Hi, friends. WildStorm alum Pete Pantazis needs some help to keep his family home. Please check out the link above and help if you can.
FOR ANYONE THAT CONTRIBUTES $10, PLEASE CONTACT ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU A FREE DIGITAL COPY OF WILD TIMES: AN ORAL HISTORY OF WILDSTORM STUDIOS
Please, please, please help if you can. Justin is not only one of the best colorists in comics (seriously, go look at The Defenders) but is hysterical and kind and an awesome person.
Here is Justin’s first quote from Wild Times: An Oral History of WildStorm Studios. I still chuckle at his opening lines.
Justin Ponsor (Colorist): The year was 1996—is that too grandiose? Actually no,
I think that it really was ’95. Okay, so I’m going to already contradict myself. One
sentence and I’m already messing around. I was working at Toys ‘R’ Us. I was a utility
person. I worked the floor, I worked the register, I did whatever. But I had called dibs
on cleaning the action figure aisle because in 1995, things like Star Wars action figures
and that, they were all hot at the time. I’m back there placing the product, and some
dude just starts, “Hey, have you seen anything about these figures right here? How
are they doing?” That type of conversation. He’s asking me questions and what not.
“Are you going to school? What are you doing?” and at the time I was going to college
taking a bunch of computer animation, Photoshop—all sorts of different classes and
stuff. So it turns out this dude, before he leaves, he says, “Hey, I work for a comic
publisher. Give me your information; we may be hiring soon.”
So that was October
or November. In late December, ’95 I hadn’t heard anything since. You know it’s one
of those—you get your hopes up, but you’re like “Yeah right” at the same time. He
comes back. He could have happened to be in the store, but he took the extra step to
look for me. He said, “Justin, hey, how’s it going? I don’t know what I did with your
information. Here’s my card. I think we’re hiring after the holidays, give us a call.” And,
so I took the card, and it was John Nee—the head person at WildStorm.
Hey there, friends. If you’re a member of the Twitterverse, how about hopping over and giving this a like and a “retweet”. I’d love to try and boost this and maaaaaaybe get this idea in front of these fine gentlemen.
With the holidays and the end of 2017 swiftly approaching I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Holidays.
The year (as has been the unfortunate trend lately) has been a rocky one for our world at large but thanks to the many, many people who supported me in the process of creating and releasing Wild Times, it marked a very special moment in my life. And to that I say, I hope it brought some smiles to you as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
- JH
Hey everyone! Last night I stumbled upon a handful of the ashcan previews that I had printed and distributed to select participants and fans at NYCC ‘15.
I added a couple other fun things and put together a small amount of DELUXE BUNDLES exclusive to the BigCartel shop. Take a look and please share for anyone that still had it on their shopping list. Thanks!
“Be seeing you.” -Jenny Sparks
Hey everybody. So as I mentioned previously, this page will now be going silent save any big updates regarding the book. The purchase links will stay up (BigCartel always being the preferred choice) so please continue to pass along recommendations if you enjoyed it. My twitter page, @jthuconn has reverted back to my personal account and will remain active so check that out if you want to see if we have more in common than just WS :)
This past week I’ve posted some great links for WildStorm news, discussion and products so if you missed any of that, be sure to scroll on down and check that out. But for now, I need to take this space to thank all the participants one final time. All 75 of them. When I started this, it was cold calling strangers and asking them to talk to someone with zero writing credits to their name. As more and more said yes, and more and more were talking about it, it gained enough momentum that I was able to create exactly what I set out to make. Many of the participants are active in the industry today so the impact for them to give up their time for an interview was never lost on me. I hope the final product lived up to all their expectations.
Obviously I can’t write out 75 individual thank you notes here but I do want to share one story that I’ve kept private until now. At the time of last year’s New York Comic Con, I had finished the first draft of the manuscript and brought about half of it with me to show participants and fans. At that show was when I finally was able to meet Steven T. Seagle in person. After showing him the chapters, he asked a couple questions about my finishing it up and publishing but then he looked me right in the eyes and said something that was the biggest validation for me- that increased my confidence and motivation ten fold. And I can’t ever thank him enough for that.
“Great. So what’s next?”
I guess we’ll see.
The 25th Anniversary of WildStorm turned into an unofficial year long event that was amazing for fans. The new Wild Storm reboot from Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt would lead off the charge followed by my own book- Wild Times: An Oral History of WildStorm Studios and is finishing strong with yesterday’s release of WildStorm: A Celebration of 25 Years.
And an event truly for the ages was held at SDCC over the summer with two dozen WS alumni signing at the IDW San Diego Comic Art Gallery. A special yearbook/sketchbook was produced for it and Cluadia Chong (WS Production Director and organizer of the event) has made these keepsakes available online so be sure to add it to your collection! A must have for every WS fan!
Happy WS25 Day and WILD TIMES SALE!
Today is the day! The anniversary hardcover, WildStorm: A Celebration of 25 Years is now out! It is a collection of classic issues, never released material and brand new pinups and short stories from WildStorm’s celebrated roster of alumni.
Put together by former WS Editor-in-chief, Ben Abernathy, it is truly a labor of love and should not be missed.
To celebrate the release and the amazing anniversary year that WildStorm has had, Wild Times: An Oral History of WildStorm Studios is on sale for a limited time. If it’s been on your want list, now’s the time to grab it! And anyone that buys the print copy will get an added bonus in their package so check out the link below to secure your copy today!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wildstormuniverse/
So you’ve read Wild Times and are excited about WildStorm comics and want to discus with other fans? Try joining the WildStorm Universe Facebook Group! Dating back to the old “Clark’s Bar” WildStorm messageboards, WS fans have been the greatest supporters and the tradition continues. Join today and connect with WS fans new and old!
https://weatheringwildstorm.wordpress.com/
Did you read Wild Times and were instantly curious on those old WildStorm comics that were the love of a generation? Or did you read them back then and want to revisit but don’t know where to start?
Here’s your answer! Mega WS fan, Bryan Polk has been running an awesome blog while rereading the WildStorm Universe books. He also chimes in on the current Warren Ellis reboot as well!
As most know that bought Wild Times, I included a bookmark with a QRC link back to the website that has a guided illustrations gallery broken down per chapter. Well, if you’re looking for an even deeper dive, I can’t recommend “Weathering WildStorm” enough. Be sure to check it out!
alexhchung
travisellisor
the cover to Superboy (1994) #1 by Tom Grummett and Karl Kesel
this image was later recolored by Tanya Horie and used for the Superboy: Book One: Trouble in Paradise collection
