nothing much....just chillin'

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!

Parker Halifax book launch! Awesome!!

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!

Parker Gallery

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!

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 new Parkers

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 more Comic-con

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.

new Parker entry

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.

new Parker entries!

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

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.

new Parker review lives between Wednesdays

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!

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

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?

new Parker entry

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

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.

boom! - another one!

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!

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!

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!