Category Archives: Blog

Jughead Guide To Life – Part 1!

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.”

https://www.firstcomicsnews.com/archie-milestones-jumbo-comics-digest-18-jughead-guide-to-life-preview/


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.

Continue reading Jughead Guide To Life – Part 1!

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Tailipoe 101 part 3!

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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!

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Unboxing Disney 1 Saturday Morning!

In the late ‘90’s, Disney Adventures Magazine presented a monthly array of articles of interest for kids. Each issue also contained a large comics section filled with stories based on then-current Disney shows and movies.

I contributed comic scripts inspired by the animated series, ‘Disney’s Doug’ (The TV show was a continuation of one of the original Nicktoons, Doug, by creator Jim Jinkins for the Nickelodeon cable channel).

All of the Disney Adventures comics have been out of print since their original publication, until now. Fantagraphics has compiled a selection of that work in a hardback anthology called Disney 1 Saturday Morning Adventures.

Editor David Gerstein was kind enough to send me a copy of the new book, and I turned on the camera for an unboxing vid.

Apologies for the sound, my lapel mike didn’t perform up to par.

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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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Batman Family Reunion Podcast!

Paul Keinzle and Shawn M. Myers graciously invited me to join them, with guest Jim Beard, for the latest episode of their podcast, Batman Family Reunion at the Fire and Water Podcast Network.  In this episode, we discuss The Batman Family #15 (DC Comics, December 1977).


The Batman Family was a DC Comics series that ran for twenty issues from 1975 to 1978. It focused on Batman’s supporting cast, mainly Robin and Batgirl. Silver- and Golden-Age reprints featuring obscure and forgotten characters rounded out the early issues.

Why I was invited:

Before I became a professional comic book writer, I was briefly and sporadically a comic book letter column contributor! In those days, young comic book writers-to-be caught the attention of editor Julius Schwartz by contributing letters of comments to his titles. That may have been my motivation for picking up my pen.

Continue reading Batman Family Reunion Podcast!

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Archie Comics Lunch!


Just about a year ago, I got together with several of my Archie Comics cohorts for an ad hoc summit meeting (really just a lunch) at the High Street Cafe in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a great place to eat, surrounded as we were by kitsch and pop culture memorabilia.

Here are the Kennedy brothers, Pat and Tim; Jeff Schultz (all top-tier Archie Comics cartoonists), and yours truly Craig Boldman.

Sadly, the pandemic took its toll on the Cafe during the past year, and they no longer offer sit-down dining, but have placed their emphasis on take-out, and catering service. They’re also leaning into memorabilia sales.

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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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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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