Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog

Here's to you, HEROES

2011-12-27T14:39:00.002-04:00

Charity auctions net 20K for Hero Initiative.

Marsha and I are very proud to report that our second annual "12 Days" auctions for the Hero Initiative were successful beyond our wildest dreams. This year, we were able to raise just over $20,000.00! This is a stupefying number, literally doubling last year's amount.

Your help will go a long way to making life easier for some of the older creators out there, who aren't in the social safety net.

This speaks to the generosity and good will of my fans and readers alike in a way I can never repay. You guys are simply amazing, and I want to thank everyone who bid this year.

I want to give a special tip of Santa's chapeau to my dear friend and Art Dealer, Albert Moy. Albert likes to act like a hard-nosed businessman, but the big softy laid out high numbers to win 6 of the auctions. Thanks, man. You're my hero this year.

BTW- the image is a piece my genius cartoonist buddy Mike Holmes did for me this year. As you can see, I love orange pants. Thanks, Mike! You're the best.

Anyway,love to all y'all and thanks so much

Darwyn and Marsha

Ho Ho Holiday Auctions

2011-12-23T14:49:00.005-04:00

The 12 Days of Christmas auctions have been a huge success so far! Thank you to everyone who has been bidding and spreading the word about them. It looks like we are going to shatter last year's totals.

Still tons of great things available, including:

Fantastic Four

Spiderman (times three)

We'll be donating all of the proceeds from these 12 Days of Christmas auctions to two comic industry groups. The majority are in support of The Hero Initiative, and we've put up some extra pieces this year to benefit The Shuster Awards

You can see all of the auctions here

Have a safe, happy Christmas and holiday season

Christmas Auction Action Update

2011-12-14T14:04:00.007-04:00

The first four auctions to benefit Hero are live!

Day 1: Parker

The Parker Martini pack includes a signed Parker Martini edition, a limited edition Parker t-shirt, a set of 4 limited edition, stemless Parker Martini glasses with a custom designed label and the original art for pages 148-149 of The Outfit

Day 2: Boston

The original art from the promotional piece Darwyn did for Boston Comic Convention this past year, including tons of DC Characters in a cool Boston logo. Boston Con was a great time and if you have a chance to go, you should!

Day Three: Batman 197 Cover Recreation

This pack included a huge piece (19 x 13) recreating the Carmine Infantino/Mike Esposito original, a Catwoman action figure and a signed copy of Batman:Ego and other tails TPB.

Day Three and a half: Batman 84 cover recreation

Batman/Catwoman pack, redux. Another huge cover recreation, this time we have Winslow Mortimer's Batman 84, featuring Batman, Robin, Catwoman, and the Sleeping Beauties of Gotham, a Catwoman limited edition statue, and a signed copy of Batman Ego and other Tails.

More to come, thank you to everyone who has bid so far and good luck.

On the first day of Christmas

2011-12-11T23:46:00.004-04:00

Hi everybody!

It’s that time of year again, our 2^nd annual 12 Days of Christmas art auctions to benefit the HERO Initiative. It’ll be the same deal as last year…over the next 12 days we will be putting up 12 eBay auctions, each with an amazing art pack.

There is one difference this time around. We are throwing down a challenge to every other person in the industry to get on board. You too, websites and publishers. Throw your hat (or art) in the ring and help a great cause. HERO tirelessly works to assist industry pros in circumstances none of us would want to be in.

So…without further ado..

On the first day of Christmas

Parker

The Long Beach MARTINI

2011-10-26T12:50:00.003-03:00

Hi everybody.

After months, I'm resurfacing for a quick update and and to promote this weekend's Long Beach Comic Con.

Scott and I will be proudly presenting the Parker Martini at IDW over the weekend. Because Scott is a maniac, the Long Beach show will feature a variant slipcase with a limited number of 200 copies.

Long Beach Limited Slipcase

Stop by and say hi, maybe pick up a book. I'm showing off a couple images here from the interior portfolio of Parker films.

Lee Marvin in Point Blank

Jim Brown in The Split

The other real big part of the show for us is that we are guests of the Hero initiative this year. I'll be signing at Hero all weekend, and we're offering fans a hand-pulled silk screen print of Parker that I will hand tint at the booth.

HERO Limited Silk Screen Print

PLEASE drop by Hero's booth and give whatever you can. With the Holidays coming up, think of the older creators that are struggling with the basics of life and throw a few bucks in the pot.

Marsha and I are looking forward to seeing all you left coasters this weekend.

Best,

Darwyn

Parker: Martini update

2011-07-07T14:29:00.001-03:00

Hey everyone,

Hope this finds you all well. This is the kind of post that I’m not used to writing, so bear with me. It has become apparent that the Parker: Martini Edition, which was scheduled for a July release, will not be ready to ship on its’ scheduled date. I wanted to break this news here on my blog, because this is 100% my fault. I wanted to make sure everyone understood that my publisher (IDW) and fabulous editor (Scott Dunbier) weren’t blamed for this delay.

It’s a rare occurrence for me to ship something later than it was supposed to. I want to assure everybody looking forward to this book that it is shipping late because of my commitment to making this a very special product and not just a reprint edition. This simply has taken me more time than I anticipated. After much consideration, Scott and I decided the best time for release would be during the Long Beach convention in October.

I’d like to apologize to all of the readers who’ve advanced ordered this book. I want you to know that I am doing everything I can to make sure the Parker:Martini edition will be worth the wait.

Thanks,

Darwyn

Free Comic Book Day & Teenage Satan

2011-05-06T11:52:00.004-03:00

Hi Everyone,

Tons of news since our last update!

Free Comic Book Day:

Darwyn will be appearing at The Toronto Comics Arts Festival for Free Comic Book Day and throughout the weekend. If you are in the Toronto area, make every effort to get to TCAF. Look for the debut of Chester Brown's new book, Jeff Lemire and the Doug Wright Awards. Chris has put together a fantastic show over the years that highlights the Art of Comics. And most events are FREE! Darwyn did the artwork for DC Comics' Free Comic Book Day shirt so make sure you pick one up.

I will be at appearing at Free Comic Book day here in Halifax at our local, Strange Adventures. Why would I be at FCBD you ask!?!

It's only the MOST EXCITING THING EVER (for me anyway)

This weekend at Boston ComicCon, Stephanie Buscema. Darwyn's niece Candis and I debuted our new, creator owned, project: TEENAGE SATAN. Candis and I are writing, Steph is our art master, we've been at this since the end of last year. We have a new multi-media method planned with games and interactive content aimed at tween and teens. Have a look at the video Darwyn put together for us. Yes, that's right, Darwyn Cooke animating Stephanie Buscema. HELL-O

Yes, it's true. We're about to change comics forever. Our website is up and running so check us our over there. TEAM SATAN

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this project so far. We have called on many favours from many friends and you all helped us immeasurably. Inquiries about teenage Satan can be directed to 666@teenagesatan.com

See you all tomorrow. READ MOAR COMIX

Marsha (& Darwyn)

Spring Update, Convention Update and a few teases!

2011-03-23T11:44:00.008-03:00

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well in your world. Thanks to everyone for the help on the HERO Christmas auctions, one last drawing to finish! Next year....well that can wait until the fall.

We thought it'd be a good idea to let you in on our Convention Schedule this year and take a look at some upcoming projects.

First up is Megacon, our annual pilgrimage to Orlando. Come by this weekend to say hi to Marsha and me, as well as Jimmy Palmiotti, Miss Amanda Connor, Frank Tieri, Nelson DeCastro, Rev. Dave Johnson and tons more. Beth and Richard put on one of the finest shows of the year so we're happy to be heading back for more.

Next is Boston Comic Con. Here's the spiffy T-Shirt they let me do for them. By Boston I'll be able to announce some big news we've been holding, it should be a hell of a good time ;-) Can't say more, 'cause someone out there would kill me.

Come May, I'll be at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, one of the great events for creator owned & indie comics on the continent. As some of you may know, Toronto is my hometown, and this makes it all the more special for me.

If you've never gone, come see why it's growing so quickly in size and reputation. I'm lucky enough to be a special guest this year, a humbling position for me amongst greats like Chester Brown, Adrian Tomine, Brian Boswell and Natsume Ono. So many friends and cartooning geniuses are going, I'll just urge you to the site to see the guests.

That's it for shows for now. I'll leave you all with a couple pieces of artwork. The first is my cover for JSA #50. Hope you like the image and the message. The second is a penciled page of...Vigilante? That's right, owlhoot. Vigilante. What the heck could this be for? I'm not telling.

A couple final notes, since I'm here.

My colleagues and I traffic in the nature of heroism, some would say. I just want to take a moment to say that the workers at the Fukishima Power Plant are the bravest people on the face of the planet. May their Gods bless them and keep them.

And more personally, I want to mention the passing of my Aunt Helen. A wonderful woman and loving sister to my Mom. She will be sorely missed.

Best to you all
Darwyn

TCAF - Toronto Comic Arts Festival

2011-03-05T16:46:00.002-04:00

from the TCAF newsletter:

TCAF Welcomes Featured Guest Darwyn Cooke!

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to announce that award-winning, New York Times best-selling cartoonist Darwyn Cooke will be a Featured Guest of the 2011 Festival. Darwyn has a long and very special history with the Festival, having three times previous been a Featured Guest of the event, and having designed the 2005 and 2007 Festival posters.

Cooke has had an impressive and varied career in comics, despite his relatively short tenure in the medium after having had successful careers in both graphic design and animation. From the time of his debut with 2000′s Batman: Ego, fans have thrilled to his stylized and classic depictions of the pantheon of DC Comics Superheroes in projects like The New Frontier (which netted him several Harveys and Eisners, and the animated adaptation of which was nominated for an Emmy), Jonah Hex, and Catwoman, and in 2006 he took on the task of re imagining Will Eisner’s classic character The Spirit for a new generation.

Cooke’s most recent works are his New York Times best-selling graphic novel adaptations of Richard Stark’s PARKER novels, published by IDW. Parker: The Hunter and Parker: The Outfit (released 2009 and 2010 respectively) debuted to enormous critical acclaim, and Cooke’s vision of the character was enjoyed the special privilege of being approved and enjoyed by the series’ author Donald Westlake (who wrote the series under the pseudonym Richard Stark), before his passing in 2008. Currently, Cooke is hard at work on the third Parker adaptation, The Score, expected for release in 2012.

Darwyn Cooke will be exhibiting for both days of The Toronto Comic Arts Festival with a dedicated exhibition space, and will also be participating in programming and panels (to be announced).

If you're interested in attending TCAF, they have a wonderful section on their website devoted to helping get you all the info you should need. Check it out - torontocomics.com/attending

TCAF takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (so get your passports if you're from away!)
Saturday May 7th, 9am-5pm
Sunday May 8th, 11am-5pm
@ Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada
416-533-9168
Admission to TCAF is Free.

stuff and such from hither and yon

2011-02-20T10:39:00.003-04:00

Good Sunday morning to you all, or whatever time of day it is in your part of the world!

It's about time for some updated info on what Darwyn is up to these days. Most of the winter, he's spent logging and trapping deep in the wilds of eastern Canada to provide vittles for the family. Now that there's a touch of spring in the air, Darwyn's back at the homestead gearing up for convention season.

Boston Comic Con is on April 30th through May 1st. Looks to be a great line-up of comic book folks in attendance including Joe Kubert (Sunday only), Frank Quitely, Adam Hughes, Art Adams, Frank Cho, Tim Sale, and Matt Wagner. I've never been to the Boston Con but always hear great things about it and Boston is a cool spot to visit as well!

A week later, it's TCAF! The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is on May 7th and 8th and is a fabulous show. An amazing line-up of cartoonists will be there including Chester Brown (who will be debuting his newest book "Paying for it" at the show), Kate Beaton, Becky Cloonan, Faith Erin Hicks, Seth, Jay Stephens, Raina Telgemeier, Jim Zubkavich and Chris Ware! AND that's just a few! Check out the website for more info. This is a spectacular show that is engaging and inviting to the hard-core comic fans as well as being very appealing to folks who'd like to dip their toes into the comic book world.

If you're not from or living in Canada, you may not be familiar with Canada Reads, a literary "survivor" style competition where people nominate their favourite books and they get "championed" or supported by "someone of note", often a musician, author, actor. Check out the CBC website for more background on Canada Reads; the reason I bring it up is that a graphic novel, Jeff Lemire's Essex County, made it into the "final five" but, sadly, was the first to have it's "torch extinguished" during the debates. Darwyn was interviewed by the National Post along with Jeet Heer and Chris Butcher about the highs and lows of getting graphic novels some mainstream attention.

If you need an injection of comic book goodness, be sure to check out Vertigo's House of Mystery #35 and #36 as both have short stories illustrated by Darwyn; and Justice Society #50 is out in April with a "you may order 1 variant for every 10 regular editions you order" cover by Darwyn.

I think the February blahs can be kept at bay by reading some damn fine comic books, so go out to your local comic book store, website, friend's house and get yourself some comics!

Happy Birthday

2011-02-12T10:45:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Dee!

Great to meet you in New York.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALL Y'ALL

2010-12-25T20:51:00.001-04:00

10K Raised for Hero Initiative!
Thanks for all your support

Darwyn here. Marsha is taking a quick nap now that the turkey is in the oven, and I thought it would be a great time to wish you all the best today and for the coming year.

Our Twelve Days of Christmas Auctions were a huge success, in no small part due to the generous bidding of so many wonderful art fans. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. It looks like we'll be able to send Hero a cheque for just over 10,000 Dollars! I am simply dumbstruck and so gratified that we were all able to put together so much for such a truly important charity.

I love you all for it, and may your God bless you for kindness.

Peace,
Dar and Mar

oh, baby!

2010-12-21T10:52:00.002-04:00

this is a big one - the ultimate Parker collection! Go see and bid!

Day Eleven - one day only!

2010-12-19T10:59:00.001-04:00

It's a one-day auction for a drawing of your choice! Act fast! The auction is here. What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go!

Day Ten - a commission for Christmas!

2010-12-18T12:40:00.002-04:00

Darwyn's letting the winning bidder choose the character for a drawing this time - Winning bid will recieve a single character in ink with watercolor wash-Commission will be a giant sized 14x17 inches on Strathmore bristol. Check the auction here and bid to help the Hero Initiative!

Day Nine and this one's wild!

2010-12-17T09:43:00.003-04:00

In an effort to raise money for the Hero Initiative, Darwyn is auctioning a page every day for twelve days. Here's the auction for day nine of Darwyn's Twelve Days of Christmas!

Eight days a week

2010-12-16T10:33:00.002-04:00

Day Eight for Darwyn's Christmas auctions brings us a sweet page from The Outfit! See the whole thing here.

no rest on the seventh day, more auction action!

2010-12-15T09:48:00.003-04:00

Darywn has put up a terrific page from the Wolverine / Doop mini-series. Check it out here!

and on the sixth day of Darwyn's Xmas...

2010-12-14T08:02:00.003-04:00

a page from The Outfit! All proceeds to the Hero Initiative! Go see and bid big!

Fifth day of the Darwyn Xmas auctions!

2010-12-13T10:34:00.002-04:00

This is a big one! The Ultimate New Frontier package - original artwork, a toy figure prototype, posters, shirts, and lots more! Check it out here and bid big!

and on the fourth Darwyn Day of Xmas...

2010-12-12T11:20:00.002-04:00

sweet! Thor! The Destroyer! Kirby mash-up!

(excuse the hyperbole - gotta get back to watching the game)

The Third Darywn Day of Christmas....

2010-12-11T14:32:00.002-04:00

The third auction has started right here and this time it's a page from the Green Lantern story "Flight", originally published in Secret Origins and featured in several collections including Absolute Rebirth. Artwork is ink and pencil on 14"x17" strathmore bristol This is the third of twelve holiday auctions we're doing for the Hero Initiative. Please remember that all proceeds go to this fabulous organization and bid generously. Check back daily for more Xmas goodness!

and on the second day of Darwyn's christmas...

2010-12-09T22:32:00.002-04:00

Check out the Cap! splash-page mash-up!

on the first day of Darwyn's Christmas....

2010-12-08T22:21:00.001-04:00

The first auction has begun!

Darwyn Cooke's 12 Days of Christmas

2010-12-07T11:00:00.002-04:00

12 auctions over twelve days to support the Hero Initiative

Hi everyone. If you're anything like Marsha and me, this is a busy, happy time of year. I've been taking it easy for the last month or so, and as we ramp up for the holidays, I thought it might be nice to do something for the folks who need a little hand up.

Starting tomorrow on Ebay, we'll begin the first of twelve auctions of various pieces of art, with all proceeds going to The Hero Initiative, a wonderful organization that assists comic creators that are going through hard times. Hero is a wonderful organization, and I urge you to check out their website http://www.heroinitiative.org/ for more info.

The auctions will appear once a day with the final few being single day auctions, so we can be sure to get everything shipped out before Christmas.

Tomorrow we'll start off with a page from The Outfit, and the following days will see some strange and rare pieces, ranging from cheap and cheerful to key pages from some of my favorite projects. I'll post a link to the first auction once it goes up.

If you've ever thought about buying a piece of mine, this would be a great time to do it.

We'll be updating here as we go, so stay tuned and let's all be Heroes this Christmas

Best,
Darwyn

Canada Reads! Essex County by Jeff Lemire

2010-11-26T11:33:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone,

CBC has an annual contest up here called Canada Reads. This year they are doing the 'Top Canadian Book of the Decade' and Jeff Lemire is a Top 5 contender for his trilogy Essex County. The contest runs until February with celebrity supporters making the case for each book. Jeff's celebrity is Sara Quin from Tegan and Sara!

Essex County is available at comic shops everywhere, if you can't find it DEMAND IT. Strange Adventures always has it in stock so drop Cal a line and he can have one in hands super fast. Good luck to all the nominees, but our heart is behind Jeff and his incredible tale of Essex County.

Darwyn wrote the introduction for Jeff's collected edition. It is re-posted below.

Essex County - Introduction by Darwyn Cooke

I think it appropriate to confess a degree of trepidation regarding my qualifications for writing this introduction. Although I've been called upon many times to do just that for a variety of collected comics stories they usually involve flying men or scheming femme fatales. I am, and probably always will be, a genre entertainer. As such, it is fairly easy work for me to key up an engaging thousand words about the craft displayed in the book I'm introducing.

Here we have a somewhat different situation. Jeff Lemire's Essex County is more than an engaging afternoon's read; it represents a high watermark that supersedes the label of graphic fiction and even graphic literature. This is a high watermark in Canadian Literature that can proudly rest beside the Lawrences, Richlers, Atwoods on the big shelf.

Canadian cartooning has a rich and wildly varied history that calls back to the very beginnings of the form. By the 1970s it became clear that mass market comics publications aimed at an exclusively Canadian audience weren't viable, and over the next couple of decades we saw the ascent of the independent cartoonist. With Dave Sim and Gerhardt charting the waters and setting an astonishing standard, young Canadian cartoonists began to see that there were alternatives to going to New York to draw Batman.

The nineties saw the emergence of autobio and the trio of Seth, Brown and Matt focused much of the Indie world's attention on Canada. It is early now but I believe this will one day be seen as Canada's first real golden age of cartooning. It must have been impossible for an art comics connesieur in the late nineties to think of Canada without thinking autobio.

As we moved into the twenty first century what I have found particularly exciting is the emergence of a new generation that has taken it's inspiration from that era but pushed forward into broader areas of interest. At the crest of this wave are two cartoonists at completely different points on the compass; Brian Lee O'Malley, the genre splicing genius behind Scott Pilgrim and relative newcomer Jeff Lemire.

It would seem Jeff Lemire is a haunted man. I don't mean this in any melodramatic, ectoplasmic sense. I refer to a more serious condition common amongst many great storytellers. His head and his heart seem to carry remembrances of the quiet beats in which people stand revealed. With a casual grace that would make the late Raymond Carver envious, Lemire's stories build out of innocuous and seemingly unconnected moments that gather and gain weight when viewed in a cumulative light. His instinct for where to start and end a scene and where to place that scene within the larger tapestry is sublime. The ease with which Essex County flows from past to present to future to fantasy shows the kind of mastery that most cartoonists are incapable of after a lifetime of practice.

While Essex County is laced with sentiment, it all seems natural and hard earned. Lemire has either cannily or intuitively avoided the pitfall of many far more celebrated cartoonists; the pitfall of self pity. Many of our best cartoonists have a conflated sense of their own suffering and isolation, and large passages of their work seem engineered to give this type of self absorption a heroic context. Lemire's characters weather their lives with resolution and quiet despair. We feel for them because of Lemire's talent for revealing their inner strength, not their outer weakness. In Tales from the Farm, our cast are all people trapped in a life they didn't ask for or expect. Lester, Kenny and Jimmy are all caught in a stasis brought about by external forces they couldn't foresee or control. It seems their only substantive way forward is to endure and abide. The road out of the woods is laid stone by quiet stone.

Lemire's approach is so devoid of melodrama that when he does go all in we're taken aback, and shopworn cliches take on a heartbreaking freshness. The life of Vince in Ghost Stories is so spartanly laid before us that when he passes we expect yet another moment of quiet despair. When off panel tapping spurs us to turn the page we see Lemire has dove in with both feet. Vince's team stands before us, offering that most Canadian sign of masculine respect; the quiet clicking of sticks on the ice. This moment of melodrama is timed so perfectly it sneaks past our cynicism and floods our hearts with something we forgot we had inside us.

What this all adds up to is a work of unexpected maturity that speaks on a universal level, but holds special rewards for those familiar with life in rural Canada. Essex County is a tremendous achievement made all the more incredible when we consider the relative youth of the author. This heartfelt piece of graphic literature surpasses it's form to stand as what I'm sure will be an enduring example of the finest in Canadian literature proper.

Pierre Burton, Farley Mowat, Jeff Lemire. Sounds as natural as the quiet clean of a sharpened blade on fresh ice.

Darwyn Cooke 2009
East of Essex County

Feel the Loves

2010-10-05T11:50:00.004-03:00

Hi everyone.

Just dropping in to thank all of you for the kind words and kudos over the last few months. We've been hard at work on The Outfit and we hope everyone gets a charge out of this installment of the Parker series.

The book is out today and this week we're in New York to launch Parker in style.
If you're in Manhattan Thursday night, drop by the Borders at Penn Plaza between 7 and 9 pm. We'll be launching the book with a special signing. Drop in and say hi. Should be a great evening of talking Westlake and Parker.

Friday kicks off the NYCC and IDW and yours truly will be there throughout the show. We've con exclusives and a complete show schedule can be found by scrolling down to Cal's NYC post. Come by and feel the loves.

As I'm writing this, Marsha informs me that The Outfit is climbing fast on the Amazon Graphic Novels list. Go Parker!

See you in NYC
Darwyn

Ken Morris wins Le Chasseur!

2010-10-05T07:44:00.004-03:00

Congratulations to Ken Morris of Fitchburg, Mass. - Ken gets a signed copy of the french version of the Hunter - Le Chasseur!

Ken's postcard was drawn from the piles of entries we received over the past few weeks by our lovely Kate who last seen holding Le Chasseur!

Ken, you should receive your prize in a few weeks. And to everyone who enetered, thank you for taking the time to write - and keep an eye on your mailboxes, too!

See you in New York at Borders on Thursday and at the New York Comic-con this weekend!

The Outfit is (almost) here!

2010-10-02T21:52:00.004-03:00

Folks in the UK have already been treated to the new Parker adaptation by Darwyn, but on this side of the pond, The Outfit arrives this week at your local book or comic store!

a brief break now for a power girl drawing here

...and we're back,

I know I already mentioned this signing at Borders on October 7th, but it bears repeating!

IDW has more than The Outfit debuting at the New York Comic-con, check out their line-up here and note the exclusive dustjacket available at the show. Limited to 500 copies!

A review with a few peaks at some of The Outfit's interiors can be read at Existential Ennui.

Tune in on Monday afternoon for the winner of the french edition of The Hunter in our free postcard contest. Read more here and watch for another contest soon.

And finally, for those of you going to the New York Comic-con, here's the whole IDW booth schedule and some of the panels that will be taking place at the Javits Centre next weekend!

NEW YORK COMIC-CON 2010
IDW EVENT SCHEDULE!

BOOTH #2115

Friday Oct. 8th

12:00 1:00 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke (Special Retailer Event!)

2:00 3:00 True Blood - David Messina, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner

3:00 4:30 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke

4:00 5:00 Motel Hell - Matt Nixon, Chris Moreno

4:30 5:30 Locke & Key - Gabriel Rodriguez

5:00 6:00 Kill Shakespeare - Anthony Del Col, Connor McCreery, Andy Belanger

6:00 7:00 James Pattersons Witch & Wizard - Dara Naraghi

Saturday Oct. 9th

11:00 12:00 James Pattersons Witch & Wizard - Dara Naraghi

11:00 12:00 Kill Shakespeare - Anthony Del Col, Connor McCreery, Andy
Belanger

12:00 1:00 Infestation Debut Event - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, David Messina, Gabriel Rodriguez

12:00 1:00 Wire Hangers - Alan Robert, Sam Shearon, Nelson

1:00 2:00 Doctor Who - Tony Lee, Kelly Yates, Matthew Dow Smith, Blair Shedd

1:00 2:00 We Will Bury You - Brea Grant, Zane Grant, Kyle Strahm

2:00 3:00 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke

2:00 3:00 5 Days to Die - Andy Schmidt

3:00 4:00 True Blood - David Messina, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner

3:00 4:00 Tribes: The Dog Years Michael Geszel

4:00 5:00 Angel Scott Tipton, David Messina, Mariah Huehner, Stephen
Mooney, Nick Runge, Elena Casagrande, David Tischman and
friends!

4:00 5:00 Eternal Descent Llexi Leon

5:00 6:00 IDW and HBO Present Bored to Death: Show Creator Jonathan Ames
with artist Dean Haspiel

5:30 6:30 Sparrow Pushead

6:00 7:00 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke

Sunday Oct. 10th

10:00 11:00 G.I. Joe Eduardo Alpente

11:00 12:00 True Blood - David Messina, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner

11:00 12:00 Kill Shakespeare - Anthony Del Col, Connor McCreery, Andy
Belanger

12:00 1:00 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke

12:00 1:00 Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper Kevin Colden

1:00 2:00 Doctor Who - Tony Lee, Kelly Yates, Matthew Dow Smith

1:00 2:00 Tank Girl Rufus Dayglo

2:00 3:00 Star Trek Scott Tipton, David Messina, Federica Manfredi, Elena
Casagrande and friends!

2:00 3:00 Felix the Cat Don Oriolo, Comics Empresario Craig Yoe!

3:00 4:00 Richard Starks Parker - Darwyn Cooke

4:00 5:00 Act-I-Vate Primer Dean Haspiel and friends!

Also! Check out the Library of American Comics Kiosk in the IDW booth! Meet Creative Director Dean Mullaney, Associate Editor Bruce Canwell, and Museum of Cartoon Art founder Brian Walker!

And! Swing by the YOE! Studios Display to meet comics curating legend Craig Yoe, Don Oriolo of Felix the Cat fame, and a host of their friends!

Furthermore! Dont miss these IDW Panels!

Friday Oct. 8th 5:45 6:45 Panel Room 3

IDW - Sneak Peek at 2011
Please join IDW Publishing's Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall and Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, as they talk Locke & Key with artist Gabriel Rodriguez, release some details about the giant event Infestation with some top secret guests, and even work in a big announcements or three, including a new project with Peter David & JK Woodward.

Saturday Oct. 9th 5:00 6:00 Panel Room 1

Darwyn Cooke Spotlight
Darwyn Cooke is the acclaimed writer and artist of DC: The New Frontier, Selina's Big Score, The Spirit for this special spotlight panel. Most recently, Cooke has been concentrating his creative efforts on Parker, a series of graphic novels based on the acclaimed crime writer Richard Stark. The first graphic novel, THE HUNTER, was released last year by IDW Publishing and received glowing reviews from all corners and earned Cooke an Eisner Award. The second graphic novel, THE OUTFIT, is being released at New York Comic Con by Cooke and IDW. Join Cooke and IDW Editor Scott Dunbier as they discuss the world of Parker.

Saturday Oct. 9th 6:15 7:15 Panel Room 7

HASBRO & IDW
Join IDW Publishing's Editor Andy Schmidt with a stable of talented creators from the Hasbro universe, Mike Costa, Robert Atkins, John Barber, and... Fan favorites Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning?! What are they doing here? You'll have to attend to find out. Plus, learn what's in the works for 2011 with TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE, Dungeons & Dragons and the big buzz surrounding the upcoming Infestation event!

Sunday Oct. 10th 3:45 4:45 Panel Room 9

IDW and Yoe! Studios Present: Felix VS Frankenstein!
Join renowned comics guru Craig Yoe and a host of his friends, including Don Oriolo of Felix the Cat fame, for a lively multi-media vivisection of all his current and upcoming projects, Barney Google, Felix the Cat, and Dick Briefer's Frankenstein, to name just a few!

Talk at you Monday!

stuff and such

2010-09-23T18:49:00.003-03:00

Good day!

The New York Daily News posted a quick blurb about the forthcoming Outfit hardcover on their entertainment site.

Darwyn did the cover for a new book from Kickstart comics called "Mirror Mirror" as shown on this very blog a couple of weeks back. If you'd like to know more about the book itself, check out this interview with Joshua Williamson who notes "it can't hurt to have a cover by Darwyn Cooke!"

This terrific Power Girl piece was posted on tumblr with one comment reading "Darwyn Cooke is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. If you catch him in a bar, buy the man a drink."

There's still time to get your entry in to win a signed "Le Chasseur" - the french edition of the Hunter. More info in the last blog post or click here.

Over on 4th letter, there's a fun article on favourite comic book panels from the last year. There's a bunch of fun choices, but this one is terrific:

See the rest here.

And a gorgeous Lois Lane illustration here.

Darwyn will be at the New York Comic-Con taking place in Manhattan from October 8th through 10th. Look for Darwyn at the IDW booth, they should have a signing schedule posted at their booth and if I get any info, I'll post it here.

If you're in New York on the 7th, get yourself over to the Borders at Penn Plaza for an early signing event for The Outfit! It's happening at 7pm on Thursday, Oct. 7th.

that's it for now - see you in the funny papers!

postcard contest & a taste of The Outfit

2010-09-14T11:52:00.006-03:00

As mentioned in last week's update - I have a copy of the french-language edition of Parker - The Hunter, published by Dargaud and titled "Le Chasseur", that will be given out in a random draw. It's pictured here with Kate (sorry, she's not part of the deal, we need her at the store).

To enter the draw just mail us a postcard!

Strange Adventures (Cooke Contest)
5262 Sackville Street,
Halifax, NS
B3J 1K8 Canada

To be valid for entry, the postcard has to be a real, honest-to-goodness postcard, preferably picturing your hometown or some icon of interest from your area. I'll be accepting entries for the next four weeks and we'll pull a winner from the postcards on October 1st and announce it here. Be sure to have your name and mailing address on the postcard so we can send you the book if you're the winner!

Check out some of the cards already received. Love the one of Reno!

and here's a few shots from The Outfit to sate your hunger - available in a few weeks!

Reserve your copy now at your favourite local bookstore or comic shop! If you'll be in New York for the comic convention, Darwyn and the folks at IDW have a few cool surprises in store for the book's debut.

Appearances, awards, and all things otherwise

2010-09-02T13:38:00.005-03:00

Good day, folks,

Darwyn was at FanExpo in Toronto last weekend and will be at Dragon Con in Atlanta this coming weekend. He'll also be a guest at the New York Comic-Con where The Outfit will make its debut!

Darwyn's also the recipient of an Eisner Award for best adaptation of another work for The Hunter. Check out the other Eisner winners here, though they do irk me when they refer to a cartoonist as a "graphic novelist" - gah! What's wrong with cartoonist? It was good enough for Milton Caniff and Hal Foster!

The Harvey Awards were announced at the Baltimore Comic-con and Darwyn was named "best cartoonist" (thanks, Harvey Awards!).

He's also among those nominated for a Scream Award, the pop culture award show put on by Spike TV. You can vote for your favourite artist here.

The folks at ifanboy have the info on an upcoming graphic novel that sports a nifty cover by Darwyn. Go read about it here and gander at the cover below:

and a new contest! I have a copy of Parker: Le Chasseur to give away. This is the french-language edition of The Hunter published by Dargaud.

I'll get the book signed when Darwyn's back home after his convention run. To enter, just send a postcard to:

Strange Adventures (Cooke Contest)
5262 Sackville Street,
Halifax, NS
B3J 1K8 Canada

The postcard has to be a real, honest-to-goodness postcard, preferably picturing your hometown or some icon of interest from your area. I'll be accepting entries for the next four weeks and we'll pull a winner from the postcards on October 1st and announce it here. Be sure to have your name and mailing address on the postcard so we can send you the book if you're the winner!

Thanks for your kind attention - that's all I have for now!

catch that getaway man!

2010-07-18T16:29:00.002-03:00

It's out and about in comic book stores far wand wide - The man with the getaway face - and for only two bucks! Get your butt out to your nearest comic store and plunk down some hard currency for your copy. It will hopefully sate your Parker needs until the Outfit is released this October!

and a few more Darwyn illos:

a couple from Jim Clancy's comic art fans gallery

and this great Ghost Rider from Comic Art Community:

and have you mentioned to your local comic book dealer that you want a copy of Weird War Tales #1? Hmmm? have you?
Well, you should. Stories by Darwyn, Ivan (Vikings) Brandon, and Jan (Jeremy Brood, Star Wars) and illustrated by Darwyn, Nic (Vikings) Klein and Gabriel (Black Coat) Hardman. More info here.

It's out in September!

getaway coming soon

2010-07-03T22:48:00.004-03:00

Darwyn's adaptation of The Hunter was one of the best-received and most popular graphic novels of 2009; a New York Times best-seller, it has appeared on over 50 "best of the year" lists....but you probably already knew that.

The second book, The Outfit, will debut in the fall, but IDW and Darwyn present the first chapter as a stand-alone preview comic, telling the tale of "The man with the getaway face" which was the second novel in the Parker series. It was made available at WonderCon and will be on sale at your local comic store on July 14th for two bucks! Slam down your hard-earned two dollars and get yourself a king-size comic book that will whet your appetite for The Outfit coming in October!

Darwyn has also decided to change the lineup of Parker novels to be adapted. As mentioned on The Violent World of Parker: "the original plan was to adapt the first four books, but he found himself hungry to adapt two later books in the series, volumes that would “lend themselves to graphic adaptation in unique and exciting ways.” He decided to cut “The Mourner,” which he describes as a good but visually “unspectacular” type of heist. The second book he cut was “The Man With the Getaway Face,” which he reduced to the first chapter of “The Outfit.”

In exchange for those two, he added “The Score,” which tells the tale of one of Parker’s most impressive heists, and “Slayground,” which is the story of the time that Parker got trapped in an amusement park while being hunted by goons. Think “Home Alone,” but with a Parker-style edge."

I think that's a great analogy. Slayground is a terrific, fast-paced story that should be spectacular in comics form.

As noted in the LA Times, if you have one of those spiffy iPads, get the IDW app for a wide selection of comics that you can download for a fee including Darwyn's adaptation of The Hunter.

Speaking of The Hunter, it won darwyn a Joe Shuster award for outstanding cover at the 2010 event!

Darwyn provides the cover and a story in Weird War Tales #1, part of a series of one-shots with a military flavour. Weird War Tales will be released on September 8th of this year and will have three stories; one by Darwyn, another by Ivan Brandon & Nic Klein and the third by Jan Strnad & Gabriel Hardman. The DC Comics website says: "Three sensational short stories from three exceptional creative teams! Whether it's soldiers risen from the grave, horror beneath the sea or battles among dinosaurs, war has never been weirder than this!"

...and now for some Darwyn drawings you may not have seen.... (thanks, tumblr, google & friends!)

Red Sonja from samuraifrog's tumblr

Supergirl from fuckyeahsuperman's tumblr

Princess Leia from thedailyrevolution's tumblr

Death from treiz's tumblr

Dr. Girlfriend from gilmoure's tumblr

Hopefully that will satisfy your daily dose of Cooke illos. Bye for now!

Free comic day wrap-up

2010-05-02T11:39:00.003-03:00

Free comic day was an awesome time! Thanks to Darwyn and all the other artists who showed up to do some sketches for folks. Here's a couple of the ones Darwyn did on Saturday for some very happy comic readers:

I hope everyone out there in interwebs world got to their local comic book store and scored some free comics! You can see more of our FCBD event photos at our facebook page here and on our website here.

Free Comic Book Day

2010-04-28T11:16:00.004-03:00

Hi Everyone,

Off the top, a big Colbert shout out to Jimmy and Amanda for putting up with us all winter. We had tons of fun invading their lives and hopefully did little damage. Everyone pick up Power Girl, Jonah Hex and Jimmy & Justin's Random Acts of Violence.

Darwyn will be at Free Comic Book Day at Strange Adventures this Saturday in Halifax. Cal throws a huge open house in a church hall just around the corner from the shop and has THOUSANDS of comics to give away. I'm not sure what time we'll get there, most likely in the afternoon. Drop by and say Hi!

The next conventions we plan on attending are FanExpo in Toronto, August 27-29, DragonCon Atlanta, Sept 3-6 and New York Comic Con October 8-10.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us in San Francisco, the party at the Isotope was a great success. Darwyn is hard at work on The Outfit, but you can pick up The Man with the Getaway Face for just $2.00 soon in local comics shops. The Hunter is now available in the iTunes store, we'd love to hear what you think of it in that format.

See you Saturday,
Marsha

digital Parker, party pix and Eisners

2010-04-19T16:03:00.004-03:00

Parker the Hunter is available on-line for the iPad here and at iVerse comics in this link.

Darwyn and Parker the Hunter were also nominated in several categories of the 2010 Eisner Awards. Best writer/artist, adaptation of another work, and best graphic album (new). The full list of nominees and categories can be seen on the Eisner Award website.

James Sime and the folks at the wonderful Isotope Comics on the west coast held a party during Wondercon called the 100 proof Hex Party. Darwyn, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner were in attendance as well as many, many others! Looks like a great time - check out the photos here.

Also from Wondercon, here's a rundown of Darwyn's panel at the show.

This is from the back cover of "The Man with the Getaway Face", available at select comic-cons this summer and at your local comic book store in July (and for only two bucks!). (image from the folks at The Violent World of Parker)

Nice Storm drawing for someone named Storm here, gorgeous Catwoman here.

Just Teasing

2010-03-22T13:36:00.002-03:00

Hi folks,

Just wanted to post a teaser for some really exciting news coming later this week for all the Parker fans out there. Check the IDW website for all the details this Wednesday.
I'll be back this time next week to talk about this surprise in detail. 'Til then, I hope you enjoy the image

Best,
Darwyn

those March days...

2010-03-06T15:08:00.005-04:00

"those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade." ~Charles Dickens

it looks marvelous outside in eastern Canada, until you open the door and feel the cold, cold wind. Time to think of spring and reading more comic books in the sunshine.

Sorry for the quiet February. Lots of stuff going on but no time to write about it!

Darwyn will be at Megacon taking place in Orlando March 12th through 14th at the Orange County Convention Center

The Hero Initiative has an event at Megacon on Friday from 2 to 3PM.
"a special 11-man signing of Hero’s The Wolverine 100 Project will take place! Contributors Joe Benitez, Jim Calafiore, Mike Choi, Darwyn Cooke, Joe Jusko, Andy Smith, Bill Tucci, Mike McKone, Jimmy Palmiotti, Mike Perkins, and Brandon Peterson will be at the booth exclusively signing Hero's recent release. Get them while they are available, and get them signed by our team!"
For more info, click here for the Hero Initiative website.

from retcon punch:

"did someone just say Darwyn Cooke o’clock?"

There's an article on the Smithsonian's Eye Level website about Darwyn's presentation a few weeks back. Read it here.

Darwyn's doing the variant cover for the first issue of the Mike Allred illustrated I, Zombie series coming from Vertigo. It's written by Chris Roberson and you can get the pitch at the Vertigo website and here is the variant cover for the first issue. It's a 1-in-10 deal so buy ten copies, cozy up to your local comics dealer or be prepared to spend a couple extra bucks for it.

IDW will be publishing a comic adaptation of James Patterson's book, The Murder of King Tut, begins in June with fellow novelist and comic writer Alexander Irvine (Daredevil: Noir) and features two acclaimed comics artists dividing the interior art. Christopher Mitten (Wasteland) will transport readers back to ancient Egypt in the time of the Boy King, while Ron Randall will depict the 1920's search for Tut's tomb, conducted by archeologist Howard Carter. Darwyn will provide covers like this one here:

and last but certainly not least, Darwyn's doing one of the two covers for this year's Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide!

Mr. Cooke goes to Washington

2010-01-27T12:05:00.004-04:00

The Smithsonian magazine has an interview with Darwyn on their website in preparation for his presentation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Hopefully, no evil senator will cause Darwyn to filibuster!

His talk is also covered by the Washington City Paper, Comic Book Daily, Comixtreme, and elsewhere. If anyone following this blog is going, snap a photo or two and send it along!

Darwyn's Parker adaptation is also on the reading list for book clubs like this one.

For those looking for some Darwyn artwork that you may not have seen, here's the illustrations he did for the Hero Initiative's Wolverine project:

and there is this gorgeous illustration by Darwyn on ebay - about 4 days left to go.

The same seller also has some sweet Eduardo Risso, Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes and Chris Sprouse pages for sale.

That's all I've got for this week. Talk at you in a week or so.

***Edited to add:

Tom Spurgeon's Comics Reporter had a couple of photos from the event here and he added, "Here's a report from a blogger who happened to stumble into the show while spending a day at the institution, and came away delighted."

this, that and the other

2010-01-15T15:49:00.003-04:00

good day, folks,

nothing major to report from here at the Darwyn Cooke News Bureau. Word seems to be spreading about the talk at the Smithsonian. (See previous post for more info) Lots of buzz on the interwebs and twitter.

There's still a couple of days left in this ebay auction for a nifty Batman and Robin illustration by Darwyn:

The same seller also has a Gulacy Batman cover, JG Jones page from Black Widow and some awesome Amanda Conner pages.

The Daily Beast gives our man a nod in their listing of "the best books you missed" and Parker was named one of the top 100 comics of 2009 here.

The JLA blog shows a nice illustration by Darwyn of DC's top guns here and on twitter there are many calls for a Darwyn Cooke Wonder Woman comic, for him to relaunch the Valiant universe, and one request to come help move a couch.

That's all I've got for now, talk at you later!

Parker's Night at the Museum

2010-01-10T13:25:00.005-04:00

Darwyn will be discussing his Parker adaptation at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Saturday January 30, 2010 starting at 4 PM.
The info from the Smithsonian website is as follows:

The Hunter with Darwyn Cooke
4:00 PM
McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level
American Art Museum
Eisner Award–winning writer and artist Darwyn Cooke will discuss his evocative graphic novel, The Hunter, based on the 1962 crime classic by Donald E. Westlake (writing under the name Richard Stark). This best seller has been critically acclaimed in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post for breathing new life into one of the classic characters of crime fiction. With a visual style that both pays homage to and plays with ‘60s retro style, The Hunter vividly depicts the film noir genre.
Limited free tickets (two per person), G Street Lobby, one hour prior.
Book signing follows.
McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level

Here's info on the museum's location.

Wish I could be there! If any of you folks make it there, send me a photo!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T12:44:00.002-04:00

Best wishes to all of you out there in the spiffy new year 2010. I was putting up our new Futurama calendar and it flipped open to this centrespread which I thought was appropriate to share here:

In other news, RETROACTIVE is sold out. There may still be copies available at various comic book specialty shops, rare art book dealers, ebay, comic conventions, etc.

Merry Christmas Everyone

2009-12-25T14:51:00.004-04:00

Hi there, hope you are all having a great Christmas so far. Darwyn received this great gift from Jimmy Palmiotti and wanted to share.

Enjoy,

Marsha

the mystery of the missing #6

2009-12-12T13:03:00.004-04:00

Maybe this issue was taken to the island with Patrick McGoohan - they were both #6. The sweet cover to Ambush Bug #6 was never used except in promotional bits on the DC website and on the cover of what became Ambush Bug #7 (of 6) as seen here:

You can see Darwyn's cover on the comics at the Bug's feet.

So what happoened to #6? It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma eaten by the Riddler. The theme of issue #7 is "what happened to #6" and it doesn't really answer that. According to a review on Comic Book Resources, "...worst of all, it's not even funny."

Gary over at Crisis on Earth-Prime thinks that the cover to #6 may be getting used on an upcoming DC comic whose cover is currently a mystery. Check it out here.

More speculation and reviews can be found at the DC message boards, at Bleeding Cool, and Comixtreme's review ends with "a nagging feeling that it wasn’t quite worth the wait."

The missing issue #6 may simply have "popped" out of our plane of existence, much the same way Ambush Bug himself has a tendency to do. One day it may "pop" back or not. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we thought it was a shame not to see a good copy of the cover by Darwyn. It makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Here you go:

and coming in a couple of days, a small selection of early Darwyn work from his days at Music Express magazine in the 1980s. I found a stack of them at Taz Records. Darwyn was the art director there for a few years and he did a number of spot illustrations. Go check out your local used music store to see if you can find some of these gems.

Hope you are all happy and warm this cold December day! Blog at you later!

JONAH HEX FIFTY: DAVE STEWART AND PAST MASTERS

2009-11-27T20:14:00.004-04:00

Hi folks. Next week the 50th issue of Hex hits the stands and while I rarely jump on the net to promote a single issue comic, this is a very special case and it occurred to me that the background on this book may be of interest.

When Jimmy and Justin tapped me for this one, I got somewhat excited about the possibilities artistically. Working with a full script from those two frees me up to stretch some artistic muscles I mightn't otherwise. My previous outing on Hex was quite rewarding, but very much within the type of work I'm generally known for; brushwork with an economy of line and dense blacks. I really wanted to switch it up for this one, and see if I could come up with something that looked somewhat more fitting technique-wise.

It was quite a challenge. Working with line only and leaving large areas I'd normally fill with black open for colour was a lot of fun for me. I had to forgo all my usual approaches and come up with solutions that worked for this approach, from the panel design on up.

It's always important to me to cite the influences that shape and inform my work. The technique applied to the inks on Hex is an amalgam of several great adventure artists filtered through the hand of a guy many are convinced normally inks with a corncob.
Moebius, John Severin, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis and Walt Simonson all had immense effects on me as a young artist and you'll see that in the linework on Hex.

A lot of the courage needed to break away from your comfort zone can come from your collaborators. J and J were totally supportive, and I knew in the back of my mind that anything I fell short on would be propped up by my art partner, Dave Stewart.

When you work with a talent like Dave, you're not afraid to try something new. His ability to grasp an approach and then take it somewhere you haven't been is the most exciting part of doing a book like this. I wasn't afraid to let broad expanses of western plain anchor a compostion because I knew Dave was going to be there.

Let me put it this way; As I paged through the colour for the first time, I was astonished at the range of palettes created. The story is an epic of sorts, and takes place over a full year with every type of terrain, climate, and time of day imaginable. Each and every scene felt unique and a moment of it's own. As I reached the last few pages of the issue something dawned on me. I flipped back through for confirmation and was stunned to realize that somehow Dave had coloured every daytime sky something other than blue.

Every color but blue. And the genius is I almost didn't notice. None of that, "Look how clever I am" stuff, but something so unique and yet oddly natural that it doesn't call attention to itself. Thanks, Dave. You are the greatest.

And that's my end of Hex 50. As for the story, Justin and Jimmy had thirty-eight pages to develop one of Hex's most human and heartless adventures. There are things these sick men make me draw...lol. So all y'all should give old Hex a spin this Wednesday if you haven't already.

Best,
Darwyn

Invincible!

2009-11-20T09:46:00.004-04:00

Darwyn just sent along this image for an upcoming one-shot "Invincible returns!"

Invincible is a terrific action-adventure series that's worth checking out.
The info on the issue goes like this: "INVINCIBLE RETURNS #1 by ROBERT KIRKMAN, RYAN OTTLEY, CORY WALKER & FCO PLASCENCIA; cover illustrations by DAVID FINCH, DARWYN COOKE, ERIK LARSEN & RYAN OTTLEY
Scheduled for release on Wednesday, February 17. Reserve your copy now at your friendly, neighbourhood comic book store.

"AT LONG LAST, INVINCIBLE RETURNS TO HIS ORIGINAL COSTUME!
After the shocking events of the Invincible War and the cataclysmic battle with Conquest, Invincible is ready to turn the page to a bold new era: just in time for THE VILTRUMITE WAR, starting in next month’s INVINCIBLE #71! This special self-contained issue will bring readers new and old up to speed on everyone’s favorite superhero comic. If you’ve never read INVINCIBLE, now is the time to dive in! And if you’ve been reading since the beginning: You know it’s all been leading up to this moment! Either way, hold onto your hats!"

I was glad to see on Comic Book Resources that this is a one-shot and not a series restart. Kind of nice to see more comic book series getting close to triple digits. Cory Walker and Robert Kirkman's five issue MAX mini-series, the Destroyer, was just released in hardcover. It's a fun book, too.

and remember that Jonah Hex #50 comes out on Dec. 2nd. Makes a great stocking stuffer!

Jonah Hex sneak peek

2009-11-13T13:53:00.003-04:00

Jimmy Palmiotti posted a couple of Darwyn's pages on his blog. Go see them now! Very sweet stuff. These are from Jonah Hex #50 which should be out for sale on December 2nd.

As you might expect, they look pretty damn cool.

and did you know the 16th of November is Darwyn's birthday? I may get a beating for this, but I think he might like getting some "happy birthdays" from folks.

Workshopped!

2009-11-04T19:50:00.002-04:00

I received this email from Diana Tamblyn:

"Hi Cal,

For the Darwyn blog, thought you might be interested in this piece I did up for Trouble With Comics, on Darwyn's recent workshop in Toronto:
http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/troublewithcomics/2009/11/darwyn-cooke-storytelling-workshop.html

Hope you are well and that the Halloween fairies treated you well!
Best,
Diana"

I am indeed, Diana! Thanks for sending the link along! And Hallowe'en was awesome in Halifax. Darwyn was busy finishing up his Jonah Hex pages for the big issue #50 so no Winnie the Pooh, but you can see the other halloweenies at our party here.

You folks can see some of Diana's work on her blog.

Hunter makes the list

2009-11-02T11:57:00.003-04:00

Publisher's Weekly posted their top books of the year and The Hunter is on it. Check out the rest of the list here. There are some great books that would make fine gifts for your friends, enemies, or frenemies.

and at Comic Book Resources, the year of good comic moments column spotlights New Frontier.

and on the Star Clipper's blog, there's a spotlight on noir books including The Hunter among other good stuff.

Gladstone Weekend

2009-10-27T09:05:00.008-03:00

Last weekend Darwyn had an art show at the beautiful Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. It was a 2 day thing, with the first night being a show and reception, the 2^nd day being a workshop and then an evening reading with discussion. We had a great time!

The events were hosted by Art Originals http://www.artoriginals.ca/. Walter Dickinson and Sean Menard working in conjunction with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop put together a fantastic event, the first in a series hopefully! Keep your eye out because the location and the presentation were top-notch. They treated us like superstars so we were both in great spirits all weekend. Everyone who attended had a nice time and enjoyed seeing Darwyn and some of the latest works. There is a nice set of photos from Friday evening http://www.comicbookdaily.com/wp/daily_news/noir-and-beyond-the-darwyn-cooke-artshow/ here (thanks for the report guys).

We saw a ton of old friends including the one and only J. Bone, Darwyn’s longtime art partner and friend. It was also our friend Chris Stone’s birthday, and lucky for us the festivities were being held in the Gladstone Karaoke bar. There is a great set of photos here http://kaylamariehillier.com/2009/10/25/there-aint-no-party-like-a-chris-stone-party/

Saturday morning Darwyn met with 15 people who had signed up for a workshop, including one of my online favs Diana Tambyln http://www.dianatamblyn.com/ . Everyone seemed happy so I assume they enjoyed themselves. Saturday evening Mark Askwith hosted a reading from The Hunter – Darwyn read the first chapter while the pages from the graphic adaptation were projected behind him. After the reading Mark hosted a discussion about the adaptation of The Hunter, it was informative and interesting. Afterwards we mingled with the crowd and signed some books, then had a few beers with our friends and off to bed.

Overall , the weekend was a huge hit – we had a great time, saw a ton of friends and had a good turn out at the show. All of the thanks here go to Walter and Sean, their professionalism and just plain awesomeness made our weekend. This was the first in their planned art originals series, so look forward to some really amazing gallery and workshop experiences from them. Special thanks as well to Jason who helped hang everything, Liana K & Steve, Mark Askwith, Sean Wainsteim and Mo :)

2009-10-13T14:04:00.001-03:00

Hi folks.

I just wanted to jump on today and make mention of the great weekend we have coming up in Toronto kicking off the Art Originals series. Sean Menard and Walter Dickinson have worked with the Toronto Cartoonist's Workshop to create a series of weekends featuring specific artists and their work.

This is a fantastic concept for comics art in the Toronto community and I hope everyone in the Toronto area can come out support Sean and Walter's amazing efforts. Be sure to come say Hi to Marsha and I.

The event is taking place at the ultra swanky Gladstone hotel, with it's several bars and gallery space. All the times and dates can be found at www.artoriginals.ca

See you there,

Darwyn

art show in Toronto

2009-10-07T10:07:00.001-03:00

if you are near the Toronto area, you might want to check this out:

Art Originals presents Noir and Beyond: The Darwyn Cooke Retrospective
Friday, October 16, 2009 at the Gladstone Hotel

Noir and Beyond: The Darwyn Cooke Exhibition, 7 - 11 pm: Featuring selected works from the last decade, the Darwyn Cooke retrospective will include an entire chapter from Parker: The Hunter, new and unpublished material as well as a number of surprises!

Free admission – this event is open to the general public.

Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Gladstone Hotel

Workshop with Darwyn Cooke, 10 - 3 pm: This workshop with master cartoonist Darwyn Cooke will provide patrons with valuable insights into his creative process. The lecture, question period and portfolio review sections allow for a unique opportunity to get inside the head of one of our most renowned industry stalwarts.

Spaces for this workshop are limited to 15 spots. Each space is $105 and fees are non-refundable. There is sure to be a waiting list for this event, so don’t delay. Sign up today!

This workshop is presented in association with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop. For a list of their ongoing courses offered in the downtown Toronto area please visit www.cartoonistsworkshop.com. For further information and to arrange payment, send an email to info@cartoonistsworkshop.com

$105/person. Limited seating (15 persons).

An Evening with Darwyn Cooke, 7 - 10 pm: Hosted by Mark Askwith of SPACE, this intimate and interactive session will include a reading by Cooke from the original text of Stark’s The Hunter with corresponding images from the graphic novel projected as backdrop. Cooke will be available immediately afterwards to sign copies of his work.
$10/person. Limited seating (75 persons).

check the website for more info!

if you're on the east coast of Canada....

2009-09-26T22:02:00.006-03:00

drop by the Word on the Street tomorrow. It's a cross-canada literacy fair that takes place on the last Sunday in September.
For info, check their website. Darwyn will be doing a reading from the Richard Stark novel, The Hunter, while images from his adaptation are shown. This will take place on the main stage around 3PM or so.

(yes, I know; very short notice...forgive me, I've been pretty busy.)

Darwyn was kind enough to drop by my bookshop on Friday for an hour-long signing.

as they say in small-town newspapers, "a good time was had by all." The new printing of Parker: The Hunter should be shipping to retail outlets this or next week so for those of you in need of a great fall solstice/All Hallows Eve/Xmas gift idea, give Parker this year!

(wrapping paper image found here thanks to Baron von Googleschmidt

and my pal, Mike Holmes

was helping out that day. (He's inside the blue plaid shirt seen on the right in the first photo.) His new book, This American Drive is debuting at the Word on the Street tomorrow. Check it out there or ask your friendly neighbourhood bookstore to get you a copy!

this and that and Darwyn the Pooh

2009-09-19T17:23:00.005-03:00

Hiya, folks,

it was "Darwyn Cooke Week" at 4thletter.net and there's a plethora of reviews here with a nice selection of Darwyn's pages, here's their look at Batman: Ego and other tails, the Spirit, and the Hunter.

The November solicitations feature an oversized Green Lantern hardcover collecting the Rebirth mini-series as well as the Secret Files issue that contained a terrific story by Geoff Johns and Darwyn. More info here.

Darwyn's in Montreal this weekend for the comic convention taking place today and tomorrow. Their website is here. Mike Allred will also be there!

"Comics should be good" looks back at the fun Wolverine / Doop mini-series here.

I've been mailing and packing the Parker prizes for the past couple of weeks. Almost all have been mailed out and I've already starting to hear from folks who have received their prize for drawing Parker.

and finally in news....
yes, that was Darwyn at Dragon Con a couple of weeks ago walking around in his Winnie the Pooh costume.
He's pictured here with artist Mark Brooks, I believe.

a couple more photos are here.

And if you're in the Halifax area, Darwyn will be signing books at Strange Adventures on Friday, September 25th from 5-6pm.

That's all I have for now! Blog at you soon.

nananananananana....bat-blog!

2009-09-03T11:27:00.002-03:00

For those of you with a love for all things Bat, you should check out the Bat-Blog. Loads of info on Bat-stuff from all over the place. There's also a nifty drawing by Darwyn .....

Secret Origin and stuff

2009-09-01T17:47:00.003-03:00

The column, aptly named "Comics should be good!, represents Darwyn's "secret origin" story from his issue of "solo" here.

Jason Arnold sent along this piece to help promote the Parker books....

Thanks, Jason! He adds, "My goal is to get a few 'mainstream' comic fans that normally wouldn't check out something like Parker, to at least pick it up and have a flip through it." Jason is also involved in the Where Monster Dwell radio show that can be heard via the interwebs here.

Speaking of radio, well, audio at least....if you didn't get to FanExpo in Toronto last weekend you can listen in on the Darwyn Cooke spotlight thanks to the internet archive. Check it out here or listen right now (if this embedding works)...

well, hopefully that works....

I have a great big box full of signed Parker books and art books for the those who entered the Draw Parker contest and will be mailing them out over the next couple of weeks. They will be trackable and I will send the respective folks the info as soon as they hit the post. Thanks again for all the great illustrations that were submitted. If you haven't seen them all, take a few minutes and go through the June and July archives.....I'll wait......pretty sweet, eh?

and finally in news...Eclipse magazine gave a thumbs up to Darwyn's interpretation of The Hunter here.

see you all later!
-calum

nothing much....just chillin'

2009-08-21T11:06:00.002-03:00

Good morning,

nothing really new to report. Just wanted to mention that Darwyn will be at the Mini Megacon in Orlando this weekend and the following weekend, he'll be at the FanExpo in Toronto. I haven't gotten any info as to his specific schedule yet so check with the respective convention sites or newsletters.

For those of you non-artists (like me!) out there, I'll be doing a giveaway for some copies of the Parker artbook starting in September. Details will be announced first week of September. I think it will be a postcard deal where you get an entry by mailing in a postcard with a picture of your city or town on it. Stay tuned!

go look!

2009-08-19T15:09:00.000-03:00

Jonah Hex covers at the DCU blog!

Word from the man

2009-08-17T17:33:00.005-03:00

So where to begin? I suppose I'll start with the thank yous. As you folks may or may not know, The Hunter has been successful beyond our expectations and we're already into a second printing. Thank you to all the readers out there-you're the ones who've shown us that the Parker series is something viable and with three more books to go, it's full stream ahead.

The big thanks today go to Calum and all the kids at Strange Adventures. The blog and things like this contest take a lot of time to manage, and they rule my world. Saludos!

On to the Fabulous Draw Parker Contest. Wow. When Cal and I floated this idea, we thought there might be half a dozen entries. Like the response to the book, the contest took off in ways we couldn't have imagined. 46 entries, is it?

I'm sincerely floored by the effort and talent on display here, and can't thank you folks enough for the almost daily treat of seeing a new entry on the blog.

When I saw all the work on display, I really couldn't let anyone go away empty handed- hence the prizes for all y'all (except my friends and pros ha ha. They get nothing but my love).

I can't rant about all the entries, but I did want to talk a bit about our top five.
First, remember these were picked for their unique take-there are dozens of beautiful pieces in the contest but these five floated my boat personally.

#1 winner is Scott Brothers
Scott's Fred Flintstone/Bill Wray-esque mash up stole my heart. Add the art direction and spot on typography for the cover and this is an authentic looking 60s retro winner.

#2 is Brandon Parker
This is an amazing piece when you get over giggling. In some eerie way it captures the emotional dislocation of the Parker world better than anything I've ever seen.

#3 is Ben (two-tone) Jeddrie
This is simply wicked bad. Brilliant design and composition married to one of the famous opening lines that Stark wrote so well.

#4 is Warwick Johnson Cadwell
Warwick's funky take on the running thief sucked me in with it's spare and honest technique. The angle and composition add an odd sense of grace to Parker.

#5 is Ethen Beavers
Ethan rocked me with his bold-ass composition and fearless type layout. Great, confident brushwork.

So there we go. Thanks again, Parker readers. Marsha and I will drop off the prizes at Cal's this week. I hope to see some of you over the next few weeks on the con circuit. Finally, special thanks to my pal Brian MacLachlan for his Jesus comes to Malibu take on Parker. It was too late for the contest, but even with his wedding and honeymoon happening, he chipped in a great image. Thanks pal!

Dar

winnahs, Parker 2nd printing and more

2009-08-15T14:44:00.004-03:00

here you go, the winners of the Draw Parker! contest as chosen by Darwyn. I'll be mailing out the prizes as soon as Darwyn gets them to me, hopefully next week.

and speaking of Parker, the first printing of The Hunter has sold out from IDW and a second printing should be hitting stores in September. There are still copies of the first edition available at some retail bookstores so get'em while they last.

Herve Duphot sent along this nice note:

***************
Bonjour,
J'ai beaucoup de retard pour les illustrations sur Parker mais comme j'ai vu que vous les acceptiez quand même pour les mettre sur le blog, j'ai le plaisir de vous envoyer la mienne.
Je suis fan du travail de darwyn et j'ai vu que c'était vous l'encreur alors même que je surfais sur vos sites sans le savoir ;-)

Je ne sais pas si vous parlez français alors j'essaie de traduire ;-(

I know it's too late to send my drawing for the Parker Contest, but i'll be happy to be on your Darwyn Cooke's blog. I'm a great fan. And i discovered that you were his inker after having often surfed on your personnal blogs.
So i join my drawing even though i don't know yet Parker in France.

PS : I try to be a french comics drawner ;-) Darwyn is a great inspiration for me.

My blog : bradasse.canalblog.com

Thanks

***************
I don't know where Herve got the impression I was an inker, but I've straightened him out. I'm a felicitous facilitator in the best of times and a comic book hustler the rest.

Talk to you folks later!
I'm off to clean the garage! (*whoosh!*)

upcoming conventions

2009-08-12T07:57:00.003-03:00

August 22-23rd Mini-MegaCon Orlando

August 28-30 Toronto FanExpo

September 4-7 DragonCon Hotlanta

September 18-20 Monteal ComicCon

and I should have the Draw Parker! results uploaded on Friday. Sorry for the delay!

Parker Halifax book launch! Awesome!!

2009-08-07T14:16:00.005-03:00

we interrupt the usual blatherings by me to bring you this report:

Thursday August 6 Cal and the gang at Strange Adventures hosted the Halifax launch of The Hunter. It was stellar. There was a great turnout and I think everyone had fun. We had a great time.

Darwyn and I live in the middle of nowhere, so any evening trip into the city is a hassle, but Cal took care of everything and booked us a pet friendly hotel. We arrived at our swanking room with pooches in tow, brought them for a little walk around Citadel Hill and then made our way to the party. You might recognize one of these pooches from Wednesday Comics issue 1.

Tiina and Rachelle booked us into a place that was hotter than Hades, but that just made for more drinking and less clothing. The Frigate looks like a ship inside, with full masts and sails, with a large mural of Halifax Harbour. They didn't have air conditioning in 1813 so neither does the Frigate. Cal was stylin' as usual and there was even a special guest appearance by fellow Haligonian Steve McNiven. Yeah that guy. He and Darwyn don't get to see each other much - Marvel makes Steve work 20 hours days or something. Steve didn't stay long - back to the drawing board for him.

The evening started off slowly, with people melting into seats and after a little while the beer kicked in and people were getting to know each other. Darwyn mingled and tried to talk to everyone for a bit, then he got to the signing. People were coming up with multiple copies, copies for friends that were away, or for gifts. Hooray! Cal did a limited edition bookplate (which you can order from Strange Adventures) Tiina and Dave set up shop with debit even! Well done team! Wow I like exclamation marks! Special mention goes to Rachelle from livingbetweenwednesdays.com who was supposed to co-host the evening and did help organize it but was ill and couldn't make it last night. I think she went to the AC/DC concert instead but who is to say......Get well soon, you were missed.

Earlier in the day I had read on the twitter that Faith Erin Hicks (@smuu) was nervous about meeting Darwyn so I, of course, called her on it when she shyly came up to have her book signed. War at Ellsmere is one of my favourite books so I think of her as a famous comic artist. It's great for teenage girls (let's say 11 and up). Totally my reading level. I don't see a lot comics that girls can read that aren't stupid. Most young people I know are girls so Faith (and Hope Larson) are staples at my house. You can add some of their work to your order from Strange Adventures too LOL. Throw in a copy of Last Resort, that's an awesome comic by Palmiotti/Gray and a cool artist who's name I don't know. There are boobies so not for kids.

After all the books were signed we did the drawing for the door prizes - copies of the Parker sketch book. I got to do the draw and strangely enough mostly people I knew won. I didn't cheat but it was odd. Darwyn then handed out more prizes - advance reader copies of The Hunter, some Parker-T-shirts and some more art books. Darwyn says the funnest part of the night for him was having multiple women fanning him as he drew.

We stuck around for about an hour afterwards, chatting with everyone and teasing Ben (two-tone) and his super awesome girlfriend. We met Laura Kenins from The Coast who had just written a nice article about Darwyn - the ONLY Canadian newspaper to cover the book at all! The night drew to a close just as the temperature was getting tolerable, we walked back to the hotel, grabbed the ladies for a short walk and then ordered pizza. All in all, a great night was had.

Thanks again to Cal, Tiina, Rachelle, Dave and everyone else who helped out, everyone who showed up last night AND most of all thanks to everyone who has supported the book so far.

over and out
Marsha
**********************
we now return you to your regularly scheduled programme.....

Next week! The winners of the Draw Parker contest!
Have a great weekend and read more comics!

one more Parker and a party in Halifax

2009-08-01T22:18:00.004-03:00

Hiya, folks,

Sorry it's been so quiet here for the past week. Darwyn's been in San Diego and I have just been snowed under with work. We'll have the winners of the Draw Parker contest announced in the next couple of days. Stay tuned! In the meantime, the very awesome Brian McLachlan sent along this Parker drawing....
(the contest has closed, but if anyone has a drawing they didn't send in, feel free to do so! We'd love to see them!)

Brian's other work can be seen here and here. Thanks, Brian!

and if you're on the east coast of Canada this Thursday......

we're holding a launch party this Thursday, August 6th. More info here.

Parker Gallery

2009-07-18T19:59:00.003-03:00

I put all of the Draw Parker entries on this gallery for easier viewing. Hopefully I didn't forget any. If you notice any missing, please let me know.

Thanks to those entrants who have sent along their mailing addresses. If you entered the Draw Parker contest and haven't done so, please do. All entrants will be receiving something as our way of saying thanks for taking part.

final Parker!

2009-07-17T09:46:00.003-03:00

Sean Scoffield wrote in with this entry and added, "Hope I made it in time for the Parker contest. I literally only discovered it days ago and had to fit the drawing around work and kids,etc.. It felt great to use a brush and ink again, it's been awhile. Can't wait to see Darwyn's book. I can't think of anything else that I'm looking forward to as much.
I should mention that I'm a graphic designer and illustrator who works mainly in film, although I've done some comics over the years. My website will be up by the end of the month, after years of delay and laziness."

Thanks, Sean! Now that the entries are all in, it will take a couple of days for Darwyn to sift through them all and make some very tough decisions. Keep an eye on the blog and we'll announce the winners over the next few days. Remember, all the folks who submitted entries, please send in your mailing address so we can send out the signed books and a thank you to all who took part. Thank you for taking the time to send in your illustrations and keep reading good comics!

more Parkers!

2009-07-16T18:09:00.003-03:00

A few more entries in the Draw Parker contest...

First up is Anthony Forgione who writes, "I'm not an artist, but I tried to show Parker caught in a double cross after a score. The picture above the bed is a swipe of Robert McGinnis. Also, note that the girl in the bed was passing time with DC's New Frontier (the Absolute version, now available at bookstores!) as she waited for Parker to show."

Thanks, Anthony! Next is JonRob who sent in this stylish piece:

Nice stuff, Jon! And the last one for tonight is from Kristof Spaey who mentioned, "I didn't really have time for this since the deadline for my comic is fast approaching, but I couldn't waste this opportunity to show my appreciation of Darwyn's work and the chance to win a signed copy of his newest book."

Very cool, Kristof. If this is what you do without much time, your comic book should be a stunner. You can see more of Kristof's work at here.

Well, one more post tomorrow morning to show the final entries that get sent in tonight. Then it will be a couple of days to go through all the wonderful submissions. If you have entered a drawing for the contest, please send me your mailing address so we can send you something. Darwyn was very impressed with the entries and the number of them and he'd like to say thanks.

some more Parkers as the deadline approaches!

2009-07-16T09:22:00.003-03:00

Woodrow Phoenix writes, "I just saw this contest was going on yesterday and I wasn't going to worry about it but... you know how it is when a little idea just won't go away. So here's my quick sketch!"

Thanks, Woodrow! Glenn Greenham sent in this email, "I've attached my entry to the Parker contest. As you can see, I am far from an artist but I couldn't miss the chance at winning a copy of this book. It took me forever to scratch this entry on a piece of paper. Yes I googled "how to draw" and I also contemplated raiding my kids "craft drawer" for help. I'm a huge fan of Darwyn's work and am looking forward to the Hunter adaptation. All of the entries look great!"

Great stuff, Glenn! Time for one more; this is from Alex Schumacher: "I hope I'm not too late! I believe you are accepting submissions until tomorrow so with any luck I've made it by the skin of my teeth...
Anyway, here's my rendition of Parker. Darwyn is such a talented artist who deserves every accolade he receives and has long since been a large influence on my work. If it sounds like I'm kissing a little ass...well it's because I am! However, I'm also being very sincere. I can't wait for The Hunter to come out and do hope that my doodle may be included in the "draw Parker" contest with the other fine entries!"

Alex also has a blog here with more of his work.

Thanks to all who entered. Today, July 16th is the deadline for entries. I'll be checking email later today and first thing tomorrow morning for the final update in the Draw Parker contest, so you still have time to get your drawing in to us!

Drinks with Darwyn at San Diego!

2009-07-15T18:28:00.005-03:00

The Hero Initiative (a very worthwhile charity organization) is holding an ebay auction that, if you're going to the San Diego Comic-con, you might want to check out.....

Cocktail party with Darwyn Cooke at SDCC 2009!

.....I wish I was going to San Diego!

more new Parkers

2009-07-15T12:06:00.006-03:00

Courtesy of the Parker brothers, Brandon and Quinten: "here are our interpretations of Parker Prime, from whom Parkers the world over derive their strength from."

Barry McWilliams is a designer working in tv, living in LA. and he adds, "I've been a huge Darwyn fan since New Frontier and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of his new book."

Didier is a French designer living in Hong Kong. He writes, "I have been a fan of Mister Cooke's work. Here is my entry for the contest. I have to say that I haven't read anything about Parker ( excepted some quick google stuff ) and I am looking forward to read the Graphic Novel. This was the opportunity for me to try my new tablet PC with pressure sensitive pen and also a style I don't usually do!"

You can see more of Didier's work here.

And Ben Jeddrie sent in this note accompanying his version of Parker, "My name is Ben, and I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, although I have also not. I draw for various purposes, but mostly for myself to do. I like ice creams and short walks on especially sandy beaches (without shoes). I enjoy greatly Mr. Cooke and the work he has done. My Parker drawing is inspired by the opening line of 1974's "Butcher's Moon", the last of the series before the long hiatus. It was done, as seen, in the style of paperback illustrations, which I like to see, and with occasional thoughts of Harvey Kurtzman. Who, I believe, helped it to live more."

Also, Ben has a drawing blog here.

Big thanks to all the folks who have sent in submissions - they are wonderful and Darwyn is going to have a tough time picking his favourites.

new Parkers and some convention appearances

2009-07-14T20:10:00.004-03:00

First up is Ollie! Take it away, Ollie:
"Hi, my name is Ollie and I live in England, here Is my entry for the Parker contest. I'm a big fan of Darwyn's and I'm looking forward to seeing his adaptation. I don't really know that much about the character, I've only seen the Lee Marvin movie so that's why I decided to go with kind of a movie poster image. Olie doesn't have a blog or anything to plug. As he put it, "I just like to draw every now and then." Well, keep it up!

Next is Anthony Hightower. He writes, "I'm a big fan of Darwyn's work and I'm
anticipating The Hunter like few books in my life. The previews I've seen
are amazing. So when I saw this contest I figured it was a great excuse
for my own Parker painting!"

Anthony added, "In case you're interested, I'm a founding member of 803 Studios and I've
drawn three issues of Negative Burn for Desperado as well as the
mini-series, Gutwrencher for Shadowline/Image comics. The newly expanded
trade paperback of Gutwrencher will be out in a few months from IDW. My
website is undergoing a complete revamping at the moment, but some
galleries are up and running in the meantime. Just go to
www.anthonyhightower.com to check them out."

Okay, I will! Thanks, Anthony!

In convention news, from the last couple of posts you should all by now be aware that Darwyn wil be at the San Diego Comic-con taking place July 23-26. He will be signing books at the IDW booth and may appear elsewhere as well. He is not going to have any time to do sketches at this show, but Albert Moy will have some new art for sale.

The rest of the summer goes like this:

Mini MegaCon
Orlando
August 22nd-23rd, 2009

Fan Expo
Toronto
Aug 28-20

DragonCon
Atlanta
Sept 4-7

new Parkers and more Comic-con

2009-07-12T12:34:00.009-03:00

This Parker came in from Amsterdam thanks to Joscha van Deijk:

Joscha also mentioned, "Thank you for this competition, some of the contenders are really great!"
Thank YOU for the submission! Joscha also has a blog here with more illustrations.

Kel Winser sent along this note:
"I come from the UK and live in Brighton. I have been drawing comics and cartoons for years and have self published to sell at cons and fairs. I am a High School Art Teacher in the real world and will always use the medium of comics for educational and entertainment pursuits! I first came across Darwyn Cooke on the six issue DC: The New Frontier serial. I have been a fan since then and his art has had a great impact on my own practice, in and out of the classroom! It has been a pleasure to work on an illustration to celebrate the release of his new book which I am really looking forward to! Thank you and please check out my own blog messyfingers.blogspot.com, cheers!"

Thanks, Kel! Here's Kel's entry in the Draw Parker contest:

and the last one for today is from Francesco Francavilla who adds,"I did this when Stark passed away. Coincidentally, in that same week, also legendary Shadow illustrator Cartier passed away, so I decided to pay tribute to both with this ‘fictional’ cover."

Francesco may be best known for his work on the Zorro series (which should have a link like this, but the site seems to be non-responsive). He has also worked on Jason Aaron's remarkable Scalped series as well as his own Black Beetle and more. Check out pulpsunday and his website for more cool stuff.

"and finally in news...."
Friday at the comic-con looks to be as amazingly busy as the Thursday schedule. Darwyn will be the host and the subject of his own panel at 2 pm in room 4 on the upper level of the convention centre. The description from the comic-con is as follows: "IDW: Darwyn Cooke— Awarding-winning cartoonist Darwyn Cooke discusses the evolution of his work with Scott Dunbier (IDW), including new and upcoming projects, such asParker, a graphic novel adaptation of noir crime fiction author Richard Stark's (aka Donald Westlake) protagonist." For the rest of Friday's schedule click here.

Parker entries, a "billboard", and more

2009-07-11T08:10:00.008-03:00

Three new Parker drawings this time. First up is Brandon L. Dawley. Brandon is an illustrator and designer and you can see more of his work here and here.

next is Diana Tamblyn who writes, "I read "The Hunter" by Richard Stark recently in anticipation of Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel and really enjoyed it. To me the character didn't come across as young and handsome though. He seemed like an older, rugged kind of guy, yet with a very magnetic personality. Also wanted to get across his style of dress being rumpled, and a little worn.

This is from a scene in the book where he is staking out a character... "

and you can check out more of Diana's work at her website and her flickr page.

and J. Bone, who worked with Darwyn on the wonderful Spirit and Spider-man: Tangled Web comics, passed along this illustration of Parker...

J. has piles more artwork on his blog here and is drawing the Doom Patrol in Batman: The Brave & the Bold #7 which comes out on July 29th. It should be sweet.

Here in Halifax, Chris Lockerbie put the finishing touches on the Parker "billboard" :

see more of the "Parker Billboard" here.

and Chris Ryall of IDW posted Darwyn's cover to The Last Resort #2. The first issue of The Last Resort is released on July 15th also with a variant cover by Darwyn.

For those of you going to the San Diego comic-con, Darwyn will be part of a panel called A Darker Shade of Ink: Crime and Noir in Comics. The description from the comic-con's programming page states "Crime comics are back with a bang! Darwyn Cooke (Parker: The Hunter), Greg Rucka (Gotham Central), and Steve Lieber (Whiteout) join moderator/noted mystery and comics writer Max Allan Collins (The Road to Perdition) to talk about the new incarnations of crime and noir in comics." The panel takes place in Room 5AB at 2pm on Thursday, July 23rd.

The folks at CHUD are talking about Parker; and Rich Johnston reviews The Hunter over at Bleeding Cool.

Lastly, here are some shots of the actual Parker book that should be out on July 22nd at finer book and comic stores everywhere...

Nice, eh? The pages are a sort of cream colour and the blue seen in the advance copies is more of a gun-metal blue in the finished version. Also pictured is the 16 page artbook about the Parker project. Retailers who order 5 copies of The Hunter can order 1 copy of the artbook, so expect them to be pretty scarce.

That's it for today - My wife and I are building our backyard deck today, so if there's a hammer mishap, I may not be typing for a couple of days! (keep those Parker drawings coming!)

new Parkers and the New Frontier, absolutely

2009-07-08T09:38:00.004-03:00

Two more nifty entries in the Draw Parker contest. The first is from Chris Stone of Toronto:

and the other is from U! (aka Uriel A. Durán) who is an illustrator from Mexico City. Uriel writes, "I've been following your blog from its Livejournal feed,and since I'm a fan of Mr. Cooke's work and a sucker for crime stories I thought it would be fun to submit a little something for the contest.So here it is:"

Uriel has a website here and a "sketchlog" here.

and there's still time to get your entry in! We're accepting submissions up to July 16th. Darwyn is off to San Diego the week after for the debut of The Hunter. I know he'll be signing at the IDW booth, in fact they promise "daily appearances"; and maybe elsewhere. I'll see if I can find out.

Also in the news as far as new releases go, the Absolute(ly lovely) New Frontier is back in print and should be arriving in your favourite local comic and book stores today. A gorgeous volume with loads of extras.

In other news, we are getting very low on the Retroactive book so if you don't have one yet, get it soon.
That's it for now. Get your Parker done and send it in!

new Parker entry

2009-07-05T12:56:00.003-03:00

Good afternoon!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. I have piles of paperwork to get through today, but while checking my e-mail was pleased to receive another entry in the Draw Parker contest.

This is from Jim Hopkins who added, "I'm a fan of Darwyn Cooke's work, and visit this blog frequently. I'm looking forward to seeing what this new Richard Stark book will be like! This idea for the contest is pretty cool, and I've been enjoying the art posted so far. Here's my take on Parker for the contest -I went for a sort of Robert Maguire pastiche. He's one of the unsung masters of paperback art and one of my favorite PB cover artists so I did this with him in mind."

Thanks, Jim! He also a blog here with some wonderful caricatures. I love the one of Jean Reno.

There's still time to get your entry in! July 16th is the deadline for entries.

more Parker!

2009-07-03T19:02:00.004-03:00

"I hope you don't mind me sending along this Parker pic. I'm really looking forward to the books release." wrote W Johnson Cadwell via e-mail.

I don't mind at all! Thanks for the entry! You can see more of his work here.

Keep them coming!

new Parker entries!

2009-07-03T12:14:00.006-03:00

Sorry for the quiet couple of days. Canada Day was on July 1st and it's been pretty busy at work. Enough with the excuses, on with the show!

Jason Arnold sent in his take on Parker:

Jason also makes music as Proffessor Undressor on Kelp Records.
Check it out here.

and Patrick Dean's entry is taken from the opening of Slayground, "with Parker doing what he does best; running the hell away from a bad situation."

Patrick has more of his work here.

and just this morning, Brian Healey passed along this entry:

There's still time to get your version of Parker done! Contest closes July 16th!

new Parker entry and a deadline

2009-06-29T17:19:00.004-03:00

Chris Ready says via e-mail, "John Boorman cast Lee Marvin, and I'm getting a Burt Lanchaster / Ralph Meeker vibe off what little of Darwyn Cooke's Parker I've seen. So for my take, I've cast Belmondo by way of Lee Van Cleef. Hope you dig. All the best to Mr Cooke. Can't wait to read his version of The Hunter."

Chris has a blog called Disaster Year: 20xx which can be found here.

and I know you're sick of me asking "where's yours?" so I won't do that this time. We'll be accepting contest entries until July 16th.

"I HEART Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER by Darwyn Cooke"

2009-06-29T17:01:00.003-03:00

Colleen Coover, an amazingly talented cartoonist, gives her quick precis of Darwyn's new book here and did what she calls fan art. I call it cool.

You can see more of Ms. Coover's work at her website here.

new Parker review lives between Wednesdays

2009-06-29T12:42:00.003-03:00

Dave Howlett reviewed the Hunter over at Living Between Wednesdays, my favourite comic review blog. Check it out here.

new Parker entry and a closing date!

2009-06-27T13:45:00.006-03:00

The artist known as Varkjovich is from Italy and is a graphic designer and illustrator. Vark says "I'm not a professional comic artist and currently i got no active blog, but I got plans (with a little help from a couple o' friends) for a “comic section” website to be open in september/october (something like the old newspaper comic pages, with two or three comic serials in it)." So keep an eye out for it! Vark added "this is my (italian) Parker...and send my best regards to mr. Darwyn." I will, Vark!

and as usual, i must ask where is your entry in the Draw Parker! contest? We'll be accepting entries until July 16th so Darwyn can go over all entries and we'll announce the results the following week.

new Parker entry

2009-06-26T09:56:00.004-03:00

Bernie Gonzalez posted the pencils, inks and colours to this piece on his blog here for his Draw Parker entry.

do I need to ask where yours is?

two new Parker entries

2009-06-25T15:34:00.004-03:00

Mirco Chen sent in this version of Parker. Mirco mentions "I have to admit I don't know much about the series or Parker but I read Richard Stark said he thought Jack Palance was a good fit and I can't argue with that."

You can see more of Mirco's work on his blog here.
And Tim DeMoor, who says he is "a relatively new illustrator" (which makes me even more envious, since I can't draw to save my life), sent along this entry.

There's still plenty of time to get your entry in! Draw Parker!

new Parker entry

2009-06-23T20:48:00.004-03:00

Scott Brothers seems to have found a unique paperback version of The Hunter!

See more of Scott's stuff here.
now where's your entry in the Draw Parker contest?

new Parker entry

2009-06-21T16:15:00.002-03:00

E David Croft, whose other work can be seen here, sent along this entry in the Draw Parker contest

Let's see yours!

new Parker entry

2009-06-20T12:17:00.003-03:00

Matt Bennett says he "tried to stick with what will make him recognizable as the character that Darwyn has established visually in his adaptation while not mimicking his style (hopefully)." What do you folks think? You can see more of Matt's work here and here.

and to quote Foghorn Leghorn, "where, I say, where's yours?"

info on the Parker contest is here.

Gosh! comics bookplate edition

2009-06-19T14:00:00.004-03:00

Gosh! Comics in London has just started taking pre-orders for their bookplate edition of The Hunter. This is a signed edition of 200 and once they're gone, they're gone - so get your order in soon!

Thanks to Will for the link!

Friday twofer

2009-06-19T11:18:00.003-03:00

two more entries in the Parker contest -

Rich Dannys sent in what he described as "a 50's Jack Palance-type look to him" and you can see more of Rich's stuff here.

and Gino Collins sent in this entry and you can check out more of Gino's stuff here and here

where's yours??

new Parker entry & review

2009-06-18T21:02:00.004-03:00

Don MacPherson posted a review of The Hunter here.

Peter Wonsowski is looking forward to reading Darwyn's Modern Masters book due this summer as well as The Hunter and sent along these two entries for the Parker contest. You can see more work by Peter here and here.

Where's yours?

new Parker entry

2009-06-17T12:24:00.002-03:00

Good day, folks!

Hope your Wednesday is as sunny as mine wherever you may be.

Ethen Beavers sent along his version of Parker. Pretty cool, eh? You can see more of Ethen's work at his deviantart page here.

where's yours?

Another Parker entry and one more review

2009-06-14T13:10:00.003-03:00

Good afternoon, folks,

the good people at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood have a review of The Hunter on their blog.

and Gavin de Lint sent along his submission for the Parker contest. Gavin mentions "I'm a huge fan of Cooke's (and I need to thank him for his Spirit comics - they really helped get the taste of the movie out of my mouth)." Take some time to check out his other work here. Sorry if I am repeating myself, but where's yours? Send in your take on Parker and you could win a signed advance copy of The Hunter by Darwyn. Email your entry to strangeadventures@gmail.com

two for Saturday - more Parker!

2009-06-13T11:24:00.006-03:00

First up is John Thomason, Artist/Creator of the online comic strip "Cartworks" See his stuff at johntdraws and cartworks

and next is this entry from Evan Shaner!

Keep'em coming! Send in your take on Parker and you could win a signed advance copy of The Hunter adaptation by Darwyn! More info here.

boom! - another one!

2009-06-12T13:49:00.002-03:00

wow - as soon as I finished the last post, I received another Parker entry. This one is by George and looks great! Again, I ask, where's yours?

first one!

2009-06-12T13:00:00.004-03:00

Brandon sent in his take on Parker. Where's yours? Send in your version of Richard Stark's Parker and you could win a signed copy of The Hunter adaptation by Darwyn! Contest details here

get your own advance copy - let's see how you do Parker contest!

2009-06-08T16:39:00.004-03:00

Hiya, folks,

You've probably seen some of the reviews popping up all over the interwebs
with people showing off their advance copy of the Hunter hardcover.
(Including me!)

Darwyn has five copies of the advance version of The Hunter hardcover that
are going to be given away to his five favourite Parker illustrations. Send in
your take of Richard Stark's Parker and you could win a signed copy of
The Hunter! Post it on the blog, or send a copy to me
(strangeadventures@gmail.com) and I'll post it for you.

We'll be accepting entries right up to the release of The Hunter and the
winners will be announced on the blog.

Sharpen those crayons and let's see how you do Parker!

first review

2009-06-03T16:09:00.002-03:00

Comic Book Resources' Pipeline column, by Augie de Blieck Jr., devotes the whole column to Darwyn's first Parker adaptation.

and this is me in my happy place....

and it is terrific!

Parker love at Book Expo

2009-06-01T15:45:00.002-03:00

Several journalists and book afficionados who attended the Book Expo in New York this past weekend got to sample many sweet books that will be coming to the rest of us over the course of the summer. IDW showed off some advance copies of Darwyn's Parker adaptation and I am sorely jealous of those folks who got a copy.

Join me in my envy at these links:

Splashpage at MTV

Slog at the Stranger
(That's Slog's photo above as well.)

ComicMix

and Robot 6 gives it a mention in their "what are you reading?" round-up.

and DC will be collecting the Bad Girls mini-series, a fun series with artwork by J. Bone, Daniel Krall and others, under a spiffy cover by Darwyn pictured here:

that's it for now - keep reading good comics!

Visit essex county!

2009-05-26T09:36:00.002-03:00

Jeff Lemire's wonderful trio of books "Tales from Essex County" are collected into one massive tome hitting store shelves in August of this year. Darwyn wrote the introduction which you can read along with a preview of the book itself right here.

Spirit softcover scheduled

2009-05-19T16:39:00.002-03:00

The second volume of Darywn's "Spirit" run in softcover will be available later this year; September 23rd to be precise. This collects issues seven through thirteen of the Spirit comics mostly done by Darwyn and the awesome J. Bone. Also included are the holiday themed issues with stories and art by the likes of Walt Simonson, Kyle Baker, Chris Sprouse, Eduardo Risso, Phil Hester, Ty Templeton and others. The cover shown above is, as I'm sure you could guess, by Darwyn. It's 176 colour pages and retails for $19.99 US.

Comics Reporter interview

2009-05-11T18:02:00.002-03:00

Tom Spurgeon had a chat with Darwyn and Ed Brubaker about Parker, comics and more.
Check it out here

Almost Darwyn Cooke's Blog

Here's to you, HEROES

Ho Ho Holiday Auctions

Christmas Auction Action Update

On the first day of Christmas

The Long Beach MARTINI

Parker: Martini update

Free Comic Book Day & Teenage Satan

Spring Update, Convention Update and a few teases!

TCAF - Toronto Comic Arts Festival

stuff and such from hither and yon

Happy Birthday

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ALL Y'ALL

oh, baby!

Day Eleven - one day only!

Day Ten - a commission for Christmas!

Day Nine and this one's wild!

Eight days a week

no rest on the seventh day, more auction action!

and on the sixth day of Darwyn's Xmas...

Fifth day of the Darwyn Xmas auctions!

and on the fourth Darwyn Day of Xmas...

The Third Darywn Day of Christmas....

and on the second day of Darwyn's christmas...

on the first day of Darwyn's Christmas....

Darwyn Cooke's 12 Days of Christmas

Canada Reads! Essex County by Jeff Lemire

Feel the Loves

Ken Morris wins Le Chasseur!

The Outfit is (almost) here!

stuff and such

postcard contest & a taste of The Outfit

Appearances, awards, and all things otherwise

catch that getaway man!

getaway coming soon

Free comic day wrap-up

Free Comic Book Day

digital Parker, party pix and Eisners

Just Teasing

those March days...

Mr. Cooke goes to Washington

this, that and the other

Parker's Night at the Museum

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Everyone

the mystery of the missing #6

JONAH HEX FIFTY: DAVE STEWART AND PAST MASTERS

Invincible!

Jonah Hex sneak peek

Workshopped!

Hunter makes the list

Gladstone Weekend

art show in Toronto

if you're on the east coast of Canada....

this and that and Darwyn the Pooh

nananananananana....bat-blog!

Secret Origin and stuff

nothing much....just chillin'

go look!

Word from the man

winnahs, Parker 2nd printing and more

upcoming conventions

Parker Halifax book launch! Awesome!!

one more Parker and a party in Halifax

Parker Gallery

final Parker!

more Parkers!

some more Parkers as the deadline approaches!

Drinks with Darwyn at San Diego!

more new Parkers

new Parkers and some convention appearances

new Parkers and more Comic-con

Parker entries, a "billboard", and more

new Parkers and the New Frontier, absolutely

new Parker entry

more Parker!

new Parker entries!

new Parker entry and a deadline

"I *HEART* Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER by Darwyn Cooke"

new Parker review lives between Wednesdays

"I HEART Richard Stark’s THE HUNTER by Darwyn Cooke"