THE BERNIE WRIGHTSON ARTBOOK: A TRIBUTE

I was ecstatic yesterday to finally receive my comp copy to the Bernie Wrightson Artwork: A Tribute HC Book by Steve Niles & Shannon Eric Denton at Printed in Blood and Monster Forge Productions. At 244 pages it’s a beast of a love letter with written and rendered tributes from over 200 creators to everyone’s favorite Master of the Macabre and gem of a human being! It was produced via a Kickstarter at Wrightsontribute.com or printedinblood.com and can be bought for $45. I was fortunate that my remembrances and an Inking commission I did in blueline over Bernie’s loose sketch for client Sean Marsh back in 2017 (I was working on an assignment at the time and couldn’t do a new piece) made the cut from the several files I sent on for consideration.

There’s also a lot of unpublished and rarely, if ever, seen Bernie art, especially from the private art collection of Allen Milgrom. I poured through the tome but I haven’t had a chance to read it cover to cover yet due to my current work schedule and obligations but can’t wait to do so. In the meantime I’ll proudly display it on my bookshelf. Buy it! You won’t be sorry!

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER IS HERE!


No, I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. Sal Velluto & I didn’t make the BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER LA World Premiere invitation list this time but thanks to the camera  pic of my long-time friend Craig Rousseau at the Thursday late-night showing, we, along with the brilliantly talented friend & partner Christopher Priest, certainly and thankfully made  the Special Thanks end credits. As I posted on my Facebook feed “It’s always rewarding to be recognized for your work with your talented & legendary creative partners Sal Velluto & Christopher Priest after 20 years have passed. And sending a sincere congrats to everyone else involved and credited here for their own contributions towards the mythology of Wakanda!
 I hope to slip away to see it with my brother this week.” Always a proud honor.

BLACK PANTHER OMNIBUS DELAYED

From my Facebook feed: FYI for those awaiting the Black Panther By Christopher Priest Omnibus Vol. 1 like I am, it’s been delayed twice now. It was originally scheduled for release in September and got pushed back to November 9 to release with The film BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER but my local retailer just informed me that it’s now being released November 23 just before Thanksgiving but the film will probably still be out so the excitement should still be there. However, I have noticed online businesses offering them with a December 6 date, too. I will post an update once it’s actually out and I pick mine up. (Main cover: Mark Texeira, DM cover: Sal Velluto/Bob Almond/Tom Smith)

 

3 PRIEST/VELLUTO/ALMOND BLACK PANTHER STORIES MAKE RECENT TOP 10 LIST

As we countdown to the BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER sequel dropping November 11, Sal Velluto posted the following article link on his facebook page yesterday titled “The best Black Panther stories in all of comics (The 10 best Black Panther stories, celebrating T’Challa and the Wakandan Empire in Marvel Comics)” by Robert Reed from October 10, 2022. In a list that doesn’t even count the Lee/Kirby/Sinnott Fantastic Four 2-part intro/origin or any Silver-age or Bronze-age stories (no Don McGregor Jungle Action??) I was proud to see us make 3 out of 10 possible nominations (and almost a fourth that just missed the count as mentioned by the author) after 20+ years since publication. I always knew what my brilliant and esteemed colleague Priest was way ahead of it’s time at the time of production but it’s an honor seeing lists like this that legitimize those personal