Tales from a Bart Sears Collector

Odds & Ends #1 on sale NOW!!!!

2011-12-12T14:57:00.001Z

Howdy folks, long time no talk. Sorry about that.
I'm here today to share with you a Searsian moment that is rather exciting. You see, fellow Searsians, Ominous Studios has just announced the publication of Bart's first ever sketchbook! I know, I know, calm down for a second and let me tell you all about it.
The sketchbook, titled 'Odds & Ends,' is a 5" x 8" book with a massive 52 pages of sketches, page pencils, commissions, doodles, roughs, character designs and every other thing you can probably think of. It's going to be a wonder to hold, and behold.
And the best part is, it's only a mere $12 for that mighty tome. And even better yet, if you order before January 8, it's only 10 bucks! How ridiculously awesome is that?!?! Well, yes, that's pretty awesome, but it gets even better... for only another $10 you get an original convention-styled sketch to be drawn right in the sketchbook. That is beyond awesome!
So here's a look at the cover for this badboy-

As you may have noticed, it has the number '#1' on it, that's because this is the first in a planned series of sketchbooks. There are literally thousands of images to choose from, so there will be no trouble filling these sketchbooks up with artwork, much of which has never been seen before, even by me on a few occasions...

Here's a few spreads from the first sketchbook to further whet (correct spelling!) your appetite -

So, there is absolutely no reason why you should not directly head over to the below link and purchase your copy of Odds & Ends #1 right away. Do so... now.

http://ominousstudios.com/emporium/

This Bart Sears and that Bart Sears #2

2011-08-09T18:33:00.006+01:00

Good morning fellow Searsians, it's time to catch everysearsian up on some of the 'going's on' from the Bart Sears estate. It has been a good long while since I've done something like this, and there are several projects that have long since been completed that I have neglected to mention here.
So what I'm going to do is start with the most recent projects, and work my way backwards.

So first off, Bart has just recently completed the pencils and inks for the Deadlands: Death Was Silent One-Shot which goes on sale on the 17th of August. Here's the beautiful cover inks for it:

Deadlands: Death Was Silent cover inks

I've been lucky enough to see all of the pages of this comic as they were completed in their inked form, and I can honestly say that this is one of the best comics Bart has done in many years. It is done in a style that hasn't been seen before by Bart, it's kinda like a sketchy version of The Path, with some fantastic storytelling and emphasis on flow and framing, rather than flash and pretty lines. This comic art shows a maturity on Bart's part that has always been there, but rarely on display so evidently.
Bart has been kind enough to hold onto all of the thumbnails and roughs from this comic for me, and I'll do a big post here about the comic and the roughs as soon as the comic is out and I have the roughs to show you. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them both.
Ominous Studios has produced a number of fun items to get people ordering this particular comic, namely these three promo adverts:

Deadlands: Death Was Silent promo adverts by Ominous Studios

They even went as far as creating a little promotional video for the comic, with sound effects and all! Check it out here.

Bart has also completed several very nice commissions recently, including this one and this one. Lovely aren't they? They are produced on those new trendy comics with blank covers, for artists to work directly on, much like the Wolverine 100 project covers Bart did. Bart has mentioned to me that he does like drawing on these covers, but has found that the format doesn't allow for the use of a light box much, so the roughs and all pencil work have to be done on the actual cover, which is obviously not how a traditional comic page is done. But the results are still fantastic, even more so for the fact that they are inked entirely in markers. Not a brush to be seen.

Bart has been producing a number of interactive comics (or Interactive Graphic Media, as Bart prefers to call them) for the Ominous Studios website. These interactive comics show recent and previous comic work of Bart's in a really cool format that I'm sure you'll agree is both fun to use and great to look at. You can see the unpublished Heroes For Hire issue from the late 90's here. You can also see the inks for Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #200 here and the pencils for Conan: Island of No Return #1 here.

And speaking of Conan: Island of No Return, you'll all no doubt know by now that Bart produced the pencils for two issues of this finite series. The first issue came out on 15/6/11, and the second issue came out on the 20/7/11. Both issues seem to have gotten very favourable reviews, with many people being pleasantly surprised with Bart's work on it. It would appear that this Conan work, coupled with the impending Deadlands issue, could be the work that really gets Bart's name out there again, which can only be a good thing.

One step back is the cover image Bart produced for Advent Comics' Pandemonium: Evil Incarnate book. I call it a book because it isn't really a comic, it's more of a Graphic Novel, of about 70-80 pages in length. Anyway, here's Bart's pencils for the cover alongside the final version:

Pandemonium: Evil Incarnate by Advent Comics

Bart only did these cover pencils for this book, which can be purchased through a number of places, including Amazon, in both book and kindle form.
But apart from this cover, Bart has produced a decent amount of work for Advent Comics, including this Titan cover that is yet to see print:

Advent Comics' forthcoming title 'Titan' cover pencils by Bart Sears

He's also produced some very unique work for another as yet unpublished title for Advent Comics, this time creating a bunch of interior pages on the art program Manga, the results of which are amazingly crisp and beautiful to look at. I sincerely hope these pages get printed, but it has been about 9 months since Bart handed them in to the publisher, with still no sign of them. Only time will tell.

Bart also recently produced some single frame action grabs for an organisation called Robin Hood, who raises money through charity work to feed the homeless of New York. They hold large events that appear to attract some high-flying A-List stars such as Lady Gaga! Anyways, Bart produced a handful of images of a modern Robin Hood sort of character that was then used for a video at an event. Photos of the final product are seemingly impossible to come across, but I can share a few of the inked renditions with you in the meantime:

Robin Hood frames

Let's see, what else has Bart done lately... oh yeah, he also did a two-page splash for an issue of Top Cow's Artifacts comics! The comic in question, issue #3, came out on 17/10/10, with a trade paperback featuring the issue and spread being released on 26/1/11.
And here are the pencils and inks that Bart provided for the spread:

Top Cow's Artifacts #3 2-page spread by Bart Sears

And finally, one of the bigger jobs that Bart and the gang at Ominous Studios has undertaken recently is a project still very much shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I can't really give you any information at all on it, not even the name of the project, but I can say that the work produced by Ominous Studios for it is fantastic and will be worth the wait!

Now, as for the future. Again, I'm privileged to be privy to a great deal of what is going on at Ominous Studios, but bound to secrecy nonetheless. I can say that there are more Brute & Babe tutorials on the way, both old and new ones (which is exciting enough on its own!). There are some very interesting educational products in the works, not to mention several entertainment properties that are simply going to knock your socks off.

It is a very good time to be a Bart Sears fan, there's plenty of things to collect, and promise of amazing things down the road, so stay tuned, Searisans, the future is bright indeed!

Infinity - Who's Who?

2011-06-26T15:05:00.011+01:00

I would suggest you pop the kettle on, this is a monster post!

This post is the last in a series of four entries dealing with some of the inhabitants of the Ominous Universe. It is perhaps the one I, personally, have most been looking forward to. That is mainly because the characters that I am going to introduce to you today are some of the most interesting and clearly defined in all of the Ominous Universe.

Brute & Babe Infinity came out in October of 1994, with the Ashcan a month previously in Wizard #37. But it might interest you Searsians to know that Infinity was actually the first book to be drawn! Infinity stands as a story outside of the regular continuity of It Begins and Mael’s Rage, it can be placed at any time during the plotline and is more of a dreamscape interlude than a core story. But that is not to say that it does not have as much importance as the other two comics... far from it.

In fact, Infinity can be argued to be the most important of the three comics, as it introduces a larger view of the Ominous Universe and some of its bigger players. It leaves open ever so slightly a door into the greater OU worlds, and gives the impression that while the story of Mael and Auoro’s destiny as the chosen to fulfil the Prophecy (as told in It Begins, Mael’s Rage and what would have been Death of Pheros and Omen), there is far more to the story than just this arc.

So let’s have a look at it shall we?

First off, let me list the names that are included in the copyright indicia on the credits page. We have-

Brute, Babe, Intrepid, Devos and MegaMen copyright of Bart Sears.

Wotan, Hathos, Ytraal Ytraal, Furros, Gortros, Quudraimm, Sraiiven Hoord and Saint Pyrs copyright of Bart Sears and Michael J. Morrissey.

Tekron and Ri are copyright of Bart Sears, Michael J. Morrissey and John Pedercini.

I remember reading this indicia way back in 1994 and having a multitude of questions simultaneously pop up in my mind.

Who on earth are all of those characters? Which one is which? And who are these Michael J. Morrissey and John Pedercini chaps and how do they relate back to Bart?

Well, I plan on answering the first two questions in this very post, the last question will be answered in great detail in a future post, I assure you.

But let’s get back to the characters in Infinity. We have Brute, Babe, Intrepid, MegaMen and Saint Pyrs who should be known to everybody by now, but if not, read the previous Who’s Who posts to find out more about them.

That leaves Devos, Wotan, Hathos, Ytraal Ytraal, Furros, Gortros, Quudraimm, Sraiiven Hoord, Tekron and Ri to find in the comic. In reading the comic, you find that Mael is pitted against a total of seven heavily armed and slightly medieval looking evil warriors. And on the last page, we have six panels of characters, some recognisable (Intrepid, Saint Pyrs and Zeus the MegaMan), with three new faces.

So that’s 10 new characters and 10 names to place them to. On pages 6 & 7, there is a nice reveal of all of the 7 bad guys, and two of them reveal their own names, Ytraal Ytraal and Tekron. That leaves 8... and that’s unfortunately where I stood for many years, unable to discern any further which name went with who.

Then I managed to get my hands on 3 very important items that not only revealed who is who, but also gave an inkling of what these characters were. The first item was a pencil rough of Infinity page 15, with the same characters as the final image (which I also own), but in different poses and with each one’s name rather conveniently placed below them. Here is a detail from that page-

The next item was a handful of character design roughs produced by Michael J. Morrissey (MJM from here) during the Ominous Press days. Some of them just feature visual designs of the characters and their weapons, but one lists all of the 7 bad guys’ names and their title/description. For instance, Tekron is listed as ‘Tekron: Paladins.’ Referring back to page 7, we can see that Tekron announces himself as “Tekron, Curlord of the Seven and Dead High-Lord of the Paladins.” This would suggest that not only is Tekron leader of the Paladins, but also leader of the Seven characters currently in question. This is further proven by the front cover of the comic, with Tekron leading the charge, so to speak. In truth, Tekron is indeed the leader of this group of 7 evil warriors.

The last item I got my hands on, was the Character Notes document from the Ominous Press days, which lists several dozen characters, both good and evil, from the Ominous Universe in statistical detail, giving criteria such as appearance, strength, weapons and a few other important facts. And wouldn’t you know, it includes the 7 evil warriors as well!

But before I introduce each of these 7 characters to you individually, there are a few important points to go over beforehand. Firstly, Tekron refers to himself as “Dead High-Lord of the Paladins.” This is a crucial title for two reasons. 1) It would suggest that Tekron is dead. 2) He leads a group called the Paladins.

Regarding the first one, Tekron, as well as the other 6 members of this gathering, is actually dead in the respect that he is no longer a normal living human person. Yet ‘live’ he still does. But in another form.

Secondly, the term Paladin has a medieval historical origin, but it is also prevalent as a character type in fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. In D&D, a Paladin is somebody in the service of a god, who has granted them special powers as payment for their servitude. They are generally warriors and emissaries of their god’s will.

This description is also given to Paladins in the Ominous Universe. They are one and the same...ish (Bart always puts his own slant on things).

So Tekron, who often speaks of his ‘Dread Lord’ is leader of the Paladins. Whether the other 6 warriors are Paladins too, is unclear. On page 9, panel 2, a warrior in the background tells Tekron to “Stand fast, Paladin. I claim blood right to this heretic dog...” This would suggest that this particular warrior is NOT a Paladin, but then he does use the word ‘Heretic,’ which would certainly be the type of word a Paladin would use.

Bart himself cannot recall if any of the other warriors in this group are Paladins, but he believes they are not.

The next important thing to mention is the title of this particular story in Infinity. While the comic is called ‘Brute & Babe: Infinity,’ the indicia title and actual story title is ‘The Infinity of Warriors.’ Don’t ask me what that means, because I don’t know, and it’s not the important bit. The important bit is the story sub-title, which is ‘Revelation of the Molochs.’ Without the knowledge I have gleaned, that sub-title is fairly nondescript and meaningless. But in fact, it holds one very important word... Molochs. This word appears previously in the Meal’s Rage’s ‘Portents’ page (a summary of future Ominous Press comic releases) where it states that Mael encounters the dreadful Molochs.

These Molochs are the 7 evil warriors.

What the heck is a Moloch? Well, in our world it is one of two things. 1) It’s an Australian desert-living lizard, and 2) a Semitic god that required sacrifices from its followers. That second definition can be extended to simply mean a malevolent force or being that either sacrifices, or requires sacrifices in its name.

This a pretty close description of the Molochs in the Ominous Universe. They are definitely malevolent beings, and do their god’s bidding without question. They are closer to their god than Paladins and their god uses them for very important missions. To give a parallel, Molochs are to their god what the 7 highest angels would be to the Christian god. That make sense?

And the last point to make before we come to the individual characters, is the question of who their god actually is. In the comic, the god is referred to as ‘Dread Lord’ on several occasions, but no name is given. That is because of all of the Ominous Press secrets, this is the big one. The BIG, BIG one. Obviously, I’m not about to reveal a secret that big (it took me long enough to get the secret out of Bart!), but I can say that this ‘Dread Lord’ is awesomely powerful, evil as evil can be, and is a big player in the OU. And that’s all you’re getting from me on that particular character. I may well have already said more than I should have!

And now, finally, we get to the actual individual Molochs. Here’s a detail of the Infinity cover for you, with the characters numbered from 1 to 7-

And here is the spread from pages 6 and 7, in pencilled form, with the characters having the same corresponding numbers-

And here are the character descriptions-

1. Hathos (name means Frostfire)

Undead Enslaver

Hathos is the most powerful Moloch, probably having something to do with the fact he’s 10 feet tall. He’s a Northern Warrior, which means he was born into a cold and harsh environment. His large broadsword is magical, and bites like ice.

In-comic: Page 8 has a great shot of him on panel 2, and he’s the one that stabs Mael on page 12, panel 6.

2. Ytraal Ytraal

Rules a horde of human marauders – ‘The Blood Mad Horde’

Ytraal Ytraal loves nothing more than killing. But he’s a coward at heart, preferring an unfair fight or attacking from behind. He’s prone to fleeing at the slightest hint of the tide turning against his favour in a battle. He’s originally from a desert wasteland.

In-comic: On page 12, panel 7, that’s him with the chain around Mael’s neck. On page 13, he’s the one saying “Time to flee...”

3. Sraiiven Hoord

Controls the Beasts and Monstrosities

Sraiiven Hoord is perhaps the most recognisable of all of the Molochs (next to Tekron, that is), due to several things. First he’s one of only two Molochs to have the Omega Symbol on his forehead (the other being Tekron), he has darker skin and has big braided dreadlocks. He’s the only Moloch not to wear a helmet too. He is the least decomposed of all of the Molochs, and he has tattoo scars all over his body in various patterns. His weapon of choice is the spear.

In-comic: Mael blasts him on page 12, panel 5.

4. Quudraimm

Lord of the Assassins

As opposed to Sraiiven Hoord, Quudraimm is the most decayed looking Moloch. He’s massively tall, and like any good assassin, uses daggers almost exclusively. Quudraimm has a deep lisp, he’s the one that says stuff like “HISSS SSSPLEEN.”

In-comic: Look for the green-glowing dagger on page 13! Not to mention page 11, panel 3 – that’s him getting a hole blown through him by Mael.

5. Gortros ‘Fierce Blood’

Controls Orcs, Trolls, Ogres and Giants

As big as Hathos is, Gortros is bigger. He’s a whopping 12 feet tall! I guess that’s why he controls the big creatures. He wields a massive two-handed, two-headed battle axe. He’s normally a quiet one, but when he does speak, his words drip with his arrogance. To him, everybody is beneath him, and not just in size.

In-comic: Standing behind Tekron on page 13, panel 2. Page 8, panel 1 has a small full figure shot of him holding his axe too.

6. Furros ‘Doomshorn’

Lord of the Hunters and Witch Hunters

Furros controls the werebeasts, hell hounds and other dogs. Furros is recognisable by that horizontal moustache of his, and he’s the only archer in all of the Molochs. He’s bloody tall too, coming in at about 9’5”. He wears banded mail, leather and fur. His mode of combat is to let off several arrows, then close in for the kill.

In-comic: Great shot of him on page 9, panel 8.

7. Tekron

Curlord of the Seven and Dead High-Lord of the Paladins

Tekron is just mean looking. He would appear to be the most intelligent of the Molochs, but he’s not the most powerful, though he was the most powerful Paladin when he was alive. He is now second only to his Dread Lord.

In-comic: All over the place, he spits a liquid that Bart has lovingly called “Dead Fluid Stuff” on page 9, panel 1, and traces an Omega symbol in the air in panel 6 of the same page.

Obviously, there is much more to these characters than what I have written, but I want to leave some stuff to the imagination. And I’m sure you have further questions regarding them, namely... What is the relevance of the Omega Symbol? How do they know of the Prophecy? Where do they come from? And oodles more, no doubt. But I’m afraid those questions are to remain unanswered for the time being. There are answers to those questions, you have my word, but they are not for me to give.

One last thing I want to cover with the Molochs is their unusual names. Bloody unusual names. They’re just not names you can pinpoint an origin of, they have no cultural identity that is recognisable, which would pretty clearly suggest that they are not of this world. And that suggestion would actually be correct, they’re not from here!

But how would one go about pronouncing their names? That was another question I held onto for many a year. You can sort of guess at most of them, but the nuances of inflection and syllable emphasis are an unwieldy beast at the best of times, so any guess would always only be that, a guess. But why guess when I can just list the names and their correct pronunciation right here and now!

Hathos - hath-OSE (HATH rhyming with math, OSE rhyming with most, minus the T at the end, of course)

Ytraal Ytraal - E-tral E-tral (hard E like Each, TRAL rhyming with Hal, as in Hal Jordan)

Sraiiven Hoord – SRAY-ven Hoard (SRAY rhyming with stray, low emphasis VEN. HOARD as in hoard of supplies definition)

Quudraimm – qu-UD-raiMM (QU-UD rhyming with mud but with low emphasis on QU, RAIMM rhyming with rain, with extended M sound)

Gortros – gore-TROSE (GORE as in blood and guts definition, TROSE same rule as Hathos, but with strong TR before)

Furros – fe-UR-OSE (FE as in sea, UR rhyming with her, OSE same as Hathos usage)

Tekron – TECH-ron (TECH as in technology, RON as in the name)

I hope that makes it easier for you all. Those pronunciations themselves give rise to a few questions of their own, I’ve found. The most interesting being the relationship of the name structure and subsequent pronunciation of Hathos, Gortros, Furros to our old pal Pheros, as the OS at the end of their names is pronounced the same. But I’ve found no immediate relationship between the characters at all; they’re from different worlds and have never met in any of the literature I have come across. But knowing the way Bart likes to interweave these stories, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a tangible link does exist.

Let’s move onto the other characters in the book, shall we?

Okay, so we’ve been introduced to the Molochs and they’re names from the list have been attributed to the correct corresponding face. So of the 10 initial names we had to begin with, we are now down to just 3 left – Devos, Wotan and Ri.

To find the characters in the book that these names would fit to, we turn to the final page of the story, page 15. I like to call it the ‘The Same’ page, for obvious reasons if you’ve read the comic.

In this page we have Mael come out of his dreamstate battle with the Molochs, to ponder its meaning and to ask why the dream is always ‘the same.’ Mael’s pose and statement is then mirrored by six other characters who are vastly different in appearance, and it would appear their surroundings are as varied as they are as well.

As can be seen in this previous image, the names of the 6 characters in order from left to right, top to bottom are – Wotan, Ri, Saint Pyrs, Intrepid, Devos and Zeus. Kinda hard to read, I know. But Bart has since verified these spellings and we’re good to continue.

As mentioned near the start of this post (seems a long time ago), we have been introduced to Saint Pyrs, Intrepid and Zeus previously. Which leaves us with Wotan, Ri and Devos. So, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you...

Wotan (WO-tan – WO rhymes with no)

A great deal can be gleaned about Wotan and his environment by this image. For starters, this world would appear to be in very close orbit with several other planets, moons or stars. Going by the clasping used to secure the giant animal skull to his head, the world appears to be primitive to some degree, as there are no leather straps or metallic clasps to be seen. The skull itself suggests an animal of a very large size and carnivorous nature, suggesting further something akin to our own pre-historic past, where mega-fauna ruled the land. The terrain furthers this theory, as there is no real grass to be seen, and the conifers in the background are exemplary of our own planet’s early history. Could it be that Wotan was alive during the Cretaceous Period of our world? Well... no. He wasn’t, this image depicts another world. But it is in fact a far flung and barbaric world that Wotan lives in. Wotan himself is a mighty chosen warrior, working hand in hand with another to subvert his own world’s dark forces.

Ri (rhymes with we, he and she)

This appears to be another world with three orbiting spheres, but it is unclear if this is the same world but a different location, or another time on this planet, or a completely different world altogether. Wherever and whenever it is, it is clearly more advanced than the world Wotan inhabits. To me, it almost looks Persian in its architectural sensibilities, but this sort of teardrop domed structure is common enough in fantasy art. It is clear that this city and perhaps its inhabitants have a high degree of aesthetically pleasing design. Ri’s brow ring and armour are minimalistic and elegant, which really only happens after a degree of time and refinement.

As for the character, Ri, there isn’t a huge amount to tell, he’s clearly a swordsman, but his moral alignment and affiliations are unknown.

Devos (dev-OSE – I’m sure you can work out how to pronounce that by now)

This is perhaps the most intriguing of the three images, as it is intentionally suggestive of many things. Firstly, this world only has two orbiting spheres, which raises many questions as to where and when it takes place. Looking at the architecture and Devos’ raiment, one could draw the conclusion that this is a futuristic setting. The main building in the background is almost reminiscent of the Tyrell Corporation building in Ridley Scott’s futuristic noir classic, Blade Runner. The pile of burning junk in the close background would seem to relate that this futuristic world is a dangerous place to be, possibly anarchic or oven post-apocalyptic.

Devos seems to be a hit with the ladies.

And that’s how you take a look at a single comic and its characters. I didn’t really expect this post to be quite so long (about 3,500 words), but what the heck. And to be fair, I could have gone a lot longer on it, as there are still several elements of the comic to be looked at, including-

1. Who is ‘The Outrider’?

2. What’s that symbol thing Mael is standing on in page 5?

3. Most importantly, what is the deal with that entity that Mael and Auoro merge into? Does it have a name? Powers? Hmmm....

But I’m sure to get around to those questions some day. But it has been a lot of fun looking at these old characters in detail, and I hope that the information I’ve passed on to you has been both informative and enjoyable. If you’re anything of an OP fan like me, I get the feeling it will have been.

I’ve got a few ideas for the next couple of posts lined up, including a long overdue round up of recent Bart Sears sightings and news. But there is also going to be another series of in-detail articles dealing with a very interesting element of Bart’s work in the near future too. So as always, come back soon fellow Searsians!

It Begins - Who's Who?

2011-06-15T14:21:00.008+01:00

Okay, now I’m just spoiling you guys!
Yes, I’m back again with more cool Ominous Press stuff to reveal to you all.

In this post, we shall be turning our Searsian eyes to Ominous Press’ first published comic, ‘...It Begins...,’ which has an indicia release date of July 1994, and I believe it came out on the 27th of that month, to be exact.
Any Searsian worth their salt will know that ‘It Begins’ came in the form of 8 separate 6” x 9.5” boards, which were held within a dust jacket-styled board that had the cover, spine text and back cover on the outside. On the inside of this board are the credits, story synopsis, indicia and a forthcoming Ominous Press release schedule.
All of these boards were held in a clear plastic case that opened at the top and bottom, and looked rather expensive to produce. No comic had previously, nor since, been given this treatment or formatting, and it was only the first of what was to be a selection of issues to be given this almost reverent treatment. I, personally, love the packaging and feel of this comic, but it doesn’t really fit into a comic collector’s usual storage procedure. I have long since laminated the individual boards and put the plastic case in a box with other unusual Bart Sears items.

But I have digressed somewhat.

The 8 interior boards feature the first introduction to several of the worlds that are part of the Ominous Universe. On the first 8 pages (the fronts of the boards), we are introduced to Mael, Auoro, a Dog of Dramaurg (pages 3, 4 & 7), Viere, Moon, Snake and Dramaurg himself. But that isn’t what I’m here to talk about today. Pages 9 through 16 (the backs of the boards) show, in pin-up form, some of the other characters inhabiting the various worlds of the OU. In order, they are, Arkon, Intrepid, Armorgedden, Pheros, Tirrus, MegaMen (now called Prometheans), Insidious and Nightbeast. All but the Tirrus and Insidious splashes feature the single character in question, and are pretty self-explanatory. What I want to look at are the Tirrus and Insidious ones.

These two pieces share several key points that are worth noting. Firstly, all of the characters in these two pages are from the same world. This world is the closest that the Ominous Universe comes to a traditional superhero world like that of DC, Marvel, and all the rest.
Secondly, these two groups of powered beings are in opposition to each other on a regular basis, the Tirrus ‘group’ being the good guys, whilst Insidious’ band are the baddies.
Each group has a designated leader. For the Tirrus group it is Steele, and Insidious commands his own.

So let’s first look at the Tirrus page (here it is in its inked form):

B&B '... It Begins...' page 13 inks

The names of these characters (apart from good ol’ Sunder and Steele) do not appear anywhere in any of the published Ominous Press material, nor much of the behind-the-scenes literature either, for that matter. So a lot of the proceeding information had to be coaxed out of Bart’s somewhat hazy memory. Some characters are still fresh in his mind, and have been written into other stories of his, while others are less so.

1. Steele
Easily recognisable due to that big, shiny golden dagger on his forehead. The dagger itself is a significant item, worn as something of a badge of office. The fact that Bart has drawn Steele in heavy shadow is quite symbolic of the character himself. While very powerful, he much prefers the shadows. He’s a man of intrigue, deception, manipulation and stealth. He runs Tirrus, a company, from the top of Tirrus Tower.

2. Ram
Bart has little memory of this particular character, we’re not even sure if that is his actual name! But Bart does recall using the word ‘ram’ as his design brief, hence the metallic headgear that would certainly work as both a battering device and gives him a fancy appearance.

3. Lord Sterling
Yes, the name is LORD Sterling and she is quite clearly a woman. But Bart assures me there are no hidden dangly bits anywhere. But historically, the title ‘Lord’ can be used by a woman too, the Queen of England is herself the Lord of Mann.
As for Lord Sterling, the important thing to pay attention to (apart from the platinum hair and rather revealing outfit) are those large gauntlets she is wearing. They are significant because they are one pair of a set of four pairs, worn by four heroes. Four pairs, four heroes. The gauntlets themselves are powerful relics, regal and highly prized.
This character has since been visually re-designed by Bart.

4. Grey
A tough s.o.b. from what I’ve read. Grey is an incredibly capable close-quarters fighter; his hands move so quick that they become a grey blur and his attacks seem to extend from this grey blur. That is to say that if his fist is a foot away from you as it strikes, you will still get hit because of the grey blur.
Grey has private quarters within Tirrus Tower, and seems to have a heightened sense of hearing or awareness of his surroundings than us mere mortals.

5. Sunder
Having written about our old friend in the previous two Who’s Who articles, I’m just going to print here what it says on the Creator’s Universe card featuring him:
Height : 6’7”
Weight : Estimate 325 lbs.
Powers : The sceptre/mace Sunder carries appears to generate tremendous amounts of energy which suffuse his body with power and unbelievable vitality. It appears that he can redirect this power back through the sceptre, firing wildly coruscating bolts of force, in rapid succession, which are capable of reducing almost anything (so far) to rubble. His physical abilities appear to mimic the power of the sceptre, powerful but most effective when he can strike repeatedly.
Origin : Unknown
Note : Sunder normally is very tight lipped, but when he speaks, he appears to slur his words, almost stuttering at times… there has been some speculation in the tabloids on this but little is actually proven.
Affiliation & Associations : Sunder has been occasionally spotted with the QUANTUM GROUP, but it is unknown if his association is permanent or not. Sunder’s actions appear to be beneficial, though so little is known of him, and his manner is at best suspicious, we recommend keeping close surveillance indefinitely.

6. Mr. Fury
Bart likes this guy still. So do I. Mr. Fury features in a later screenplay Bart wrote that also includes Intrepid and X-Wave. Mr. Fury, as his name suggests, can be a very angry man at times. And when he’s angry, he screams really loud, sending out a concussive wave of energy over the immediate surroundings, or can be channelled directly to a single opponent. He has the ability to violently vibrate, which can enable him to move through the air somehow.
He’s a wealthy fellow, and hides a dark and potentially devastating secret behind those glasses, so he fights the good fight to combat that secret, which may well engulf him yet.

There’s the Tirrus group for you in a little more detail than the previous posts. They’re a motley group, no doubting it. But that is what, to me, is so appealing about Bart’s invented mythos – nothing is black and white, and each bit of light has a hint of dark to it. These superheroes, if I can call them that, are certainly fantastical beings, but they live in a world where evil is incarnate, merciless and prevalent. It would be very difficult for even the most pure and moral superhero to not get their hands dirty every now and then. And with an evil that is so corruptive and sinister, tough measures are required to combat it. So somebody like Superman, with his clean outfit and willingness to show compassion and forgiveness, wouldn’t last long in this world, not in that form anyway. There is simply no room for compassion when a villain is not so much interested in world domination, but rather is hell-bent on ripping your heart out with their bare hands. This world is gritty and violent, heroes have to adapt, or die.

And here are some of the baddies responsible for the evil in this world:

B&B '... It Begins...' page 15 inks

1. Cur (originally called Melee)
Cur appears in 3 places throughout the published OP material – on this page, as a design by Michael J. Morrissey at the back of Mael’s Rage and there’s also an image of him by Andy Smith at the back of Infinity, on the Michael J. Morrissey Bio page. Cur also features in a back-up story titled ‘Masks’ that was going to appear in the Death of Pheros issue. The image of Cur in Infinity is actually taken from this story, which I believe was fairly close to completion, with Andy drawing it, Tim Tobolski on inks and Brad Perkins colouring. Bart wrote it, of course.
From what appears in that back-up story, Cur is a pretty twisted and wicked character. He has two chainsaw blades that run along the side of his forearm when retracted, and flip out like hand extensions when in battle. He does the bidding of Insidious willingly and with sadistic glee, killing heroes as he goes. He’s 6’5”, thick as a plank and a bit crazy.

2. Duemzgaet (not to be mistaken for Chakall, who would kick her ass)
Also appears briefly in the Masks story. Duemzgaet is also very evil and malicious, and works alongside Cur closely. But where Cur is slow of wit, Duemzgaet is exceedingly smart. Her power comes from entrancing people with her body movement and allure, her potent sexuality is her weapon. She has almost ivory coloured skin and is a little bit crazy too.

3. X-Wave
X-Wave is awesome. He’s just cool looking and is an interestingly convoluted character. He is a creation of Insidious’ scientific design, but seems to have a free will, and though he is naturally bent toward evil, and has racked up a sizable amount of hero killings, he does seem to know when he’s fighting a losing battle and when his allegiances are of a negative effect to his own survival.
He has big, nasty looking claws and several hollowed out tubes that run down the sides of his body, that are filled with some sort of liquid that seems to boil when his aggression rises. But these claws and tubes are actually pretty useless, and are more of a diversion from his actual powers which are many and mostly only known to himself.
Like I said, X-Wave is awesome.

4. Hydra
Hydra likes Twinkies. Well, he looks like he does anyway. Hydra is massively obese, to the point where he has leg braces to support his mass. He has some weird growths sprouting from his shoulders with all kinds of freaky stuff emanating from them, including extra little heads. Lovely. Hydra is apparently as nasty on the inside as he is on the outside, but as far as his actual powers go, Bart is keeping that a secret.

5. Insidious
Last of all is Insidious. He’s the most powerful villain in this world, mainly because he has created the above band of baddies to do his bidding for him. Insidious himself is powerful enough, but his real strength is in his almost immeasurably high intelligence. He’s a scientific genius of unsurpassed skill and invention. But he was once a man, who, through dismantling his own body, has merged himself with his armoured exterior. Sounds unpleasant.

And there you have it. Bart and I have been talking about the Ominous Universe quite a lot lately, and I have many ideas for future posts dealing with what we have discussed. But we have one more Who’s Who article to come, and it’s one I’m really looking forward to, as it’s the Infinity Who’s Who. We’ll look at all of the bad guys who beat up on poor old Mael, and I’ll reveal who all of those folks are on the last page, you know, where they’re all saying “the same.”

Should be fun!

Ominous Press Poster 2 - Who's Who?

2011-06-08T08:04:00.004+01:00

A mere week after introducing you all to the characters from Ominous Press’ Poster 1, here I am again to introduce the characters from Poster 2! It is interesting to note that Poster 2, while we (Bart and myself) believe it came out after Poster 1, was actually drawn before it. It has some nifty looking characters that don’t appear anywhere else, but would have played a large part in Ominous Press’ future.

So here's the poster:

And here are the outlined characters, the same as the last time:

And here's who's who:

1. Arkon
One of Bart’s favourite and oldest characters, who was due to have his own series eventually if Ominous Press had have continued.

2. Auoro (Pronounced Or-oh)
Taken from the Brutes & Babes tutorials in Wizard. I like to think of Brute & Babe and Mael & Auoro as separate characters, as their personalities are completely different in the two forms.

3. Mael
Also from the B&B tutorials. Bart was originally going to go with Arkon as the main character of the Ominous Press comics, but was urged to go with recognisable characters like Brute & Babe by Wizard founder Gareb Shamus.

4. Intrepid
One of Bart’s earliest creations, as far back as the early to mid 80’s if Bart recalls correctly. Intrepid is a very important character.

5. Nightbeast
Perhaps the coolest looking character in all of the Ominous Press Universe.

6. Insidious
Would kick Doctor Doom’s ass in a second, whilst kicking Lord Havok’s ass simultaneously.

7. Wolfhound
A detailed design process can be seen for this character in Bart’s B&B tutorial in Wizard #29, same with Pheros.

8. Warhammer
A member of a band of warriors who derive their strength and powers from a unique weapon wielded by each of them. This band of warriors are good guys and gals.

9. Sunder
Was initially named Thashur, but Bart was informed of another character with the same name, so he changed it to Sunder.

10. Pheros (Pronounced Fair-ose)
He looks huge in this image, but then, he is over 7 feet tall!

11. Steele
Another early character of Bart’s. Steele, along with many other characters, was created for a roleplaying game invented by Bart, Michael J Morrissey and John Pedercini in High School. The game was called, quite amusingly, 'The Game.'

12. Warspear
Another member of the weapon wielding WARriors. See what I did there?

13. Thrace
Just darn cool looking. He’s a really nasty fellow, apparently.

14. ???
Mystery will continue to surround this one, as Bart intends it. Not even a name will be forthcoming!

15. Slike
Snake dude. A late addition to this poster, by all accounts.

16. Zeus
Yep, he looks very different to the same character in Poster 1, and I’m not just talking about him appearing to be billy-bollocks nekid. This was an early design for Zeus, before he lost the hair, got the lightning strike mark on his scalp and some clothes to cover his various... ahem... appendages.

17. Talis
Talis is one of those characters that is to remain in the mysterious shadows, as per Bart’s request. But I can reveal that the big and cool looking hammer thing he is holding is called Skullsbane.

18. Warmonger
Just one of a variety of Armorgedden Armor types, Warmonger is considered a Stealth Class model, capable of great speeds for short amounts of time.

Fantastic stuff isn't it? You betcha! I personally love all of this Ominous Press stuff. I used to make lists of all of the known characters and where they appeared, what they did and a bunch of other information. Then I got talking to Bart and managed to get my hands on stacks of scripts and notes from the Ominous Press days and it soon became pretty clear that the published stories were really only the tip of the iceberg. There are literally hundreds of characters, in various levels of development (some are little more than a name, while others like Arkon are thoroughly fleshed out), and while I can't reveal much from the Ominous Press confidential files, whatever Bart has granted permission to release has been passed straight on to you. The names of the characters in these two posters is a perfect example of that.

Anywho, the next Who's Who will most likely deal with some of the gang from 'It Begins,' and it won't be far away! See you all soon.

Ominous Press Poster 1 - Who's who?

2011-06-01T22:31:00.008+01:00

I picked up my copy of the first Ominous Press poster some time in 1995, if my memory serves me correctly. I recall getting it laminated and sticking it up on my wall pretty quickly after buying it. And for years afterward I would just stare at it and wonder... wonder about what would have been if Ominous Press had continued publishing comics, because as much as I loved the characters that we were introduced to in the three comics that were released, I just knew that there were more to come. Even in Poster 1 there are a few faces that don't really appear anywhere else, and an alphabetical list of copyrighted names of the characters featured in this poster appears in a few adverts featuring this artwork. But for years I would look at the names Nul, Igneous, Honor Guard, Warmonger and Saint Pyrs, and only be able to guess at who the names belonged to.

Then, I got to know Bart over the years and was able to put the names to the correct faces and even get a little bit of information on each of them.

And I'm nothing if not generous to other Searsians, so, for anybody out there who has also wondered who some of these characters are, this post is all for you!

To begin with, here's the poster in question:

Not bad, eh? And here are the outlines of all of the characters to make it a little more simple to navigate:

And here's the who's who of the characters listed numerically, with a bit of information on them in my own words, from what has been published and a little of what I have gleaned over the years. (Please note: these are my own interpretations of the characters to a certain extent, and don't necessarily represent what Bart intended or considers them to be. But saying that, it's pretty close in parts and all of the following descriptions have been approved by Bart himself.)

1. Mael (also Maelloryll)
A mighty and powerful warrior for good and righteousness. Trained by Moon & Snake, he fights to find his other half, Auoro, to fulfill an ages long prophecy.

2. Arkon
A warrior from the distant past, cast into other worlds, wielding his great sword Giantkiller. Arkon is cursed to walk the worlds he does not know, hunting as he goes.

3. Insidious
Scientific genius with a bent for evil and destruction. Creator of genetic monstrosities and bitter enemy of Intrepid.

4. Intrepid
Gifted with an intelligence that borders on precognition, Intrepid fights crime with astonishing speed and skill. But who is the man behind the mask?

5. Nul
A powerful and twisted being. Nul can neutralise a hero's power, and can plant suggestions into people's minds. It also hunts witches in its spare time.

6. Sunder
Perhaps the most 'good' hero in the universe. He is idealistic and naive, and though a man of few words, his actions speak louder than any word could.

7. Nightbeast
Carrying the mask of previous incarnations, Nightbeast stalks the future's darkness, seeking out those that would do bad. But the mask hides a different man, who, too, seeks to balance the scales of justice.

8. Warmonger
A behemoth of engineered metal and advanced technology. Armorgedden Armors like this are highly prized and elaborately protected, due to their versatility as both a walking weapon and virtually impenitrable guard. And there's a human inside each one!

9. Auoro (also Auorosharrath)
Cut from the same cloth as Mael, though less powerful to begin with. But maturity brings increased levels of strength and a great change to her personality. She, too, awaits the fulfillment of the prophecy.

10. Steele
The man with the Golden Dagger. Wields great power from his base in Tirrus Tower, but his own abilities and motives are far-reaching and hidden from all but himself.

11. Zeus
The product of a barbaric and twisted experiment. Zeus, along with other Prometheans (formerly referred to as MegaMen), is a gladiatorial fighter, who's movements and thoughts are channeled to the eager public for a fee. He is a prisoner to a future humanity that is almost beyond saving.

12. Igneous
Has the power to produce immense heat, but not in the form of flame. Igneous can propel herself with the aid of this heat, and it also absorbs energy, be it a blast aimed at her or a localised phenomenon, without any harm to her. She's one of the goodies.
She also has big boobies.

13. Wolfhound
A hideous and wicked beast on his own, he now carries the soul of a demon inside him, willing him to even greater acts of evil than before. A frequent opponent of Pheros.

14. Pheros
Immensely powerful, origins unknown, affiliations unknown, moral compass unknown. Pheros is a just and overly righteous being. He longs for purity from evil and his actions often take this desire to extreme lengths, some would say too far. But who is there to stop him?

15.Honor Guard
An unlikely and reluctant hero, who follows the demands of an in-built need for duty and service to the people he protects. A real 'peoples hero,' fighting a battle he is both overwhelmed and outgunned in. But honor demands he fight on.

16. Saint Pyrs
Devout follower of a powerful, ancient religion. His costume is his religious cloth, and his power springs from the source. He is a force for good and purity in a world of increasing disconnection and immorality.

17. Dramaurg (also Ormaellidramaurg)
Evil twin to Mael, rules his kingdom with slavery and malice. Has melded himself with dark magics to make him a deadly and malicious being. Seeks also to fulfill the prophecy with Auoro.

And there you have it! Pretty cool stuff, huh?
And the good news for you guys is that this is merely the first of a series of introductions to some of the characters in the OPU. We still have Poster 2 to go, and some of the gang from 'It Begins' and 'Infinity!'

So come back soon, won't you?

It's mine... my own... my... PRECIOUS!!!

2011-05-25T17:07:00.001+01:00

I'm sure every serious collector out there is the same as me in one particular way - we all have a single item that is something of a Holy Grail for us. An item that, despite our extensive seeking out, manages to elude us around every corner. Sometimes we'll catch a glimpse of it, a mere sparkle out of the corner of our eye, but obtaining this gem is akin to holding sand in one's hand, it slips through your fingers again and again.

And then, if you're a poor sap like me, you manage to find the item, to claim it as your own, only to have it perish or be lost in some way, in my case - misplacing it on a plane!

And then you are right back where you started...

Well, I lost my particular Holy Grail over 10 years ago now, on that fateful plane trip from Melbourne to Edinburgh. I say fateful because whilst I lost my gem, I met my now wife a few days after getting off that plane.
But in those proceeding 10 years, I went back to searching near and far for my once-lost Grail, and I didn't get even the slightest hint of it in that time. That is, until a few weeks ago.
Yes, fellow seekers of Searsian artefacts, I can say that for the second, and hopefully last time (barring any unforseen incidents) I own this little beauty below:

'What?' I hear you say, 'That's it?! That's your Holy Grail?!?' Well... yes! It may not look like much, but this Judge Dredd badge, measuring a modest 45 x 32mm, most certainly is my Holy Grail. Why? Only because this badge is one of the most rare, if not the rarest, of all Bart Sears items. There are other things that are rare, like the Wizard Binder and a few trading cards, but I have only ever seen this badge come up for sale twice in something like 13 years on eBay or any other auction site. Twice! Two times! That makes it very, very rare.

As far as particulars are concerned, it is (as stated above) 45 x 32mm, made of what I believe to be hard acrylic and it is embossed. The blue text and linework (which is reflective and cool looking) is raised about half a millimetre off the white base. There are no copyright or trademark stamps anywhere to be seen (which would suggest to me that a sticker was originally involved in some way), though I know it be a product of SQP from 1989. SQP (or SQProductions) was responsible for Quality Comics back in the late 80's, who reprinted a lot of the british 2000 A.D. comics with new covers, 30 of which feature Bart's art on them. SQP also ran the official Conan Fan Club for a while, and Bart produced several images for that too.

Several of Bart's pieces from this time for SQP were used for promotional material and a good few T-Shirts as well, and for one single badge... my badge!

For those of you wishing to see where the badge artwork is taken from, here's the original cover:

And there you have it. My Holy Grail. My Precious. Returned to me once more, and never to leave again. Rest assured, it won't be going anywhere near an airport, let alone an airplane, any time soon.

Bart Sears - Film & Television STAR!!!!

2011-04-25T16:04:00.003+01:00

Howdy Searsians! Yes, I'm still alive, fear not. I've just been through another rather busy stint of work on other projects, but I'm here now with some more cool Bart Sears goodies. This time, to be a little different, I thought it might be fun to showcase some Bart Sears items that have appeared on both the small & silver screen.
Whenever I'm watching a TV show or movie and a scene comes up that may just have a Bart Sears comic, poster, or whatever in it (usually in a comic shop), I pay very close attention to it.

And this is what I've found so far...

This one is from the first series of Lost. Episode 14 has a scene where the kid, Walt, is reading Hurley's Spanish copy of 'Green Lantern/Flash – Faster Friends.' As you can see, a few of the pages Bart pencilled are shown.

Next up are a few frames from Judd Apatow's first big movie, 'The 40 year-old Virgin,' starring Steve Carell and Catherine Keener, both of whom are shown above with action figure boxes featuring Bart's artwork. Catherine Keener's circled one is the Gambit 10-inch figure, whilst Steve Carell's is the Sabretooth 10-inch figure.

Next up is a scene from the great show, The Big Bang Theory. This framegrab is from Season 2, Episode 20. It shows Penny with Bart's comic, The Scream #3, over her left shoulder.

And lastly, I just found this one this morning. It is from Rainn Wilson's recent film, Super. In the background, middle shelf, is that same The Scream cover from the previous one.

Anyway, that's all I've found to date. Anybody seen Bart Sears stuff anywhere else? Let me know if you have!
I'll be doing another post here soon enough, as I want to catch up on all of the things that Bart has been doing over the last little while. I'll show you what has come out and what to expect in the future too. So I'll see you all soon.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #12

2011-01-04T15:19:00.007Z

Searsons Greetings to one and all! I hope you all had a wonderfully Searsious Christmas and a Searstastic New Years!
My previous post about some Bart Sears Trading Cards was deliberately put up when it was, becuase I knew that a brand-spanking-new Bart Sears card was on its way to me.
And it arrived on my doorstep this morning.
But the backstory first...
In early December on Facebook, a lovely fellow and fellow Searsian, Nathan Ohlendorf, posted that "For those of you who are interested (and it should be all of you!) the FIRST promo card for FEMFORCE is now available and it is by BART SEARS!!" Needless to say, I contacted Nathan and sent him a SASE and waited for the card to arrive. And here it is, both front and back side-by-side...

And the best thing is, it only cost me a few stamps!
So this is the first Bart Sears trading card to be produced in the better part of half a decade, and you'd have to go even further back to 1997 to find a card that Bart produced the artwork specifically for! So it is a great day, indeed.

And the even better news is that Bart produced the artwork for 2 cards from this 50-card FemForce set, so there is the regular version of this Jet Girl card to get, plus a different one. I'm excited by it, I can tell you!

And it would be wrong of me not to thank Nathan for not only commissioning Bart to do the artwork, not to mention actually producing the card set, but especially for his and the folks at www.sadlittles.com
for generously giving these puppies out free of charge. Splendid folks, them.
So go check out their website, and send your own SASE to avail of this fantastic promotional offer too!

Bart Sears Trading Cards #2

2010-12-16T21:09:00.013Z

Back in September of 2009, I did a little post on some of Bart's Trading Cards. And since I recently scanned in all of the cards that feature Bart's artwork, I thought it might be fun to share with you some more of them right here and now.
So let's do it!
I'll try and be less wordy this time around, and just let the cool artwork speak for itself.

So, I thought I'd start of with the three cards Bart created for the Creator's Universe set back in 1993.

As you can see, they all feature characters from Ominous Press, and all are inked by Bart too. I've put in the original art for these cards as well, just to show the complete images, minus the rather butcher-like cropping that goes on in the final cards.

Next are some cards from one of my favourite sets featuring Bart's art, Monumental Overpower!

And here's both the original art and final card for Starro, from the series 'DC Cosmic Cards '93.'

And finally, here is both the front and back of the 'Winter' card from Wildstorm Set 1.

And there you have it, I kept my mouth closed as promised. There are still plenty of cards to show you, and I promise I won't make you wait another 15 months for the next batch!

HeroWish

2010-12-03T20:09:00.008Z

Hi all, got some exciting Bart Sears news for you! For those of you who read and loved the Conan: Kiss of the Undead story that Bart pencilled, Bart has teamed up with HeroWish to auction off the first page of that comic. HeroWish is a new comic-related charity, who has teamed up with the folks at the Make-A-Wish Foundation and all of the proceeds from not only the Bart Sears page, but a great list of other items from some big names in comics go straight to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

But instead of me rambling on and on (as I am want to do), here's the Press Release-

Contact: Victoria Homan, Marketing Director
Telephone: 910-603-8366
Email: victoria.homan@gmail.com

ORIGINAL COMIC BOOK ART TO BE AUCTIONED FOR CHARITY
The Comic Conspiracy teams with
Make-A-Wish Foundation® for HeroWish

On Friday December 17th North Carolina’s oldest comic book shop will be auctioning off pieces of original comic art, statues and signed memorabilia to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Central & Western North Carolina. The auction will take place at Circa Gallery, located at 150 Sunset Ave. in Asheboro, N.C. beginning at 6:00 p.m. The artwork and memorabilia will be on display at the gallery from December 14th until the end of the auction. Items up for grabs include pieces donated by industry greats such as Stan Lee, Billy Tucci, Billy Tan, Bart Sears, Joe Staton, Neil Vokes, Jim Valentino, Jamal Igle, Al Bigley, Koi Turnbull and many more.
“I was very pleased at the response we got from the comic book industry.” said Jeff Lamb, owner of The Comic Conspiracy. “Once we had a couple of confirmed donations the whole thing just snowballed.”
Personnel at The Comic Conspiracy, with additional help from long time shop customers and friends, began contacting artists, writers and editors at DC Comics, Marvel Comics and many independent publishers and requested donations for the HeroWish charity auction.
“Once the artists realized that HeroWish was the real deal and that 100% of the proceeds from the auction were going to Make-A-Wish Foundation®, we were able to add quite a few prestigious names to our confirmed donation list.” said Ellis Aldridge, a business partner at the comic shop.
After securing a venue for the auction, the necessary papers were submitted to Make-A-Wish Foundation® and Don Timmons came on board as the representative for the Central and Western N.C. Chapter of the organization. The Make-A-Wish Foundation® is the nation’s largest wish-granting organization. Since 1980, Make-A-Wish has enriched the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The Foundation's mission reflects the life-changing impact that a Make-A-Wish experience has on children, families, donors, sponsors and entire communities. From their humble beginnings with one boy’s wish to be a police officer, they’ve evolved into an organization that grants a child’s wish in the U.S. every 40 minutes.
Circa Gallery owners Mandy Sloan and Amy Keith Barney have donated use of their gallery for displaying the artwork and holding the live auction. The shop also recruited the services of veteran auctioneer Ray Parks of Ray Parks Auctions who also willingly agreed to donate his time to HeroWish.
“We’re a small shop in a small town and we’re having to run this entire event on a zero budget.” said business partner Benny Littreal. “We’re completely dependent upon people willing to donate their time and energy to this project.”
Items to be auctioned for HeroWish will also be available for viewing on The Comic Conspiracy website beginning no later than December 1, 2010. In addition to being a live auction, absentee bidders will be able to phone in bids from all over the world. Any items which are unsold at the live auction will be listed in an online auction at a later date. Items remaining unsold will be returned to the artists and writers that donated them. Anyone wishing to bid either in person or by telephone must register either online, by telephone or in person at the store. Non-auction contributions will also be gratefully accepted.

The Comic Conspiracy opened its doors in 1978 in Asheboro, making it North Carolina’s oldest running comic shop. The store features a wide variety of current release comics as well as collectible Gold, Silver and Bronze-Age books, prints and posters, action figures, HeroClix gaming, collecting supplies and a discount subscription service.

# # # #

If you would like more information on the HeroWish auction, or if you would like to register to bid in the auction, please come by The Comic Conspiracy at 108 North St. in downtown Asheboro. You can also contact the shop at 336-318-1064 or contact Marketing Director Victoria Homan at 910-603-8366. The shop will also be taking bidder registrations on their website www.thecomicconspiracy.com and through Victoria’s email: victoria.homan@gmail.com.

Me again. I also managed to do a quick interview with The Comic Conspiracy owner, Jeff Lamb, here's how it went-

Jay: You've certainly been able to attract some big names to this auction, how did it feel personally as a comics person to be talking to all of these giants in the industry?

Jeff: Actually I started off contacting a few artists that I already knew or had spoken with at conventions like Baltimore Con and Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, people like Billy Tucci, Neil Vokes and Jamal Igle. When the ball started rolling Victoria Homan, our marketing director here at The Comic Conspiracy and I, started contacting every artist, writer and editor we could find a link to. We've actually developed more solid relationships with a lot of these people through HeroWish than we ever had just being another face at a convention.

Jay: Any pieces of art or memorabilia up for auction that you would personally like to get your hands on?

Jeff: Actually at this point in time the donations have just now started to arrive at the shop. I'm really looking forward to seeing that Bart Sears Conan page and we still have some heavy hitters whose contributions haven't arrived yet. As far as what we have received so far I really like the Koi Turnbull Flash page. It has incredible detail and super action as Flash and Superman take on an android abominable snowman. There is also a book called 1000 Comics You Must Read in Your Lifetime which was written, signed and donated by Tony Isabella. Definitely have my eye on that one.

Jay: How can folks go about bidding on the items? (I know, it says it in the press release, but I thought it might be cool to have you answer it in your own voice)

Jeff: Anyone who bids has to register first whether they are bidding live at Circa Gallery or wish to phone in an absentee bid from anywhere in the world. The easiest way to register is on our website. I had our computer guru Ellis Aldridge put in some big buttons on the HeroWish page that are just begging to be pushed. You can also call the shop or Victoria Homan and register by phone.

Jay: If this undertaking proves to be a success, do you think this will be a regular thing for you guys?

Jeff: We intended HeroWish to be an annual event when we started it. I think more shops need to become involved in community and charity. We have other events planned such as the Christian Rock Christmas food drive which features pro-quality bands donating their time and talent to feed the hungry. I was a road musician for the better part of 30 years. I know all the bands performing at CRC and these guys can flat out play and sing. We also have plans for some of our cosplay super-hero friends to visit regional children's hospitals and give out some comics and related items. This summer we will be sponsoring a "Rasslin' & Readin'" event with some of the professional wrestling people in the area, that stuff started in the south you know, as well as a "Battle of the Bands" which is also a food drive for our regional Christian's United Outreach Center.

Jay: Who would you like to personally thank?

Jeff: I want to thank all of my staff, Benny and Stephanie and especially Victoria and Ellis simply because they work so darned hard and believe in the good the shop can do. I thank the entire comic industry for putting up with a barrage of emails and phone calls, this wouldn't happen at all without you guys. I want to thank the folks at Make-A-Wish, Don and Karen, for giving us an insight that we never had as far as what this kind of work is all about. And last but not least I thank Jesus Christ for giving everyone involved another day to get the work done, the fortitude to keep it going and for blessing us with the wisdom to make it happen.

So there you go folks, a worthy cause indeed and some great stuff to bid on. If you would like to see what is on offer for the auction, you can have a look here.
Why don't you think about making a bid on a piece!

Oh, and here's Bart's piece as it will be sold-
A beauty, ain't she?

Conan: Kiss of the Undead

2010-11-23T10:12:00.013Z

Conan and Bart Sears. Many of us Searsians have been dreaming of that combination for many a year now. And seriously, it should have happened years ago; there are few artists who have the skill and artistic bent to really do Conan justice, and Bart is definitely one of those few artists.
So, back in August when Bart started working on the ‘Conan: Kiss of the Undead’ 8-page story, I was rather thrilled at the thought of finally seeing what Bart could do with everyone’s favourite Cimmerian after so many years since last he drew him.
One of the great things about being close to Bart is the fact that he’s happy to show what he’s working on, and I was privileged enough to see all of the 8 pages for the story pretty much straight after they were finished, through all stages from pencils to colours.

And whilst Bart was working away at these pages, an idea came to me that came to fruition only last week. I asked Bart, who is normally a pretty prodigious thumbnail and roughs producer, if he would mind putting all of those pages of sketches and such aside for me. Bart would often simply discard these pages, a truth that has haunted me for years and years, the thought of all of those beautiful pages ending up in a land-fill somewhere – a horrid thought indeed.
So Bart was only too happy to start stacking those pages up, and, boy, did they stack up. The box I received last Tuesday (16/11) contained nearly 200 pages of page layouts, thumbnails, roughs, sketches, revisions, the script and photocopies of the finished pencils. It took me the better part of a week to organise, scan and clean up all of the pages, and it would be remiss of me not to share with you some of the treasures to be found in those 200 pages.

And, yes, 200 pages does sound like a heck of a lot of roughs for a little 8-page story. But as Bart has often informed me, it always takes him a while to get up to speed and comfortable when starting a new project. This mostly has to do with Bart’s ongoing quest to bring a slightly adjusted style to every new thing he does, because the work he has been doing lately for another company would not suit the Conan story, and visa versa.
To further emphasise this point, the first page of the Conan story took some 70 pages of roughs to complete, whereas pages 2-7 took anywhere from 5 to 15 pages. So you can see, once Bart gets cracking, he really gets cracking.

And now, let’s get to the good stuff! I thought it would be fun to not only show you some of the cooler drawings, but to also give you a window into how Bart goes about creating his artwork, and the steps he takes to reach the final piece.

So here’s page 1 pencilled, inked and coloured, but minus the text.
And this is how it started.
As you can see, it is quite different, especially the top panel of Conan, which caused Bart some serious headache for a while. Let’s look at that first panel some more.
Originally, Bart was going to treat that panel as a typical letterbox shaped rectangle, and he began working on figures to fit this idea-
The premise of that panel, as written by Ron Marz, was that this should be a scene of Conan either in the middle of a battle, or just afterward, ideas that you can see Bart was playing with both of. He then seemed to hone in on a particular pose, best drawn here-
But Bart quickly moved on to other ideas than this, creating more rough thumbnails such as these-
He once again found something to explore in further detail, which is not too dissimilar to the previous more detailed rough-
But, once again, Bart discarded this idea and decided to concentrate on a more vertical and design-oriented view of Conan-
This was obviously to Bart’s liking, because he drew several roughs based on these ideas, getting closer and closer to the final rendition as he went.
And here are the final pencils for the entire page.
Pretty cool stuff, huh? What I like most about the way that Bart goes about drawing anything, is the way that he doesn’t care what the roughs and other preliminary work looks like when set on its own. I have found that far too often today, comic artists are treating every little scribble they do as a masterpiece worthy of being sold and put up on a wall. Now, don’t get me wrong, many of Bart’s preliminary drawings are beautiful and will probably end up on a wall, but this fact is simply a product of what Bart is drawing, not necessarily the way he has drawn it. To further explain myself, I would much prefer to have a rough like this on my wall-
-rather than some pretty little sketch by some other artist who fully intended it to be on a wall somewhere. Bart didn’t want this stuff to be pretty, it is a means to an end, you can see that he draws these roughs quickly and, well, roughly. As they should be!
Let’s have a look at some more cool preliminary drawings, shall we?

Here’s a nice one from page 3. Bart had a bit of trouble with the Countess’s face in this panel, to the point where the original pencilled version was redone again, and there are numerous preliminary pages of her facial structure and details.
Here are the rough page layouts for page 5. They’re a good example of how Bart sometimes nails the roughs on the first go, as very little of this page is changed by the time the finished pencils are done. The most notable change being the last panel, in which Bart originally went for a midriff shot of Conan, but opted for a head and shoulders shot in the end.
Next up is the rough page layouts for page 7, another great example of Bart’s ability to get a design he wants with sometimes very few changes needed. I’ve also included a nifty rough of the first panel, drawn in a little more detail. Bart would have blown this panel up to its correct size and drawn the final pencils straight from this piece, with the use of a lightbox.

And finally, because it is such a fantastic shot of our hero Conan, I thought I might bookend this post by showing you how Bart went about producing the final image of Conan on page 8. So here’s the final version, expertly inked by Randy Elliott, and coloured beautifully by relative newcomer, Mark Roberts.
Bart was obviously keen to end the story with a real strong Conan shot, as you can see from these early roughs.
And as he progressed through the designs, he found a pose he liked, and worked it through to finished pencils.
But wait a second! That isn’t the Conan that appears on the published comic! That’s very true, because after Bart did all of that work, even pencilling it up amazingly, he decided he wasn’t happy with the figure and decided to start it all over again. Bart mentioned to me that he didn’t feel he had quite grasped Conan’s persona in the first attempt, but was happy with this second attempt.

So there you have it, a brief enough walk through some fantastic new Bart Sears art and how he goes about creating it. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of actually seeing the Conan: Kiss of the Undead story yet, I suggest you mosey on over to the USA Today site, or just click on the direct link to the comic right here.

As usual, I have a few other posts in the works at the moment, so don’t forget to pop back soon for more Bart Sears goodies.

It's Captain Amer... no, wait, it's US Agent!

2010-10-26T16:12:00.006+01:00

Back again, as promised.
So you know that item I mentioned I would be receiving later this week? Well, it came in a few days early. I don't know what I've done to have the postage and delivery gods shine down on me at the moment, but I hope it sustains itself.
Anyway, here's the item that came in the mail today-

Where's the toy, you say? Well, the toy in question isn't actually one of the ones designed by Bart at Sears Studios. This is an unusual item in that it is the only figure from this particular series that Bart produced the packaging art for. This is unusual because the subsequent Toy Biz series' that Bart was involved with, he not only produced a large amount of packaging art for, but also designed many of the actual figures too. It is probably worthwhile stating that this is the first Marvel action figure, chronologically by release date, that Bart or Sears Studios had anything to do with. It has a copyright date of 1994 on the back of the above card, but I believe it actually came out in 1993.

The artwork for this particular piece is currently in the hands of a Mr. Ronald Hillman. The artwork actually comes in two pieces, the figure and the shield are on separate pieces of paper. But here is a slightly low-res image of said artwork-

So there you are, yet another cool item to tick off the list. I'm hoping to have something a little different for this blog soon, maybe in the next few weeks, so stick around, my dear Searsians!

Team Javerts #1 Variant and goodies

2010-10-22T10:56:00.011+01:00

Firstlight Comixx. Remember them? Don't be ashamed if you don't. Firstlight Comixx was one of those companies from the first half of the 1990's that had a handful of comics released, then folded, due to the state of the market at the time. Firstlight Comixx was also one of those companies that used ridiculously nice paper for their comics, and supposedly produced a slew of merchandisable items that it's a safe bet few people bought.

Bart Sears provided two covers for Firstlight Comixx through his company Sears Studios, one pencilled by him and inked by Andy Smith, the other was pencilled by Andy, inked by Bart. Here they are-

And as far as I knew, that was it. That was the extent of the business arrangement between the two companies. But, oh, how wrong I was! Whilst doing one of my customary random searches last weekend, I typed the word 'Javerts' into eBay, as I had once seen a Press Kit for Firstlight Comixx, but had never been able to get my hands on it, even to this day. But, wouldn't you know, although the Press Kit remained nowhere to be seen, this little number did pop up-

So, naturally, I bought it. And in record time, it got here this morning. As you can see, the title is 'Team Javerts,' and the image is taken directly from the Javerts #1 cover, the image may look a little blurry, but that's what the actual cover looks like. I guess it's the result of zooming in on the original cover.
This is the Variant cover for the comic, and you can see that it calls it the 'Special Edition Cover' in the bottom right corner.
Interestingly, on the credits page on the inside cover, Bart is not mentioned at all. It is also interesting that the publication date is not listed at all, it only gives the year of 1994, no month is listed anywhere.
So anyway, that in itself is a pretty nice find. But the other reason I was so quick to snap this item up is because this particular comic came with a set of Firstlight Comixx Pogs!

A total of three of these Pogs have the hand of Bart Sears on them, the first one is again that same character from the cover, and Pogs 10 & 11 are from the Thresherz cover, with Bart's inks. Here they are, lined up together-

But then, as I was opening the bag the comic and Pogs sheet came in, this piece of paper was also included-

The first T-Shirt is of Bart's cover for Javerts #1, but I have absolutely no idea if the T-Shirt was actually made. I've never seen it for sale anywhere, but I'll be doing my darndest to see if I can find it, that's for sure!

And there you have it, yet another cool Bart Sears item for the library. And I can add Pogs to the list of items that Bart has produced work for.
I have another item on the way as I write this, which I should hopefully receive late next week, of which I will naturally write about here.
So, see you soon!

YO JOE!

2010-10-13T10:39:00.015+01:00

Hello again, my dear fellow Searsians! As is becoming far too customary at the beginning of each of my posts on this blog, I must say that it has been far too long between drinks. I've been buried under a few rather important projects for the last few months, but have now managed to tunnel to the surface, so to speak, to bring you a new acquisition of mine from the hallowed halls that are the Bart Sears library.

About a month ago, Bart informed me of an item that was hitherto unbeknownst to me (geez, I'm wordy today!). Bart often drops these little nuggets of information on me and I then madly dash about to get my hands on the item in question, although I do not always manage to do so, I'm afraid. But this particular occasion, after Bart informed me of this item, I was fortunate enough to find the item at an exceptionally undervalued price, and, a mere two days ago, this arrived on my doorstep... (Apologies for the scan, it's a big box and this was the best my little scanner could achieve.)

Some of you who are more advanced in age might recall that in the 80's and early 90's, Trace Plates were a common enough toy on the shelves. I personally recall owning a few sets myself. But not these particular ones.

When Bart informed me of this item, he also, rather kindly, included the artwork files for the majority of them. So, for you, dear friends, I will now reveal the G.I. Joe Trace Plates and the Bart Sears drawings they are based on.

First up is the Cobra Commander-

Next is Destro-

Stromshadow, with the original orientation and flipped plate-

Cesspool, one of my favourites from the set-

Overkill-

Stalker-

Hawk-

Duke-

and Flint-

There are also three plates that Bart no longer has copies of the artwork for-

And here's the Instruction Manual for the Trace Plates, which I was surprised lasted the near 20 years of its existence-

Now for a bit of information. The G.I. Joe Trace Plates have a copyright dated 1991, released by Hasbro. The original set came with crayons, 5 coloured pencils, drawing paper, crayon holder, instructions and a nifty storage case/drawing board. My set is missing the pencils, crayons and crayon holder, but all of the 6 double-sided plates are present and in excellent condition.

I'm sure you'll agree that it is a fantastic item, especially for a Bart Sears fan like me, who thoroughly enjoys the more unusual items of his. I mentioned to Bart the other day that these are the sorts of things that I really like, because they stand out so much next to the usual comic and printed matter fare.

Unfortunately, Bart also informed me that there is a WWF (the wrestlers, not the wildlife fund) set as well. But I've not managed to locate them as of yet.

So there you have it anywho. As an aside to the G.I. Joe set, I also managed to pick up this item last week-

It's the Valiant Bionisaurus pin, who's image is taken from a panel on page 15 of X-O Manowar #15. The badge measures a mere 30 x 15mm, and the card that it came attached too, both sides of which are shown below, side by side, is only slightly larger at 35 x 37mm.

This is only the second Bart Sears badge/pin that I've owned. About 10 years ago, I owned the Judge Dredd badge featuring Bart's Dredd from Judge Dredd #13, published by SQP. But I lost it on a plane going from Melbourne to Edinburgh. I've never seen it for sale since, and it is perhaps the lowest point in my Bart Sears collecting history.

For those who want to know, there are only three Bart Sears badges in existence- The Judge Dredd one, the Bionisaurus one, and the accompanying Turok one.

Anyway, I'll be doing another post in a couple of days, hopefully, so pop back soon!

A few recent purchases

2010-08-05T14:42:00.017+01:00

Despite all of the excitement concerning the launch of Ominous Studios, this here #1 Bart Sears Fan doesn't have time to get too wrapped in it all, as there are still plenty of items to buy, list and organise.

I've actually had quite a healthy few weeks as far as Bart Sears work is concerned, managing to plug in some far too long vacant gaps in my collection, as well as discovering a few absolute gems along the way too.

I received a consignment of Bart Sears goodies from my old friends MyComicShop, not to mention a rather beautiful item from the old enemy, France. And just yesterday I re-visited that great little comic shop in Dublin, and came away with a few things.

As a bit of a change (for the better and the new system from now on), I'm going to list the items, not in the order they arrived, but chronological as to when they were published. There's no real special reason for this, I just think it is a nice way to do it. So let's get started, shall we...?

One of the cooler items I got from MCS this time around is this pretty little thing here-
This is an item that I've known the existence of for many, many years, but for some reason, I've never gotten my grubby little hands on it. There is a Deluxe Edition of this Graphic Album, with a nice hardback black cover, with simply the title 'Hero Alliance' showing. But this TPB is unique to the Deluxe Edition in that it has that painted cover on it. That cover was painted by a R. T. Schneider way back in 1986! Those of you that have an eye for Bart's art will perhaps look on this piece and note some resemblance to his style. Well, you'd be right. This painting was actually produced as a direct painted copy of the more traditional comic-style cover by Bart and Ron Lim, which is featured on the first page of the album.

But perhaps what I find most interesting about this book is the fact that Bart is listed not as penciller, artist or illustrator, but as 'Assisted by Bart Sears,' -this following directly after the illustrator credits. What nerve! The Graphic Album has 47 pages of comic art, 25 of which have art by Bart (including the first 11 and a half), and he's just an assistant to the illustrators? I think not! But I am very glad to finally have this book, as it is one of his earliest works. For those of you interested in it, it reprints the Hero Alliance: End of the Golden Age story, which can be found in comic form too, published by Innovation.

Next up we have this Quality Comics cover-
This was the final cover I required to retain all of Bart's QC covers again in my new laminated format. This particular issue, Scavengers #3, from February 1988, has proven rather difficult to find in good condition, but I finally got it from MCS, and for a reasonable price too.

So I thought I'd finally gotten all of the QC covers at last, then, only yesterday, I came across this one up in Dublin-
Yes, I know, it has the same artwork as the previous one, but if you look closer, you'll see that the issue number is listed as #15. So, my initial thought was that they used the same artwork for the cover of issue #15. But that is not the case, because on the back cover, QC often pictured the other titles published in that same month, and the issues on this particular comics back cover were the same as the ones published the same month that Scavengers #3 came out. Also, the title Scavengers only went up to #14! Naturally enough, I bought it, brought it home and checked the interior story, which is also exactly the same as Scavengers #3; which can bring me to only one conclusion- this is a misprinted cover! I have no idea how many of these were printed, but I can't imagine it was many. A great find, indeed.

And what would an order from MCS be without a Wizard issue? I don't know, I've never done it.
This shipment had Wizard #9 in it, the last of the early Wizard issues I needed, not least for the fantastic cover!
For those keeping track (probably just me), there are a total of 4 different Poof! mascots in Wizard #9, as well as the Venom cover poster insert, a subscription coupon, and a few other Bart related bits and bobs.
As I've mentioned in the past, this is supposedly the issue that saved Wizard from going under, and the cover has always been mentioned as having a lot to do with that. I even go as far as to think that Bart is the single reason that Wizard still exists today (for better or worse). I'm probably going too far, but it might not be too much of a stretch.
I have now checked every Wizard issue from issue #1 all the way through to #48, with many other issues checked as well. I have catalogued all mention of Bart in all forms they come in, be it a piece of artwork, an interview, an article, etc. If you're interested in getting a copy of this document, please let me know.

Next up is another pesky little item that I've only just been able to acquire again.

It's the Image Comics 'Image Scene 1994' preview book. It's quite a hefty 80-odd pages of promotional splashes and series details, and I owned it years ago, cut out the Bart Sears Violator page, laminated it, popped it in a folder. But now I have it again for re-lamination.

And here we have Shadows & Light #3, published in July, 1998 by Marvel. This is what's on the inside cover-
Of all of the images of Colossus down the years, I still fervently believe that they all bow before this one. I am generally quite biased toward Bart, but I think I'm on the money with this one. Many years ago, Mike Atiyeh coloured this piece, incredibly beautifully, I might add. But neither of us has the file anymore, unfortunately.
The series Shadows & Light only lasted to this issue, which is of course is a shame, because Bart was slated to do that Incredible story in a later issue. Bart just recently informed me that he actually wrote that story, though he is unsure if he still has a copy of the script.

I have also often wondered on the purpose of these pieces-
I've had copies of them for a long time now and was never sure if they were commissions, pin-ups or for something else entirely. Bart has now confirmed they were used as sort of preparation pieces for the 'Incredible' story, which was to feature these characters too. He also started on the Captain America and Vision studies too, but didn't get around to finishing them. Makes me feel all the more regretful that that story wasn't completed.

Perhaps the pick of this particular litter though, is this-
One of the times I was staying with Bart (I can't recall which), he showed my three books published by a French company that reprinted The Path from CrossGen Comics. It has taken me until just last week to get a copy of one of them for myself. The book that I got is the second of those three books, and reprints The Path #4-8. The company that produced the book is called Semic, based in Paris.
The great thing about the album is that it is laid out specifically for Bart's multiple two-page spreads, so each page has a two-page spread on it from the comics and it looks gorgeous. I'm definitely going to try and get the other two books, that's for sure. And, yes, they're all in French.

Next up is this comic-
As stated in another post, I had a good deal of luck with issue #2 of this series, so I had my hopes up for this one too. But this is what was presented to me in the form of the contribution Bart made to it-
If you squint your eyes and perhaps pull out a magnifying glass to aid you, you might just see that little box in the bottom-left corner. That tiny image of Mattie Franklin, taken from page 17 of Spider-Woman #12 is, in fact, the only thing of Bart's in the whole comic. Needless to say, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I ain't complaining... much.

Whilst in that comic shop in Dublin yesterday, I also picked up a cheap copy of the Batman: Going Sane TPB-
As you can see, the back cover features some of Bart's art, and his art is scattered throughout the book in various forms, be it the title page, etc. And of course his Legends of the Dark Knight #200 issue is also reprinted at the back of the book. I still have a few trades to get of Bart's, namely- The Scream, The Helm and the Indiana Jones one, which I'm sure I'll pick up somewhere down the line.

Finally, I also bought the Wolverine:Weapon X 100 Project TPB, which features both of Bart's awesome covers for the project.
I haven't decided whether or not I should cut Bart's page out of the book yet, but I'm leaning toward just doing it!

There you have it anyway. These couple of weeks worth of acquisitions have bitten off a sizable chunk of the Bart Sears items I still require, and I'm getting to the stage where the Action Figures Bart worked on are becoming the easier items to get. So I've no doubt you will be seeing some Toy Biz and C.O.P.S. toys featured here in the future.

Until next time...

The Ominous Studios website is near!

2010-07-27T21:33:00.004+01:00

As related in my previous post, Bart Sears has recently announced the creation of his new company - Ominous Studios. And what good is any new business venture without a fancy new website to go with it?

The folks at Ominous Studios have been working tirelessly to get the website up and running and what I have seen looks fantastic. And as a treat for you, dear Searsians, I have once more been granted permission to give you a sneak peak at what the site is going to look like.

So here is the 'About Us' page.

As you can see, Ominous Studios has a broad spectrum of artistic works on display, from comic work, character design, children's books, game artwork and promotional pieces. It is also a great example of Ominous Studios' adaptability and program knowledge, with everything from pencils all the way though to the latest digital art programs on display.

And this is the 'Clients' listing, featuring a close-up of one of the companies cooler characters- Raaman.

So there you have it. Parts of the website will be available to view imminently, and I'll be pointing to it as soon as it is right here!

So don't go too far...

On another Ominous Studios related matter, hopefully a lot of you are busy working on getting your artwork together to submit to Ominous Studios. The gang will be more than happy to look at your work, with one simple proviso, you have to follow the Submission Guidelines, and that means that they want to see 6-10 of your chosen pieces of art. You can include a link to your website if you have one, but you MUST have those 6-10 pieces, not just the website link. The guys at Ominous Studios said "Time simply doesn't allow for us to go through each site selecting and printing artwork."
But they are really looking forward to seeing what you guys can come up with for them!

Ominous Studios is here!

2010-07-15T16:47:00.008+01:00

Of all of the interviews, articles, reviews and news I have passed on to you, dearest readers, through this blog; nothing (and I mean nothing!) compares to this!
A few of you might know, through Facebook no doubt, that Bart Sears has set up his own company, called Ominous Studios. This studio has been coming for... well, years, really. But the reality of it really only became apparent this year, and particularly the last few months.

So what is Ominous Studios, I hear you ask? Well, it can be summed up with this sentence - "Quality Concept & Creation for the Entertainment Industry."
What on earth does that mean? It means that Ominous Studios is an artistic and Intellectual Property house, where projects will be undertaken and both 'resident' and freelance artists will provide their services for a negotiated fee. It is also a place where many Intellectual Properties will be on display, in a variety of formats such as web comics and short films, to name a few, and these Intellectual Properties will often be available for Purchasing Rights and Distibution agreements.

But what about the Ominous Press characters of old? Will they have a place in this studio? The short answer is - YES! The project is a closely guarded secret, but not for too much longer. And what you are going to see, whilst different, is far superior to what has come before.

But now, as an exclusive to this blog (if only by a few hours!), I can announce that Ominous Studios is officially open for business and is accepting submissions to fill it's existing contracts!

And here are the submission guidelines for those interested parties-

As stated above, you'll need to sign a release form when submitting to Ominous Studios (as is common with pretty much all companies now), so below are the forms for any interested parties. The first is the international A4 size, the latter is the US equivalent.

So get creating folks, and have the chance to be a part of this historic occasion!

On a personal note, I have been unbelievably privileged to be involved in some small way in helping both Bart & Michelle at Ominous Studios in getting things together. Sometimes it has only been a bit of advice, or somebody to bounce ideas off of, or even just a spot of proof-reading. But it has been an utter thrill from the very beginning. Bart and I have been discussing Ominous storylines since the first time we emailed each other, all of those years ago, and it is quite amazing to finally see things coming to fruition.

Naturally, there will be plenty of announcements to be made in the near and far future, so check back soon.

An interesting thing...

2010-07-15T11:55:00.006+01:00

This morning, whilst searching the internet for something completely different to do with Bart Sears, I came across this little nugget.

"...And I DO remember the Capullo Wizard stuff. He's awesome. My favorite will always be Bart Sears. So much of my understructure is based upon his work in Wizard years ago."

So who wrote this quote? Well, If you browse the internet for mention of Bart, you will come across many similar posts by amateur artists and aspiring artists alike. But this? This was acclaimed comic artist Dave Finch talking!

I can't recall another time when such a popular creator has praised Bart to such a high degree.

The quote is directly related to Dave's Gnomon Workshop Figure Drawing tutorials. You can see some nice frame-grabs and the quote itself here.

An impending Bart Sears announcement!

2010-06-30T07:14:00.003+01:00

Those of you who are friends with Bart on Facebook will know that Bart is going to be announcing something big in the near future. For those of you that aren't his friend, he called it an "Ominous Announcement!"
Speculation instantly turned to the prospect of Bart returning to the Ominous Press Universe, after an agonising 16 years away from it. Whilst I DO know what Bart has got planned for the immediate future, I'm not about to let that Genie out of the bottle before Bart does. But I am very excited about it.

Bart informed myself and a select few other close friends and family that something big was in the offing about a month ago. My initial impression was that Bart and his wife Michelle were going to try and set about marketing Bart better as a brand, rather than just some ex-comic artist. Which would certainly be welcome and perhaps long overdue. I have watched for years as Bart has taken on jobs that probably weren't worthy of his skill, though he has made the best of each project he has gotten. But I've long thought that Bart was in dire need of somebody akin to an agent. Somebody that can acquire for him the more plum and suitable jobs.

Look at it this way- How many times have you thought that Bart should be drawing such-and-such's title, be it Conan, Wolverine, Hulk, Batman, etc. but have had to watch him draw Spider-Woman, The Scream or even Ramayan instead?
Bart Sears should, after nearly a quarter of a century in the comics industry, command far more respect and be given much better projects, than he has for the last 10-15 years of his career.

Now, you may say that I am biased towards Bart and maybe I give him more credit than he is due? Sure, Bart has made some mistakes, there's no denying that. But Bart is also responsible for some of the most well-known comics of the last 25 years. Invasion! was a big hit, Justice League Europe was acclaimed everywhere, Eclipso was ground-breaking, his run on X-O and Turok was very popular, Violator was a massive success, not to mention Bart's tutorials in Wizard being many people's favourite sections of those early Wizards. And Bart was a Top 10 artist for years. And if you look the artists he shared that distinction with, be they Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Joe Quesada, J. Scott Campbell, Marc Silvestri and all of the rest, the vast majority of them were and still are hugely successful, well beyond anything Bart has known.

There are possibly a few reasons for Bart's career not being what it should be. I think that the most likely reason is Bart's chameleon-like artistic style. Whilst it is amazing to see the incredible variety of styles Bart has produced over the years, I think it has been to the detriment of his career. Look at the big artists of the last 50 years- Neal Adams, Jim Lee, Michael Turner, etc. Many of them have barely altered the way they draw a page. There are a few modern artists who have shown a diversity of style, namely Leinil Yu and Steve McNiven, but a lot of that can be put down to the fruition of their style. Leinil Yu began as something of a Whilce Portacio clone, then he added elements of Mike Mignola and (seeminly every new artist's go to influence) Travis Charest. It was probably only with New Avengers and onwards that you could say he had a natural and distinct style of his own.

But Bart has had his own style since a comparitively much earlier time in his career. I would put the latter half of Justice League Europe as the style defining moment for Bart. Only a a dozen or so issues into his career. Since then he has altered and manipulated that style on an aesthetic level, whilst retaining the core structure. Look at Warlord, which is by far the most loose Bart's work has ever been. But you can still see the underlying structure that is clearly Bart's own.

I think that whilst Bart has exhibited a never before seen skill at stylistic adaptation, it has detracted and drawn attention away from both his wonderful storytelling ability, as well as his core style that can be very popular and career-sustaining.

My point is, would the comic career of Bart Sears be any different if he followed Jim Lee's footsteps and retained his style consistently and constantly? And what the heck does that have to do with Bart's impending big announcement? Admitedly, not a whole lot.
But I think that Bart is at a point now that he knows what works and what doesn't, and whilst he may enjoy keeping things fresh, comics are a business like any other, and to survive in it, one simply must make themselves a marketable commodity.

So I think the future is looking brighter for Bart than it has for many years. We may indeed be entering a new golden era for the career of Bart Sears, be it in comics, gaming or whatever.

And, obviously, as soon as Bart makes his big announcement, I'll be forwarding it on here, with some extra, fan-based, thoguths, thrown in for good measure.

These are exciting times to be a Searsian, folks!

Ominous Press: Promo flyers

2010-06-29T18:21:00.023+01:00

I've been looking back at a lot of the posts I've written over the last year and was somewhat alarmed to note that most of the posts are to do with Bart Sears items I have purchased over the internet. There has been very little content dealing with other areas of collecting Bart's work.

So, now that I don't have a constant stream of packages coming through the mailbox, I though it an oppurtune time to delve into my Bart Sears boxes and see if I can't put together a more cojent selection of items to show you all.

So here's what I found.

Back in those glorious and much missed Ominous Press days, the comics industry was going through something of a boom, an albeit unsustainable boom, but a boom nonetheless. Companies seemed to have an ocean of cash to throw into promotional material of all sorts and sizes. POGs, trading cards, stickers, posters, action figures and all manner of things could be easily found.

Ominous Press was no different. Although only 3 actual comics were produced for the company, 2 posters, a postcard, bi-fold and tri-fold binders, a mini-comic and 5 promo flyers also got made.

I'll be dealing with each individual item at a later stage, but I wanted to show you the 5 promo flyers today.

So here they are-

I'll do this chronologically by comic, so first up is the 'It Begins' flyer. The main image of Mael and Auoro appears in a few places, there was even a black & white print produced of it. The mocked-up Wizard cover at the bottom is entirely fictional, as no OP characters ever made it to a Wizard cover, though the closest they got was the inside cover.

The main image is an interesting piece in that it was both pencilled and inked by Bart himself, whilst the colouring was created by Wes Merritt, who has since gone on to be a very accomplished watercolour artist. If you're interested, you can see his website here.

Next up is the promo flyer for 'Mael's Rage.' I believe this image was created solely for advertising purposes, as it does not appear anywhere else but in adverts. This piece was inked by Andy Smith, but I'm not sure who coloured it.

Then we have an interesting one indeed, here we have both 'Mael's Rage' and 'Death of Pheros' advertised on the same flyer. The same image for the 'Mael's Rage' flyer is used here, and the Pheros image is both the same as the fictional Wizard cover from the 'It Begins' flyer, as well as the below 'Death of Pheros' flyer too.

And here's the 'Death of Pheros' flyer in all of it's glory. This is another piece that was both pencilled and inked by Bart, with colours by Brad Perkins. I think this is a very interesting piece of artwork, and a great example of Bart's storytelling ability. There are several clues as to who Pheros' killer is, and it leaves the question of what is happening to Mael and Auoro? The tagline that reads 'You've never seen a hero die... UNTIL NOW,' is true to it's word. Although the comic never made it into the public domain, I've read the script and seen the artwork produced for it (which is mostly in rough layouts), and can say that it would have been one of the outright coolest comics ever, in my opinion. The fight scenes are epic and the plot is tight and emotive. It is one of my greatest regrets that this comic never came to fruition.

Next up is the 'Omen' flyer. This, again, is a comic that never came out, but once more, I've read the script and it is pretty spectacular, as the Ominous Press Universe really opens out and the possibilities seem endless. I've always loved how the comic-specific fonts were used on this flyer, even the word 'HERO,' which is taken from Pheros' logo, minus the P and the S. I also love the image of Mael, perhaps because I managed to buy it off Bart many years ago. As far as I know, this is the only place this image of Mael is used.

Lastly, we have the generic OP promo flyer, which utilizes the OP Poster 2 artwork. I've always referred to this piece as Poster 2, whereas Poster 1 is the one with Mael at one end, Dramaurg at the other. I'm not sure which piece was produced first, or the release order, but I'm pretty sure I've got it right!

I'm not entirely sure how these promo flyers were distributed, but there does exist an Ominous Press press kit, which contains a title synopsis and a few other things, in a nice grey envelope with a cool OP sticker on it. I imagine that some of the flyers were also included in the press kit. Bart?

Anyway, it has been fun looking at these nifty little items (they're not that 'little' actually, they are all printed on standard US Letter size paper). I should be diving into the old Bart Sears boxes over the coming weekend, so come see what else I can find soon!

Discoveries...

2010-06-26T02:55:00.019+01:00

I seem to say this at the beginning of each new post these days, but- Wow! It's been too long since I've put up anything new here.

There are several reasons for this though. First and foremost, I've been on holiday for the better part of the last month, visiting my family in Australia, including a new addition to the Penn family- my youngest brother's daughter Isabella.
Secondly, well, I haven't had anything by Bart Sears through the mailbox in a very long time! I've certainly been looking, but the small stack of items I still require are either tough to find or going for more than I'm willing to pay.
But saying all that, a strange thing happened to me a few days before we went on holiday. My wife and I were up in Dublin to see a band, and I took some time out to visit some of the comic shops that Dublin has to offer. There are several stores to choose from, namely a Forbidden Planet, Sub City and one veritable diamond in the rough, called... yeah, I can't actually remember what it's called...
But it's one of those stores that when you walk in, you just know you're going to come away with something good. The place was crammed full of literally dozens and dozens of stacked long boxes full of back issues of all shapes and sizes. I tell you, it was bliss!
So I browsed around for a little while, with my trusty and steadily shrinking Bart Sears Want List in hand. A few things jumped out at me along the way, including a couple of boxes of comics that were going for something like 15 for €5. There were some nice trade paperbacks at pretty decent prices too.
But then I came across the motherload! Boxes and boxes of UK Marvel comics, and wouldn't you know it, these babies were in there-

I've mentioned these items in a previous post, but after some pretty extensive searching, I'd pretty much given up finding them. So I was rather chuffed to finally get my hands on them, I can tell you. It feels as though many years have passed since I have actually walked into a comic shop and found some old Bart Sears item I haven't been able to locate elsewhere, even on the internet.
So anyway, to break it down, here's what each issue contains pertaining to Bart.

Astonishing Spider-Man #94 Published 1/1/2003.
Cover reprinted from Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #4. (Credits list Mark Pennington hilariously as 'Ian Pennington')
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #4 reprinted inside.

Astonishing Spider-Man #95 Published 29/1/2003.
Cover by John Byrne.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #5 (minus the cover) reprinted inside.

Astonishing Spider-Man #97 Published 26/3/2003.
Cover reprinted from Spider-Woman #1.
Spider-Woman #1 & 2 reprinted inside.

The Mighty World of Marvel #47 Published 4/10/2006.
Cover reprinted from Blade: Strange Tales #3.
Nothing else.

In other news, Bart is working hard for Heatwave Interactive still, and there should hopefully be some wonderfully large announcements coming soon, of which I'll naturally pass along here. I can say that Bart has been producing some tremendous work for the company lately, he's even been branching out to digital painting, with startlingly good results.

Also, for those that missed it, Bart's two 'Wolverine: Weapon X 100 Project' covers presumably feature in the Trade of the same name, which came out on December 2nd last year. I've yet to get my hands on a copy just yet, but when I do I'll confirm whether both covers did indeed make it in. Bart has confirmed that both covers ARE indeed in the book. Thanks Bart.

Be sure to check in here soon, as Bart and his wife Michelle are planning some big things in the hopefully near future and I'll be adding my services wherever required, and informing you all about it here. So stay tuned, Searsians!

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #11

2010-03-20T10:27:00.016Z

Wow, it seems like a very long time since I had a big bunch of Bart Sears goodies arrive on my doorstep. But that's exactly what happened yesterday.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have pretty much bought up all of the Bart Sears items that Mile High Comics has that I still require, so I've been forced to look for alternate sources to get my Bart Sears fix. And while Mile High will always be my favourite place to go, MyComicShop is proving to be a very good place to visit as well. Their prices are often better than MH, and their packaging is just insanely good.

So I placed an order for 11 items with them a few weeks ago, and now that they're here, I can share them with you.

So let's get to it shall we?

First up, I've finally been able to get my hands on these two Virgin Comics issues-

On the left we have 'Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1,' with a very nice cover by Bart. The credits page states that Randy Elliott inked it, but I believe Bart inked it instead (Randy's signature is normally easily found on a piece).

On the right is 'Ramayan 3392AD Reloaded #7,' with a really cool cover by Bart (this time definitely inked by Randy). I've never had a good scan of this cover, and I was surprised to see the detail in it, which is perhaps above the level Bart would normally do for a piece like this nowadays.

So I'm pretty happy to finally have these two pieces in my collection.

Next up-

This awesome pin-up is from 'Green Lantern Gallery #1,' from December 1996. It is pencilled & inked by Bart, with some rather spectacular colours by Mike Atiyeh. I have had a copy of this pin-up for about 10 years, but now it is re-laminated and looking good.

I believe Darrin Wiltshire has a copy of this comic for me as well, but it is yours to keep now sir!

Also, Andy Smith has a great pin-up in this comic, so it is worth getting a hold of.

I also got this-

I have owned a copy of this comic for at least 17 years, and I did laminate it a few years ago. But I'm just not happy with the laminating job on it (I used a thinner laminating sheet), so I bought another copy to get re-laminated. Bart was at one stage going to be the regular penciller of this title, back in the late 80's, but this is the only comic he did for it, before getting moved on to Justice League Europe.

This issue, though not his best work at the time, is still a great Bart Sears comic to have, and is a rare enough pre-JLE comic that Bart actually did the interior art for.

Last of the comics to come out of this shipment was this-

This is the 'Metal Sketch Edition of Zoom Suit #3' and is the final cover I needed to get to own the complete set of Bart Sears Zoom Suit covers. And it only took 4 years.

Some of you may recall that in a previous post, I pointed out a printing error on the Sketch Edition of Zoom Suit #2, well this cover suffers the same fate. You won't be able to see it, but in the bottom left corner, just to the right of the man's mouth, is the text 'LIVE AREA' that somebody forgot to take off. I still find stuff like that very amusing.

Anyway, as a bit of a departure, the next two items were these-

These two items are from the 'Who's Who in the DC Universe' Loose-Leaf series from the early 90's. Again, I've owned copies of all of Bart's entries in this series for a very long time, but they are on the re-laminating list, and these two were going cheap at MyComicShop.

The Elongated man entry is from WWITDCU #7, and if you're thinking that it doesn't really look like Bart's work... well, you'd be half right. It is actually pencilled by Carmine Infantino, with Bart supplying the inks. You can sort of see in a few areas where Bart has inked it how he would draw it. The bottom three images are actually from the back of the page, where all of the character stats and history are, but I thought I'd show them here as well.

On the right is the Furball entry, from WWITDCU #8. I love this picture, if only for the fact that Bart has drawn mushrooms! He's only done this a few times in his career, perhaps most notably in the famous Trenin image from The First #4.

And finally, what would a big pile of Bart Sears goodies be without a few issues of Wizard!

As previously stated, I have never been sure when Bart's Wizard Mascot, Poof!, started appearing in the magazine. I had previously thought it was #4, then I got a copy of #3 and he was in there too. So I thought I should get Wizard #1 & 2 just to be sure. And wouldn't you know...

Yes, Poof!, the mascot that Bart drew some 11 different versions of, appears in Wizard magazine from it's very first issue.

Three different Poofs! appear in Wizard #1 for a total of 5 times, and Bart is also listed thus on the credits page-

It is quite fun to look at how Wizard humbly began, to the monster it has become. I much prefer the Wizard of old, when it was about comics, not comic-related media. I can fully understand why they have gone in the direction they have, but I still prefer Wizard #1-50.

Wizard #2 had 6 different Poofs in it, including three on one page!-

As you can see, they all have Bart's odd little signature on them too.

Wizard #2 also had it's first Top 100, with Bart's Legend of the Dark Knight #23 coming in at #22.

This is by no means the highest something of Bart's has gotten, here's a few other items that sold well-

JLE #2 - #8

Eclipso the Darkness Within #1 - #9

Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1 - #6

and the best-

Violator #1 - #3!

I also picked up Wizard #56-

This is definitely one of Bart's cooler Wizard covers, and it's good to have it again and through the laminating machine. Bart's name isn't mentioned at all in the rest of the magazine, but I really don't mind, considering how good that cover is.

Lastly, I got a bagged copy of Wizard #100. I ordered an unbagged copy of it last year, unaware that there was a 43cm x 66cm poster in the bagged version, showing all of the first 100 issue covers and variants. I do intend to somehow scan this poster in, or maybe take a photo of it, and as soon as I do, I'll post it here.

So there you have it, a really good shipment of Bart Sears comics, with a few new items for me, and some addition to the Bart Sears Checklist.

I have yet another shipment of Bart Sears items nearly on the way from MyComicShop, with a few more Wizard's, some Dagger Entertainment comics and a few other choice pieces, which, naturally, I'll do a post on when it arrives.

As a side note, I have set up a Bart Sears Fanclub on Facebook for any interested parties, so come join in the fun, won't you?

Until next time...

My Bart Sears Card Collection- COMPLETE!!!

2010-03-10T15:32:00.016Z

First off, allow me to apologize for not posting here in a while. I've been as busy as can be lately and haven't been able to find the time or energy to put up anything new.
My Bart Sears collecting has been on the light side recently as well, but not completely without anything arriving on my doorstep.
I recently managed to get my hands on another copy of Bart's Cremator #1 cover, which was quite exciting, as it is so very hard to come by these days. As you may have read in my post dedicated to this cover, it is my favourite single piece of Bart Sears artwork, and it felt great to give the new copy the proper laminating treatment it deserves.

I also finally got my hands on this, just last week-

There is a story behind this Overpower Magneto card, a card I've been looking to get a hold of for a very long time. But I wasn't always looking for it, because, back in the late 90's, I actually did have a copy of it. I knew that Bart had done some cards for the Monumental Overpower expansion, but I wasn't absolutely certain if he'd done anything for the other sets. So I grabbed anything that looked even remotely like Bart's work from a comic shop that had a sizable number of the singles from most sets. This card was included in that list.

When I got the cards home, what was first noticeable was the difference in artwork from the two sets Bart produced cards for. The Overpower base set used a colouring method very popular at the time which was essentially paint by numbers with a heavy dose of airbrush. The Magneto card is a perfect example of this, where there are no traditional comic ink lines. Rather, the artist wouldn't even use ink, and would simply draw detail outlines, leaving blacks open and no rendering, see Bart's Overpower Thor card for a better idea of what I'm getting at.

So anyway, after some consideration, I came to the conclusion that Bart did not do the Magneto card, or the Thor card, rather that some inhouse Marvel artist had probably tried to make the art look like it would be Bart, maybe they were even a fan of his! I must say at this point that I was not in contact with Bart by this stage, though I really wish I was. Because, not long after making contact with Bart, he mentioned that he had done the artwork for those Magneto and Thor cards, not to mention the Deadpool one. I rushed back to the comic shop, only to find that they had recently sold their entire collection of Overpower cards to some guy! And so my quest began.

But I now have all of those three cards again, and the purchase of that Magneto card also means that, to the best of knowledge, I now have every Bart Sears trading card in existence.

I thought it might be a good idea to actually list all of the Bart Sears cards in existence, taken straight from the Bart Sears Checklist. So here we go...

#	Details	Company	Year
#1	DC Backing Boards Series 2- Card #50 - r: JLE #1 cover	DC	1989
#2	DC '92 Series 1: #45- Doctor Light	DC	1992
#3	DC '92 Series 1: #47- Elongated Man	DC	1992
#4	DC '92 Series 1: #62- Metamorpho	DC	1992
#5	DC '92 Series 1: #69- Peacemaker	DC	1992
#6	DC '92 Series 1: #154- Invasion! Card A	DC	1992
#7	DC '92 Series 1: #155- Invasion! Card B	DC	1992
#8	DC '92 Series 1: #156- Invasion! Card C	DC	1992
#9	DC Cosmic Cards '93: #124- Despero	DC/Skybox	1993
#10	DC Cosmic Cards '93: #125- Starro	DC/Skybox	1993
#11	DC Cosmic Cards '93: #143- Eclipso	DC/Skybox	1993
#12	X-O Manowar & Turok Promo card - r: X-O #14 cover	Valiant/Upper Deck	1993
#13	Turok Dinosaur Hunter Mail Away card - r: Turok #1 cover	Valiant	1993
#14	Turok Dinosaur Hunter Promo card - r: Turok #1 cover	Valiant	1993
#15	The Dark Phonecard - r: The Dark #1 cover- 500 made	Global Link	1993
#16	Creator's Universe: Pheros Promo card	Dynamic Ent.	1993
#17	Creator's Universe: #60- Pheros	Dynamic Ent.	1993
#18	Creator's Universe: #87- Thrashur	Dynamic Ent.	1993
#19	Creator's Universe: #97- Wolfhound	Dynamic Ent.	1993
#20	Valiant Era 1: #73- X-O Manowar - r: X-O #14 cover	Valiant/Upper Deck	1993
#21	Valiant Era 2: #154- X-O Manowar - r: X-O #15 cover	Valiant/Upper Deck	1994
#22	Valiant Era 2: #230- Turok 1 - r: Turok #1 cover	Valiant/Upper Deck	1994
#23	Valiant Era 2: #231- Turok 2 - r: Turok #2 cover	Valiant/Upper Deck	1994
#24	Conan Chromium 2: #13- Pin-up 2 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#25	Conan Chromium 2: #26- Pin-up 5 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#26	Conan Chromium 2: #42- Pin-up 3 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#27	Conan Chromium 2: #58- Pin-up 6 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#28	Conan Chromium 2: #67- Pin-up 1 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#29	Conan Chromium 2: #82- Pin-up 4 - r: Conan Portfolio 1 image	Comic Images	1994
#30	DC Stars: #21- Metamorpho - r: DC '92 Series 1 card	DC/Skybox/Wal-Mart	1994
#31	DC Stars: #22- Elongated man - r: DC '92 Series 1 card	DC/Skybox/Wal-Mart	1994
#32	DC Stars: #35- Peacemaker - r: DC '92 Series 1 card	DC/Skybox/Wal-Mart	1994
#33	Dark Horse- Comics Greatest World: #27- Titan	Dark Horse/Topps	1994
#34	Wildstorm Set 1: #22- Winter	Aegis Ent.	1994
#35	Hero Special Editions #3- Violator - r: Violator pin-up	Todd McFarlane/Hero	1994
#36	Violator Green Card - r: Violator pu - came with Violator figure	McFarlane Toys	1994
#37	Marvel Overpower: Deadpool- Super Spy	Marvel/Fleer	1995
#38	Marvel Overpower: Magneto- Repel Object	Marvel/Fleer	1995
#39	Marvel Overpower: Thor- Protect Teammate	Marvel/Fleer	1995
#40	Spawn Chromium: #64 - r: Voilator #1 cover	Wildstorm	1996
#41	Spawn Chromium: #65 - r: Violator #2 cover	Wildstorm	1996
#42	Monumental Overpower (MO): Adam Warlock- Soul Gem	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#43	MO: Alpha Flight- Guardian	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#44	MO: Captain America- Sharon Carter	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#45	MO: Henry Pym- Ultron 1	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#46	MO: Hydra- Madame Hydra	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#47	MO: Inhumans- Triton	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#48	MO: Serpent Society- Diamond Back	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#49	MO: Serpent Society- Sidewinder	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#50	MO: Shi'ar- D'ken	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#51	MO: Silver Surfer- Shalla Bal	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#52	MO: Starjammers- Corsair	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#53	MO: Power Card- Energy 8- Dark Phoenix	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#54	MO: Power Card- Strength 6- Thunderbird	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#55	MO: Universe-Teamwork- Black Bolt, Gorgon & Medusa	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#56	MO: Universe-Teamwork- Firestar, Nova & Namorita	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#57	MO: Universe-Teamwork- Supreme Intelligence, Ronan & Kree	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#58	MO: Universe-Ally- Wyatt Wingfoot	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#59	MO: Mission- Fatal Attractions: Misguided Efforts- Rusty Collins	Marvel/Fleer	1997
#60	Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #73- Black Knight	Marvel/Fleer/Skybox	1997
#61	Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #74- Constrictor	Marvel/Fleer/Skybox	1997
#62	Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #76- Kane	Marvel/Fleer/Skybox	1997
#63	Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #77- Rama-Tut	Marvel/Fleer/Skybox	1997
#64	Marvel Premium X-Men '97 Timelines: #79- Stryfe	Marvel/Fleer/Skybox	1997
#65	Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #2 of 7- Zoom Suit #1 cover	Superverse	2006
#66	Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #5 of 7- Zoom Suit #2 cover	Superverse	2006
#67	Zoom Suit Promo Set 1: #6 of 7- Zoom Suit #3 cover	Superverse	2006
#68	Zoom Suit Promo Set 2: #4 of 9- Zoom Suit #2 cover	Superverse	2006
#69	Zoom Suit Promo Set 2: #7 of 9- Zoom Suit #3 cover	Superverse	2006

I have a new shipment of Bart Sears comics on it's way as I write this, and I'll be doing a full write up of everything in it as soon as it arrives, so come back soon!

A Special Anniversary Post

2009-11-07T11:26:00.006Z

Sorry I haven't posted here for a while, I've been busy trying to make my own foray into the field of comics! But I have been planning this particular post for a while, to be put up on this particluar day too.

You see, it was on this day, the 7th of November, back in 1999, that I first made contact with Bart Sears.

As most of you know, I've been a fan of Bart's since way back in 1991, and I pretty rapidly became an avid fan, chasing down every item of his I could, but I didn't think to try and contact him until years later. So, one day, I sent off a letter to Marvel Comics care of Bart in early November and received an email from Bart on the 7th.
I can tell you that I was rather excited to receive an email from him, and it is funny how Bart's first line to me still rings true today-
"Thank you for the letter you sent, it just arrived today. I'm overwhelmed, actually, I think you have a better idea of the work I've done than I do."

Since that first email, all of those years ago, Bart and I have gone on to be good friends, and there really hasn't been a time when we haven't been in contact. I've even visited him a few times. The first time, in 2004, was a week of pure magic for me. We hung around his apartment, him drawing Cap/Falcon, me organising his boxes and boxes of photocopies and original art. We'd have bad action movies on in the background, go out to dinner, go to movies.

I think I slept for maybe 20 hours during the whole week! I got to meet all of the gang as well- Andy Smith, Mike Atiyeh, Rob Hunter, Ron Marz, his brother Brett and his family.
Bart even gave me a private art lesson, and let me do a background on Cap/Falcon 3.

Around about that time, I ran the first and only Bart Sears Fan Club, which unfortunately only lasted a year (due to time constraints on my end). There were only a few dozen members in the club, but it was incredibly fun to interview Bart on a range of subjects, not to mention showing to those members of the fan club some of Bart's lesser known work.

I visited Bart for the second time a few years after the first trip, and it was another brilliant time. I got to meet more friends, including distant relative (of mine) Mark Pennington and his family. We had a crazy night out with Rob Hunter, fun around the house with Bart's own family, and plenty of drawing and yet more box organising. Bart was working on Warlord 10 at the time, work that never saw print, unfortunately, because Bart got me working on blacks and a bit of inking-

I haven't visited Bart in far too long now, but have plans in place to do so some time in the future.
But we regularly email each other, or IM as we've been doing lately. We don't really talk about our own history as friends, but I think about it a lot. Like the time Bart sent my wife and I a two-page spread of original art from The Path for our wedding gift, or that first care package he sent me back in late 2000. Or the countless emails back and forth, mostly work related, but the special ones being when we'd talk about the crap in our lives and just be able to let it all out. Or the email, dated 16 November, 2000, where Bart states, regarding me being his Official #1 fan -"I don't know who else could be Number 1."

I often think about my two visits to him, just chatting about Ominous Press and coming up with some incredible ideas (mostly Bart).
But mostly, I think about how thankful I am that Bart answered that first letter I sent him, and how generous a person he is for all that he has done for me since.

Here's to the 10 years, Bart, may many more follow!

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #10

2009-09-27T14:36:00.035+01:00

Well, I finally got my scanner going again after a few weeks of it not working at all, and that can only mean one thing - I've got some catching up to do!
So, this installment of 'Guess what the Postman delivered today?' actually includes two shipments of Bart Sears comics that I've received over the past couple of weeks.

So pop the kettle on and settle in, because this is going to be a long one.

The first shipment of comics arrived on the 11th of September from my old friends at Mile High Comics. I'd been particularly looking forward to this shipment as I knew it would contain a few more of those issues that may or may not have Bart's work in them.

First off came copies of Chaos! Comics title 'Chaos Quarterly.' In retrospect it was probably a bit of a long shot, but I, at the time, hoped that Bart's cover to Cremator #1 might be previewed or some such in at least one of the issues; so I bought issues 1 & 2. But nope, nothing of Bart's in there.

Next came an issue of Amazing Heroes. I'd done some research into what each issue of the comic magazine contained, and decided on Amazing Heroes #160, mostly because the issue was supposed to be about foreign comics and American publishers of them. So I figured there had to be at least something on Quality Comics in there and maybe a picture or two of some of the covers Bart did for them. But nope, again, nothing like that in there. There was some mention of QC, but only in the upcoming comics section, where these issues were listed-

Of course Bart didn't actually do any of those covers...
On the following page was also an in depth review of Justice League Europe, printed in it's entirety below.

Yep, pretty disappointing really, especially considering the fact that Amazing Heroes #87 had an enormous 6 page article dedicated to Hero Alliance, resplendent with plenty of Bart Sears images.

Oh well.

Next out of the package were a few issues of Hero Illustrated, another comic magazine that had the misfortune of having to compete with Wizard in the early '90's. Its actually not a bad publication, certainly less fanboy-y as Wizard, but I believe it suffered from a weak layout, among other things. As a comic magazine, they didn't have much to say about Bart, but at the time Bart was pretty well known as a Wizard guy, so mention of him in Hero is pretty few and far between.

But I decided to take a leap anyway. Issues 7 and 23 both had interviews with Alan Moore, and both of them seemed Violator related. And wouldn't you know it, I turned a page of issue 7 and see this-

Not bad for a stab in the dark. Moore discusses a little bit about his work procedure and Bart is mentioned several times.

As for issue 23, this page is included-

Another result, regardless of how small. Bart isn't mentioned at all in the Moore interview this time, and only Bart's shot of the Clown is actually anything related to him, but its almost worth it for the Rob Liefeld interview, where the interviewer absolutely rips him to shreds.
I also got a few Wizard issues, and boy were they worth getting.

Firstly, issue 3 was another one of those shots in the dark. Bart may have an interview in issue 4, as well as the Wizard mascot being peppered throughout, but I had no idea if Bart was even mentioned in issue 3.

Well, he was.

Firstly, four different Wizard Mascots appear in it, including another one of those Subscription Coupons. But most importantly, this particular mascot appears-

As previously stated in my post dedicated to the Wizard Mascot , I was under the impression that this particular mascot image went unpublished; that is clearly not the case! Yeah, I was pretty happy with that find. Also mentioned in the magazine is the name of that very mascot, which is, though not entirely PC, 'POOF!' Apparently Gareb Shamus was unaware of the derogatory alternate meaning of the word at the time.

Issue 3 also features this advert on one of the last pages-

I have absolutely no idea if Bart's Batman cover image for issue 4 (assuming it was indeed that image) ever made it onto one of the T-Shirts, but I've certainly not come across any evidence of it's existence.

Next came issue 5, which I used to own when it first came out, but who knows what happened to it down through the years. I sure wish I had have held on to it because it has some great Bart Sears stuff in it, and at the top of the list is this piece-

Yet another Poof! image I was unaware of! And if you look closely, Bart has even signed the thing, in still another of his many signature variations.

There are a total of 5 Poof's! in the magazine, 2 of which are this one-

I know, I know, I had said that this particular Poof! went unpublished as well, but I was obviously wrong in that assumption. But now I, and you, know.

I also got Wizard #11 in the shipment, which has the usual mix of Poof's! scattered throughout, but it also has Bart's second Brute & Babe Tutorial, which just so happened to be the very last tutorial I needed to complete my set of newly laminated tutorials. That's just another thing I can cross off the old Want List, which has been steadily getting smaller and smaller. I now only require issues 9 and 56 of Wizard, both of which are proving tricky to find through my usual sources.

Next out was an actual comic, not a comic magazine. A fresh copy of Mutant X #21 in fact, featuring nine pages of some of the best work Bart has ever done for Marvel, in my opinion. I highly recommend it to those that don't already have it. Those pages have already been put through the laminator.

And finally, I got three issues of The First to replace the ones that I can't seem to find anymore. The issues in question are #'s 6, 12 and 15. If you know you're way around The First, you'll probably pick up that Bart didn't actually do the interior art for any of those issues, Andrea Di Vito did (which would probably explain why I can't find the original copies I had.)

Though Bart didn't do the interior art, he did do the images on the credit pages of issues 6 & 12, shown below-

These images, along with all of the other credit page images, first appeared on the CrossGen website even before the first 'First' issue was out, as a sort of 'get to know us' thing. I did print off the images from the website at the time, but the resolution is nowhere near these ones that appeared in the comics, so their good to have.

As for issue 15, I had one of the many letters I had published in The First in it, so I simply had to get it again.

It's no huge claim to fame, by any means, certainly not as big as the Pyrem image I had published in issue 5-

Feel free to laugh as I cringe at it.

For those interested (probably only me), I had a total of 5 letters (all of them praising Bart) and the Pyrem image published in pages of The First, which is probably because I was a pretty vocal fan of the comic at the time, and regularly posted on the CG message boards.

And that was all for the Mile High Comics shipment, which was pretty much par for the course in respect to the other shipments I've gotten recently - some big hits, some swings and misses, but a worthy venture at the end of the day.

My other new delivery arrived on the 22nd of September, and it was my first ever purchase from a place called MyComicShop, who are a pretty good seller, from what I've seen, and they package stuff expertly. I've pretty much exhausted Mile High Comics' inventory of all of the Bart stuff I need, but MyComicShop was thankfully able to fill in a good amount of the holes Mile High Comics couldn't, and at pretty good prices too.

So first off came a few QC issues I needed to relaminate.

Of all of the 30 covers Bart did for QC/Fleetway, I only require the Scavengers #3 cover to complete their relamination process.

I also got my hands on another Zoom Suit issue-

This is the regular Bart Sears cover to #3, but there is also a Sketch Edition of this, that I believe is on it's way to me as I write this. The cover is obviously an homage to that famous Superman cover, with a modern twist. I believe the 'Sears Tower' sign in the background was none of Bart's doing, that really isn't the sort of thing he would do (though he has been known to do things kinda similar to this, which will be the feature of another post at a later stage).

After that comes the final Blade cover I needed to complete the set-

This is the alternate cover to the regular one that Bart did, and is difficult enough to come across now, and is usually more expensive too. I love Mike Atiyeh's colours on this one.

I also polished off my collection of Hero Alliance covers in the new laminating format.

This cover is interesting in that the signatures suggest that the pencilling chores were shared by both Bart and Ron Lim. I'm not entirely sure which parts Ron Lim did, because to me, it looks to be all Bart.

For those completists out there, Bart did the covers to issues #1, 2, 6 & 9 of the regular Hero Alliance series.

Next up was Justice league Europe #29.

This is another interesting cover in that although it is definitely done by Bart, his signature is nowhere to be seen. He is listed as the cover penciller and inker on the back credits page though. It is also interesting because Bart is listed as the interior artist on the cover, of which he is in actual fact not, Darick Robertson does the pencilling on the interior.

This cover marks Bart's final work for the title that made him famous.

Those 6 previous items mark the end of the comics I knew Bart did in this shipment, but I had a few more comics to come that were questionable.

As regular readers may be aware, I've been searching for that pesky Caliban Handbook image for quite some time now, to absolutely no avail. But the next possible source arrived in this shipment.

This comic was released in April 2006, At least 10 years after the original image was drawn, but wouldn't you know...

I think I giggled a little bit when I saw that picture. I'm not entirely certain that this is the first place this image was shown, but I believe it is. So for now, unless I find it anywhere else, the search is over. Sigh.

The next piece still has a huge question mark over it. I'd read somewhere a while ago that Bart did this particular cover-

Obviously, they meant that Bart did the Solar hand on the right, not Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam.' After checking through the whole comic, credit pages and all, not only is Bart not listed anywhere, but nobody has been credited as the cover artist at all. I'm not so sure if Bart did it, to be honest, the hand certainly has a Bart Sears feel to it, but it also has a Michelangelo feel to it too, some of the outline is almost a mirror of Adam's outstretched arm. So Bart, let me know if you know anything about this and I'll update this section with whatever you can tell me.

NOTE: To quote Bart, "Nope had nada to do with that Solar cover..." Say no more.

Another item that I'd read/half guessed would have some Bart art in it is was this badboy-

As you can see, Bart is listed on the cover. The book is basically a pin-up gallery of The Dark images, in black and white, and on page 30 is this pin-up -

I swear, this image is the most reproduced image of Bart's I know. Let's list it's appearances shall we?

1. Bart's B&B Tutorial in Wizard #22 has it shown in b&w

2. The Dark Regular cover

3. The Dark Red chrome cover

4. The Dark Blue chrome cover

5. The Dark Convention book

6. The Dark Phonecard. Of which only 500 were made, and I have three!

Lastly, I got the obligatory couple of Wizard magazines, this time issues 54 & 100.

Wizard #54 starts off pretty nicely for a Bart Sears fan like myself.

It keeps on going from there because part of that same cover is reprinted on the contents page, Gareb Shamus talks about it on his Letter page, and then we come to the 'More Picks' section on page 117, which has a quick review of X-O Manowar #63-64, and has this image shown-

Sorry about the quality, its a small image. Anyway, this is listed as the cover for X-O #63, which turns out not to be the case. In fact, this image doesn't appear on any X-O cover as far as I know, and as far as I know, doesn't appear anywhere but right there!

Here are the pencils for the piece for those interested.

There is also a great picture of Bart and Andy Smith on the Creator Abbreviations page, that is worth putting up here I think.

Lastly, and I mean lastly, on the final page is this-

There is some good information on Bart's early life in it, which I elaborated on when I was running the Bart Sears Fan Club all those years ago.

Wizard #100 is not quite the anniversary issue I envisioned it would be, in fact, apart from the poster that came with the magazine when bagged (I got an unbagged copy), showing all 100 covers (I will be getting that hopefully soon), and a few bits here and there, it is barely indistinguishable from a normal issue. At the back, in the price guide section, there are some unused covers shown, and several of Bart's are shown, but the image sizes are tiny compared those shown in Wizard #29.

The only other places anything Bart related are mentioned are on the Top 100 ordered titles for October 1999, where Spider-Woman #6 came in at number 65.

There is also a page that lists prominent artists and writers and how much each one's signature is worth, Bart comes in at a whopping $3!

And finally, this tiny little article at the bottom of page 120 appeared.

I don't know how "long-standing" Greg Capullo's tutorials were, but Bart did a total of 31 tutorials between issues 1 and 100, and they started at issue 10!

And that's it! Well, nearly it. These two deliveries, and the previous Mile high Comics delivery, all had 1 item each that was incorrectly delivered. By that I mean, for instance, I ordered a particular comic, and a different but easily mistaken issue was delivered instead. The two Mile High corrected issues are on their way, and the MyComicShop one will be soon, so I'll put them up here when they arrive.

But for now, that's me finished in the way of deliveries, for the foreseeable future anyway. Which means that I can do some posts on things other than what arrived in the mail, and concentrate on some other aspects of Bart's work. I have a few ideas in mind, including a proper look at Bart's Action figure work, a statistical study of his career and a look at some of Bart's Kubert School work.

So come back soon!

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #9

2009-09-21T18:37:00.011+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, Bart Sears fan Chip Carey contacted me to let me know that he is selling a lot of his artwork to raise some funds for a few upcoming projects. He said he wanted to give me the first chance to buy any of the pieces he was selling, which was rather kind of him, I thought. I've never, despite my best efforts, been one to have a lot of disposable income, and I have many times had to pass up on Bart Sears items due to the fact that I couldn't afford them, and I honestly thought that this was going to be another one of those occasions.
Which was a situation I really didn't want to happen this particular time, as Chip has some great Bart Sears stuff, including a couple of very nice Ominous Press items. One of the items that Chip offered to me was the Insidious page from It Begins, an item I had previously passed up several years ago when it was on sale.
But, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps something more, that same week saw me receive an email from a gentleman interested in a piece I myself owned drawn by Bart.
The page in question is this one -

This was a page that Bart threw in with the first piece of Bart Sears art I ever owned, Mael's Rage page 1. So I've always kinda looked on it as a gift from Bart, not something I would disregard or undervalue, both monetarily or personally.

So I had a tough choice to make, that's for sure. Do I keep the page that Bart gave to me, or do I swap it for an Ominous Press published page?

Well, this arrived on my doorstep this morning.

(Forgive the scan, I will be replacing it with a higher resolution one soon)

In the end, I went for the Ominous Press page (after apologising to Bart). I had the guy that wanted the Spider-Woman page pay Chip directly, who sent out the Insidious page to me at the same time as I sent out the Spider-Woman page to the other guy, kind of like a three-way pass the parcel.
After staring at the page for a solid half hour, I've popped it in it's new home which it'll be sharing with it's fellow Ominous Press pages. I pull them out often to look at them again and to give them a bit of fresh air, and to realize how lucky I am to own each and every page that I do.

Something I've wanted to do for a while, and sort of did do a few years ago, is to compile a list of all of the Ominous Press published comic work and who owns each page. It never got completely filled the first time, but I thought I might give it another go here, so if you own any of the pages listed below, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Updated 21/9/09

It Begins
Cover -
Page 1 - Steve Tompkins
Page 2 - Jay Penn
Page 3 -
Page 4 - Jay Penn
Page 5 -
Page 6 - Jay Penn
Page 7 - Jay Penn
Page 8 -
Page 9 -
Page 10 -
Page 11 -
Page 12 -
Page 13 -
Page 14 -
Page 15 - Jay Penn
Page 16 - Frederic Massa

Mael's Rage
Cover -
Page 1 - Jay Penn
Page 2 -
Page 3 -
Page 4 -
Page 5 -
Page 6 -
Page 7 - Jay Penn
Page 8 -
Page 9 -
Page 10 -
Page 11 -
Page 12 -
Page 13 -
Page 14 -
Page 15 -
Page 16 -
Page 17 -

Pheros - The Last Straw
Page 1 - Andy Smith
Page 2 -
Page 3 - Jay Penn
Page 4 -
Page 5 -
Page 6 - Jay Penn
Page 7 -

Infinity
Cover -
Page 1 - Steve Tompkins
Page 2 -
Page 3 -
Page 4 -
Page 5 - Jay Penn
Page 6 -
Page 7 -
Page 8 -
Page 9 - Jay Penn
Page 10 -
Page 11 -
Page 12 - Jay Penn
Page 13 - Jay Penn
Page 14 - Jay Penn
Page 15 - Jay Penn
Viere Pin-Up - Mike Borkowski

Thanks in advance to all that contributed information, and thanks most to Chip for the transaction, you're a champ!

My Favourite Piece of Bart Sears Art.

2009-09-18T18:52:00.014+01:00

This is a post I've been meaning to get around to doing for a long time now, even before this blog existed. About three years ago, in fact, I wrote a huge article on my single most favourite piece of Bart Sears art, and perhaps suprisingly enough, it isn't an Ominous Press piece! Sure, those three Ominous Press comics are by far my favourite Bart Sears comics, but when it comes to picking a single piece of Bart Sears art, be it a cover, a card, a poster, a comic page, to my mind at least, there can be no going past Bart's cover to Cremator #1.

In my original article, I waffled on about lighting, focal points and all sorts of criterion to drive home my point. I even equated the cover to some fantastic David Gemmell scene!

But to spare you the chore of wading through my entirely unnecessary pontification, I, here, will give you the watered down version of that original article.

Firstly, a bit of history.

I still quite clearly recall the day I was paying a visit to my favourite comic shop back in Melbourne, favourite because they had the best range of back issues and they let you open the bags. I was browsing away, not a care in the world, when I saw a poster on the wall that I'd never seen before. It was advertising the new Cremator series by Chaos Comics, and listed that Bart did a variant cover.

So I went and checked the shelves, nothing there; the back issues, nothing there. It would be another year before I chanced upon that variant issue at a collector's fair, some time late in 1999.

Pretty cool, huh? I'm glad you agree.

There's just something about the way the anatomy is drawn, showing both sides of the arm in all of it's Searsian glory, coupled with fantastic weaponry, lots of severed heads and the fact that while the character is pin-cussioned with arrows, he ain't done yet, he's ready for more.

So this cover almost instantly became my favourite piece of Bart's, but nothing really could prepare me for what I found at Bart's place the second time I visited him in Florida.

In a box, hidden away amongst other sheets of paper, were 6 pages of thumbnails and roughs for none other than that Cremator cover.

First off, the thumbnails, which are a really interesting study of how to go about developing an idea. You can kind of map Bart's process of honing in on what he likes and discarding what he didn't, though I'd like to see him finish all of those thumbs.

So, it looks like Bart preffered two of the thumbs, both the sixth and the third last, which he then expanded into larger roughs. Shown here as images 1, 2 & 3. Somewhere about that time he must have discarded those ideas, and gone for the fourth rough, which is quite close to the final cover.

I've mentioned to Bart my love of this piece, regarding it as my favourite, and he has told me that he personally doesn't see it. Not to say that he doesn't like it, I just think he prefers other stuff. But he's clearly wrong, so...

Anyway, I naturally purchased those 6 pages off Bart, and they are some of my most prized posessions. I have seen the final artwork on ComicArtFans, and I hope to eventually own it one day myself. But I'm content with what I've got for the moment.

Incidentally, I have received another shipment of comics from Mile High Comics this week, as soon as I have everything scanned and cleaned, I'll write a post for it, its a good one too.

Talk to you then.

Bart Sears Trading Cards #1

2009-09-16T16:09:00.013+01:00

One section of the vast Bart Sears collectible library that I feel warrants a much needed closer look on this blog is Trading Cards featuring the art of Bart Sears.

By my reckoning, there are a total of 68 Trading cards featuring Bart's art, most of which are from the early to mid-90's, back when it seemed every man and his dog had a card set out. This may not be the actual total amount of cards featuring his work, I still have a few to track down, including that pesky 'The Mask' card, which I still to this day do not know for sure if it exists.

While Bart never managed to get around to having his own card set (oh, what a dream!), he did contribute to a fairly diverse range of card sets. Many of the cards featuring his art actually take previous artwork from other places, be they the Conan 2 cards that reprint Bart's first portfolio, to the most recent cards, for Zoom Suit, which reprint Bart's cover for the comic of the same title.

So join me as we take a stroll through the Bart Sears Trading Card Gallery.
Many of the images I put up on this Blog are done so with the express intent of showing all of you that look here some of Bart's lesser known work. Sure, it looks like I'm showing off, but it really is a case of me wanting to share with you all some of the great, if not well known, art Bart has produced over the years.
And this first set of cards is no exception.

I got my hands on the 'Marvel Premium X-Men Timelines '97' set of cards on the 19th of January, 2000. One of the first things I noticed was that none of the cards had the artists responsible credited anywhere on the cards that I could see. This is going against the grain somewhat, as all other cards of the same ilk always used this practice. The only other noticeable one not to being the Marvel Overpower cards. So anyway, usually this would not be a problem, as I can normally spot an authentic Bart Sears piece a mile away. And this was certainly the case with the 5 cards that were indeed created by Bart. But I initially had something like 8 cards picked out as possibly being done by Bart. There were a few cards that I just didn't know if Bart did, all of them being part of the Techno-Wonders sub-set that the cards I definitely knew Bart did were part of.

As it turned, those extra couple of cards were not done by Bart, as confirmed by him later, and the number of cards actually done by him for this set is 5, the 5 I knew for sure he did initially.

And here they are-

I know, I know, they don't quite look like Bart's work. Some of the colouring is a bit funky in places, but rest assured, they are definitely by Bart. Well, the pencils are anyway-

If you look closely at the pencils in relation to the final cards, you may spot a few 'alterations.' Most obviously is the Rama-Tut card, where the final card has the figure much enlarged. But perhaps more interestingly is the Black Knight card, where the final artwork has removed the sword from his right hand and put it in his left.

Another cool card set, that is rather tough to track down these days, is the DC Stars set sold exclusively through Walmart back in 1994. Basically, these cards were taken directly from the DC 1992 Series 1 card set, with the images resized and that unapologetically early '90's border added.

Although Bart produced artwork for 7 cards from the original set, only these three characters from those 7 were reprinted in the Walmart set, which was only a set of 44 cards, 1 checklist and some promo and chase cards, whilst the original set was much larger.

The final card I'll share with you today is Bart's only card for the 'Dark Horse: Comics Greatest World' set.

Here it is-

I mentioned that it is Bart's only card from the set because, interestingly enough, this card image made it onto one of the packaging wrappers for the cards. This is interesting because this is the only time Bart's art has appeared on a card wrapper.

This is just the first step into the Bart Sears Trading Card Gallery, there are plenty of nooks and crannies to discover yet. So check back soon for more Bart Sears Trading Cards and insight into them.

See you all soon.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #8

2009-09-04T20:46:00.012+01:00

Why, its another batch of comics from my favourite online comic emporium, Mile High Comics!
In keeping with my current desire to track down some loose ends by purchasing possible sources of Bart Sears work, this shipment was another one of those times when there were unfortunately more misses than hits.

As a for instance, you may recall that I recently purchased several issues of Image Comics Prophet Vol. 1, to no avail. Well, I went back to the well and ordered the first four issues of Volume 2, in the hope that the elusive Prophet pin-up might appear in one of them. And that's strike 2! But fear not, the well is not dry yet. There is still the Prophet TPB to account for, which I'll try and get my hands on soon.

Another leap into the unknown (last metaphor, I promise) was the Wizard Special Edition from back in 1992.

This is another item I owned once upon a time, but lost it or turfed it along the way somewhere. Apart from the cool fold-out cover, I vaguely recalled Bart being mentioned in it, and wouldn't you know?

It felt good to win one for a change.

I also picked up a copy of the Zoom Suit #2 Sketch Edition.

As you can see on the cover, it is limited to 1500 copies, and I'm glad to finally own one of those. But that's not all there is to this cover -

If you look closely, there's a randomly placed 'S' just hovering there.
I thought it was funny.

I also got my hands on the three Will To Power covers Bart did. I already own these issues, but they need to be re-laminated and will get that treatment soon.

These covers are interesting in a few ways.

Firstly, Bart has signed each cover as 'SEARSS' -

Bart has often played around with his Signature, but I'm yet to find out why he signed these ones with two S's at the end. (Bart?) NOTE: Bart has since informed me that "I used the 'double S' to denote work that was Sears Studio work." Thanks Bart.

Secondly, Bart's original art for the second cover featured the character 'X' in the bottom right of the page, but was removed by the time the issue was printed. Again, I'm not sure why.

But definitely the pick of this particular litter is this rather impressive item -

I must confess to not knowing about this item until I saw it on Mile High Comics a few weeks ago, which is ridiculous, really, I mean, how the HELL did I not know about the existence of this Ominous Press comic? Appauling...
It has since been added to the Bart Sears Checklist, which has stretched out to 280 individual comics now.

So what's different about this 'Limited Edition' as opposed to the regular edition? Well, apart from it saying 'Wizard Limited Edition 1995' on the cover in stamped gold... nothing at all. Still, that's the sort of item that I simply had to own, no question about it.

I've got another Mile High Comics shipment arriving next week (hopefully) and I'll post more then.

A Mixed Bag of Bart Sears Goodness

2009-08-31T16:25:00.016+01:00

Going along with the theme of the last post, or the lack thereof, I thought I might, this time around, show some Bart Sears art that really doesn't fall into any particular category I've established here. There is some unpublished work, some early work, some commissioned work; yet all have one thing in common - they're all freaking good!
So let's take a dip into the gigantic bag that is my Bart Sears collection and have a look-see what comes out.

First out is a fantastic piece from way back in 1986!

This is one of the many pieces I came across whilst rifling through Bart's boxes while staying with him and the family on my second trip, in 2006. I don't believe it was for anything in particular (Bart?), and I've never seen it published anywhere. Which is a great shame, because I think it is one of Bart's better early pieces, surpassing many of his QC QC covers from a few years later, in my opinion. It is also one of Bart's few forays into pure Science Fiction. And the sword thing is just nifty looking.

Let's see, what else have we got in here? Oh, ever seen this before?

Whilst staying with Bart that time in 2006, Bart was working on Warlord #10. Bart asked me if I'd like to help with the inking of it. I swear I nearly pooped myself when he said that, half out of fear of messing up the inking, the other out of excitement at getting the oppurtunity to do the inking.
I ended up helping out on about half a dozen pages, filling in blacks here and there, sometimes a little more. The pinnacle was probably this page though, where I did most of the detail in the background. Bart first gave me a photocopy of the page to have a go at it first. He gave me a few notes after I'd done that, and then handed me the real page, and this is the result.
I was pretty excited to see our work on the printed paper, but unfortunately, DC pulled Bart's rendition of Warlord #10 and replaced it with another story, so none of the work we did ever made it to the printer.
I'm still mad at DC about that.

But anyway, on to the next item.

Here's another of my favourite pieces of work by Bart. And it's another unpublished item.

Cool huh? Actually, this is probably one of the best things Bart has ever done, in my opinion.
These three pages were originally intended for Marvel Comics' 1997-98 title 'Shadows & Light,' but Bart's work never got past the third page, I don't know why (Bart?). Bart did, however, produce a fantastic Colossus pin-up for issue #3, dated July 1998 which is worth checking out (I'll post it here when I've got it scanned in).

Here is another very early piece, and is probably one of the most unrecognisable pieces of Bart Sears art ever.

I'm sure you'll have noticed that the credited artist is somebody called 'MILO,' but this comic strip is, in fact, an early collaboration of both Bart and Michael J Morrissey. I unfortunately don't know much more about it apart from the fact that there were perhaps four or five more strips completed, and they were published in a local Syracuse newspaper. I'm kinda hoping that as soon as Bart reads this, he'll fill me in with some more details, which I'll obviously post here if forthcoming.

Finally, some of you may know that whilst Sears Studios was open for business back in 1993-94, Bart was commissioned to design the vast majority of Marvel & Toy Biz's X-Men and X-Force lines for those years (he also designed several Fantastic Four figures and some packaging art too). Whilst there is an interesting story to go along with these designs and that deal, I'll leave that for another post, but give you a taste of the sort of designs he was producing for them.

The first piece is a character called Quark, often associated with Mojo and Longshot. He's a lesser character (Toy Biz produced quite a few lesser characters for these series'), but its a cool design image.

Next is packaging art for the Spider-Man 'Web of Steel' series of figures. Unfortunately, the final artwork looks to have been slightly altered from this art, but I still consider it a Bart Sears item, in spite of this.

On a different note, those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook will know that I recently purchased an item that I hoped would contain some new Bart Sears artwork for me. Well, true to form, it didn't have any new Bart in it. The item in question is the 'Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition Volume 1 (is it just me or is that just stupidly long for a title?).

This Handbook reprints entries from the (take a deep breath) Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition series from 1990-93. It has entries for both Captain Universe and Caliban, and I, perhaps a bit optimistically, hoped that it would have these images for those entries.

But alas, it wasn't to be. But fear not, I am on the trail of another possible location for these images, and I'll bring any news to you as soon as I have any.

And finally, I just came across this cool T-Shirt, which takes the art from Bart's 'Contract #1 Solo Missions: Panzer' cover for A First Salvo.

I'm back at work tomorrow after a blissful week off, but I'll try and do another post next weekend.
Until then...

This Bart Sears and That Bart Sears

2009-08-25T11:22:00.013+01:00

I thought it time to do a more generalized post to bring some news from both Bart himself and some of my own Bart related news.

First off, if you didn't know already, Bart is on Facebook! Hard to believe, I know, and even more unbelievable for the fact that he posts regularly! I'm sure Satan just felt a chill. He and wife Michelle have also set up a fan group on Facebook, with lots of galleries of his work and links to sites where Bart can be found, including this very site you're on now. So if you're not already, be a Facebook Bart Sears fan!

Next up, I've found a few items of Bart's that up until very recently I was completely unaware of. I love when this sort of thing happens normally, but not this time. You see, I just placed another order with Mile High Comics (to which I'll write about when I receive them in a few weeks). The money has been sent, the comics are on their way, and now I've gone and found a few more covers of Bart's that Mile High has on sale at the moment too. Sadly, they'll have to wait for the next order, when I can buy up enough comics to make the shipping cost worth my while.

But anyway, here are the covers for you. They're pretty good. They are 'Blade of the Warrior: Kshatriya #1,' and Ramayan 3392 AD Reloaded #7' respectively, both from Virgin Comics.

I also found this image, which was scheduled for Ramayan 3392 AD Reloaded #10, to be released some time in late 2008, but as far as I can tell, never came out. If I find out more, I'll let you know.

Lastly, my 32nd birthday was last week, and I got some cool stuff, including a new baseball cap that says 'Bart Sears - Ominous Press' on it, I also got an A4 magnet that says 'Bart Sears - #1 Fan - Bart Stuff' on it that is currently attached to my chest of Bart stuff. I also got a cool keyring saying 'Bart Sears #1 Fan.' All of these things came from my awesome wife, who saved the best gift for last. We had a car for the weekend just gone, thanks to my father-in-law, and we clocked up 800km over the two days. We travelled around the countryside of the West of Ireland, and saw some amazing things.

We stopped off at a spot that I've been wanting to visit for a long time - Queen Medb's Tomb. It's pronounced May-v. To read up on her, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medb. She's a very interesting person, and even features in Pat Mills' Slaine comic - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C3%A1ine_(comics).

Here's a picture of me standing in front of her tomb, which is a 1km walk up a ridiculously precarious mountain. I've got my trusty Mael Postcard with me, and I'm wearing my new Bart Sears cap.

We also went across the border to Northern Ireland (for all of 10 minutes), and here I am standing in front of a decommissioned Police garrison.

We also visited the grave of one of the greatest writers and poets of all time, W. B. Yeats. Despite the lashing rain, heres a picture of me next to it with my Bart Sears cap on again.

But the best part of the weekend was when my wife treated me to a Falconry lesson at the amazingly posh Ashford Castle. It was a blissful hour of walking around a forest and estate gardens, getting a Harrier Hawk called Wexford to land on my arm, feed, take off and do it again. It was darn incredible, and I couldn't resist replicating a pose from one of Bart's comics.

In other matters, the great Bart Sears laminating experiment is going well. I'm working my way through The First, which has been a pleasure to read again, I'd almost forgotten just how good Bart's art is in it. I had originally hoped to have the experiment done in November 2009, but it looks as though it will have to be extended to about May 2010, only because I've been spending my meagre Bart Sears allowance on actual comics instead of laminating sheets over the past few months. I'm up to my 15th box of laminated comics, all of which tower to about 60 centimetres in height. They will eventually be put into 100 sheet folders, but that will dramatically increase the space required to store them, so will have to wait until we have our own house and my study is fitted out to hold everything.

I'll be writing another post later on this week, so check in again soon.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #7

2009-08-13T18:52:00.013+01:00

After waiting what seemed like an eternity (but in reality was only three weeks), my latest delivery of comics arrived from Mile High Comics yesterday.

This was a bit of an unusual shipment as I wasn't entirely certain that Bart Sears had anything to do with some of the comics I ordered. As it turned out, Bart had something to with only a few of the comics I ordered.

But it isn't as bad as it sounds, because a lot of the comics I ordered were ordered for the sole purpose of establishing whether Bart had anything to do with them.

Take the below image for example.

Its a pin-up of Rob Liefeld's Prophet, a decidedly one-dimensional character, I'm sure you'll agree. Well, I've been looking everywhere on the internet for this image for many years now, and have never found out anything. I somehow already own a few issues of the comic, namely issues #1, 5, 6 & 7. Bart's pin-up obviously doesn't appear in those issues. But I still wasn't sure if that pin-up appeared in any of the other issues, so I went ahead and bought Prophet #2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and the Annual. And guess what? Yep, the pin-up doesn't appear in any of those issues either. BUT AT LEAST I KNOW NOW THAT IT DOESN'T!

And then there's this guy-

Bart produced two pin-ups for the company Dagger Entertainment back in 1994, whilst Sears Studios was taking in such jobs. One character was fantastically called Black Box, and Bart's pin-up of him appeared in all of the May 1994 titles from Dagger. But I've never been able to discover the whereabouts of the above pin-up, whose name is Nebular. So I bought some Dagger comics, namely Team Anarchy #5, 6 & 8 (#7 has the Black box pin-up in it). And guess what, the pin-up doesn't appear in any of those issues either. BUT AT LEAST I KNOW THAT IT DOESN'T! (sound familiar?) Why so interested in this guy? Well, I happen to own the original art of this pin-up, that's why.

Also, a warning, if you can avoid it, don't buy any Dagger Ent. comics, they are god-fricking-'I can do better than this crap'-'so could a 5 year old'-baaaaddd. It is kinda worth it for seeing an advert for a how-to book called 'Step by Step Drawing & Creating your very own Superheroes,' by acclaimed Dagger artist, Rick Leach. Never heard of him? That's because he flat out sucks. I mean, would you want a guy who draws like this to teach you how to draw?

I certainly wouldn't.

Next up was a bit of a shot in the dark. In 2007, as part of the 'Free Comic Book Day,' Wizard released a small comic reprinting some of their 'How To' Tutorials. I've never been able to get my hands on a copy of it, until now, that is. I had kinda hoped to open it up and see one of Bart's B&B tutorials in there, as it would be a pretty neat little addition to not only my collection, but the Bart Sears checklist. But guess what? ...you know the rest...

Next up was another shot in the dark, maybe not complete dark, but certainly difficult to see.

I often search Google for Bart Sears related stuff, and I often check comic databases for any additions. One day, whilst browsing one such database, I saw a listing for Bart as a contributor on a comic called 'Real Heroes #3' published by Marvel and released through Pizza Hut of all places, back in 1994. So I bought that comic too. But guess what? Well, this time I was close. Whilst it doesn't actually have any Bart Sears art in it, it does have a cool trading card drawn by my old pal, Andy Smith. The artwork from the card also appears on the inside of both the front and back covers. It's a cool piece, and I'm happy to add it to my Andy Smith card set.

So those are the comics that didn't have Bart Sears art in them. Now for the cool stuff that did!

First of all, I got a few comics to replace my old copies, to be re-laminated to fit with my new laminating method. They included -

The Ballad of Halo Jones #6. Which, despite what Bart thinks, I think is quite nice.

Blade: Strange Tales #2 & 3 (some of the better covers Bart has ever done, in my opinion).

And Spider-Woman #10, which, despite what the cover says, does not have interior art by Bart Sears (Erik Larsen made a brief return to Marvel to do this issue's pencils and a few other projects).

But I think the pick of this particular litter is this puppy -

I only discovered the existence of this 'comic' about a month ago. Essentially, it is a publication review for the titles that Image produced, month by month (several comic companies were doing this sort of thing at the time). This is issue 15, for May 1994, and obviously features Bart's promotional art for the Violator series, with another buddy of mine, Mark Pennington (and possible relative - Pennington+Penn!), inking it as if he were a god amongst tracers.

There is also a 3-page article on the series, and shows a few of the pages in inked form, as well as a nice rough of the first cover.

So there's the latest package. A mix of great finds, items to cross off the list, and a few replacements thrown in. A worthy wait, I think.

Wizard the Guide to Comics: Unused Covers

2009-08-08T00:10:00.013+01:00

As stated in my previous post, Bart has had a long history with Wizard, and there was a time when he really was their 'golden boy.' This is before they got all hot for the likes of Alex Ross, Joe Quesada (who I, to this day, don't get the attraction), the Kubert boys and any other artist that came around the block.

Also stated in my previous post is the fact that Bart had more covers printed between issues 1 and 100 than any other artist. He, in fact, had a total of 11 covers printed.

But did you know that there were another 9 covers that never made it to print? No? Well, here they are in all of their glory, with some of them exclusively appearing for the first time right now!

Cover 1: Wonder Woman

This stunning piece was originally intended for around #9, as you can see. It was actually drawn around the same time as Bart's Wizard #4 Batman cover.

Cover 2: Darkhawk

Another one originally scheduled for #7-10. I read a lot of comics in the early '90's and I can't even recall seeing this character!

Cover 3: The Joker

Another really cool piece, intended for Wizard #9 (eventually to be replaced by Bart's famous Venom cover). Wizard claimed that this piece didn't clearly show the character in question... a kinda lame reason I think, because it is quite clearly The Joker, it couldn't be anybody else but The Joker. I mean, who else has green hair, white skin and wears a purple jacket?

Cover 4 & 5: She-Hulk 1 & 2

Planned for either Wizard 15 or 16 (Wizard have stated these covers were planned for 15 at one stage and 16 in another). They were intended to be split into East and West Coast distribution, can you tell which one is for which? Obviously, the Daisy Duke lookalike is for the West, the Farah Fawcett is for the East.

Cover 6: Sabretooth

To be honest, I'm still not 100% sure this piece is actually for a Wizard cover (Bart?). But that little star above Bart's signature tells me it is. It's a cool piece whatever it was for. Note: Bart has since confirmed that it is, indeed, a Wizard cover.

Cover 7: Psylocke v Sabretooth

Whilst technically not an 'unpublished' cover (the Psylocke figure was still used in the final), it still features a shot of Sabretooth that was replaced by another one by Bart, at Wizard's request (another one I disagree with). I think this first version is better.

Cover 8: Wonder Woman, Batman & Superman

A cool jam piece of three titans of comicdom, planned for Wizard #63, only to be beaten out by a Superman/Lois Lane piece and a Witchblade/Darkness variant. Ahhhhh, Wizard... silly children.

Cover 9: Batman v Joker/Two Face

This was originally intended for a Wizard Batman Special, but never made it to the cover. This is surely one of Bart's more odd pieces. The style is consistent with Bart's other work at the time, making use of thick outlines and fine line detail (which reached it's peak in Bart's Penthouse ComiX work, which is highly underrated in my view). It's just wacky looking! Here's what Bart recently had to say about it - "The Batman was me having fun... doing something a little different."

It is interesting to note that Bart also produced a Wolverine cover, inked by Rob Hunter, a few years ago, that has never turned up, and probably won't at this stage. He also produced a Superman cover for issue 8, that ended up appearing on the cover of the Wizard Phildelphia Comicfest '93 Souvenir Program Guide, but I'll talk about that more when I do a post about Bart's published Wizard covers.

Wizard the Guide to Comics: Bart's Mascot

2009-07-25T12:17:00.013+01:00

Bart Sears has had a long history with Wizard, going all the way back to its first couple of issues. Over the first 100 issues, Bart produced more covers than any other artist, even Alex Ross.

But he also did other things for Wizard other than covers (the covers of which will be featured in another post soon), and the one thing I want to concentrate on in this post is the Wizard Mascot that was used from Wizard 4 through 16.

Bart produced, as far as I've seen, a total of 10 different Mascot images for Wizard. Let's go through each one and what it was used for.

Mascot #1 - The Headshot

This image was used in the regular article titled 'The Wizard's Crystal Ball,' it is the only Mascot image using only his head.

Mascot #2 - The Director's chair

This image was sometimes used on the regular article 'Hollywood Heroes,' but was also used on an issue 9 full page advert in issue 8 and one side of issue 8's Subscription Coupon.

Mascot #3 - The Spotlight

This particular image was definitely used the most of all of the mascot images. It was used on the section called 'Wizard Spotlight,' but also appeared on 'Wizard Comic Watch,' 'Wizard News' and 'Recommended Reading, as well as the back side of Issues 8's Subscription Coupon.

Mascot #4 - Lucky Dip

This image wasn't used much, but features in 'Picks from the Wizard's Hat.'

Mascot #5 - Strike a pose

As far as I know, this image was only used three times, most notably on the Subscription Coupon for issue 4 and on the card featuring Jim Lee's Wildcats. It is pretty badly pixelated, and I've never seen a good copy of it.

Mascot #6 - Mailman

This guy was used a lot in the 'Magic Words' section, which was essentially the reader letters column.

Mascot #7 - Ta-da!

Another one not be used much at all, only in issue 15 as far as I know in the 'Special Thanks' column.

Mascot #8 - Really hot comic

Yet another image only used once, for something called the 'Wizard Cool C.O.R.P.S.' in issue 12. The Cool C.O.R.P.S. was some kind of fan club they set up, can't imagine too many people joined it with a name like that.

Mascot #9 - I'm excited about something!

This Mascot was never used, as far as I know, so its another exclusive to this Blog, I guess.

Mascot #10 - Now I'm running from something scary!

Again, this Mascot wasn't used, I guess they couldn't find a department for him either.

Please note I am yet to scoure issues 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 11 for Mascots (a problem I'm hoping to remedy soon), so there may well be further Mascots out there. But I though I'd go ahead anyway, seeing as they're such as nice little corner of Bart & Wizard's history virtually unknown to most people. Hope you liked it.

I've got a lot more to say about Bart's work for Wizard The Guide to Comics, so this is only the first step into that world. I still have to write about Bart's covers (both used and unused), interviews, adverts, articles, and most importantly, his Brute & Babe tutorials.

So check back often for further updates, which will be coming thick and fast from now on.

Bart Sears Hero Initiative Wolverine 100 Project

2009-07-23T20:54:00.007+01:00

I've been sitting on these pictures for about a month now, having received them from Bart directly. I've been holding off on putting them up here for fear of getting myself into trouble. But to hell with it, their too cool not to share.

So here they are, exclusive to this blog, Bart Sears' two contributions to Hero Initiative's Wolverine 100 Project.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #6

2009-07-10T21:53:00.012+01:00

This is the delivery I've really been waiting for.
As I mentioned in my Mile High Comics post, I've bought a lot off of them, and this is what I got in the delivery that arrived today-

Bad Company #3 - cover by Bart. I've had a copy of this for about 10 years now, maybe longer, but about 5 years ago, the tape that I use to seal the backing board and bag got stuck on the cover, and ripped a nice little chunk off it. It'll be going through the laminator tomorrow so that doesn't happen again.

Rogue Trooper #14, 15, 17. Just cool early covers. Replacing old laminates.

Weapon X: Days of Future Now #5. My worst laminating moment. I laminated my original copy of this and the laminator chewed it up. I'm a far more experienced laminator now, and it hasn't happened since.

The Dark #1 Second Printing, Continum Comics. There are two variant covers to the first printing of this, one with a Blue Chromium cover, one with a red. I didn't know about these until I saw that Bart had copies of them when I was visiting him. They're cool looking.

Legends of the Dark Knight #200. Another replacement copy. I bought LOTDK #200 the day it came out, but didn't think to check the comic for printing mistakes, and wouldn't you know, when I got home I noticed that there was some odd ink smudging going on. This new copy is clean.

Legends of the Stargrazers #2. This comic has such a cool pin-up by Bart on page one that I've bought it twice now. Actually, this one is a case of my old laminated copy wasn't laminated the best, so this will replace it. I used to use laminating sheets of about a 150 micron thickness, I now use 250.

Ramayan 3392 AD Reloaded Guidebook. Has all of 1 reprinted panels from Bart's back-up story in Reloaded #5. Still, now I know.

Wonder Woman #28. This issue features a full-page Ad for Justice League Europe. Nice.

Wizard #37. Hands down, the best Wizard for Bart stuff ever. First off, you get the Brute & Babe Infinity mini-comic in the bag, there's a 6 page 3-point perspective tutorial by Bart, not to mention a 6 page Ominous Press interview. I've actually owned two copies of this magazine, but have needed to redo the laminating.

Wizard #61. Has a cool Sabretooth v Psylocke cover. Again, I've owned it twice, but needed to re-laminate.

Wizard X-Men Special. Another one to be put through the laminating machine. This cover is interesting in that it features Wolverine, Cyclops & Jean Grey, but Colossus & Nightcrawler were then added after printing. It features Wolverine with those dumb-ass skeletal claws.

Wizard #115 Megacon Edition. The Megacon Edition has a cool cover of Seahn & Persha from The First. It's a hard enough issue to come by, and this one will replace my previous version and it's old laminating style. For those interested, my old laminating style consisted of laminating the page, then cutting off the excess laminate to the edge of the page. I now buy A4 size laminating sheets, center the page on the laminating sheet, and store it properly. They look great done this way.

Wizard #83. Not much in the way of Bart stuff in this issue, but it does have a full-page Ad on page 129 for the X-Men Special, and the advertisement uses Bart's cover for Wizard #56, but mirrored over.

Wizard #110. Pages 14-15 have a two-page Ad for The First. Wizard #'s 109 & 111 also have two-page spread Ads. Each subsequent Ad has a shot of Elysia from above, zooming in as it goes. I got these issues when they came out and actually joined the Ads together to make a poster, but I now have them all again to laminate normally. Anal much?

So there you go. Not a bad bunch, I think.
Jay (the Laminatrix, to coin a word)

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #5

2009-07-03T22:14:00.008+01:00

Isn't she a beauty!

Way back when I was visiting him a few years ago, Bart had a folder with photocopies of all of the LOTDK #200 pages inserted into it. Bart rather casually handed me the folder and told me to pick a page from it and the original art would be mine, as soon as he got it back from DC.

Well, I scanned through the pages, noting a few that took my eye. There were plenty of cool Batman pages in there, and some nice action scenes, but then I saw this page, and knew it was the one for me.

I love the fact that it is a self contained page, it tells a story all on it's own. And it isn't like your typical splash, it really shows to me Bart's storytelling ability. Look at the curved shadows from the skylight, they're as warped as is the Joker's mind. And I love Bart's Joker, it ticks all of the boxes in my mind. He's mad, childlike, dangerous as hell and playful at once.

I'd like to thank Darrin Wiltshire for sending this on to me. If you don't know, Darrin handles the majority of Bart's original art sales, sold through this website - http://bartsearsart.com/.

Check it out for some great art at some great prices.

Bart Sears News and stuff

2009-06-30T19:43:00.011+01:00

I thought I'd better report on a few things that have been happening in the Bart Sears collecting world of late, to get those not in the know up to speed.

First of all, Bart has moved away from regular comic work for the time being. The reason for this? Well, Bart landed the enviable job of Senior Concept Artist at a new Gaming Company called Heatwave Interactive, Inc. Check out their cool website here http://www.heatwave.com/, you may even recognise some of Bart's artwork around the site. Bart has been working with top of the line computer programs such as Z-Brush, Sketchbook Pro and Manga Studio Pro4, not to mention getting back to one of his great loves - sculpture.

Here's an image Bart produced a while back for Heatwave -

And here are a few others-

In other news, the Helm TPB came out on April 1 of this year, and it sported the first cover completely drawn digitally by Bart Sears. Bart told me, not long after completing it, that he did it all, from sketch to finished inks, on his computer. He said, and I quote, "I'd never want to work on paper again." Here are the inks and final cover -

As far as other news, Bart has just completed two covers for Hero Initiative. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to release any more details, so I'd better not. I've seen the covers and they are fantastic. As soon as I find out any more details, I'll let you know here.

Regarding the great Laminating Experiment... I've just purchased another 200 x 250 micron A4 sheets, and they will cover the last remaining Spider-Woman comics I have to do, and get me well into Bart's The First run, leaving me a mere 550 odd to do, down from over 2000 when I first began. I plan to have them done by the end of the year.

I'll post more soon.

Mile High Comics

2009-06-27T13:52:00.010+01:00

I first bought a Bart Sears comic off Mile High Comics way back in October, 1999. It was X-Men Classic 92 as well as Hero Alliance 1, and it cost me about $35 including shipping to Australia.

Since then, I've bought a total of 86 Bart Sears comics from them, with a grand total of about $263 spent, averaging to about $3 a comic, including shipping. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

The beautiful thing about MHC is that you can easily combine shipping on multiple items, which, to be fair, many online stores offer. But the difference with MHC is that it has such an incredibly large 'in stock' list, that it blows everybody else out of the water. Couple that with MHC's buying power, which essentially means that if they don't have what you're looking for today, chances are they'll have it tomorrow. And finally, they might have what you want today, but maybe its more than you want to spend; MHC is seemingly constantly having one sale or another, with usually drastic price cuts on certain items.

A perfect example of how good MHC is, is what happened to me a few weeks ago. I've been looking to replace my copies of Rogue Trooper 14, 15 & 17 for a long time now, as my copies were laminated to a level not to my high standard. I've regularly been checking MHC for them, but they are rare enough comics, especially in good condition, so I never had any luck. Then, a few weeks ago, I see that MHC is having a huge sale across most of their stock. So I go and have a look, and find a whole lot of the Bart Sears comics I want, at crazy cheap prices... including those Rogue Trooper issues. I got issues 14 & 17 for a little over a buck each in Mint condition, and 15 for only 75 cents, in Fine condition. Mental, I tell you, mental.

So why not check out what MHC has to offer you. From my experience, you won't find a better place to plug in a couple of your Bart Sears collection holes.

Indiana Jones: Temple of the Gods TPB

2009-06-24T20:23:00.007+01:00

The Indiana Jones 'Temple of the Gods' TPB is out on July 1st!

It features Bart's artwork for the comic of the same name, from issue 4. Check it out at your local comic shop soon.

My Name is Bruce: The mini-comic

2009-06-23T22:25:00.007+01:00

If you read this Blog, you already know that the One-Shot comic, 'My Name is Bruce,' based on the Bruce Campbell movie of the same name, came out, after an extensive delay, in the first week of September, 2008.

But did you know that it has been re-released in a mini-comic format?

Yes indeed, the mini-comic in question came with the release of My Name is Bruce in DVD and Blu-Ray format, on February the 10th, this year.

And whilst the actual movie is a bit stinky, despite Bruce Campbell's usual comedic skill, it was always a DVD I was going to own. Unfortuantely, Bart's cover doesn't appear on any of the extras.
Now, be forewarned, I have seen this DVD WITHOUT the comic included, so if you too would like to own it, I suggest picking it up before the DVD with mini-comic included offer is cut.
That will be all...

A boy and his Bart Sears toys

2009-06-21T18:41:00.015+01:00

It has been a very long time since I've posted here, but that is not to say that I haven't maintained my vigilance in collecting Bart's work. I've bought many comics from Mile High Comics since last I posted, and I'm in the process of ordering 17 more.

But anyway, this post is about Bart Sears action figures (not of the man himself [Mike], but toys he either designed or did packaging art for, or both).

Bart's action figures has been an area that I must confess I have neglected over the years, both in actual buying, and gathering information. But I can happily say that I'm back on the trail. I've fleshed out The Bart Sears Checklist to list every Bart action figure I could find, which stands at a whopping 146 including re-issues and such at the time of writing this.

And I've been buying.

In the last month I've bought 3 different items, bringing my total up to 14. Yep, a long way to go, I know.

The first item I bought was the Sentinel Playset from 1994. I didn't even know of its existence until about 2 months ago, though I've had copies of the artwork for years now.

Next up I got these bad boys. Yes, the condition isn't great, but they were cheap enough. Bart designed the Cyclops figure, and did the Cyclops headshot.

And just the other day, I got this guy, Spy Wolverine. Bart designed the figure, did the Wolverine & Omega Red headshots and the packaging art. Cool stuff.

So there you go... I obviously plan on collecting all of Bart's action figures, but it will take a while. I'd ideally like to get two sets of them, one in mint condition, the other loose. But as it stands, here's what I've got. Most of them are designed by Bart, but the likes of Magneto, Gambit and Mr. Sinister aren't, but have packaging art by Bart.

Out now at your local comic store! #1

2008-10-01T19:12:00.007+01:00

Hey gang, just thought I'd give you all a heads-up about a few comics featuring Bart's art that have just arrived in stores. Firstly, there's the long awaited release of the comic adaptation of Bruce Campbell's new movie, 'My name is Bruce.'

As you can see, it features a cover pencilled and inked by Bart. This puppy was actually originally due to be released late last year, but it got delayed for some reason, probably to do with the movie.

Another item that was delayed, but is out now, is The Helm #3

This was originally due out a few weeks back, but got pushed back to today.

So there you go, pick them up next time you're in your favourite comic store.

Lost & found #1

2008-09-18T14:04:00.010+01:00

Seeing as I'm on a role with the whole starting up a new ongoing subject thingy, why not introduce another, I say.

With 'Lost & found,' I'll let you folks know whenever I either come across something I have no idea where it is from, or when I find where something is from as well as any other discoveries.

So first up, here are a few items that I photocopied off Bart but have no idea where they are published, if at all.

Here we have the mighty Caliban, which Bart drew some time in the middle '90's, my guess would be 1996. At the top of the page, Bart has written 'Handbook' which would obviously suggest the 'Marvel Handbook.' There are Handbooks out at about that time, but I've yet to get my hands on any copies. The righthand picture is from some website I discovered last year (can't remember which site). So the picture has obviously been inked and coloured. I'll let you know when I found out more about this.

This shot of Captain Universe is from about the same time, and also says 'Handbook' at the top, so I assume it's in the same boat as the Caliban one. Again, I'll find out more and let you all know.

Next is this Prophet pin-up, from 1994, which I imagine was produced to generate some cash for Ominous Press. I have no idea which issue of Prophet it is in, if it was printed at all. As soon as I get my hands on the right issue, I'll let you know.

This super-cool Klingon pin-up/cover was produced somewhere between '94-'96 by my estimations. I've done a bit of research into what happened to it, but to no avail, I'm afraid. Note: Bart has since informed me that this piece was created for Valiant/Acclaim Comics during Bart's Birthquake run on X-O Manowar. Valiant/Acclaim had put together a proposal to try and get the rights to the Star Trek comics and Bart was tapped to do this image for the proposal.

If anybody knows where any of these pieces are printed, please let me know, and you'll get a thankful mention here.

Now, things I've recently found.

Here are few things I found just the other day, which was rather exciting for me. I just love finding new stuff. This items are from the UK, and are normally sold in news agents and the likes. They normally reprint 2 or 3 issues of previous comics. #94 reprints Peter Parker: Spider-Man #4, whilst #97 reprints Spider-Woman #1 & 2.

This one is also from the UK. Bart only did the cover for this, which brings the amount of places this image has appeared up to 4!

So there you have it. I have a few other Lost & found items to show, but I'll leave it for next time.

More Original Art uploaded

2008-09-10T11:54:00.004+01:00

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I have just added another 5 Ominous Press pieces to my Bart Sears gallery at ComicArtFans, so check them out!

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=14375

I still have a few pages to scan in, clean up and upload to complete my collection of his work. Shouldn't be long now.

Bart Sears Rare Finds #2

2008-09-02T19:29:00.015+01:00

Well, I'm on a roll, now. So here's a couple more rare finds for you all.

I'm sure you all remember Bart's run on Eclipso back in 1992. He did the two Eclipso Specials, and the first three issues of the ongoing series that followed. But there were also a few pieces of memorabilia that were released too.

There were two Eclipso posters put out and they look like this.

The one on the left is made of a heavy duty card stock and the diamond in his hand is one of those prism hologram things that was so popular in the early '90's. I've only rarely seen this poster for sale, and I didn't get my hands on it until Bart gave me it on my second trip to Florida.

This next item is a small poster which I assume was meant for stores to display as a sort of promo piece. I got my copy of this off Bart again, though I have seen it go up for sale every now and then.

Next up is an actual advertisement that ran through the DC line prior to the Eclipso Specials, with art produced specifically for the ad. I've yet to scan the actual advertisement, but here is the black & white version, minus all of the text.

Kinda reminds me of Bart's poster for The First, well, no, it doesn't really remind me, it's almost exactly like The First poster, just 10 years older.

Next is the Eclipso card, from the DC Cosmic Cards set of 1993.

Sorry about the scan, it's a very dark card. Bart did three cards for this set, all of them bad guys - Eclipso, Starro and Despero.

Another item that was more for the comic shops, is the Eclipso shelf card.

As you may be able to see, the image of Eclipso is taken from the prism poster above, with a bit of cropping involved. Basically, the shelf card sits behind a stack of comics, with Eclipso popping out of the top. Pretty cool, eh? This is another item that is super rare, I don't think I've seen it since I bought it, back in 2000.

Last but not least, is the Who's Who Eclipso pin-up.

This cool image is from Who's Who in the DC Universe #13, from October 1991. 'Tis nice.

So there you have it, the full list of items featuring Bart's rendition of Eclipso. It's a fun portion of Bart's career, I think, where he really could let loose with his style, and be quite dark.

I'll have a look through my collection and see what other full sets I can show.

Until next time...

Bart Sears Rare Finds #1

2008-08-30T10:53:00.010+01:00

As a sister to the 'Guess what the Postman delivered today' entries, I thought I'd pull out of my vast Bart Sears collection the items that are perhaps a little bit more difficult to come upon than your average comic. So here is the first entry into a new series titled, simply, 'Rare Finds.'

And why not start off with a piece of Bart Sears memorabilia that is so incredibly rare, that I have only seen it come up for sale two times, one of which I purchased, though I may have missed the odd sale, however unlikely.

Guessed what I'm talking about yet?

Of course you did!

I was well pleased when I received this in the mail some time in the year 2000 (somehow I forgot to mark down when I received it, strange for me). I'd been looking for it ever since I'd known of it's existence, some years previous, and when it came up on eBay, I bid way high, there was absolutely no way I was going to let somebody else win this, no way!

The Wizard Comic Book Binder was manufactured in 1993 by both the Wizard magazine gang and Pro Gard, an association that spawned several fine comic protection and storage products.

The image, obviously by Bart, is taken from his tutorial in Wizard #16. It features the first incarnation of everybody's favourite metalloid, Brute. He's the first incarnation because, as you can see, he's sporting his original hair style, the Kirby-esque black spots. This would be his hair-do of choice for several years until Ominous Press came into reality and he changed his style to the more recognisable energy burst.

The binder itself is a 3-ring binder, there are no other features to it really, no pockets, no sleeves, nada.

Bart has a copy of the binder himself, and he also had a production sheet of the material used to cover the binder, image and all. Bart very generously signed it and gave it to me in 2004 when I was visiting him for the first time. I've never seen it in this form before or since and it is doubtful it exists anywhere else.

So there you have it, the Wizard binder, a rare find indeed.

Stay tuned for more rare finds from my Bart Sears collection in the form of the Eclipso Shelf Card, Comic Shell backing board and so much more.

Tell your friends.

Batman: Going Sane TPB update

2008-08-30T01:47:00.004+01:00

I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of the new Batman: Going Sane TPB, and I'm happy to say that, yes, it does reprint Bart's work from LOTDK #200, and not #100, as stated in the DC promotional text.
Your welcome.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #4

2008-08-30T01:16:00.007+01:00

You know, there are times when, as a Bart Sears collector, I receive something in the mail that is that little bit more special than your average piece of Bart Sears memorabilia. Something that makes me really proud to be the #1 fan of Bart Sears. I mean, who else would see this item and realize he must have it!

Don't ask me what it's from, I have absolutely no idea, I couldn't even tell you what year it was taken. It looks like early '90's to me, but I could be wrong. My best guess is it may have something to do with the Kubert School. I can almost imagine walking down those hallowed halls and seeing this picture among the other greats that have taught there. Or maybe it's a convention photo. Who knows? Well, if anybody does know, I'd very much appreciate any information that can be given.

Did I mention this is probably the rarest piece of Bart Sears memorabilia I have ever seen. As far as I know, it's a one-of-a-kind deal. Which, excluding original art, makes it one of the only pieces that is such.

I really should stop bragging so much on this blog.....

Postcards from Scotland

2008-08-26T14:40:00.007+01:00

I was in Scotland last week, thanks to my wife giving me the trip as a birthday present. As I was planning what to bring with me (binoculars, etc.), I had the genius idea that I should take along a few small Bart Sears items and get my picture taken holding them in front of famous places. Genius, I tell you!

So here they are -

This first one is taken on the waters of the mighty Loch Ness, home of the beastie himself. I'm holding a signed and laminated Brute Postcard, a favourite of mine because I own the original sketch and final art for it.

This second photo shows me standing in front of the imposing Edinburgh Castle holding a copy of the B&B Infinity mini-comic, another favourite of mine because I own so many of the original art pages from that comic, tee-hee.

Inking over Bart Sears = shaky hands Jay

2008-08-26T14:19:00.008+01:00

Most of you Bart Sears fans out there will be familiar with the name Darrin Wiltshire. For those that aren't, Darrin is a big fan, and like myself, takes his fanaticism beyond just collecting, he does something with it. Darrin has had many commissions done by Bart, which can be seen over at his gallery at ComicArtFans (whilst you're there, check mine out too).

Either Bart or Darrin normally email me scans of these commissions, which are usually in pencil, and I often get the urge to ink them. A few people have inked some of them over the years, most notably Andy Smith, but I thought I'd give it a go myself. So here they are, shown for the first time, as far as I know.

Enjoy.

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #3

2008-08-25T15:00:00.021+01:00

A few weeks ago, I found a cool site called Trading Card Central. TCC is basically a trading card site, with message boards where people can list the cards they have or want to trade or sell.

I was on a hunt for the few Marvel Overpower cards Bart did that I still needed and came across a member that had a whole stack of Overpower cards.

I contacted the member in the hope that they both had any of them, and would be willing to sell them to me. The member, Rogue, got back to me and said that she did have a few of the cards I needed. I said "Great! How much do you want for them?" She replied that she couldn't accept any money for them and would be happy to send them out to me. Can you believe that!?!?

So, a week later, on the 15th of August, I got the envelope in the mail and there they were, in crazy mint condition, Deadpool and Thor.

And for those of you that don't believe Bart did the art for those cards, here are his pencils, the Thor one owned by me, tee-hee.