...Tina And I Broke Out The Pilot Episode Of 'The X-Files' To View!

 Last night there just wasn't much on for us to view on TV... And we had already seen 'The Spirit' at the theater and had no others we wanted to see on the Big Screen!

So I went through our old VHS tapes that we haven't yet listed in our online stores, and found the Pilot Episode of 'The X-Files'...

Tina and I both felt that the recent X-Files Theatrical Film was a little lacking, (click here for our reviews), and thus thought why not see the first epsiode of the show that we both watched before we were married.

Both Tina and I realized it was the chemistry between Scully and Mulder that made the TV Series work, and last so long.

Below is an archived blog post that I blogged two years ago this month. It still holds true today:

Jay Is A Portrait, Pin-up, Cover and Fantasy Illustrator Based In The Upper Ohio Valley!

 One of the great things about having a FaceBook Network... Is that I am able to view several works by artists and writers that I wouldn't even have found otherwise without it! After all, Tina and I can't attend every comic and pop culture convention out there!

Jay Fife recently became a new 'Facebook Friend', and of course I had to check out his artwork.

Imagine how pleased I was when I came across several superheroines including Wonder Woman pictured at the very top of this post, and She-Hulk that he is holding in the photo above!

(Long time readers know I like to post photos of Con attendees dressed up as Wonder Woman!  Plus Tina was finally able to get a photo of me with the best She-Hulk we've seen yet, who was at the 2008 SDCC and now another one of my FaceBook Friends!)

Both of those above creations by Jay are just the tip of the vast body of artwork seen at his personal web site and another gallery for artists web site.

Jay has drawn from a variety of influences and has also created portraits of television and film stars. He is a portrait, pinup and fantasy Illustrator from the upper Ohio Valley, just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.  The following is from his brief bio:

"A lifetime of interest in art with training in portraiture accompanied with a life long love of comics and old fashioned monster movies came together to help produce an interesting gallery of images. Working primarily in pencil, Jay creates realistic yet stylish images of well known characters or original creations. Jay has been featured in publications such Bad Place Productions Safe Words and Zonetrooper as well as cover art for the Victorian Horror Magazine The Willows and the comic from Pickle Press, Dare."

You can see more of his artwork at the following websites:

comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=5301

jayfife.com

Thanks Jay for sending me the links to your works, and to much more additional success for you in this New Year!

January 23rd thru 25th, 2009!

 Jeff Mariotte... one of my newest Facebook Friends informs me that he will be there with his latest published work!

Jeff messaged me the following comment:

"My new graphic novel ZOMBIE COP will be making its debut there! Although it goes on sale Jan. 14th from Image Comics/Shadowline, I'm not doing any events until the con."

So of course I wanted to mention this in our Blog, especially if you are a fan of Jeff's and would like to see him there!

Celebrating The Birth of Dashin' Don Heck

On January 2nd, 1929!

Starting off this new year by looking back a bit... and thinking about those comic book creators that made me get interested in comics in the first place!

Don Heck's artwork was one that I followed for many years when I first started to actually collect comics.

Don had started at Harvey Comics, but soon worked for Quality Comics, Hillman Comics, and Toby Press.

But it was his work for Timely/Atlas/Marvel Comics that really brought his artwork to my attention!

Don never achieved the stellar fame of others in the early Marvel Bullpen, like Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko.  But like Dick Ayers, Don was good and dependable in meeting his deadlines and drawing quality work.

I enjoyed his early work on Iron Man which he co-created in 1963. His style was right for that strip IMHO, especially for the characters of Tony Stark, Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan! 

The Avengers was another 1960's series he was known for drawing, and with so many in that group it had to be hard for any artist to put in so many characters in each issue!

However, what I most liked about his drawing, was the earlier non-superhero stories that Atlas / Marvel had before the birth of their Marvel Superheroes line.  Don's artwork was so unique that you could spot his work easily. I for one really enjoyed those sci-fi stories when published in 'Tales Of Suspense', 'Strange Worlds', 'Worlds of Fantasy', 'Strange Tales' and more titles in that genre.

Don could also draw a 'heck' of a beautiful woman, as evidenced in his romance stories!

Don passed away February 23rd, 1995. His Marvel Comics work will continue to entertain new readers for many more years, as it is being reprinted in 'Masterworks', and 'Essential' volumes.  Which is good, because any photos of Don Heck the artist himself are hard to find!

Thanks Don for the memories!

For those of you that are new to our blog today, we have an ongoing 'Comic Con and Pop Culture Convention'  here at "Make It So Marketing Inc.", what with our daily blog posts,  and new listings of items for sale in our online eBay Featured Store! 

Part 2 - Tina's Review Of The New Film Now Showing!

As blogged about previously in Part 1... we didn't get to see 'The Spirit' when it opened on Christmas Day in Sedona, Arizona where we were vacationing, as they did not have it showing in any of the 6 Theaters at the local Harkins!

This blog post is written after a late-afternoon showing of it at a local theater near us. We wanted to see this film at the theater, as the previews we had seen at the San Diego Comic International had made us realize that if we were to view this at all, it would be best to see it on the Big Screen....