10/28/06: Blog! I've added
the blog to the news page for the time being. I'm thinking of combining
the news and blog stuff into a single page, and this is a first step toward
that. We'll see how it works out.
7/28/06: First Look:Jughead
#175 is out this week, and is the subject of Archie's First
Look program, which means you can sample the first few pages on
the web -- and then dash out and buy a copy of your own.
I consider issue #100 of a comic book to be something
worth celebrating. A #150 issue, not so much. And yet, when Jughead #150
came out a couple years ago, a reviewer complained that we didn't do anything
special for #150. So now my thinking is, if someone can consider #150 worthy
of a fuss, I think #175 should be granted the same courtesy. So, without
consulting the editor, publisher or anybody, I took it upon myself to do
a couple stories suited for a #175 issue. And watch, the reviewers won't
even notice. Nyahh.
Anyway, in honor of #175, this issue features an extra-length
story with Jughead once again butting heads with his nemesis, Trula
Twyst; always a cataclysmic confrontation and always a crowd pleaser.
That bloodbath is entitled, "We Meet Again," for reasons
that will become apparent. Then, a relatively conventional Jug vs. Ethel
story. However, the final story of the issue is very special in that I
myself appear. Well, sort of. It's also one of those "breaking the
fourth wall" kinds of tales. It's called "Behind The Panels."
CLICK HERE
to take a peek. Or, as they say, a "First Look."
5/20/06: San Diego Plans:
If you're going to San Diego Con, (July 19-23) track me down. Plans are for
me to be at the National Cartoonists Society booth part of
the time, and participating in the Archie Comics panel on
Sunday morning.
5/9/06: New Portfolio: I've got a new online portfolio at Portfolios.com. This
is some of the more recent work I've done. I'll be putting some new pieces
up there over the next weeks. The direct URL for my place there is http://www.portfilios.com/cboldman
5/7/06: S.P.A.C.E.: I expect
to be attending the S.P.A.C.E. small press convention in Columbus,
Ohio this coming Saturday, May 13. Allen Freeman's Fan-Atic Press will be unveiling the new issue
of Slam Bang there, and I contributed a couple of pages to
that, so look for me to be hanging around that table.
5/7/06: Today's Sunday edition
of the Cincinnati Enquirer contained an ad supplement for
the state of Indiana, on the back cover of which was the art you see to
the left.
I haven't seen this character in a while, and never in
this 3-D treatment. I.B. Crow is the park mascot for Indiana Beach Amusement
Park in Monticello, Indiana. I designed the character for that
park, oh, at least a dozen years ago, and it's probably gotten more mileage
than any other single piece of art I've ever done. IB has appeared as a
park costume character, in countless ads, on billboards, on ride signs,
and was even converted to an I.B. Crow bobblehead.
I stopped doing work for the ad agency that handles the
Indiana Beach account a few years ago, so it's interesting to see what
they've done with I.B. since.
5/7/06: It's old news by now,
but The Archies are on the President's ipod.
5/2/06:Trula Twyst,
a character I created for the Jughead comic book, is the
subject of a recent press release from Archie Comics.
4/23/06:Jughead Interview:
There's a new interview with the entire creative team of the Jughead book
-- penciller Rex Lindsey, inker Rich Koslowski, and myself
-- on jazmaonline.com, Click HERE to read.
4/23/06:See, I Told You I Was A Terrific Guy: I got a nice shout-out
from my good pal Stephen DeStefano in the latest issue (#15) of
the TwoMorrows publication, Back Issue. It's an article
about 'Mazing Man, a comic we worked on for DC Comics, long ago.
Thanks to my brother Loyd for pointing this out to me.
Incidentally, get this or your choice of any TwoMorrows
publication for free on Free Comic Book Day, May 6. Click HERE for details.
4/9/06:Lisbeth: Below
is the official cast and crew photo of Lisbeth of Maplecroft, a
play written and directed by Pat Davis, and presented by the Fairfield
Footlighters at the Fairfield Community Arts Center on April 6-9.
I took a small role in the production -- That's me, back row, fifth from
the left.
Lisbeth of Maplecroft concerns Lizzie Borden and
her sister, Emma, twelve years after Lizzie was acquitted in the
murder of her parents. My role was that of Thomas O'Hara, a newspaper publisher.
I hadn't done a play since high school, but it was thoroughly
enjoyable, thanks to all the nice and talented people involved, and I hope
to do more.
Additional photos of the players are on my blog, HERE.
And now filming, Immortally Yours, in which you will undoubtedly
love me all over again!
2/16/06:Podcasted again:
Joey Manley asked me the hard-hitting questions for his new Talk About
Comics podcast. Funnel me into your ipod! CLICK HERE and scroll down!
2/15/06:Sockamagee!
Over at Dial
B For Blog, my favorite comics-related blog, Robby Reed
has done a five-part history of the Archie characters' short-lived super-hero
careers. (For those not in the know, just about all the Archie cast had
secret identities during the super-hero boom of the 1960's: Archie was
Pureheart the Powerful, Reggie was Evilheart,
Betty was Superteen, and Jughead was Captain Hero.
When Robby got wind of the fact that I was bringing Captain Hero back for
an encore in the upcoming issue of Jughead, he asked me to contribute a
little something for the final installment of his opus. Go there now and take a look!
1/28/06:Jughead and Trula
- Johanna Draper Carlson did a nice review of the current Jughead
(# 170) at her Comics Worth Reading site. I'm glad, 'cause I
thought this was a pretty strong issue which, among other things, contains
an homage to The Yellow Kid. Read the review HERE.
Meanwhile, at Tony's Online Tips,Tony Isabella reports
a bit of Archie news that I hadn't heard: The upcoming Jughead and His
Friends Digest #11 includes a new Jughead story by Fernando Ruiz,
featuring Jughead's frequent antagonizer, Trula Twyst. Tony says,
"What interests me most about the tale is that I believe it marks
the first time Trula will be written by someone other than Craig Boldman,
who created her in the ongoing JUGHEAD title. Trula is a terrific character,
the best addition to the Riverdale High cast since Cheryl Blossom. I hope
Ruiz does right by her."
I created Trula for my first issue of Jughead, somewhere
around issue #89, and have used her pretty regularly ever since. When coming
up with the character, I had envisioned her eventually becoming part of
the regular Archie cast, and have always been curious to see how other
artists and writers would treat her.
A while back, Archie editor Vic Gorelick asked
me to write some information about Trula for the new Archie Comics style
guide, which gave me a clue that the character was being moved a bit deeper
into the Archie mainstream. I've posted my Trula write-up on my blog.
Fernando is one of my favorites, and I'm looking forward
to seeing what he's got in mind.
In fact, though, this is not the first time that Trula
has been handled by another writer than myself. As far as I know, she's
appeared in two stories written by Archie's #1 writer, George Gladir,
though in each case I don't believe the plot revolved around Trula.
1/13/06:Happy New Year!
- Hmm, been a little while since I updated here. This Sunday, January
15, I'll be joining my friend and fellow cartoonist Jeff Staher
in conducting a workshop called "Drawing and Cartooning"
for the Girl Scouts - Great Rivers Council at their 2006 CSA Winter
Conference. You know Jeff -- He does the very funny daily panel "Moderately Confused," and is the editorial
cartoonist for the Columbus Dispatch.
I'll follow up with a report about the conference. Should
be fun.
10/16/05:Pod person - You can
listen to a Boldman interview podcast, conducted by Gary Puckett,
on a new service called The Fly Pod. From the main menu page, select the Job
Corner category and select the interview.
10/16/05:New e-mail -
My old, useless, only-works-when-it-feels-like e-mail server is finally
given up altogether. So, the e-mail links around the site will be changing
to this address. Please update your
address books, and let me know if you find any outdated links on the site.
Thanks!
9/28/05:Comix Revolution
Wrapup - Here are a few photos from the successful Comics Revolution
program at the Cincinnati Public Library. It was well-attended and the
organizers are already talking about doing it again. Thanks to those of
you who turned out! A more detailed report will appear on the National
Cartoonists Society/Great Lakes Chapterwebsite, The GLyph.
The afternoon panel, on which I participated. From
left to right: comic book retailer Mark Craddock, (Comics World);
artist/writer David Mack (Kabuki); myself; cartoonist and panel
moderator Bruce Chrislip.
David and Bruce join with me in proudly flashing our
library cards.
Our audience is mesmerized, mesmerized, I tell you!
Seen in the lower right corner is a top Cincinnati cartoonist Tom Holtkamp.
Photos courtesy of Public
Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
9/13/05:Cincinnati Enquirer - Below are links to Cincinnati
Enquirer items about me and several other area cartoonists, including
Justin Green and Carol Tyler. This is in connection with
the upcoming Comic Revolution thing at the Cincinnati Public
Library on September 17. Attend if you can!
9/11/05:CB Participating
in Webcomics 'Telethon' - Blank Label Comics is hosting a webcomic
telethon to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. It will be held September
13 & 14 at www.webcomictelethon.com.
I'm contributing a new Tailipoe strip for the event.
Brad Guigar, who has organized previous webcomics telethons
benefitting MDA, is organizing the event. All of the revenue generated
from site advertising, donations, and proceeds from merchandise bought
through the site will be donated to the Red Cross to help in disaster relief.
The site will be updated several times during the course of the telethon
with new comics, encouraging readers to come back often to see the new
strips and donate money when their favorites are displayed.
Click on the banner below and see what's happening!
8/13/05:Comic Revolution
- Mark September 17 on your calendars and make your plane reservations
for Cincinnati. For that's when and where I and several other comic book-type
creative people will be participating in a program called Comic Revolutions:
Underground Comix, Graphic Novels, & Manga at the Public Library
of Cincinnati. From the press release:
An exhibition in the Art & Music Department, "Comic
Revolutions: Underground Comix, Graphic Novels & Manga," will
showcase three important phases in the history of comic books. The exhibition,
which runs from August 1 through October 30, also will feature the work
of distinguished local practitioners. The tri-state area is home to many
prominent comic/graphic novel writers and artists, from pioneers of the
underground comix movement, such as Justin Green, to a current manga star,
David Mack.
Justin
Green is one of the most important artists
of the underground movement, recognized as the pioneer of the autobiographical
comic with Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary. A collection of his
Binky stories was published by Last Gasp in 1995 as Justin Green's Binky
Brown Sampler. Two of Green's strips for magazines have also been collected
and published: Musical Legends: The Collected Comics from Pulse Magazine
(Last Gasp, 2004) and Justin Green's Sign Game: A Collection of Monthly
Comic Strips from Signs of the Time (ST Publications, 1995).
Carol Tyler is an
award-winning cartoon artist and storyteller whom Robert Crumb calls "a
great artist." A member of the underground comix generation, Tyler
has taught classes on drawing comics to school-age children, college students
and adults for more than 20 years. Her second solo effort, Late Bloomer,
published by Fantagraphics, will be available in August 2005.
Bruce Chrislip is
a comic book artist/writer/editor/publisher/historian. His cartoons and
comics have been published by Aardvark/Vanaheim, Eclipse, Fantagraphics,
Kitchen Sink Press, the Arizona Republic, the San Francisco Chronicle and
the National Enquirer, among others. Chrislip has also been the cartoonist
for more than 400 minicomix.
Craig Boldman has
been a professional cartoonist since 1978. He currently writes the Jughead
comic book for Archie Comics Publications, and has been writing the Archie
newspaper strip since 1992. In 1985, Boldman wrote the adventures of Superman
for DC Comics and has since written a variety of other well-known characters,
including "Big Boy," "Bazooka Joe," and strips based
on two Disney TV shows: "Disney's Doug," and "Disney's Recess."
David Mack is the
creator, author and artist of Kabuki, which is published by Image Comics,
and the writer and cover artist for Marvel Comics' Daredevil, one of the
ten best-selling comics in the United States. Kabuki has won Mack international
acclaim for its innovative storytelling, painting techniques and page design.
The series is available in seven languages and there are over one million
copies of Kabuki comics, paperbacks and hardcovers, in print in the United
States alone.
For more info, click THIS LINK. Also, click the artwork above right
to see the full-size flyer for the event.
5/7/06: Today's Sunday edition
of the Cincinnati Enquirer contained an ad supplement for
the state of Indiana, on the back cover of which was the art you see to
the left.
2/15/06: Sockamagee!
Over at 
1/28/06: Jughead and Trula
- Johanna Draper Carlson did a nice review of the current Jughead
(# 170) at her Comics Worth Reading site. I'm glad, 'cause I
thought this was a pretty strong issue which, among other things, contains
an homage to The Yellow Kid. Read the review 
