Conan: Kiss of the Undead

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!

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

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!

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

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...