Jeremy Bastian is one of the most amazing and facinating artists in the industry. I could gaze at the intricacy of his artwork for hours. Cursed Pirate Girl is a series that he had been self publishing up until recently. You can find collected volumes of his first storyarc out there.... and NYCC 2011 found him there to announce that he had joined in a partnership with ARCHAIA to publish a new volume of his collected story in the Sprig of 2012 with a new series to follow. If you are unaware of his work, feel free to check out my gallery pieces. I have another on order from him.... or check out other CAF galleries and track down a copy of this book!

Gabe Hardman's artwork continues to impress and resonate with me. I find myself drawn to it and my trip to NYCC 2011 found both he and writer Corrina Sara Bechko in Artist Alley, promoting their much-anticipated Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes limited series from BOOM, to be published in November 2011. I'm not surprised that I had more cool chats with both of them, but I still can't quite believe I walked away from their table with the cover art for issue #1.Hardman at his best! Depicting some damn, dirty apes as well as some really grubby human beings. *Yeah yeah, let the man-crush comments begin once again!*

My wife had a commission done by Mr. Marcos of the Avengers vs. Nefaria (he was Mr. Byrne's inker), and the results were very nice.  As an added bonus, he sent along a birthday card which I included below...

You know it Lloyd... outstanding.......... in the swamp!!!!

I first met Eddy Barrows at the NYC 2010 and was not very familiar with his work at the time. I looked through his portfolio as we talked and was immediately blown away by his both his art. Eddy is not only an amazing artist, but a dynamic storyteller, drawing in the reader and emotionally holding fast with each page of any given tale. When I saw him again this year, I found myself amazed at how much he had grown as an artist over the past year. What had been amazing skills previously, were now staggering in my mind. I managed to pick up a few pages from Nightwing #2, including a double-splash and 2 dynamic and extremely pathos-filled pages. I now own several pages of his art and count myself very lucky in that regard. Eddy's artwork makes me smile and moves my heart..... yeah, it may sound cheesy, but it is a truthful statement, none the less. This is the first of the 2 sequential pages I previously mentioned, Nightwing #2, page 19.

and here is page #20... It reminds me of another page I bought from him last year (also in my CAF gallery), of a grief-filled man.... Eddy's ability to depict deep emotion blows me away...

I saved the gem of the show for last... Eddy Barrows at his best, with his friend Paulo Siqueira doing some never before inked work over someone else...... the detail is amazing to me as is the emotional impact of Dick Grayson's return to the circus he was originally born and raised.