REMEMBERING RAY.....

Fun cover story article for the West L.A. newspaper THE ARGONAUT. Hits the streets tomorrow along with a sidebar on raunchy cartoons drawn by Jim Morrison when he was 14 and attending Alameda High in No. Cali.

Lots of bonus material in this online edition from photographer Bobby Klein, who lived next door to Morrison in Laurel Canyon.

http://argonautnews.com/another-door-closes-keyboardist-ray-manzarek-dies-at-74/

Photo: Guy Webster, photographer who shot the cover for debut album "The Doors."

RIP Eric Donald Schieritz

Today I learned that one of my lifelong friends and my best friend in junior high and one of my best friends in high school and my 20s and 30s took his own life over the weekend.

Our history went back all the way to age 14 at Bancroft Junior High. He was one of my best friends for so many years. A lot of history, a lot of adventures, a lot of great times we had growing up together, through our teens, 20s, 30s.

Unfortunately, he had a self-destructive streak and he played it out to the limit.

He had a brilliant comic mind and had a sophisticated palette for movies and music, and he was very influential on me in many, many ways. Anyone who met him never forgot him. He was a character.

I'll miss him.

Good-bye, Eric. 

Thank you for your years of friendship and sorry the last few years were not as strong as when we began.

Love,

Michael

ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO preview- my upcoming Western THE DEVIL'S RUN!

From Michael Aushenker's upcoming Western comics magazine THE DEVIL'S RUN, debuting early October at Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco.

John Heebink, one of the artists on our pending July release, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THE HUMAN FLY, cooked up this pin-up for THE DEVIL'S RUN, my upcoming Western and one of two comic books I am lining up for APE (ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO) in San Francisco in early October.

He gave the proceedings a touch of Frank Robbins. The magazine will have two features and several back-up humor pieces, including the return of THOSE UNSTOPPABLE ROGUES!

It's poignant John worked on the pin-up this weekend of all weekends....Yesterday marked the year mark of TONY DE ZUNIGA's passing, and, originally, Tony was going to illustrate parts of this book. But I'm ecstatic to have John, a former Marvel Comics artist, on board for this journey through the old West.

I've always loved Westerns. Marvel put out some great Western comics in the '60s but my real love of Westerns comes from the movies. Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone are two of my all-time favorite directors.

Wait till you see what John Heebink has drawn for THE HUMAN FLY, it's going to blow minds! Only a few weeks now till San Diego Comic-Con!! Ya-HOO!

Remembering the artist TONY DE ZUNIGA...................

"Dark Mansion" page by Tony De Zuniga

BACK ISSUE writer Michael Aushenker with Tony DeZuniga at his Monrovia home on April 21, 2008.

A year ago today, the great artist and terrific person TONY DE ZUNIGA passed away.Not only did Tony co-create fun characters, such as Jonah Hex and Black Orchid...Not only was Tony one of the most talented artists in the business...but Tony was also instrumental in helping DC bring all of the Filipino artists we know and love to American audiences via the pages of DC Comics and, soon after, Marvel: Alfredo Alcala, Nestor Redondo, Alex Nino, Gerry Talaoc and on and on.

Red Sonja

I not only miss seeing new art from Tony but I miss chatting with him at conventions and his avuncular sense of humor. We crossed paths at his home during the brief time he and his lovely wife Tina DeZuniga lived in Monrovia in 2008. Thanks to the pending movie, he was enjoying a career bump, working on some Jonah Hex projects for DC including a full-length, lavishly produced graphic novel he drew, written by Jim Palmiotti and Justin Gray.

I had fun writing about STRANGE TALES' THE GOLEM and the PHANTOM STRANGER feature DR. 13 for BACK ISSUE magazine #36 (their Marvel monsters issue), and Tony's art was central to both.



He was a good guy, too, and a fun presence at conventions, and we will for sure honor his personality and his body of work in an upcoming issue of COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine (where I'm associate editor).

By the way, he hated Hollywood's representation of his Jonah Hex character and he wasn't shy about saying so, even after he attended the Hollywood premier of the 2009 film that starred Josh Brolin. That was Tony. Salt of the earth....

In your memory, Tony....

Boost Post

my COMIC BOOK CREATOR magazine debuts TODAY!

TODAY IS THE DAY! 

Hitting stores...They are BACK!

JACK KIRBY! FRANK ROBBINS! ALEX ROSS!

Yes, COMIC BOOK CREATOR #1 debuts nationwide today!

This is the magazine on which I am associate editor, working with the great JON B. COOKE, the editor who gave us the brilliant COMIC BOOK ARTIST magazine for many years. 

My contribution to issue # 1 is FRANK ROBBINS' MEXICAN SUNSET - a look at his last five years, retired from comics, painting oils in a small town in Mexico. I spoke to his widow and his peers to get this composite of his last years.

Seek it out, it's full-color magazine style format and it's HOT! Available at shops.

OR...order directly from the publisher at a discount:

http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_132&products_id=1087&zenid=egov235fh04kc7o3e4tasd94o6

RIP ADAM 'MCA' YAUCH of BEASTIE BOYS!

Back in the day, when LICENSED TO ILL hit worldwide, the Beastie Boys made fast friends with some famous folk.

Yes, maybe you've heard? Today is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!

Guess where I'll be signing/doodling/giving away comics?

ADAM YAUCH OF BEASTIE BOYS ---- ONE YEAR LATER.....

One year after he passed away, there is now a park dedicated in his honor in Brooklyn Heights. You can see Adam "AD-ROCK" Horovitz and Yauch's parents in this photo.

RIP ADAM "MCA" YAUCH, you are missed!

HELL'S KITTY LOST ANGEL -- DEBUTING at PHOENIX COMIC-CON (MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND)

My cover for HELL'S KITTY LOST ANGEL -a new stand-alone comic book tied in to the comedy-horror webseries HELL'S KITTY - which debuts at PHOENIX COMIC-CON (Memorial Day Weekend).

One of two new comic books I'll be promoting at SAN DIEGO COMIC_CON in July, along with THE NEW ADVENTURES OF THE HUMAN FLY, at booth K-13 in SMALL PRESS.

Be there or be a scaredy cat! (I was going to write "or be a pussy!" but that's too sexual...)