Category: comics

I was happy to make it to Lee’s Comics signing event with Gene Colan. Gene and Lee posed for the picture above. Lee has a solid reputation for organizing a fun day. Two last minute guest additions were Steve Leialoha and Joe Rubinstein.

Gene Colan, and his wife Adrienne, were friendly and a pleasure to meet. Colan is one of the few living legends of comics, spanning nearly 60 years in the field. Gene’s career at Marvel Comics alone is legendary. His artwork for Daredevil and Tomb of Dracula are personal favorites of mine. I was thrilled to get a few comics signed. I’m amazed at how good his art continues to be, despite his well-publicized health issues. You can help support Gene Colan by visiting the Lee’s Comics website for special signed items in which the proceeds go to directly to Gene.

You can read more about the event at Lee’s blog.

Also, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco has a retrospective of Colan’s work going on from November 15, 2008 to March 15, 2009. On hand are an amazing gathering of some of Colan’s key original artwork, including his cover for Iron Man #1 and Iron Man Sub-Mariner #1, and over forty other examples spanning his career. I picked up their exhibit catalog of the show during the signing at Lee’s comics, Gene Colan: Visions of a Man Without Fear. You can order copy from the museum bookstore at their website. It’s worth picking up. The design and reproduction are both very attractive.

Be on the lookout for news about a future signing at Lee’s Comics with William Stout. This will be in conjunction with the release of our upcoming book, Williams Stout: Prehistoric Life Murals. In the meantime, you can visit Lee’s store to see the entire line of Flesk Publications books.

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

I received an email from Lee Hester of Lee’s Comics who wrote:
I’m very happy to announce our next big signing!

Meet Gene Colan at our Mountain View store on Saturday December 6th from Noon to 2:00.

Gene’s legendary career has included definitive runs on Iron Man, Daredevil, Howard the Duck, and Tomb of Dracula.

Gene Colan is one of Marvel’s finest artists.  Mark your calendar and plan to attend!

Lee’s Comics
1020 N. Rengstorff Avenue, Suite F
(by Costco)
Mountain View, CA 94043
650.965.1800

This will be a rare chance to meet one of the premier Silver Age Marvel artists. You won’t want to miss this opportunity. Lee’s Comics is the most organized comic book stores in the Bay Area, with the best selection of books and graphic novels, new comics, plus many rare old comics on hand. Lee’s will also have plenty of comics with art by Gene Colan available in case you would like to buy that special comic to get signed. See you there.

John

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

I was set up at Super-Con in San Jose, Ca last month, running from May 17-18. I heard a few complaints from people about the attendance being small, and from it being too warm inside the tent. I cannot deny both of these were true. Sure, it would have been nice to have it a bit cooler, and from a dealer standpoint a few more people in attendance, but this did not stop me from enjoying the show.

Super-Con had an amazing list of comic artists in attendance. Dan Brereton, Dean Yeagle, Jim Silke, Stephen Silver, Russ Heath, Frank Cho, to name a few. The amazing thing to me was the appearance of the Spanish artists. Esteban Maroto, Alfonso Azpiri, Juan Gimenez, and Sanjulian were all there. These guy’s are phenomenal, and a few of them were visiting the US for the first time. The chance to meet each of them at a mellow show was a highlight for me. If you go to San Diego or WonderCon, it can take a long time waiting in line to talk to an artist, or even to try and get on a sketch list. I saw Adam Hughes with only five guys around him. Usually you can’t even see Hughes behind a the typically thick crowd of fans. At Super-Con, as a fan, I was enjoying the show and the easy access to talk to and get some art from these guy’s. I’m way too busy to ever get this opportunity at San Diego or WonderCon these days, since I am stuck behind my booth the whole time.

As a dealer, the show was slow and hard to justify setting up. As a fan, it was incredible. I should mention that the guy’s running the show were great. They would check in and see if I needed anything and it was easy getting in and out of the show. They really worked hard and despite the attendance, put on a good show. I’m certainly looking forward to next year, especially since Mark Schultz will be a guest!

John Fleskes
Flesk Publications

Mark Schultz, Randy Dahlk, and myself are working on a Flash Gordon book that will collect all of Al Williamson’s work on the character. The Williamson family is providing their support on the project, too.

We have been fortunate to find almost all of the original art, but are still missing a few items. We have some good leads on a few pages, but could use some help obtaining more. The artwork we require are original pages from the King Comics Flash Gordon #1, and pages from the King Comics Flash Gordon #5 for the story “Gods of the Beastmen.”

If you have any of these originals, or can help obtain scans from a friends or acquaintances collection, we would appreciate hearing from you. I will be certain to include you in the acknowledgments section and provide you with a free copy of the book once it is complete.

Please contact John Fleskes at 408-206-2346 or at info@fleskpublications.com. Thanks!

Have you ever wondered how Mark Schultz and I approach the artwork reproduction for the Various Drawings series? It’s fairly simple. He has a specific way he would like his work showcased. This makes my job easy. I know the exact look he wants, and it follows my tastes as well.

You’ll notice the brush and ink pieces are printed without the paper showing and are very clean. The stock Mark uses for these finished works has little or no texture. The pencil pieces, drawn on a stock with character to them, are shown with the paper. This is a conscience decision on our part. We both like to see the grit of the paper. This technique, we feel, allows an individual to view the artwork as if they are holding the original.

Both Schultz and myself are excited to be wrapping up Various Drawings Volume Three at the moment. New to this volume are a handful of color works. Many incredible preliminaries are included as well. It will offer a whole new perspective to Schultz’s work, not seen in the previous two volumes. You can view sample images and the full book description on the Flesk Publications website. It will be available August 1, 2007.

This year was my second time exhibiting at WonderCon as Flesk Publications. I have attended the show each year since 1994. During that time, I spent roughly a decade helping my good friend Jim Vadeboncoeur set up his Bud Plant Illustrated Books booth. With Jim’s retirement, I found myself longing to work a booth again, hence the fruition of the Flesk booth at WonderCon.

Not only do I enjoy attending the show, but also promoting and selling art books. I consider myself lucky to be in a position to share artist’s works that I admire. I also relish visiting with the creators in artist’s alley. The WonderCon guest list was impressive, with Gene Colan, Nick Cardy, Al Feldstein, Sergio Aragones, and Thomas Yeates all present. These are all some of my personal favorite comic artists.

Mark Schultz shared the booth with us again. He brought a stunning array of new artwork, with many pieces for sale. Schultz had a handful of finished graphite and carbon drawings that show a serious growth using these mediums. I can honestly say they are among his best works. Schultz really has grown comfortable with graphite over the last three years. This is a medium in which he usually reserved for loose prelims prior, but now explores as full finished graphite drawings. A handful of them were created just for Various Drawings Volume Three, which is slated for July 2007. We plan on debuting this latest collection at the San Diego Comic-Con.