Drawing For Life Marathon A Success!

Drawing For Life Marathon was a success on April 5th. Logan and David believe they have met, and perhaps surpassed, their fundraising goal of $1,000 for the American Cancer Society. We came by during the 3 pm Power Hour, while Logan and David were drawing cartoon figure in five minute increments.










Even Alpha Cat Comic creators Rob Jones and LaTwan Holland got in on the action. I believe the foursome were working on interpretations of Sponge Bob Squarepants during this photo. Logan's looked appropriately cheery and optimistic, while Rob's...well lets just say Sponge Bob must have eaten a few bad Crabby Patties.
The event was covered by Daniel Richardson with Jacksonville's new pop culture and entertainment magazine The Spinner Rack. Come by the shop to pick up a copy of the magazine.



Also, be sure to make it to Fletcher High School in Jacksonville Beach on April 26th for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life where Logan and David's artwork will be for sale. All proceeds go to the American Cancer Society. You can pick up a Wonder Woman illustration by Rob Jones at the Relay, as well. Help support the American Cancer Society and Jacksonville's local artists!

See Logan's Comic Art and Photography at Comics & Classics from May 3rd to May 31st. We'll end Free Comic Book Day on May 3rd with a reception for Logan's Art Show that evening from 7pm-9pm.

1st Annual Drawing for Life Marathon

Comics & Classics is proud to help support the 1st Annual Drawing for Life Marathon April 5th. Artists Logan Zawacki and David King will start drawing non-stop for as many hours as their hands will allow with hopes of raising over $1,000 for the American Cancer Society.

Both members of the team "Logan's Heroes," Logan and David are participating with the Relay for Life campaign to give everybody a chance to become a hero. Comics & Classics is asking everyone to pledge $2 to $5 for every hour they draw. If you'd like to make a pledge, email Logan at lzcreations@hotmail.com. If you'd like to join along with us and donate to the team, simply go to the link www.main.acsevents.org/goto/Logans_Heroes and click on the Donate icon.

All sketches/artwork will be sold at the "Logans Heroes" tent at the Relay for Life Walk to be held at Fletcher High School in Jacksonville Beach April 26th.
Be a hero and pledge or donate today!

Don't worry, C & C will be sending "spies" to be sure Logan and David keep drawing non-stop. We're hoping for hand cramps and seizures, causing them to draw with their feet or clutching a pencil between their teeth around hour 10 or so. C & C will pay extra for that artwork!

Better Late Than Never

Okay, I'm a slacker. If you've followed this blog at all, you know I did drop out from my "responsible" job as a teacher, molding the minds of America's youth to open a book and comic store, so it's no surprise that I've spent all week putting off this post. No bad intentions here. I'm just a bit lazy, since spring has sprung.

Apology finished.

Saturday, March 22nd's visit from Alpha Cat Comics went splendid. Alpha Cat celebrated the release of two new books, Behemoth #1 (LaTwan Holland - writer, Antonio Brandao - artist, Rob Jones - inker) and Perfect Storm #1 (Gary Carbon - writer, Rob Jones - co-writer and artist, Dick Giordano - cover art and flashback pencils).

Unfortunately, Dick Giordano could not attend the event but has promised to reschedule. We look forward to hanging out with the legendary artist and editor.

As a special treat, David King, local comic strip creator, was able to drop by. His strip Oscar & Sid is the story of two best friends. The strip begins on the day the two graduate from college. It's unpretentious and full of heart. Check it out at www.myspace.com/oscarsid. David is currently working on a project for the American Cancer Society with local comic artist and photographer Logan Zawacki. See our event page for more info.

Dave was even nice enough to draw an Oscar & Sid panel for our friend and comic artist phenom Rob Jones. We wish we could tell you who will be drawing the cover for Perfect Storm #2. It's very exciting but I don't want to jinx it! Plus, Rob didn't tell me I could, and, trust me, you do not want to make this guy mad!

Off to the Spring Book Show in Atlanta tomorrow. Looking forward to finding rare gems among the many new publications and great graphic novels to bring back to our fair ocean town.

Jeff Kaufman from Big City Comics Visits Comics & Classics!

We'll we finally did it! We had our first "official" event. We are no longer "event" virigins. Don't worry...Jeff Kaufman went easy on us! (okay...enough of that talk ;o)

Yesterday, select customers got to spend time chatting personally with writer/publisher Jeff Kaufman of Big City Comics.

See that big smile on Jeff's face? Yep, he had a good time! I couldn't get him to sit at the nifty author table I set up, however.


We met Jeff at the recent Orlando MegaCon and he was nice enough to drop by our store for a few hours while he was in town with family. Jeff shared his views on the progress of Big City Comic's titles and their nomination as Best Independent Comic Press in 2007. Indie? Small Press? Upstarts? What do we call ourselves, Jeff mused. We call them GREAT ... and we're really diggin' the great titles they put out - Tempest, Totem, Dragon Cross, Ant Unleashed, and the latest title Ant Unleashed. My personal favorite, as I shared with Jeff, is Dragon Cross. The depth of character development in just the first few issues is impressive and evidence of Jeff's strong story-telling skills. Jeff's got mad skills! But check it out for the art by Rob Richardson as well, whose passion for his subject shines through on each page.





Also, we we're lucky enough to hang out with Diamond Comics Distributor Region Rep Eric Hitchcock. No pictures of Eric, though. I got the feeling he prefered to be the picture taker. I'm hoping to see our good press and pics on his "From the Road" report.

The first time went so well, we're going to do it again next Saturday! Spreading the love around, this time we'll hang out with the new guys from Alpha Cat Comics, who are releasing their Number 1 issues of Perfect Storm and Behemoth and comic artist and legend Dick Giordano, who was so gracious to accept our invite to visit our humble store.

The Spectacular Spider-man

On Saturday 3/8/08, The Kids WB debuted a new cartoon The Spectacular Spider-Man. This new show tries yet again to redefine Spider-Man for a new generation. Is it any good? How is the animation? And lastly, does it stay true to the Spider-Man mythos? The answer to these questions is a resounding yes!

The show starts with a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He's 16 years old and has been Spider-Man for about four months. Basically as he states when we first meet him as he is swinging through a nighttime Manhattan:

"How I spent my summer vacation by Peter Benjamin Parker. I can sum it up in one glorious hyphenated word : Spider-Man!!!! I am the Spectacular Spider-Man!!!"

So we don't get the spider-bite or Uncle Ben's death. That's fine. Most of us know the origin of Spider-Man and we don't need a rehashing. Besides we quickly learn in flashbacks how he became Spider-Man so if you've been on another planet for the last 40 years you can catch up.

Oh yeah, you better hold on when you watch this show because in the first two episodes we have been introduced to Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Aunt May ( she has money troubles), Anna Watson, Harry and Norman Osborn, Otto Octavious, Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Robbie Robertson, Betty Brant, Frederick Fosewell, Eddie Brock, Curt Connors, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen (she's Latina, in the comics she's a blond white girl), Sally Avril (those fans of Untold Tales of Spider-Man will remember her), Adrian Toomes ( The Vulture), Flint Marko (Sandman), Max Dillion (Electro), Hammerhead, The Enforcers, and The Big Man.

Phew, that's a lot. The only character conspicuously missing is Mary Jane Watson, but her Aunt Anna is in the show and there's no reason to have her and not have MJ so I expect that at some point she will show up.

The tone of the show closely mirrors the Ultimate Spider-Man book, so if you like that you'll like this. There are multiple plot threads that involve both Spider-Man (He's been Spider-Man for four months and has fought nothing but regular criminals. Now real honest-to-goodness super-villains are showing up, and he's got an unseen enemy plotting against him : The Big Man) and Peter Parker (he wants to date Liz Allen but he's a nerd so she won't give him the time of day at least not in front of her friends, he needs a way to make money because he and his aunt are broke, and he has to respect his Aunt's 10pm curfew which is tough when you're hanging upside down fighting Electro).

One of the cutest moments in the show is when he gets his nightly call on his cell at 9:58 pm from Aunt May wondering where he is. The ring tone is "Itsy Bitsy Spider." It fits with he overall tone of cheekiness and fun that the show has. This is the wisecracking, high-energy Spider-Man that we grew up and liked. The third Spider-Man movie could have taken a lot from this simple cartoon. This show does a lot of things right.

What does it do wrong? Well, if you are not a fan of the Anime style that a lot of cartoons are employing now and that the young kids love you may not like the animation. All the characters have eyes that seem freakishly large. And you may want the show to slow down and pace itself a little. But I'm probably nitpicking. All in all, a great effort and I can't wait for next week.

Percy Johnson
Owner, Comics & Classics