My art rep Bob Shaw of Comic Art House has my remaining original Marvel published art (with pencils by Kyle Hotz) and a couple of pin-ups (over bluelines of Geof Isherwood) on his eBay store page with starting bids at significant discounts! Buddy Mike Kellar also has three Adam Hughes-signed sketchbooks from 2005, 2006, and 2009 from my collection for sale on his eBay page! Please check ’em out!
I guess September is Bob Almond month at the Herald News based in Fall River, MA. First I was mentioned in a sentence in an article on the YEAH Program I participated in last winter. From that interview the reporter Deborah Allard decided to interview me since I was the next city away. I was excited because after 20+ years in the business of comic book inking I’d never been interviewed at home before, only via emails, phone calls, or live at conventions. The main article was posted yesterday online, as well as a related article showing some photos she took of me in my room with commission pieces in the works. Some facts are incorrect but that’s par for the course for such interviews where there’s no time to have the subject proofread the draft like in other formats. Deb’s sending me a physical copy of the paper and I appreciate your kindness, courtesy and consideration. (Below, me in my studi inking a recent Scott McDaniel commission–all photos by Deborah Allard).
First off, sorry about the penguin and muslim chanting at this site which took place for maybe a week or so. I guess someone got off on hacking my website. But thanks to friends alerting me of the dilemma and buddy Rich Lane working his magic everything’s been properly restored with nothing lost.
I had heard from friends some time back about a surprise birthday party for Terry Austin in upper-state New York where there resides a considerable artist community and one that I hadn’t visited since my last Bernie Wrightson Halloween party back in the early ’90s which had led to me getting professionally hired in the comic book industry. But not wanting to party crash, I simply sighed and wished everyone well. Then last Tuesday Joe Sinnott and I were on the phone and he went the full mile to get me to attend the event. Joe wanted me there badly so how could I refuse? I had to make plans within 24 hours and recruited my chum Enrique (Zeke) Savory, Jr. to act as my travel mate to Christina’s Restaurant in Kingston on August 23rd. It was an honor to be invited to attend and be reunited with some old friends in their home vacinity again such as Todd Dezago and Joe (the organizers), Joe and Hilary Staton, Walt and Louise Simonson, Fred Hembeck, Janice Chiang, as well as mu pal from my own neck of the woods Craig Rousseau, Joe’s daughter Kathy Sinnott and her husband Rex who I met for the first time, Dan Green, a legendary ink artist that I also met for the first time, Christopher Irving and his travel mate who’s name escapes me, and, of course, Terry himself! Merriment was had by all! Regretfully, Joe’s son Mark couldn’t make the affair due to his post office work schedule, even though he was instrumental in setting the plan in motion. Some others who had to unfortunately decline attending were John Byrne, Tom Palmer, Herb Trimpe, Jim Starlin and Ron Marz. While I’m still not sure I can attend the Albany Con in November in the same general area, I look forward to returning to this community again before long. (Photo by Janice Chiang- more pics can be seen at my Facebook page in the August timeline: https://www.facebook.com/bobalmond)
Please check out the articles at Bleeding Cool, our own Inkwell site and especially FirstComicNews which has the most information for all of the info and the files!
If you see something that look familar you can email me at dmralmond@gmail.com .
My idol George Perez is known for always sporting a Hawaiian shirt at public appearances but in this photo (with Marvel and DC Captain Marvel cosplayers) from an unknown event he wears the Avengers shirt that was an inker jam between myself, Tim Townsend, Scott Hanna and Norman Lee (and colored by Tom Smith) and the only published work that I ever inked/ finished over George’s sketch art. (For those keeping track, I did Thor and Wasp, Tim did Cap, Scott handled Wanda, and Norman Antman and Iron-man).
I was stunned and honored to find out, thanks to longtime chum and my gallery chronicler Damon Owens, that in an article about a recent survey at the Comic Art Fans gallery site that I’m listed with the highest quantity of inked commissions at that venue! I better get the pace going, though, because Joe Rubenstein is breathing down my neck-LOL! See why 189+ can’t be wrong and give me a try and hire me for an inking commission NOW!
Just an FYI that this year’s ballot for the Inkwell Awards will be active from midnight tonight May 1st until Tuesday May 15 at the Inkwell Awards site homepage as usual. Voting is open to all so please spread the word as you only have 2 weeks (down from the traditional one month) to show love to your favorite ink artists! The Results will be announced at the live Heroes Con award ceremony in June (more on that to be announced later). Thank you to all our supporters!
To my fans/visitors: I’m so sorry about the site being down for, what 2 or 3 weeks? Seemed like an eternity to me as it happened right after my computer hard drive died…I was not having a good month (in fact my email account is still not functioning properly). My webhost buddy Rich Lane was able to finally figure things out and save the day for me today (and my sanity). Much sincere thanks, Rich!
Yes, I know, I have some updating to do. I have a commission to add to the Gallery and I just realized that my Store section is very outdated. But this month I need to prepare for the big, annual Heroes Con in less than 3 weeks and the related Inkwell Awards ceremony plus catch up on several commissions. If you want to commission me, please expect that there is a waitting time now of anywhere between 2-5 months or so. To secure a spot on the list you will need to send me the commission and pay at least a 50% deposit where normally it’d be 100% but I don’t feel comfortable doing that at this point. To all of my clients: it’s been a challenging year to say the least and I am grateful to you generous patience and understanding.
This year I was invited to my pal Ernie’s Friendly Neighborhood Comics store for the annual FCBD (Free Comic Book Day) festivities on Saturday May 5th (I’ll be seeing THE AVENGERS on opening day Friday). I’ve signed at Ernie’s store before (it’s in Bellingham, MA, about 50 minutes from me) and I recommend the venue highly if you’re looking for a service-focused business with a family theme, community support and interaction, and product diversity. I’ll be signing from at least 9am to noon. I would’ve posted this sooner here but Ernie hasn’t gotten around to plugging it at his own site/blog yet so I decided to get the ball rolling. Maybe I’ll see you there or at The Southcoast Toy & Comic Show the next day in Fairhaven, MA (see last news article).
For those interested, I will be attending Pittsburgh Comicon on April 20-22 and Heroes Con on June 22-24. I have also just committed to going to the Southcoast Toy & Comic Show on May 5 and my first appearance at the Rhode Island Comic Con on November 3-4. Please keep in mind that this is all subject to change and cancellation depending on possible family health emergencies and I will certainly keep you posted with updates here.
Bob is the inking half of the Sal Velluto art team collaboration on such projects as Marvel’s critically-acclaimed BLACK PANTHER,’99-’02 leading to a 2003 Comicboards “Ooks” Award for “Best Inker” & two “Squiddies” awards for “Best Inker” (2001 along with “Best Creative Team” win and 2002 tied with Mark Farmer and tied for “Best Multi-Part Story”), and many other projects with Sal since 1997 and other artists at Marvel, DC, Acclaim, Malibu, Penny-Farthing Press, Power Comics, IDW, Kingstone, Thrilling Nostalgia Comics, Harris Comics, Topps, Wildstorm, New England Comics, Valiant and several others. While he’s been primarily an ink artist he’s also been a columnist for Sketch magazine and First Comics News. Bob’s a comic book collector and unofficial historian who has acted as a “Master of the Obscure” at the Marvel Appendix site, been a longtime member of the “Jarvis Heads” and a “group expert” at Facebook groups. He’s the founder/director of the official non-profit Inkwell Awards and advocate since 2008. Bob has been credited with “Special Thanks” along with his “Storyteller” colleagues Christopher Priest & Sal Velluto in the record-breaking film BLACK PANTHER (2018) and BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (2022).
180 Park Street
New Bedford, MA 02740
dmralmond@gmail.com
