Team Javerts #1 Variant and goodies

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!

Guess what the Postman delivered today? #11

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...

A Special Anniversary Post

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? #7

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.

Inking over Bart Sears = shaky hands Jay

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.