Well Merry Christmas,...Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays EVERYBODY! Happy New Year and many, many more to come.

Some folks have decried the commercialization of this Holiday season over the years, however you celebrate it or call it. I have a very very different turn on it.

The religion has to be there, and so it goes, But for me, Christmas is a people holiday,..but much more, it is a family, and an extended family holiday. Buying and giving presents is exactly what this Holiday season is all about, no matter what the religion or beliefs. Christmas, or Xmas is everyone's Holiday. My bookkeeper is chinese and my accountant is Jewish,...my mail man is protestant and African American and I DON'T ASK. They have been wonderful to me and my family all year, and I have NOTHING religious to say to them,...except MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR as I give them their presents.
And when I do,...it makes me feel really good inside. And THAT'S, to me, what the Christmas Season is all about.
And to all of you who have served to commercialize Christmas, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have made it possible for me to show, to all those people that I love , in some small way, how much I love and appreciate them.
And if I had an insane wish,..I wish there was some small way that I could give a small present to everyone who ever bought a comic book that I wrote or drew as a thank you.
Happy Holidays EVERYONE!
Neal

Watch This Video of Real Levitation

Neal Adams Portfolio Review Breakfast Update.

Well, the portfolio was a happy and successful event. We caught it on video, and we will be tracking the young artist's progress as they move forward. We are in the process of setting up more reviews. Very cool.

Part of the portfolio review will be the videotaping of our session to keep a record for young artists and ourselves, and for possible use in media. For those who sign up, we will be asking them to sign releases. The goal here is to use this as a way to promote, sponsor and mentor young artists through the various steps forward into possible employment.

The New York Comic Con 2011

At the New York Comic Con, I will not be doing portfolio reviews. However, we will have a portfolio review event on the Saturday of the con starting at 7 o’clock in the morning at ol’ Continuity. The cost of the event will be $300 per person. You will get to see Continuity, have a very nice breakfast and stick your hand in the meat grinder that is a portfolio review. I will spend time with each person that is there and we will have a general conversation, as well. After which, you’ll be able to go over to the convention which opens at 10 o’clock. This is a portfolio review and not a job interview, so don’t get it wrong. However, I will do my best to guide you into the sort of thinking that hopefully will lead to employment. For those of your that are coming, I’ll see you there.

To reserve your spot, please contact Kris at kris@nealadams.com or call 212.869.4170

Crusty Bunkers t-shirts.


Yes, we will have the Crusty Bunkers t-shirt at our booth. For those of you insane enough to want it, Lord knows why, it will be there. The same awful art direction. The same one color printing. And the same insanity that once was the Crusty Bunkers. This wasn’t my idea. They beat me up to get a Crusty Bunkers t-shirt. If you don’t know what the Crusty Bunkers is, ask somebody. It’s just a little too crazy for me to explain. If you were a Crusty Bunker, I will give you one free, of course.

Oops
Yep, I'll be at Hanleys on 4 W 33th st TONIGHT, to sign New Avengers 16.1 that I drew for Marvel, written by Brian Michael Bendis and inked by, the incredible Tom Palmer,..WHO,...will also be there to sign with me.
WITH ME and beside me for the VERY FIRST TIME as a co-signer will be Josh, my son, Adams, who will be signing his Dr Who Comic ,..that he Penciled and inked.
Sorry for the late notice.
It's tonight. 6:00 to 8:00 O:clock. I'll be there with bells on.
See you tonight.
Neal

Weren't You at Montreal this Weekend?

Yes, they speak French in Montreal, but they also speak English. And everybody at the comic book convention up in Montreal spoke English, except for one guy, and four little kids, all of which looked at me when I spoke to them. So I drew Batman for the kids, and I charged full price for the sketchbooks. Now that was a mistake, because it was Sunday, and Marilyn and Saori, Josh's girlfriend, had decided that we should discount the sketchbooks on Sunday. So I took the guy's money, and then I suddenly realized he had given me the full price. And when I looked for him, he had disappeared into the crowd. So there's some French-speaking Canadian out there, that missed a discount cause he couldn't speak English. Now in my book, that's his cost for not learning to speak English. Now, I don't want to get any letters from French-speaking Canadians, looking for that discount, and I'll tell you why. I just made that story up, cause I think this French-speaking thing has gotten out of hand.

Outside of that, it was a great convention. Everybody was friendly, then convention went from 8,00o people last year to get this, 18,000 people this year.

Now you may ask, "How come such an incredible jump in attendance?" Well it wasn't the French/English thing, that's for sure. I'll tell you what it was. It's because my son Josh and I, went on Friday Morning television, and did the best damn interview you could imagine. Then that same night, I went on a rock station, and told everybody about the upcoming convention, and that most folks make-up stories about what they're doing this weekend. And then come Monday, they didn't do anything at all. But that this weekend, they could come right into the middle of the city, and they'd run smack into a comic book convention, and meet Sergio Aragones, Stan Sakai, Herb Trempe, and yours truly. They could buy comics and toys, see cute girls, and guys (I suppose), running around in tight superhero outfits, screaming things like "Avengers Assemble", and strange Japanese words, and finally, they could meet Stan Lee.

Of course, I do have to admit, that the meeting Stan Lee part, was probably why a lot of folks came. Stan was at his best, and I have never heard the "Excelsior" repeated so many times in a 15 minute period, as on last Saturday.

I win.
Heh.
For the 2.5 people who are following the science stuff,..Geologists have discovered rock who's chemical signature is the same for the West Coast of the United States and Australia & Antarctica.
Meaning that they were once JOINED,....Just like my animations show.
Geologists around the world are waking to a new world. Every thin they know is about to change.
they'll try to escape from it, but they won't be able to. They've put their index fingers into either end of Chinese Finger Cuffs, and they never be able to get out. Some will chew their hands off to get away, but for most, it's too late. Each new discovery will lead inexorably to finding the rifting
between these continents happened between 140 and 100 MYA.
Once this is verified, the Pangea Theory will go into the dumpster. And Science will begin to consider the Growing Earth-Growing Universe Theory,...and when that happens,......heh, the fir is Gonna fly.


Anyway, Baltimore Comic Con,....YOU COMIN'? 9 Days away. Get the Lead out.

Neal

Long time. What's coming up?

The Baltimore Comic-Con. We're going this year. If you want to see my son Josh and myself, that's where we'll be August 20th. & 21st., signing and doing sketches.

Doing sketches?

Yup. Now, I get asked all the time, will I be doing sketches. I will be doing sketches, and I can outlast anyone who needs to have a sketch. Even if I have to take it with me, and finish it at home. I won't disappoint anyone.

Two years ago, we came to the Baltimore Comic-Con, because we were told how friendly and comic book oriented the con was.

Well it was that and more. It's like going on a vacation to a really nice place. I can't honestly believe anybody near Baltimore would miss this convention.

Hey, tell other folks, and get on down the the Baltimore Con.

I can't tell you everything I'm doing now, but I'll have as much stuff as I can have there to show you, without getting anyone upset.

And hey, come by the table two or three times. The conversation's fun.

Batman Odyssey - Final 7 on the way

Yo, Neal here.

What the heck is happening with Batman Odyssey?

DC tells us the solicitations have begun for the last 7 monthly issues.

Your stores have not been reacting to your enthusiasm, but rather, they have been reacting to the internet chatter. Chatter that I.... perhaps should have responded to.

Now it's all verblunget and you guys are the ones who are losing out, and I am sorry.

The continuing series is just great! It's exciting and dramatic with neanderthals, evolved dinosaurs, magicians, war, death, gnomes, trolls and tests, the like of which Batman, the modern Ulysses has never faced in his life... all happening in a real underworld.

The multiple climaxes are killer. But if you care.... Man, I hate to say this... you've got to hoc your stores like bloody hell to get these issues.

My promise to you is to give you the best, most exciting comic books ever. I've never failed you, and I never will. But this time, you've got to dig in and demand your stores get this. The best Batman series ever.

A note: You notice Marvel is actually promoting my work for them? Avengers and the "Secret Project?" You'll notice Dark Horse is promoting Blood? Well, for some reason, DC isn't promoting "Batman Odyssey." So.... it's up to you and me, guys and gals.

Best

Neal Adams

That deal on the selling stuff to compete with Amazon will change tomorrow.
I've been doing sketches of Batman on the upper left hand corner of Batman Odyssey and selling that book for $50. People love it. Well, like it a LOT. "Hey, Neal not only signed it. he drew a sketch of Batman in silver in the corner."
Marilyn's idea.
Success at Calgary made her suggest Silver pen sketches of Superman on S'man vs Muhammad Ali. Then a couple wit Ali.
I'll talk to Jason tomorrow about making these available on the site-here.

I think we'll do others on other books an prints as well. What do you think?


Calgary. Loved it. Guys, invite us back.

A store up there, Comic-kazi with a very clever owner named Wes Wong (Took us to a PERFECT dinner and )bought sketchbooks and prints at a good discount for the rack next to his checkout. He said, he'll call a day Neal Adams day, (heh) and likely sell them Out. I'll bet he does, if you go by the response at our booth. If you live near there the store is at 4307 Macleod Trail SW , In Calgary.

Now, just for fun. What not to ask for at the airport, from sales girls with big confused eyes!
At Horton's Donuts don't ask for a Jelly donut. They don't EVEN know what they are.
At a Bagel store don't ask them to SCOOP IT. You'll say it 5 times then describe it then Mime it and finally GIVE UP. Forget asking, in the first place.
If you ask for a side of butter to butter that bagel yourself,.and you look at the butter and it separated into lumps of butter fat lard and salt grease, don't go back to the girl and point out it's lard-lumpiness and horrible separation,... she will merely look at it and suggest it must've been left out near the oven,.....then,...give it back to you.

Signature Thing

I think I resolved this signature thing. First signature free, each additional signature $5.00. That way, there's a guarantee for that special single signature, for somebody who might not have the money in his pocket. And then, for those guys who need lots of signatures, they can evaluate how many they really want.

I just did it in Calgary, and it worked-out just great.

Speaking of Calgary...

YO.
Just got back from Charlotte. What a nifty city and great people. Made a mistake and tho I was charging $5 dollars a signature on Friday, I pushed it up to $10 a signature on Saturday, and some folks got upset. Sorry folks, I was experimenting, and I went about it the wrong way. For now, I think the $5 will be the number. Some guy was heard to say, "Who does he think he is, Leonard Nimoy?" Then I asked what Leonard Nimoy charged.
$60 to $70. Heh. Clearly, I was NOT a Leonard Nimoy.
Still, Leonard doesn't have stuff to sell,.. Okay, what just jumped into my mind?

Leonard Nimoy selling stuffed Leonard Nimoy dolls. I'm sorry, but it's a great visual.

Oh, well, so at conventions it's $5, for now.. unless it's a kid under 10. Then the signature's free,.. and I'll throw in a free sketch. (So,..bring your kid.)

CALGARY,...not this, but next weekend. We'll be there with bells on.

I just finished pencils on the Avengers book. Brian (Michael) Bendis has posted 4 or 5 pages as a kind of preview. You know where to find him, I trust. I hope you enjoy our efforts,..OH, WAIT,.. you KNOW that Tom Palmer is inking it, right?
Is that cool or what? You ever meet Tom Palmer? BEST kinda people.

Boston Comic-con

Back from the Boston Con.

They tell me 2,000 more people came this year than last year. Everybody that came by to say hello was great. But I hear people from Boston are generally pretty good folks. Some people traveled quite a ways to see me and my family. Some just came from around the corner.

Those CGC people have gotten a great idea. They came by with over 200 books for me to sign, for fan who wrote in to them. I guess the idea is, if you can't get to a convention I'm at, you can still get those "special", comics signed by me, and then sealed-up by CGC. Obviously a great idea. I think the final number was 280 books for me to sign. If you want to do this sort of thing, contact CGC.

I was doing sketches at the convention, and the prints are really attracting a lot of attention, because with time, there's more and more of them. And to be perfectly honest, I think we're missing some of my best pieces. We'll get there.

Joe Kubert was there. What a delight, telling people about the Kubert School. I got to meet Frank Quitely. He was a great surprise. Very personable, and pleasant. We must have chatted for 15 or 20 minutes. I did a bonus cover for a Superman series, and he told me he was very happy to have had me do it.

Now here's the big surprise. My son Josh was there, and he's just starting a series of stories on the new Dr. Who, that will be coming from IDW. I've already seen his preliminary draws, and they're just great. Josh's table was constantly surrounded by girl fans, of the new Dr. Who, Matt Smith. Have you seen the new shows?

I' ll post some of the pieces for you to see.

Joe Kubert, Moebius and myself on French TV 1972

You have got to see this set of videos! Last century (heh heh) all the comic book artists from all over Europe came to the US, in a kind of International Comic Con, sponsored, on our end, by the Cartoonist's society. (Cause we comic artists had no money.)

The French take their comic books very seriously. They even have TV shows that feature comic books.

They brought their host and crew to New York and interviewed myself, Joe Kubert, and Jean Giraud (Moebius) all together.


Video September 1972

Video October 1972

Thing is, they had this giant pad of paper for all of us to draw on.

Up until now, these two videos have only been seen in Europe, but here it is for you to see.

Yes, I know my hair is silly. And the sideburns... well... it was the style then. 1972. God I looked stupid.

Anyway, for your perusal.

Boston and Batman

What do they have in common?

Well, We're going to be at the Boston Con April 30 to May 1st, and among other things, at a long "Artist's Alley type thingie-place. (O-kay, we've never been to the Boston Con, so we don't know quite how it's set up. …BUT, we'll be there, with bells on. I'll be doing drawings of Batman, among others. We'll have copies of "Batman Odyssey" with us, and, of course, lots of chatting and good times.



PART 1 OF VIDEO


Science Eggheads totally welcome. Comic book fans,… more than welcome. I'll be done with Odyssey, and on to "Wolverine", and of course "BLOOD" for "Dark Horse Presents"! What a roster Mike Richardson has lined-up. Gotta say, that Dark Horse is a "Comer".

You'll be seeing covers galore. I'll be able to tell you about my work for the Super-Heroes of the National Hockey League,..and the TACO BELL SUPER DELICIOUS INGREDIENT FORCE, (ARE THESE PEOPLE CRAZY-FUNNY OR NOT?)

My son Josh will be there. He's drawing a 10-page Super-Hero feature. (Josh is the son who's been designing and 'boarding' the new programs for the Sy-Fy Channel, for the last 3 years.) He's just off a 15-page short story, for a Ray Bradbury Graphic Novel.

Jason (Spyda) Adams will be there with his sculpts and models,..and I think we've convinced him to sculpt AT HIS table. His last masterpiece is the ManBat B &W sculpt, for D.C. which pairs perfectly with the B&W Batman.

And, Kris and Marilyn, will make sense of it all.

Did I forget anything? Hmmm. Well, more later.

"MONSTERS" on GRAPHIC.LY.

Okay here's the Deal.

For the first time, you can go to the internet, and read my graphic novel, "Monsters, Dracula, Werewolf, Frankenstein". If you like it, you can get what they call a hardcopy (the book), here through this site, in pristine and beautiful printing.

So we take the money we make, and start to produce an incredibly nifty, and incredibly animated motion comic of the graphic novel.

Then, we take that money, and go make a feature film of the same project. That's the plan.

More later.

Neal

I'm drawing Dinosaurs,.. evolved dinosaurs, a New Bat Man, all the assassins in the WORLD, Ras', Talia and her very sexy new gal pal, FLYING BATS, gnomes, Evolved Dinosaurs. Every damn criminal in Arkham, including a new one named Trigger (not the horse.) and Deadman.

I just got inked pages in from Paul Neary, and Bill Sienkiewicz . Yes Bill Sienkiewicz. And YES, Paul Neary. And there will be more.

Wow, one get's whipped up watching Spartacus.

Hey, Let's hope our fellow Americans in the rest of the Country endure this insanely brutal weather.

Batman Odyssey #6

Without realizing it, Batman has been drawn into the massive life and death struggle between father, Ras' Al Ghul, and his son, the Sensi.

Yes, the Sensi, Master and Leader of the League of Assassins, is one of the children of the seemingly ageless, Ras' Al Ghul. The Sensi has planned his fathers death for years. He needed very little incentive to turn against his father, since Ras' had kept the Lazarus Pit from him, as a gesture of discipline and training. That in the end, produced the deadly assassin, killer. The final spark to Sensi's flint, was Ras' outrageous decision to favor Batman, over him, to one day inherit his place in the Underworld. That singular decision set the wheels in motion for the murderous deaths of Talia, Batman, and finally, bloody and broken, in body, mind and spirit, the Head of the Demon, Ras'Al Ghul.

Now Ras' must plan to save his own life. He, the victim, would not be safe from the full force of Sensi and the League of Assassins.

In fact, no man on earth, could stand against, and survive such an relentless force.

No human on earth, save one single warrior, The Batman. But Ras' knew The Batman had sworn not to kill, and that is what it would take. Batman's nearly insane decision not to kill has kept him from the brink of insanity, for years of crime fighting, but, reasoned Ras', this dedication would not save The Batman from the deadliest killer on earth. The only way Ras' could save his own miserable life, was to cause The Caped Crusader to learn the art of killing. And so, his black plan began. To teach the greatest crime fighter on earth, to take the next step, and take a life. To kill, in defense of justice. A dirty and even filthy justice perhaps, but a justice, that would save many lives from the red tide of death brought to civilized men, once the King of Assassins has killed the King of the Underworld.

If not for that terrible consequence, Batman would leave these dogs to kill their own kind, for the leadership of that place closest to Hell, the Underworld.

Batman squirmed within each trap, and short of chewing his own leg off, he kept himself from killing. But the game had gone too far. And before the last tallow was spent, Bruce Wayne, Batman, would journey into the unreal, Underworld.

Batman's Odyssey begins here, and there is really no reason to believe that he will survive. Don't miss this.

Taco Bell. I recorded a rough track for the next Taco Bell. Those things are so corny/funny, that I nailed some of the voices.
This one features a character in the Regular Taco Bell ads, a Lounge Singer named Buddy Mignon. Talk about tuneless crooning.
Is anyone keeping up with the National Hockey League's Stan Lee's (And Mine, shrug) Super Heroes. One for Each team. I've seen a lot of Motion Capture animation in the last 2 months. Track it, I'm just sayin'.

BLOOD. Just sayin'.

My creation, Havoc's in the next X-MEN movie. Wonder how big the part is?

The DC comics game,.. is about to eat the world. Why do the Adam's family like it, so far?
You get to create your own character. Could take as much as an hour to do it. Do the DC Heroes show up? Who cares. You're the Hero,

Almost accidentally saw True Grit. I figured the John Wayne one was GREAT, and Enough, you know?
It was great. But so was the old one. Heh. The Coen Bros added a few things. Didn't need it. The Girl? Halilee Steinfeld. Just as good as Kim Darby. So,..SEE IT. 4 stars.

Did you see the video presentation Jason did with my books? Flipped through them on camera. Sort of like people flipping through them at conventions,... but it's Jason's hands. Clever.


Batman Odyssey? Can you say Paul Neary and Michael Golden inking parts of the same book? AAaad Pages by Bill Seinkeiwicz Each to their strength's. It only get's better.