More Comic-Con Stuff

During the San Diego Comic-Con, I was pleasantly surprised to see these beautiful slipcased hardcover versions of Frank Frazetta's White Indian and Johnny Comet at the Vanguard booth. I was delighted to see how they had turned out. I think the special treatment is appropriate to the contents of these books. I'm very excited to receive my copies. I believe they will reach Vanguard's warehouse sometime next week, and then, maybe another week before they reach retailers. Wow, these look fabulous...

Here's a picture of artist Walter Simonson holding the special very limited edition of his Thor Artist's Edition. This edition is limited to ten copies. Each book will have an original drawing by Walter which is glued onto the debossed area on the cover. The cover is also printed with metallic ink. The book also comes in a special slipcase with a wrap around image of Thor and Beta Ray Bill. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be comped one of these versions, and I certainly don't have enough money to be able to afford one. All inquiries about purchasing one of these books, can be directed to IDW.

During Comic-Con, an announcement was made about the newest IDW Artist's Edition book. The latest book will be on Wally Wood's EC stories. This book, is even bigger than the previous Artist's Editions, this behemoth measures 15" x 22". Through editor Scott Dunbier's hard work, there have been 16 stories that have been collected for this edition. When you realize that these stories are over 55 years old, that is an amazing accomplishment, to gather all of the original art in one place. Each page looks like a collage of different techniques and layers. I think it really takes looking at this artwork, this way, to appreciate the drive and determination, that Wally Wood had to be the best at his craft. Each page looks so laborious and intense, there is so much detail in each panel that he drew. This is really so amazing to see, I think this will really blow people's minds.

I'm so grateful to be able to work on so many amazing projects.

San Diego Comic-Con 2011

The hardware

Feeling like I'm being watched during my acceptance speech

Blair Butler from G4 TV talking about the Rocketeer Artist's Edition

I'm still in recovery mode from the San Diego Comic-Con experience. I really look forward to going, but while I'm there it is just so overwhelming, that it's hard to keep days straight and remember everything that happened. I do remember however, the absolute highlight of the 4 days, that I was there, it was winning the Eisner Award for "Best Publication Design" for the Rocketeer Artist's Edition book. Before going I didn't want to make a big deal about it, because when you have high expectations, it can easily be followed by big disappointments. The experience was certainly surreal. To be in a big ballroom, surrounded by people, who's work you admire, is quite humbling. Even during the ceremony, I didn't feel any sense of anticipation or nervousness. I was just attending a banquet to celebrate other people's achievements. Suddenly, when the big screen flashed up a picture of the Rocketeer book, along with my name for my award category, things changed drastically. I, at that moment, wanted to win...badly! It was very exciting to have my name announced, right along with Dave Stevens. Then panic set in, because, I'd have to walk all the way up to the stage and actually give an acceptance speech. I'm pretty sure I thanked all the people I was supposed to thank, I really can't remember much about it. It's certainly a great honor and privilege to be acknowledged by your peers for doing good work. I realized, this makes me want to work that much harder to continue to do my best work. I'd love to be able to add another Eisner to my shelf someday.

John Fleskes wrote a very nice personal blog about his feelings on my Eisner win, it can be found here... http://fleskpublications.com/blog/2011/07/31/randall-dahlk-wins-2011-best-publication-design-eisner-award/#comments

I don't know if there is any interest in this, but here's an audio version of the entire Eisner Awards ceremony. My award comes at the 1:04:32 point in the evening. http://www.thecomicbooks.com/Audio/11-07-22-SD-WillEisnerAwards.mp3