Category Archives: Blog

National Cartoonists Society Art Auction! Oct. 27 – Nov. 3!

The National Cartoonists Society is taking the occasion of its 75th anniversary to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

As many of you know, I’m a longtime creator for Archie Comics. I’ve worked on most of their titles, but am best known for my efforts on the Jughead comic book, and the Archie syndicated newspaper strip.

Here’s a video preview of a piece of original Archie art I created and have contributed to the National Cartoonists Society Art Auction. 

Since this year is also Archie’s 80th anniversary, I decided to pay homage to the cover of Archie Comics #1, cover dated Winter 1942. The original cover was drawn by the great Bob Montana. This update is a rare acrylic painting by me!

My auction art and the classic Archie cover that inspired it.

The online auction, which runs from October 27 through November 3, 2021, features original artwork from about 150 cartoonists, including such greats as: Cathy Guisewhite (“Cathy”), Dik Browne (“Hi and Lois”), Greg Evans (“Luann”), Jeff Keane (“The Family Circus”), Jerry Ordway (“Captain America”), Sergio Aragones (“Mad”), Jim Borgman (“Zits”), Joe Staton (“Dick Tracy”), Ron Ferdinand (“Dennis the Menace”), Marcus Hamilton (“Dennis the Menace”) — There really are too many to list. I may just come back and trade out a few names every day or two.

You can browse now! The auction is live at
NCS  Art Auction

This is your great opportunity to own a fun piece of art and to help a good cause. Christmas is coming, by the way, and this might be a perfect solution for that comics geek on your friend list.

Share this info around, please! Thanks and good luck!

INFO ABOUT THE AUCTION AT THE NATIONAL CARTOONISTS SOCIETY SITE

DIRECT LINK TO BID ON THIS ARCHIE ART

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Convention appearance queries – Info here!

Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!

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Archie Comics 80th Anniversary!

I wrote the lead story for Archie 80th Anniversary Jumbo Comics Digest #3! Look for it on sale in stores on June 23, 2021. My story, titled “Happy MANYversary,” focuses on Betty’s penchant for remembering and celebrating events. Not only big events, but also, small, insignificant ones! I believe Bill Golliher does the art. If so, it will be our first collaboration in quite a while. Previously, Bill drew a mini-series I wrote starring Dilton — It was a digital comic which I’ve never yet managed to see!

Look for my new story behind a nice cover featuring Archie in a retro style, by Bill Galvin.

The rest of the issue is filled with classic stories from Archie Comics’s eight-decades history. I don’t have a list of contents, but chances are good that you will find work by Bob Montana, Frank Doyle, George Gladir, Dan DeCarlo, Samm Schwartz, Bill Vigoda, Harry Lucey, Joe Edwards, Bob Bolling and many other favorites.

In keeping with the Archie Comics 80th anniversary theme, editors Mike Pellerito and Stephen Oswald invited me to write a story having to do with anniversaries in some fashion. For your interest, in an upcoming post I’ll show a few pages from my script and layouts for this story, along with some commentary. 

Following that, I might even post an alternate script/story that I wrote for the issue. It’s a story I never submitted for reasons to be revealed!

Convention appearance queries – Info here!

Art commissions – contact me at craig@craigboldman.com .
Also see my caricatures page!

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Jetta Raye Adventures, out now!


Happy New Year!

I unbox my contributor copies of ‘Jetta Raye Adventures,’ featuring over 100 pages of new stories about Jetta, the ‘Sweetheart of the 22nd Century.’ This hardback volume includes stories and comic strips by me, along with an all-star line-up of contributors such as Chris Yambar, Jeff Shultz, Joe Sinnott, and many others!

Jetta originally came to life in 1952 her own comic book series drawn by the great Dan DeCarlo.

My apologies for mangling the names of some of the esteemed contributors in the video!

To order copies, jet on over to jettaraye.com

#makingcomics #comicbookartist #comiccollection #imagecomics #comiccover #igcomics #indiecomics #comics #comicbookart #comicbooks

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Christmas Never Sleeps – Background!

Here’s a little background on ‘Christmas Never Sleeps,’ with thanks to my friend Marc Vargas, who asked! (Pictured above: The master loose leaf volume containing the entire works!)

I‘d had an interest in doing a year-long, Christmas-to-Christmas Santa Claus story for decades. I knew that there was a segment of young-at-hearts to whom Christmas is a year-long passion. I belong to a couple of such groups on Facebook. I’ve long been aware of year-round Santa attractions, such as Castle Noel in Medina, Ohio. There’s also Santa Claus, Indiana, where Santa receives his mail! Just up the tracks from me lies EnterTrainment Junction, which hosts a Christmas in July event that allows kids to conference call with Santa via Zoom. Continue reading Christmas Never Sleeps – Background!

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‘Christmas Never Sleeps’ Rolls On!

Christmas Never Sleeps is my year-long cartoon epic that has followed Santa J. Claus daily since Christmas day, 2019, and will reach its conclusion on Christmas Eve, 2020. During the course of those 365 days, it continues to paint the icon in familiar broad strokes, but with quirky details that aren’t apparent during his usual once-a-year appearance.

Continue reading ‘Christmas Never Sleeps’ Rolls On!

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Ron Randall’s Trekker!

My friend Ron Randall is conducting a Kickstarter campaign to issue his life’s work, Trekker, in a single, awesome hardcover edition. Check it out!

I’ve been sitting on the following interview for a few months, and now is a choice time to release it to the world. At the time we did this chat, the hardcover collection was not yet in the pipeline.

Craig: Let’s start with housekeeping. What’s your preferred path for anyone hoping to get immersed in Trekker?  Do you want them to see the early stuff, the current stuff, or what, and where do they go to accomplish it?

Ron: You know, that’s not as easy a question for me to answer as it probably should be. I’m happy to have readers dive in wherever. Each story is built to work as a fine introduction to the character and the world, and each volume has a complete adventure– beginning, middle and end. I feel very strongly about that. So any book should work as a fine introductory experience. But, I also construct the series so that each story builds on what’s gone before, and also points toward where we are heading next. Like each individual story, I’ve designed the series as a whole to have a beginning, a middle and an end. The character of Mercy St. Clair, the world she moves in, and the scope and scale of things grows and deepens over the course of the stories. Mercy is shaped and informed by her experiences as she goes along, the stakes rise, and so on. And I do have an endgame that we are heading toward. Still quite a way to go before Mercy gets there, though. So a reader who starts from page one and works their way through the whole series experiences a powerful cumulative affect which, I am told, is pretty rewarding. Continue reading Ron Randall’s Trekker!

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Digital Caricature Demo!

Here’s a little demonstration video, in preparation for doing digital caricatures at events in the coming year (up to now I’ve strictly done pen/paper caricatures). This was drawn on my iPad Pro.

My caricatures tend to be fairly mild, not too exaggerated. I intend to push that area of my drawing this year and hope to find a more extreme caricature style that I’m satisfied with.

For more info about my caricatures and portraits, click the caricature  tab at the top of the page. Or,  CLICK HERE to drop me a line.

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The Ration Book of Mystery!

Look what I found in a drawer:

This folder, with the Thrift ‘E’ Markets imprint, was created to hold WWII-era ration coupons.
Today, however, it contains a variety of random, assorted and sometimes inexplicable items of  interest, presumably placed there after the book outlived its original purpose — most likely by my Grandparents, Nellie and Oscar Boldman.
I’ll be unveiling and presenting the folder’s contents in posts during the coming days. ‘Rationing’ them out, so to speak, get it? Yuk yuk!

Continue reading The Ration Book of Mystery!

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Stan Lee’s More “You Don’t Say!”

Seems like my Dad was a Stan Lee fan before I’d ever heard of the guy. I uncovered this hand-me-down in one of the boxes from my house disaster of a few years ago. More “You Don’t Say!” is a little-seen non-Marvel Universe project by Stan, consisting of his humorous dialogue affixed to photos of political figures of the day, namely President Kennedy and crew.

Continue reading Stan Lee’s More “You Don’t Say!”

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On Exhibit – Middletown Arts Center

A show of my work is currently on display in the front gallery of the Middletown Arts Center in Middletown, Ohio.

Our opening reception, part of the Betty Hughes Memorial Exhibition, is scheduled for Friday, August 3, 2018, 6:00-8:00 p.m. I hope to see all of you there!

My work will remain on display through September 6, 2018 — A great opportunity to get copies of my books and comics, which will be sold through the center. All three volumes of my Tailipoe series, as well as copes of the Cap’n Catnip comic are available. 

Included for your enjoyment: Archie artwork; book illustrations; an art series based on classic games and toys; and the complete artwork from a 6-page Archie story with collaborator Stan Goldberg, from Archie Comics #540, “The Man of Mystery.”

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