Scott Kress at Catskill Comics is the exclusive agent for Mike Grell commissioned art. Fans looking for comic art originals or wishing to commission a special piece for their wall can contact Scott at: www.catskillcomics.com
Hi, guys –
After 50 years of doing business as Creative Fire Studio, Inc., I’m launching a new venture under the name FIVE CENTS CHANGE ENTERTAINMENT LLC to better reflect my goals and end confusion among those who thought I was a freelance arsonist.
The name comes from the good old days of Saturday Matinees when mom and dad would drop the kids off at the local movie theater with a quarter and pick them up three or four hours later, having spent the free time doing whatever married folks did when there were finally no kids around. For that one quarter, we got to watch two cartoons (at least), a short feature (usually THE THREE STOOGES), a two-reeler, sometimes a serial chapter and a double feature. Admission was a dime, popcorn and soda were a nickel each, leaving FIVE CENTS CHANGE to buy enough penny candy (usually three or five pieces for a penny) to keep you whirling like a dervish in class for a week.
With that memory in mind, the goal of Five Cents Change Entertainment LLC is exactly that, entertainment. I will be producing content for all media, including film, television, audio books and dramatizations as well as continuing to develop comics and graphic novels. The first project is already underway for DC Comics with more to be announced in the coming year under my publishing imprint Masterstroke Studios Entertainment LLC, which is handling omnibus reprints of JON SABLE. FREELANCE and MAGGIE THE CAT as well as a very special project: MIKE GRELL’S MATINEE.
Stay tuned for updates as we continue to push forward while pushing the envelope.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Mike
I just learned of the passing of Tatjana Wood, one of the greatest comic book colorists of the last century. And she made it through almost the whole thing, coming up less than three days short of her 100th birthday. I’m pleased to say I knew her for over half of that and proud to say she colored covers for my book, THE WARLORD.
When I found out Tatjana would be working on my book, it made me want to do better work and she always gave back more than she got. But, in my opinion, her very finest work was on DC’s SWAMPTHING. Her beautiful colors and soft, subtle tones were a perfect match for the subject.
I first met Tatjana in the hallway outside Joe Orlando’s office at DC Comics. We were introduced by Wally Wood, whom I had met just a few minutes earlier. I told her how excited I was to learn she’d be working on my book. When Woody left, she kissed him warmly and watched him go. “My ex-husband,” she said. “Unusual, don’t you think, for us to be so close?” But I noticed there was a tear in her eye. “I love that man so much,” she said, “but I just can’t live with him.”
I believe that, when we come to the end of our run, we go back to being stardust and all those we loved and lost are waiting on the other side to welcome us.
I hope they found their way home.
–Mike Grell
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hi, Guys –
I’m sorry to say my scheduled appearance at Route 66 Comics in Sapulpa, OK near Tulsa has been cancelled. Given the state of the economy and the uncertainty of the world we find ourselves in, I can find no fault in the sponsors decision to cancel.
I’m sorry to disappoint the fans who were looking forward to getting together, but I know we’ll meet again down the road. While I have cut back on the number of my appearances, I’m not done by a long shot. Watch this site for announcements of upcoming shows.
Bestest,
Mike
Guys –
I will be appearing at 3 ALARM COMICS 15218 Lemoyne Blvd, Biloxi, MS 39532 on Mardis Gras Weekend–Valentines Day February 14 (and maybe 15th if I’m sober enough). The annual Biloxi Mardis Gras Parade kicks off right in front of the shop and it’s going to be a heck of a party.
Also appearing will be AUSTIN ST. JOHN, the RED POWER RANGER!
Come and see us!
Mike
Hi, Guys –
I tuned in LATE NIGHT WITH STEPHEN COLBERT to catch Hugh Jackman promoting his upcoming film THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD. After the show, I did a search for a trailer, when I spotted something familiar, a small image being touted as a promotional poster for director Michael Sarnoski’s film.
I clicked on it and this is what came up:
Flattery only goes so far before you begin to realize you’ve been ripped off. That’s my art, a commission piece done through Catskill Comics several years ago, no doubt lifted from the internet and used without permission, credit or compensation.
Whoever is responsible, I am issuing an immediate cease and desist. Mr. Sarnoski, if you wish to continue to use my art to promote your film, i’m willing to negotiate fair compensation. If not, please immediately remove my art from all promotional material, digital and otherwise.
Mike Grell
My DC editor Alex Galer has been stalwart in his support and tireless in his efforts to get the WARLORD omnibus editions off the ground. When I thanked him , he asked if there was anything else I needed to
My pat answer has always been: a pony… with stripes… horizon, not vertical like a zebra. Then, when I was hospitalized earlier this year, my nurse Rebecca presented me with a drawing and a tiny plastic pony… with horizontal stripes.
So I told Alex I wanted a Red Ryder BB gun.
This arrived today!
Thanks, Alex!! (I probably should have asked for a Lamborghini…)
Hi, guys-
For those of you who will be attending the Baltimore Comic Con here’s a sneak peek of a Warlord piece that took me over six months to complete. You read that right, six months from the time I started it until it was finished. A year ago this month I completely lost use of my right hand due to rheumatoid arthritis. By January I had regained enough mobility to begin drawing again, so I started with a layout for a Warlord piece. Then other medical stuff started happening and I turned the drawing face-down on my clipboard to protect it while I underwent a heart valve transplant. While at Galaxycon in Raleigh a fan commissioned a sketch of Black Canary. When it was finished, I took the page off the clipboard and—DOH! There was my Warlord layout on the back!! I wasn’t about to give it up, so I redrew BC for the guy.
The person who buys this piece at Baltimore is going to get a FREEBIE!
Mike
This is a small section of my wraparound dust jacket painting for the upcoming WARLORD OMNIBUS VOLUME 1.
I’ve put this off because it’s so hard. JIM SHOOTER passed away the day before yesterday and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I worked with him on SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES back in the ‘70s, an association that was not always pleasant for either of us, but later we became friends. And that’s the best part.
When I began working on SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES, I was teamed with Cary Bates who had a cinematic style of visual storytelling. He gave you all the important stuff that had to go into a panel and even called out camera angles, which helped on a nightmare book like LSH where there could be as many as a dozen characters in one panel.
Then came the word: Shooter’s coming back!
I confess, I had no idea who Shooter was, but I soon learned that he had started writing Legion stories in ADVENTURE COMICS featuring SUPERBOY and the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES when he was just 13 years old! HOLY CRAP!
When Jim returned to writing the LEGION in 1975, having more or less “retired” in 1969 after he graduated high school (Slacker!), we began a somewhat turbulent Writer/artist relationship. Jim’s tendency to over-write was the opposite of experiences I had had with Cary Bates and Denny O’Neil where they left enough to the artist to interpret so as to make it more of a collaborative effort. Jim micro-managed everything to the point of including layouts and sketches of bits of equipment that had almost nothing to do with the story. Scripts under Cary and Denny were usually one page per story page—Jim’s ran 60-90 pages. Not that they were bad, just so different. It was like Dad got remarried and one day there was a strange lady in the kitchen—she was nice enough, but her cooking wasn’t like Mom’s.
After we parted company, we continued to see each other over the years on the convention circuit, where—once creative differences were put aside–we finally became friends. The real kind. The gypsy life has a way of bringing folks together just often enough that you look forward to those mini-reunions and can relax and enjoy each other’s company.
Jim was a giant, not just in the comic industry, but in sheer size. Whenever we were asked to pose for photos, I used to jump up on the nearest chair and rest my elbow on his shoulder. Somewhere. I’m pretty sure there’s a photo of me standing with Jim, Mike Richardson and Steve Leialoha where all you can see is my hat.
News of Jim’s death was a gut-punch. He was a kid of only 73 who left an indelible mark on the comic industry over a career that spanned 60 years. A career unequaled, a life too damned short.
The Hall of Heroes is filling up.
Save me a seat, Jim.
–Mike Grell
I never saw a TV set until I was 8, and we didn’t have one until 1958 when I was 11, so I never had the joy of seeing Mel Brooks’ genius at work on Sid Caesar’s YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS until they came out in reruns. But I was definitely there in 1961 when Brooks and Carl Reiner performed THE 2.000 YEAR-OLD MAN on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW. It’s an absolute masterpiece that is still as fresh and funny as it was 64 years ago, probably because it was—and remains—an example improv genius.
If THE PRODUCERS wasn’t enough to solidify Mel Brooks as a Hollywood legend it was certainly cast in cement a Grauman’s Chinese Theater with the campfire fart scene in BLAZING SADDLES.
But Mel Brooks had already become my all-time favorite in 1963 when I sat in a movie theater waiting for the feature to start and watching the customary animated cartoon. (Back in the previous century movies usually began with a cartoon instead of a commercial) This one wasn’t BUGS BUNNY or THE ROADRUNNER, it was something called THE CRITIC. The screen lit up with a jumble of crazy shapes crawling and bouncing across the screen set to weird music. At the exact moment I thought to myself, ”What the hell is this?” I heard my own thoughts projected from the screen: “What the hell is this?”.
Only in Mel Brooks’ voice.
Google it—you’ll thank me later.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEL BROOKS! Only 1,901 more to go!
–Mike Grell (Class Clown ’65)