Sunday Sketch

This one is a little unusual, in that the artist is more well known for being a fan instead of a published comics professional — although that line was beginning to blur at the time. This is by Leah Adezio, probably the biggest Aqualad fan you will ever find, and something of a mentor to my wife. Leah and Laura roomed together at the 2000 San Diego comic convention, and I got to meet her and get this sketch at the 2001 convention:

Yes, that's mostly Oz, but putting a ring on Toto's paw just added that touch of whimsy which helped it cross over into also being a Green Lantern piece. (For those who may be wondering, G'nort is a canine Green Lantern from some other planet.)

Sadly, Leah died in 2007, and never got to write that awesome Aqualad miniseries she wanted to do, or nurture her original series, Ari of Lemuria, go beyond self-publication. But fans set up a memorial page to her, right here, in case you want to see just what she was about.

Sunday Sketch

Today's sketch is particularly appropriate, for a number of reasons. It's by Eric Shanower, whom many Oz fans know for his Oz illustrations and comics. But I've known Eric for a lot longer than that. We both attended our first Winkie Convention the same year, before Eric had even started working in comics professionally. But we knew back then that he was incredibly talented and would go far. So far, so good! And as I type this, I'm on my way home from this year's Winkie Convention. Sadly, however, Eric couldn't be there, as this is also the same weekend as Comic Con International, also known as the San Diego Comic Convention (and Nerd Prom, but that's a lot more informal). Needless to say, that's where Eric and his partner David make a lot of money every year.

Anyway, back in 2001, the one time I went to San Diego, Laura and I stayed at Eric and David's for a few days, before the convention, and got to sleep in Eric's studio. That was fun. But when it came time to ask Eric for a sketch, I decided to really do something wild. This was the first, and one of the very few, times I ever asked for anything specific. "Eric," I said, "draw me the Green Lantern of Oz." Needless to say, he came through with this spectacular sketch.

Another really good reason to include this sketch is to commemorate Eric's good news at this year's Comic Con. He and Skottie Young won two Eisner Awards, the top prize in the comic book field, for their adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published by Marvel Comics. The awards were for Best Miniseries or Story Arc and Best Publication for Children. And with The Marvelous Land of Oz just having wrapped up and Ozma of Oz about to start, they're likely to win a few more in the coming years.

Sunday Sketch

Okay, to make up for that joke yesterday, here's the latest extract from my sketchbook. But before I show it to you, I need to explain something. It's not just an Oz sketchbook. Lots of people take around themed sketchbooks, and have the comics artist draw something pertaining to the theme in it. This can, as you can imagine, get pretty wild and creative. My lovely wife Laura has several different sketchbooks now devoted to Aquaman, just to give one example. My sketchbook started off being devoted to Green Lantern (and if you don't know who that is, just wait, the movie is going to be one of the big events of next summer, it appears). But when Laura took the book down to San Diego (I was at an Oz convention elsewhere at the time), she also got some Oz sketches. Okay, so it became a dual-themed sketchbook. Some people drew Oz, some drew Green Lantern. But Leonard Kirk? He became the first (but far from last) artist to combine the two! So here it is, Leonard Kirk's Green Lantern/Oz mash-up sketch:

And yes, that's me smudging out a very slightly not G-rated word at the end, for the benefit of potential sensitive readers. If I remember to bring it, ask to see the original at the Winkie Convention next weekend and you'll see what it actually says (and you'll get handy sneak peeks at other, upcoming Sunday sketches, too).

Sunday Sketch

Here's another Oz drawing from my comic con sketchbook. This one is from the great Stan Sakai, the creator, writer, and artist of Usagi Yojimbo. This is the epic tale of a ronin samurai in a version of feudal Japan that just happens to be inhabited by anthropomorphic animals. Usagi is a rabbit who wanders the countryside and has many adventures. This was the first sketch I got when I attended my first (and so far only) Comic Con International in San Diego in 2001. And here it is!

If you want to see more of Stan's Oz-related work, he did a version of Oz in the annual Halloween issue of The Simpsons comic a few years ago, called "I'm Not in Springfield Anymore". Lisa gets conked on the head, and has a dream where... Oh, you get the idea. It's in the collection The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Fun-Filled Frightfest.

Today's Oz sketch

I've noticed my streak of consecutive days posting, and thought I'd see what I could do to extend the streak. The trouble is, I had no idea what to post. But then I remembered my sketchbook. You see, besides being an Oz fan, I'm also a comics book fan. Not as big a fan as my wife, but I hold my own. When we started going to conventions, Laura took along a sketchbook and asked artists to add to it. They've been very generous, and she has quite a few now. Much to my surprise, however, she took a blank sketchbook with her to the 2000 San Diego Comic Con (while I was in Indiana for the big Oz Centennial Convention), and started one for me! It's primarily a Green Lantern sketchbook, since that's my favorite comic book character, but there are also some Oz sketches as well. Hey, I'm an Oz fan, what would you expect? One of the very first sketches she snagged for me was this delightfully whimsical Scarecrow by Akiko creator Mark Crilley. So, this will be the first of what I hope will be an occasional series of Oz pictures from my sketchbook. Enjoy!

Image copyright © 2000 Mark Crilley. All rights reserved. Do not copy, reproduce, or link to without permission, or Spuckler will feed you to the dreaded Alia Rellapor!