I’m pleased and honored to be counted, along with my collaborator Henry Scarpelli, among the best comic strip tributes to Charles M. Schulz upon the Peanuts creator’s passing in February of the year 2000. Our Archie strip of the time is listed in this retrospective Comic Book Resources article at the #4 position.
/https://www.cbr.com/best-peanuts-tribute-comics-charles-schulz/
I’ll be a guest at the next Jim & Dan Comic & Toy Show in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, September 15! See you there!
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Convention appearance queries – Info here!
Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!
I’ll be appearing at the FIRST Middletown Comic Expo in Middletown, Ohio on Saturday, September 14! See you there!
*****
Convention appearance queries – Info here!
Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!
I’ll be seeing my friend, cartoonist Stephen DeStefano for the first time in years, at this weekend’s Nancy Fest! event. And that got me doing a mental inventory of the handful of projects we’ve worked on together over the years.
With an exception or two, our collaborations consisted of Stephen on pencils and me on inks. I’ve scraped together samples of all of them here:
‘Mazing Man – 1986 – My good friend Karl Kesel was the original inker on this cult favorite series for DC Comics. Karl got a new assignment, and he and Stephen put in a good word for me so I got the nod to be the replacement inker. I did two issues of the regular comic, plus a couple of special editions. Bob Rozakis was the writer and co-creator of this series.
Elvira’s House of Mystery – 1987 – Stephen and I did the art for a spooky Christmas story in this one-shot for DC. Story by Barbara Kesel.
Bizarro Comics – 2001 – This was a fun collection of weird takes on DC’s heroes by an assortment of great cartoonists from outside the
standard comic book biz. Stephen drew a framing story to weave the whole thing together. The deadline was tight so he recruited a handful of inkers to finish pages. I was one of those, and inked a half-dozen pages. Script by Chris Duffy.
Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius – 2003 – I was the writer for a couple Jimmy Neutron stories for Nickelodeon Magazine, courtesy of editor Chris Duffy. Stephen did the pencils and inks. I remember doing at least one Spongebob Squarepants story, but I don’t believe Stephen did the art for that one. I’ll have to dig that out of the archive and do an update.
Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy – 2004 – This was a CGI-type animated TV special produced and written by actor Paul Reiser reintroducing the Popeye gang. Stephen had become King Features Syndicate’s go-to artist for Popeye licensing art. A comic-style adaptation of the special was produced for promotional purposes. Stephen drew it and he brought me in to ink it. I’ve always loved Popeye, so this was definitely a bucket list item for me!
Alien Baby – 2007 – The Weekly World News tabloid added a comics section based on some of their more infamous recurring news stories. Stephen did some installments of Alien Baby, and then brought me in to script the ongoing narrative. At some point Stephen left to take on another assignment, and I took over the art as well as the writing until the end.
Monitoring With Muscle – For a change, I got to bring Stephen in on a project. I’d gotten involved with an ad agency that needed a super-hero character design for their latest ad campaign. Stephen designed and drew this hero, and I inked it. I can’t remember if I did the coloring or not.
Me, by Stephen!
*****
Convention appearance queries – Info here!
Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!
A new Archie Comics character, DAISY THUNDER, makes her debut in April! Story by me, with art by Steven and Lily Butler. Details at the link! DAISY THUNDER!
*****
Convention appearance queries – Info here!
Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!
Here are some cartoon portraits I fid during a corporate holiday party. Information below, if you’re interested in having me do likewise at your own event.
The badge below signifies that Craig Boldman is a TOP PERFORMER for event caricatures for the months of December 2023 and January 2024. Click it to be transported to Craig’s GigSalad page.
*****
Convention appearance queries – Info here!
Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!
For the past few years I’ve been honored to be the resident caricaturist at Chalkfest, an October festival in Springfield, Ohio. The event is famous for its sidewalk chalk art and its themed character scarecrows.
if you’d like to have me appear at your event or convention, click the link fir information:
Craig Boldman at YOUR Event!
The folks at Comic Book Resources asked me and other Archie writers to name the favorite Christmas stories we’ve done! I could only narrow it down to two.
“‘Zat You, Santa Claus?” From Archie’s Pal Jughead Comics #89 (February, 1997) is memorable for me because it’s from my first issue as the regular Jughead writer, and the first issue of my long collaboration with artist Rex Lindsey. In it, the characters each envision what they imagine Santa Claus is really like. The issue is also notable for the introduction of my ongoing antagonist for Jughead, Trula Twyst.
On my recent in-store event at Wonder Comics & More in Trenton, Ohio, shop owner Jeff Hensley gifted me with a recent Jughead digest that I hadn’t yet seen in print. It was part of the ‘Archie Milestones’ series, #18, March 2023, and this issue’s theme was “Jughead Guide to Life.”
It’s a good collection from various creators. Eight of my stories (one new; the rest, reprints from the past decades) are among them, all drawn by my regular Jughead collaborator, Rex Lindsey. A few of those stories have abiding personal meaning for me. so I thought I’d write some words about them.
I was recently reminded that October 14 was the birthday of the late Samm Schwartz, so let me jump ahead to the story in this digest that I wrote as a tribute to Samm.
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My Tailipoe series grew out of the Appalachian folktale of the same name, which I read in a book. As mentioned in Part 2.
Here’s an interpretation of the traditional story by digital animator Matt Rogers that I quite like:
https://youtu.be/ygKOF1mEzRs?si=U-TqSWoiprvjwZgw
Folk tales are originally told around campfires and next to bedsides. They are made up on the fly and embellished in the retelling. In this way the tales are spread from person to person, family to family, generation to generation. And eventually gathered into a book by professors of folklore. Continue reading Tailipoe 101 part 3!
