Bart Sears News and stuff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.