the book to find out.

Friday afternoon, late

After a long day on Thursday that became a long night for most of us, we returned somewhat rested and ready to go back to the floor.

Things started a little early when the con organizers decided to let everyone in 15 minutes before scheduled. We had to get the booth up and running while helping con-goers looking for the free replicas of Landon's dog tags and today's free Matt Busch card (Ursus for the curious).

Speaking of the dog tags, I'm told a set has already gone up on eBay, selling for $18.00. They could've at least waited until after the con, maybe they would've gotten a better price.

Joe Jusko was onboard to sign his print "Alpha" again, and the legendary Sanjulian stopped by to sign his print "Omega." Both will be back on Saturday and Sunday, Jusko from 1-2 pm and Sanjulian from 3-4pm. Stop by and pick up a set and get them signed and personalized by the artists. Here are the prints on display:




Some more pictures of the booth, and a hint of some of the other art we got coming.

Getting press!

A local film crew from Platt College is covering the convention and they're interviewing Andrew about the book. Joe Jusko stopped by for his signing just as they were getting started and joined in the fun.




There they are, looking good.




We'll link to the interview when it's up.