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!

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

World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #101!

Good news for those who enjoy my work on the Jughead comic. ‘World of Archie Jumbo Comics #101,’ is a mini treasury of my past Jughead stories. In stores now!
I browsed this issue the way all of America does, while waiting in the grocery store checkout line.
The digest is billed as a ‘Special Jughead Issue.‘ It is heavily-weighted with fun summertime selections of my work from Jughead’s solo title. 
Look for the SPECIAL JUGHEAD ISSUE Seal of Quality. Accept no other!

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!

Caricature Commissions

If you’ve met me at a comic convention, you’ve likely found me hard at work on caricature commissions. These are typically drawings of individual fans, or couples, reimagined as their favorite super-heroes or fantasy characters.

As the pandemic has squelched my convention schedule temporarily, I’ve been doing more of those commissions at home, through orders I receive via e-mail. So, it’s time I highlight that branch of my work here on the blog. 

[NOTE: At the end of this blog I’ll give details about how you can Place an order for a caricature.]

Continue reading Caricature Commissions

‘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!

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!

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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