In an 11th hour development Bob and the Inkwell Awards were recently invited to the 4th SYRACUSE NEW YORK COMIC CON on Saturday December 7! It’s a new venue for us and only a one-day show.
But the Inkwells will have senior contributor Mike Prast to help cover the booth and they’ll be introducing the latest, new Ms. Inkwell spokesmodel Becka Sargent. Hope to see you there!
From my photo album on Facebook:
“I knew the book was being released this month (for Black History month, probably) but I didn’t expect to have a comped copy appear in the mail through Diamond Distributions. I’m hoping my pals Sal Velluto, Don McGregor and Priest got one each. I’m guessing maybe it was sent by Marvel Special Projects editor Mark D. Beazley as the office may’ve connected us with author Jess Harrold for an interview. It was a while ago so the memory is certainly hazy. Thank you to any who were involved.
I was at first a bit surprised at the small size of the HC book (6.25″ X 8.25”) since art books usually are BIG so that the art can be truly appreciated, but as I flipped through it I was seriously impressed because there were a LOT of images spanning from the Black Panther’s first appearance in FF by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott all the way to contemporary material from the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda by Coates/Acuna! (And it’ll fit perfectly on my shortage of shelf space!!)The reproduction is excellent! (I should give props to Rodolfo Muraguchi for the book design.) Every incarnation of T’Challa over the years is broken down into chapters and from interviews we had there are numerous quotes printed in-between and around the images from creators like Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Don McGregor, Jonathan Maberry, Dwayne McDuffie, Steve Epting, Joe Jusko, Priest (who also writes the intro), Mark Texeira, Reginald Hudlin, Sal Velluto and myself (pages 148-175 is mostly a showcase for our art as the longest-running art team and various statements we make pertaining to the art, collaboration together with Priest and our mindset on the creative process), John Romita Jr., David Liss, Jonathan Hickman, Brian Stelfreeze, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chris Sprouse, Jason Aaron, Daniel Acuna, Alex Ross, Ryan Coogler and so many more!
The selection of artists’ work, like in the gallery, is overflowing with eclectic variety and inspiration. Every significant BP cover and interior artist, and then some, were included: Kirby, John Buscema, Denys Cowan & Sam Dela Rosa, Ken Lashley & Paul Neary, Simone Bianchi, Stelfreeze, Francesco Francavilla, Rich Buckler & Klaus Janson, Billy Graham, Bob McLeod, Jerry Bingham, John Byrne, Dwayne Turner, Gene Colan & Tom Palmer, Texeira, Jusko, Mike Manley, Norm Breyfogle, Andy Kubert, Jim Calafiore, Kyle Hotz & Eric Powell, Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti, JRJr & Janson, Frank Cho, Ross, Scott Eaton, Alan Davis & Mark Farmer, Jason Pearson, Michael Turner, J. Scott Campbell, Epting, Tom Raney, Mike Deodato Jr., Sprouse & Karl Story, Walden Wong, Dexter Vines, Mark Morales, Alitha Martinez, Butch Guice & Mack Chater, Acuna, Art Adams, Sal & myself, and so many more including a celebration of variant Panther covers, too! While there are a few errors when credited is attributed for each image, they get it correct most of the time and credit the penciler, inker and the colorist, artists all! (Thankfully, my pal Mark McKenna was not erroneously credited this for those Velluto covers with “MM” in Sal’s signature which was Latin for the year 2000 as it was in the 2018 book Black Panther: The Illustrated History of a King.)
Highly Recommended! 352 pages, $29.99″
The “Newsflash” section at the top of th
is page now lists my confirmed show apps for the year along with the Inkwell Awards unless specified not. The premiere show of the year
is the Ace Comic Con: Northeast- Boston on March 20-22. We previously attended Ace’s first show in 2017 in Long Island, NY and this is their first time at this venue at the
Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) which is the same location that FanExpo Boston Comic Con has been setting up the last 3 years. GSCF and Terrificon are annual
supporters of us so that’s automatic every year with much ongoing thanks to promoters Dave O’Hare & Sal Zurzolo and Mitch Hallock, respectively. I hope to attend The Kubert School
scholarship awards ceremony to reward a student the Inkwell’s Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund in Dover, NJ. There is a show confirmed that I’m not at
the liberty to announce yet until they do this winter/spring and atentative one or two towards the end of the year. I’ll post any updates here and on my Facebook page.
Hello! It’s been 7 months since I last posted a news article and it wasn’t from being too busy. My site up and wouldn’t allow me access because my server was out of space.
I approached Steven Freivogel, the Inkwell Awards webhost who updated that site, and asked him for help. I called my server and upgraded to the business level of more
space and Steven was able to return my Commissions Gallery(#2) back here after a long absence. I still need to change the info on the first page (#2) to connect the archived
gallery(#1) link to it and my new ComicArtFans gallery (#3) to it. But this Joomla website is a decade or a dozen years old and at it’s full capacity so Steven will be
working with me over the coming Covid-infected months to build an updated site. I will barely update anything here in the meantime, maybe just a news item or
three. With the pandemic there isn’t a need for months to schedule new conventions until 2021. And my commission list status will remain open for the forseeable
future. But at some point in the future this site will be replaced, hopefully archived but at least with the original archived site presently archived. You will certainly
be kept abreast of all deveopments!
As I’ve mentioned here in the past, for years now my popular commission gallery has not been updated due to website problems going back to my webmaster who created this site after my original site was going to collapse under the weight of the files there. My second Joomla gallery here (@170+ entries) allowed me to expand from the original (@270+entries), now archived, and link to it, preserving the record of my career commissions and unpublished and try-out work. When I could no longer go in to update it it was in a state of limbo and my webmaster and I had a falling out with me so he was no help. I recently had my gallery chronicler Damon Owens help me launch my personal ComicArtFans gallery as a third location to post my past 70+entries I’d been saving on my desktop. (Just too bad it doesn’t allow urls to link visitors to my archived and current galleries.) After six were posted my website server told me that the gallery section was taking up too much space and it had been scanned and I was told that I had to remove it within a week or risk my site shutting down and possibly not be retreivable. Thus I pulled in my two Inkwell Awards webmasters Rhys & Steven to help tech-ignorant me to save the material but first remove it post-haste. This immediate threat was resolved and this site’s gallery doesn’t exist now. Rhys was going to transfer it on WordPress and use Flickr for the gallery but he told me I’d lose all my archived material including the first 270+ of commission entries. So Original webmaster Tim Aslat is studying my Joomla site in hopes of upgrading all the necessary problem areas and have enough space for my gallery section. So in the meantime, I’m not sure if I’ll continue adding entries to the CAF gallery but hopefully in 2020 I’ll get my limbo gallery returned and have updated it with 70+entries. <crosses fingers>
Last year my bud Mike Lilly appeared at That’s Entertainment, a legendary comic book specialty shop in Worcester, MA, to sign on the 6th annual Batman Day. I helped him ink the Batman/Catwoman wedding print (colored by David Ocampo) that was given away to the first 100 attendees. But Mike wasn’t able to get me invited to said event. This year he did. So last week I inked a new print image as seen here, also colored by David (who lives in Mexico so he won’t be at this event). I’d attended this store several times over the years and the place is simply magical, like a time capsule comic book store from the late 1970s-1980s. One time I signed there alongside Mike when we were doing Annihilation: Conquest- Quasar with writer Christos Gage who’s family lives nearby. So if you’re in the area please consider dropping in, all the info is on the promo flyer below. I’ll be the annoying, giddy, balding fankid. HA!
I have the Terrificon to attend in a week and FanExpo Boston Con the weekend after that. But months
ago I was invited to return to the FanX Salt Lake Comic Con Fa犀利士
ll 2019 for September 5-7 but
I couldn’t officially make a statement until today! I, again, will be joining my oft-partner and pal
Sal Velluto from Black Panther, Captain Gravity, Aquaman, JSA, Bloodshot, the Kingstone Bible, the
Phantom and so much more! I had the greatest experience with the Utah community fans and staff so
I’m cheerfully hoping for more of that!
I noticed in the August for October Previews catalog from Diamond that Marvel is soliciting
2 special projects with the King of Wakanda. The Vistions of Wakanda book will contain
interview material from myself & Sal Velluto and possibly reproduce some artwork by us.
The postcard book might also have some art reproduced by us but we don’t know for sure
and, if so, will be a surprise like it was with the Marvel BP coloring book. Below I’ve posted
the images relased by Marvel and their solictation info. After I see them in the coming months
I’ll be sure to inform on the specifics right here as usual!
BLACK PANTHER:VISIONS OF WAKANDA HC
Written by JESS HARROLD
Penciled by VARIOUS
Cover by
ON SALE FEBRUARY 2020
Meet T’Challa, the Black Panther, and explore his wondrous home of Wakanda in this beautifully
crafted volume! Featuring action-packed artwork from all eras of Panther storytelling —
beginning with his debut in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s legendary FANTASTIC FOUR, through his first
stint as a mighty Avenger, to his modern status as a solo-series star! There’s jungle action aplenty
as T’Challa, his closest allies and his fiercest foes star in stunning illustrations by legends such as
Kirby, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, John Byrne, Mark Texeira and John Romita Jr.! Plus: Awesome
covers and pages from the recent blockbuster revolution of Wakanda courtesy of the creative
minds of writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and artistic collaborators Brian Stelfreeze, Chris Sprouse, Daniel
Acuña and more!
352 PGS./All Ages …$29.99
ISBN: 978-1-302-91938-2
Trim size: 8 x 6
BLACK PANTHER POSTCARD BOOK HC
Penciled by VARIOUS
Cover by JACK KIRBY
Planning a vacation to the technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda? Then you’re
going to need some postcards to mail home to all your jealous friends! This book has all the
cards you’ll need, featuring major moments from Black Panther’s history as illustrated by the
finest talents to ever delineate the adventures of T’Challa, his faithful friends and his bitter
enemies! Whether he’s hanging out with the Fantastic Four, assembling with the Avengers,
stalking the urban jungle of New York City or defending Wakanda as its noble warrior king,
the Black Panther is one of Marvel’s greatest heroes! Wakanda Forever!
84 PGS./All Ages …$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-302-91929-0
Trim size: 4-1/4 x 6
Friendly Neighborhood Comics run by my longtime friend Ernie Pelletier has generously arranged for me to schedule a signing event in his store.
In recent years I’ve been found at his store on Free Comic Book Day in a duel commitment with him early in the day and a commute to
New England Comics: New Bedford for later in the day with my sometimes art partner Mike Lilly. But this year, FCBD was on Saturday
May 4 when I was scheduled at the Undiscovered Realm Comic Con May 4-5. So to make up for that (and to cover some swag I’d ordered there)
Ernie has devoted Saturday July 20 to “Bob Almond Day at FNC” from 11am – 3pm! A first of sorts, I will have all my usual Bob Almond-themed goods
in tow like original signed art, Black Panther trades and prints signed by me and, while suplies last, also by my legendary cohorts Sal Velluto and
Christopher Priest following a couple of shows we attended together, signed comics, other trades and other prints, and I plan to loosely draw up
at least 4 pencil sketches on backer boards to ink at the store upon request for $40 each deposited up front. If I sell all 4 or more and can’t
finish in time at the event I will take them home to finish ahead of my commissions list for a meager shipping expense. Autographs are always
free with me and I only ask if the customer/fan can donate anything to my 501(c)(3) non-profit Inkwell Awards donation box on the table.
Besides my recent Angel Medina drawn and Tom Chu colored Thanos & Mistress Death new print I’d inked, I will be debuting my Art Adams drawn
and Chu colored X-Men: Days of Future Past print I inked. So drop by and take advantage of simultaneous deals from the store itself!
Now that the Great Philadelphia Comic Con!, the new host show to the Inkwell Awards awards ceremony, is now past, I will be focusing on getting caught up on commissions and prepping for more shows. So my commission list is still closed (except for those willing to wait) until I finish up a bunch of Tick wraparound blank covers, 3 “Common Elements” jobs for one regular client, and 2 busy recreations for another. (I’m also waiting for doing a figure in each of 2 jam pieces with the Avengers and the X-men. No assignments to do at the moment from Kingstone Comics nor the anticipated resumption of work from Ravesnake Media. But looking forward to a new Mike Lilly collaboration sometime.
My next show, a new one, is in a week at the Undiscovered Realm Comic Con in White Plains, NY on May 4-5 (first promo design by Andrew Harmon for my Facebook profile pic). The Inkwell Awards will also be in attendance but senior spokesmodel Hailey won’t be able to make it so Kathy Denise taylor will be solo at this event. We will also be adjacent to our friend, the now retired Joe Sinnott (with his body guards Jim Tournas & Mark Sinnott). The show after that will be a return to the Garden State Comic Fest at the venue where we first attended their ice skating rink location in Morristown, NJ on June 29-30. The next two shows won’t be until August with the Terrificon at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT on 8/9 – 8/11 and the Fan Expo Boston Con 8/16 – 8/18.
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
