Who (or What) is The Cran?

Well, to be honest, This is The CRAN!







That probably doesn't help, at all. Chances are it scared quite a few of you! O.K., let's try it this way. The Cran (that IS the proper spelling) is the guy who owns Land Of Cran Comics. The name Land of Cran, comes from back when The Cran was in High School. Everyone just called him The Cran (a nickname based off of his real name). So, one day in study hall, one of his buddies, who was always doodling and sketching, handed him some art he finished of this alien-looking landscape. There were some mountains, and on top there was a flag with the word Cran on it. His pal said, "Here you go. It's The Land of Cran." And it stuck!



The Cran opened Land of Cran comics in February 1993, with his most faithful employee ever, ME! Well, pretty faithful. I ran the store for the Cran until September of 2000. Since then, Terry and Dave have taken turns at the counter, selling comics and dealing with the unique personality of The Cran!

Before The Cran started the store, he was running a mail order business and setting up at local conventions. When the time came to open the doors of Land of Cran Comics, we needed a sign and a logo. Being a fan of 1950's Sci-Fi, The Cran was inspired by the rocket ships of L.B. Cole and this design was created to represent the store.

The Cran was always been good to us, letting us hang out, host a few events at the store, and putting up with our ramblings of comic book shows and artists. It is has never been odd to see a few Cranboyz at the store, although it happens less these days, due to most of them no longer living in Canton. However, most of the Cranboyz met through me working at the store and we all just hung out, gamed together or started going to conventions.

Land of Cran Comics has been through some crazy times, and has relocated, twice. But It has always been found in the Market Place Plaza, on Whipple Ave NW, in Canton, Ohio. Currently at 4611 Whipple Ave NW.

If you are in the area, stop by! It is a great shop, clean with LOTS of Comic Books! If The Cran is there, he might even talk comics with you, as long as the comics you like are Bone, Walt Disney Ducks, Lobo, The Demon, Transmetroplitan, Jonah Hex or the Amazing Spider-Man (prior to the Spider Buggy).

Otherwise, Terry would be happy to chat with you about comics, movies, tv, gaming or whatever fun topics happen to come up!

The Cran even gave the Cranboyz his blessing when I showed him our logo, based 100% off of his. His exact words were, "Hey, not bad!" And if you know The Cran, you know that is high praise indeed!

So, those are our roots. Where we come from and why. It probably doesn't explain a damn thing to anyone, but now you know a little bit more about the Cranboyz!

My First Cover

Granted, I bought it in 1995 :)

As published:



The actual artwork:

Cover Fire!

I know I don't need to post new artwork here, everytime I pick something up. I know there is a very nice link, to the right, to ALL of my art, and the rest of the Cranboyz, on CAF. However, I just had to share this!


My very first cover! How cool!


Obviosuly, I am a pretty darn big G.I.Joe fan. If you look at my art collection, you may pick up that I am a pretty big fan of Robert Atkins as well. So, not a massive surprise that I would pick up a cover from him. Except, G.I. Joe has given Robert a nice boost and made him an even more popular artist, making it harder and harder to get artwork from him.


So, when I was lucky enough to see this art, before it came out, I asked if it was available. I mean, Flint is one of my favorite Joes and here he is, dead center on a cover! By Robert Atkins! I didn't even know what the cover was for at the time! And I got the cover! But couldn't really share it until it was officially relased by IDW. And now it is!!

I present to you, G.I. Joe Special Mission Vol 1 TPB Cover by IDW (reprinting the Marvel Special Missions run, for those of you that care!)!

I also included a copy of the colored cover, without the Logo and Text! Isn't it great! I certainly think so!


Thanks again Robert!

And Yo Joe!
Shane

Who (or What) Are the Cranboyz?!?!

WE Are The Cranboyz! Of Course!

I guess there needs to be a little bit more explanation, huh?

The Cranboyz (and CranGirl) are a bunch of friends who mostly know each other from our local comic book store, Land of Cran Comics. We travel to Comic Books shows (or Conventions, or Cons) and collect sketches, commissions and original pages. We have drifted away from each other, in location only! However, we are always talking, calling, texting and emailing each other about our travels and collections. Always!

We just love this stuff! And not just reading comics and being at the shows. We plan these things non-stop! We are always making plans and trying to decide who the best artist is to draw a certain character for us!

Having been around awhile, we have made several friends , both from atendees as well as guests. This little corner of the internet has been sectioned off so that we can share all of our fun with any of them, or anyone else (who, hopefully, doesn't think we are too crazy!).

I am sure as time goes by, we will share a few of our secrets, some of the wild stories that make us laugh and maybe even a few of the reasons we do the things we do. If this stuff has continued to entertain us for all this time, someone else has Got to thinks it's fun, too... Right?

Well regardless, we will be right here, amusing ourselves with the best artwork and friends we can get our hands on!

Shane

Testing...

The blog is looking great! I'll work up some Armor Wars art for the header...

Hey Guys!

I'm on blogger but I never post to my own site. I usually just use it to post to other peoples stuff. So we can use this like the website Shawn has been working on?

Welcome!

Welcome Aboard Everyone!
I hope for this to be a cool new way for the Cranboyz to share stories and art from the cons we go to!

Off to the side, there are a few groupings of links. One of those includes links to all of the Comic Art Fans pages of each of the Cranboyz. There are also links to Cons, Artists, our Message Board and of course, Land of Cran itslef!

I look forward to seeing everyone here!

Shane

My Test

Hopefully, unlike college, I will pass this test :)

I Hate Tests!

Here is the first entry on Cranboyz Online! A test, if you will, to see how this all works out!

Please stand by for actual posts...