My Top Ten Favorite PUNISHER Artists

I recently re-watched Punisher War Zone (my favorite Punisher flick, by the way) and then watched all the extras. They went through a lot of trouble to make the film resemble the comics and that got me thinking about my favorite Punisher stories and artists. I came up with a 5 favorite artist without trying and decided to make a Top 10 list. It actually wasn't as easy as I thought but here's what I cam up with!

10. Goran Parlov.
I had noticed Parlov's Punisher art on covers but wasn't reading any of his stories, so his name never clicked. It wasn't until I read Fury My War Gone By with the story of Nick Fury and Frank Castle sneaking around the Vietnam/Cambodian jungles, that it came together. I could read volumes of those two silently making their way through fields and jungles, just beautiful!
Parlov brings us a very down to earth, dirty, Punisher. He doesn't look neat and clean with brand new weapons, straight off the shelf, and that's really the way the Punisher should look. He looks strong, rough around the edges and like he could pull an extra weapon out of anywhere, at any moment.

9. Ariel Olivetti.
Again, I don't think I've read a Punisher story drawn by Olivetti, but his work really makes me want to! His Punisher is a huge, bruiser who looks like he could kill you without any weapons! This is a big, intimidating Punisher. Olivetti's style is clean but not overly so. The Punisher looks like he's been through some nonsense and he's not going to let you get away with anything!

8. Mitch Gerads.
I'll admit, I'm in love with Mitch's Punisher! His Frank Castle looks unkempt but serious. Gerads decks him out in real world gear, keeping the skull logo front and center, and it works! This is the Punisher I want to see kicking in doors and shooting more bad guys than I can count. Thankfully, Nate Edmondson supplies Mitch (and Frank) with plenty of moving targets!

7. Whilce Portacio.
Ok, Whilce didn't have a big run on Punisher. He didn't have to, his Punisher looked like a super hero running around taking out scum! It was fantastic! And he went up against the Kingpin, epic! Whilce's style has always been super detailed and his Punisher was no different. Slicked back hair, ripped muscles and plenty of guns, this Punisher honestly made my initial Top 5, but I had to make room for the greats!

6. Mark Texeira.
Somehow Tex brought us a grim and gritty bad ass without losing any of the "super hero" flavor. This Punisher looked like he had been drug through an alley before showing up on the comic page. With muscles that could snap a neck with ease, the towering figure of the Punisher looks like he really has been waging his war for years!

5. Joe Jusko.
I love that Jusko can make the Punsiher look like a super star and keep him a grounded character, What other character looks like he was ripped off the cover of a Men's Pulp Action novel. This is seriously the Manly Man's Punisher!

4. John Romita JR.
Sure it was the 90's but everyone wanted JR JR's Punisher War Zone #1! Why? Because the Punisher had never looked more like the thug he was hunting. Built like a tank, sweaty, greased back hair and a big broken nose, this Punisher was all business! Load him up with enough guns and grenades to take out a large city and this Punisher is ready for war!

3. Jim Lee.
Yes, Jim frigging Lee! He not only draws a killer Punisher, he drew him in every environment, with every weapon. This was a seriously cool, straight out of a Hollywood Movie, Punisher. Even when he was done on the book, I can't tell you how many covers Jim Lee did for the book, every one a solid hit!

2. Tim Bradstreet.
There's no way a list like this can be made without Bradstreet! I think he actually goes down into the sewers, finds the Punisher and draws him. This is the most realistic looking, photo accurate, dark and moody Punisher there could be! I can only say, Bravo!

1. Mike Zeck.
Without a Mike Zeck Punisher this list wouldn't exist! Maybe you would switch him and Bradstreet, I wouldn't. When I met the Punisher for the first time, I was introduced to him by Mike Zeck. This was a solid workhorse that you knew would look you in the eyes as he pulled the trigger. This Clint Eastwood/Sylvester Stallone looking machine carried the biggest guns and fought armies of the baddest thugs. I can never get enough on Mike Zeck's Punisher.

Honorable Mention: Eliot Brown.
This is the guy who gave us hundreds of the coolest Punisher pin-ups, ever! You don't know the name? Shame on you! Pick up any Marvel Technical page or even better, an issue of the Punisher Armory! Elliot Brown is the artistic genius who gave us all of those awesome shots of the Punisher's favorite weapons and gear on the work bench, gun range or back alley! Thank you for making the Punisher even cooler, Mr. Brown!

There it is! I may have overlooked someone. There's been so much incredible Punisher art, over the years, I tried to keep it to people who worked on the actuall title, too. There were a few I considered but they just drew Frank Castle in a pin-up or cross over. Who do you think should have made the list?

2013 OUT Of This WORLD!

The Cranboyz had a great year in 2013 and part of it was our annual sketch theme, Out Of This World! With this theme any characters from outer space, other worlds, realities and dimensions were what we were after! We have a lot of them, so lets get started!

First off is Popa's ALIEN sketch by Wilfredo Torres. This one is a killer and perfect for our theme!

Andy put a little thought behind Midnighter and Apollo of the Authority. Midnighter is by former Batman/Nightwing artist, Scott McDaniel and Apollo is by former Superman artist, Ron Frenz!

 

Eric added a few Avengers to the mix with the half-Kree Ms. Marvel by Gene Gonzales, Iron Man in his Undersea Armor by Sean Forney and Hercules by Ron Frenz!

 

Popa really raised the bar with 2 commissions of his favorite Inhuman, Crystal! The first is by the legendary Chris Sprouse and the second is by Tom Grummett!

Karen refused to let Out of this World go by without a Dr Who sketch! This one is by Mitch Gerads!

Dave nailed our theme with this epic sketch of Eternity and Doctor Strange by Ron Salas!

Being a huge Firefly/Serenity fan, Andy picked up a sketch of Zoe from Jenny Frison!

Now Karen takes our themes pretty seriously and this year was no exception. While trying to figure out what characters she could get, she decided on all the Heralds of Galactus, she could get! (She already has an awesome Silver Surfer) So, here is Air-Walker by Shannon Gallant (always with the jokes!) and Nova by Gary McKee!

Karen also got  Firelord by Ron Salas,  Terrax by Tom Raney and Stardust by Brian Shearer!

Shane went with a Steranko-style Nick Fury in his space suit by Ron Frenz!

Knowing that Gene Gonzales was also a Stargate fan, Shane got a 2-page pin-up of O'Neill, Carter, Daniel and Teal'c of SG-1, on 2 11x17 pages! (OK, so the second half was done in 2014, but it all started in 2013 and it looks so cool, together!)

Tom Raney really delivered the details on this Super Skrull for Popa!

Andy had the great idea to have Paul Azaceta draw Peter Parker fighting off the Symbiote suit!

Our resident Transformers fan, Shawn, brought us a few sketches. The wicked Starscream holding Megatron's head is by Shawn's daughter, KAITY DUNHAM! I have a few sketches from Kaity and she's the best! He also picked up Contructicon, Mix Master, by Chris Warner and Hotrod by AJ Sabino!

From the TMNT corner of fandom, Andy picked up this tough looking Slash by Adam Withers and Krang by Ron Salas!

Based on the Titans of Tomorrow story, where the Teen Titans fight their evil, future, counterparts, Shane picked up Superman(Conner Kent), Batman (Tim Drake) by Darryl Banks and Wonder Woman (Cassie Sandsmark) by Lee Moder.

Making his first entrance into a Cranboyz sketch theme, Shane's nephew Josh picked up this stellar Darth Vader sketch from Ron Frenz!

Going after the X-Universe, Shane started off with Wolverine (Agent of SHIELD, from What If? vol 2, issue 7). Then Sean Forney went Out of this World with this Age of Apocalypse Sabertooth and added in Holocaust and Wild Child!

Next, Shane picked up this sketch of Magik by Bob McLeod from our friend Carlos Lising! Adam Withers drew this intense sketch of Rachel Summers as a Hound and Todd Nauck did this incredible Longshot!

Finally, Daniel Govar created this masterpiece of Storm, from everyone's favorite X-Men story, Asgardian Wars! And David Wachter drew far more than the Wolverine versus a Brood that Shane asked for! 

As usual, we had loads of fun collecting sketches and Out of this World kept us on our toes! The best part of going to conventions anymore is getting to visit and catch up with friends but we're all there for comics and nonsense and getting sketches is what we do! See you on the con floors in 2014!

Darryl Banks is the new artist on West Coast Avengers!!!

Without realizing it going into this weekend's Cleveland Comic Con (Thanks to Shane for bringing it to my attention), I was well on my way to having the entire original lineup of the West Coast Avengers drawn by Darryl. I ending up deciding to get Wonder Man from him this weekend (I only need Tigra now).



I also got Guardsman from Sean Forney.

Popa's Jeremy Haun Art Collection

Before 2008, I think I'd met comic book artist Jeremy Haun once, buying a couple trades off him while he worked on a GI Joe sketch for Shane - probably BeachHEAD.  But I was hanging around Heroes Con 2008 and Shane walked up to me and said 'you need to go talk to Jeremy Haun.'  I asked why and he said 'because he thinks The Creature From the Black Lagoon is the hero of the movie, like you do.'

Given that Haun was clearly a genius, I went over and introduced myself to Jeremy Haun and we started talking about monster movies, quickly realizing we had the same taste in them.  Then we realized not only did we have the same taste in good horror movies, we also had the same taste in bad horror movies.  Here's the thing: lots of people like respectable horror movies, Universal monster movies and the like but a lot of those people don't like sleazy horror movies, slasher movies and their endless and more brain-dead sequels.  But I love those movies and so does Haun.  And I don't mean 'we watch them and make fun of them the whole time.  We LIKE them.  We talked about the overlooked "Black Christmas" remake, a movie about five people on Earth like, but we're two of them.  We talked about "My Bloody Valentine" as if it were a classic piece of cinema.

We started talking the Saturday of that show and I was just starting my horror movie sketchbook.  All that Black Lagoon talk certainly got me interested in getting a commission of The Creature from Jeremy, which he obliged.  I gave him my book and he said he'd do the sketch that night in his room.

The next morning he delivered this gem to my comicbook art collection:



The funniest part (to me) is that apparently he spent too much time on my piece the night before and didn't get the piece he'd been working on before it done -- which was Shane's sketch that got bumped to the next morning!

Jump ahead to the first C2E2 convention in Chicago which Shane and I attended.  The year before that convention the Cranboyz and I had a theme called "Year of the Serpent" wherein Shane and I got sketches of the Captain America villains The Serpent Society and our friends got other sketches with a serpentine theme.  Well, another thing Jeremy and I have in common is a fondness for childish innuendo, laughing at characters named Snowjob and The Hard Master like twelve year-olds.  Thus I saved the Serpent Society member BUSHMaster for him.  To say he delivered on the ... subtext ... would be an understatement :)



At that same show, though, I was hanging around BS'ing and Jeremy said 'dude, what are you doing making me draw a superhero, where's the monster book?'  So we chatted a bit about what he might draw and settled on Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King's "It" novel and movie.

Jeremy delivered this perfectly disturbing rendition of that classic villain the next day, a sketch that scares women and children because Pennywise is evil.  The blood running down the drain is a particularly good effect, same with the 'missing children' posters.



Next time I saw Jeremy was Heroes Con in 2012 and decided to keep going with classics, asking for an old school Leatherface, which I oh so politely called 'full retard version.'  This intense sketch came the next day, love that massive chainsaw in the foreground.



When this year's Heroes Con rolled around, I planned ahead, asking Jeremy way in advance what he wanted to draw, settling on the options of Candyman or Jason Voorhees but the Friday the 13th part 2 version, where he wore the pillowcase over his head.  Jeremy jumped at the idea of drawing Jason.

When I got to the show I gave him my sketchbook and told him I had reference but he scoffed at the suggestion.  He didn't need no stinkin' reference, even telling me a story that he visited a family member before the show and asked if they had a potato pitchfork he could use for reference to get the angle of the shot right.

Seriously, this piece kicks major ass -  assuming those aren't my hands in the foreground!



Oh, as an added bonus, I helped support Jeremy's Kickstarter book "Bad Karma" and when I received my hardback, he'd drawn a quick sketch of Leslie Vernon inside the box.  Why Leslie Vernon?  Because, Leslie Vernon's awesome, everyone knows that.



So thanks Jeremy for all this great artwork -- I'm sure you'll be adding a lot more to the book as the years go on!!   I mean, who else wants to draw the Miner from "My Bloody Valentine?"

Top 5 Favorite Sketch Experiences

I was flipping through my sketchbooks the other day, and it got me thinking about the experiences of getting each one.  I have a lot of great memories in the years I’ve spent collecting original artwork, but there are a few that stand out not only due to the quality of the sketch itself, but also because of experience of getting it.  So, I decided to put together this list of my top five favorite sketch experiences.

5)  Triceraton Warrior by Kevin Eastman

I’ve been a fan of the TMNT since I was a kid, and although my fandom started with the 1987 cartoon, it was not long until I discovered the Turtles’ origins in comics with the oversized, full-color graphic novels of Eastman and Laird’s original series published by First.  So when I finally got the chance to meet Kevin Eastman at Dragon*Con in 2012, I was pretty ecstatic to get the chance to talk to one of the creators of the TMNT.  I waited in line for about an hour or so, as Kevin was very gracious and generous to his fans, allowing himself plenty of time to chat, sign books and even do sketches for each one.  When my turn finally came, I asked if he would be willing to sketch a Triceraton Warrior, the design of which I had always loved.  Kevin was really excited to draw one for me, as he didn’t get too many chances to draw them these days.  As he sketched for me, we discussed all things Turtles, including the 2007 animated movie, the new animated series and the latest comic series from IDW.  In the end, I walked away with some signed hardcovers and this great sketch, but it was the chance to meet one of the creators of some of my favorite characters that made this a truly great experience.

4)  J. Jonah Jameson by Brian Hurtt

When Shane, Popa and I first saw Brian’s table at Mid-Ohio back in 2006, we remembered that he had done some work for Greg Rucka’s espionage series Queen and Country. That evening, after getting back home from the con, I pulled out some trade paperbacks of Queen and Country and decided that I needed to get a sketch from him.  I did some research, flipping through a couple of volumes of Essential Amazing Spider-man trades only to realize what I needed him to draw was J. Jonah Jameson.  Brian seemed genuinely entertained by the idea to draw Jolly Jonah, and it certainly shows in the energy of the sketch.  We all enjoyed meeting and talking to Brian at the show that year, as he was a very fun guy and a great artist.  This of course, led to myself and the rest of the Cranboyz getting many sketches and commissions from Brian in the years to come, but it all started here with this fun sketch.

3)  Starman by Adam Withers

During 2011, the Cranboyz went without a specific sketch theme for the year, but instead planned to go heavy on DC characters to honor our late friend Adam Hauenstein.  I had decided pretty early on that I wanted to concentrate on getting Starman characters throughout the year, as Adam had introduced me to the series by gifting me his copies of the first 6 issues he had rescued from his flooded basement.  I immediately fell in love with the series and Adam eventually asked me to contribute a Starman sketch to his own sketchbook several years later.  And so, I thought this a fitting theme of my own for the year, and collected several amazing sketches of Starman characters.  Our friends Comfort Love and Adam Withers had recently started doing some top-notch Copic marker sketches, and I decided to set up a couple of them, including this particular sketch of Jack Knight, as a sort of a cap to my year of Starman.  It really couldn’t have felt more fulfilling to pick this sketch up from Mr. Withers…   Not only is it an incredible, detailed sketch of one of my all-time favorite characters, but I feel like it perfectly represents my intent to honor JLAdam with this small series of sketches.

2)  Spider-man by Mike Wieringo

In 2004, I attended my very first Heroes Convention in Charlotte, which to this day is my favorite convention.  That year, I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite artists in the industry, Mike Wieringo.  I was determined to get a sketch from him at the show, and was thrilled to be one of the first in line at his table on Friday morning, second only to my pal, John Popa.  Popa and I waited patiently for Mike and were rewarded with the first two spots on his list.  Mike himself was a genuinely great guy, very friendly and gracious to his fans.  He was a pleasure to talk to and of course, he delivered some great sketches for us at that show.  Popa received his legendary Shadowcat sketch, and I received this classic Spidey sketch, which is still one of my very favorite pieces of art that I own.  Mike’s passing was a shock to creators and fans everywhere, and I truly feel blessed not only to own a piece of original artwork from the man, but also to have had several brief chances to meet and talk with him over the next couple of years.

1)  Banshee by Paul Ryan

I don’t believe that any sketch experience will top the one I had getting this sketch.  Although it wasn’t my first time at a convention, my trip with Shane Simek to the Motor City Comic Con in 1996 was the first time I had ever went to meet creators and collect original sketches.  There are many great stories I could tell from that convention, but my most cherished one happened when I went to check in on the Banshee sketch I had commissioned from Paul Ryan.  Shane and I went to Paul’s table to see if he had had a chance to work on our sketches, but unfortunately Paul had stepped away from his table.  Paul’s wife recognized us however, and directed us to where Paul was sitting behind the curtains of Artist Alley where he was catching up on some of his sketches from that day.  Paul welcomed us back and told us to grab a seat, as he was currently working on Shane’s sketch of Psylocke.  So there I sat, talking comics with my best friend and Paul Ryan, one of the finest artists in the industry, as he worked on our sketches in front of us.  He made sure to keep each sketch hidden from us until he finished them, so that we still got to experience the big reveal.  Truly, this remains one of my favorite memories of any convention.

Runner-up: Mary Jane Watson by Cliff Chiang

I chose not to count this in my final list because I wasn’t actually there to get the sketch, but I had to at least make mention of it, since it ended up being a truly funny and memorable experience.  I was unable to attend the Heroes Convention in 2007 after the birth of my son, but Shane said he would be happy to take my Spider-man sketchbook down with him to the show to get a sketch of Mary Jane from Cliff Chiang.  While at work on the Friday during the show, I discovered that Cliff Chiang was scanning and posting his con sketches to his blog.  I was pretty excited about the prospect of seeing my sketch before my book even got home, so I made the mistake of telling Shane what Cliff was doing.  So, for the rest of the day, and the rest of the weekend, I continued to check back at Cliff’s sketch blog and check in with my friends to see if Cliff had gotten to my sketch.  Finally, Cliff ended up posting a Mary Jane sketch, but when I looked at the caption, it had one sentence that caught my eye, “Andy, this is still not your Mary Jane sketch.  Your friends are bastards.”  Yes, Cliff.  Yes they are.  About a week or so later, Shane came down to Columbus for the Origins gaming convention, and I finally got to see my sketch of MJ.  Cliff’s sketch turned out great of course, but it was the experience that really it stand out when flipping through my book.