articles/announcements

The 8th Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge Wave One with Loki pages ran 2 weeks ago but the Hela listings for Wave Two are now up with 4 late and remainder Lokis in tow, 16 listings in all (plus two unrelated Rob Liefeld donations to celebrate the release of Deadpool2 this week). Lots of creativity and diversity here from Joe Sinnott as inked/embellished by participating artists such as Joe Orsak, Thomas Stocker, Ken Branch, Noah Barrett, Ariel Aguire, Charles Barnett III, Ed Eargle, Keith Williams, Mike Pascale, Mark Sinnott, Nick Papadimitriou, Rusty Gilligan and Tom Schloendorn! The eBay Store Page is here and these Challenge auctions will end Sunday evening May 20!

Last month we launched the 3rd Sinnott Inking Challenge Spotlight, this year shining on Erik Larsen. Those Savage Dragon pages will be offered again in two weeks with season remainders, the final fundraising auctions before we celebrate the end of our 10th anniversary season with our 8th live awards ceremony at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC the weekend of June 15-17.

The Joe Sinnott Challenge program debuted in 2011 by Inkwell founder & director Bob Almond which was inspired by art rep/promoter Steve Morger’s Big Wow Comicfest’s “Inking Panels” who consented to using the idea to meet the non-profit’s mission of educating about at the oft-misunderstood art form of comic book inking. The event is open to everyone, from established professions to small press/indie artists to fans and amateurs who want to try it out and ink the legendary Joltin’ One and Inking God Joe.  It also because a major, annual fundraiser for the organization. Due to it’s success, the spin-off Spotlight program launched in in late 2015, a brainchild of Bob and senior contributor Jim Tournas who imagined pulling in other master artists from yesteryear and contemporary “rockstars” to offer their pencil work for a limited number of veteran, published pros, invite only. The first two years were focused on Jim Lee and Neal Adams. Committee member Erick Korpi got the fledgling program off the ground with convincing Jim Lee to agree to be involved with DC Comics’ full support and former committee member Joe Goulart spearheaded the Neal Adams operations initially with Bob later taking over and running year three with Erik Larsen on his own. Unlike the original Sinnott Inking Challenge, no book collections have been approved from the Spotlight program to date. But they can all be seen at the Inkwell’s ComicArtFans gallery.

An earlier announcement featured Stefan Kalscheid’s Savage Dragon gif so here we present his Waves One and Two with Hela and Loki (edited to add in 2 late submissions).

 

 

For your info the Inkwell Awards’ first wave of Larsen Challenge eBay auctions have completed today and we just launched the second wave on our eBay Store Page. After that ends we’ll have a consecutive third week made up of Erik Larsen pages that didn’t initially sell so they’ll be delisted at a slightly discounted starting bid.  There will follow the 2-3 waves of the original Joe Sinnott Inking Challenge after that. There will probably be a late third/fourth Larsen wave for some who shipped pages to me late, hopefully including mine, after the Sinnott ones. Special thanks to Stefan Kalscheid from the Official Savage Dragon Website who produced this file image above and the Larsen Challenge gif below. The tentative plan is that he’ll produce another one (or two) for the Sinnott pages. Thanks to all for their sharing our auction announcements on social media, for those who participated in the events and those who bid on and won these unique items!

CONTESTANTS

01 – Andy Smith
02 – Richard Clark
03 – Neil D Vokes
04 – Chris Madd
05 – Lebeau Underwood
06 – Joe Prado
07 – Tom Schloendorn
08 – Dee Fish
09 – Keith Williams
10 – Scott James
11 – Geof Isherwood
12 – Rodney Ramos
13 – Andy Owens
14 – Mark McKenna
15 – Scott Rosema
16 – Keith Champagne
17 – Mark Stegbauer
18 – Richard Bonk
19 – Rudy Nebres
20 – Idan Knafo Kerbis
21 – Rusty Gilligan
22 – Mike Sellers
23 – Kevin Conrad
24 – Don Hillsman
25 – Alex Saviuk

From Comics for Sinners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Bedford, MA/USA—March 15, 2018
Inkwell Awards 10th Anniversary treat has been announced with Randy Green revisiting the spokesperson and mascot!

It’s been eight years since Randy Green co-created and designed their spokes-model Ms. Inkwell and he just finished penciling & inking a new image of Ms. India Wells; jungle girl on the prowl!

This sneak peek will be colored down the road and be available at each Inkwell Awards show appearances and on the Inkwell Awards site’s Store page as a signed & #’d “Inkwell Awards 10th anniversary” color print.

UPDATE: Inkwell ambassador Laura Martin has agreed to color the image.

On August 2 Heroes Con released their video coverage of our 7th live awards ceremony from last June! Listen to Guest of Honor Joe Giella! See living legends interact and be recognized! Behold Ms. Inkwell in action! Witness heartfelt tributes to Rich Buckler, Bernie Wrightson and Stacey Aragon! Observe me drone on, sweat and stumble over words!

Much thanks to Andrew Mansell, Matt Tyndall and Rico Renzi for this!

The next stop on the Inkwell show tour is Garden State Comic Fest (GSCF) taking place on Saturday-Sunday July 8-9 ion Morristown, NJ.  The reason that is significant and worthy of an announcement is that Inkwell Awards founder and director, inker Bob Almond will be joining the panel alongside friends and peers

Scott Hanna, Christopher Ivy, Bob Wiacek and Mark McKenna.  For the first time Hailey Skaza-Gagne who acts as the non-profit’s spokesmodel Ms. Inkwell will moderate the panel Saturday from 12:30-1:30. Bob Last moderated an inking panel in the 200s at the Pittsburgh Comicon. He was last an inking panel panelist at the 2011 Heroes Con. Scott Hanna is the record-breaking, seven-time Inkwell award recipient and Mark McKenna was a 2012 Sinnott Hall of Fame award recipient.

 

 

 

 

(New Bedford, MA/USA—June 19, 2017) The Inkwell Awards has released the names of the winners of its 10^th annual awards for excellence in the art form of comic book inking. As before, nominees were chosen by a separate and independent nomination committee; this year had more nominees than ever. Voting by professionals and fans alike took place via live ballot at the non-profit advocacy’s website. One winner was chosen in each of five categories based on American-based interior comic-book work cover-dated 2016.

 

Separately, the Inkwells internally selected the two recipients of the annual Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award and, this year, two recipients for the Special Recognition Award (SRA) category. Winners were contacted and many of the invited guests were present to receive their trophies during North Carolina’s Heroes Con, the host show for the Inkwells, for their seventh live ceremony. Winners and nominees are listed below, along with the percentage of votes received, where applicable.

 

FAVORITE INKER: Scott Hanna (21.06%)

(Action Comics, Batman, Justice League, Superman: Lois & Clark, Wonder Woman [DC]; A-Force, All-New Wolverine, Avengers: Standoff, Civil War II: The Fallen, Drax, Nova, Squadron Supreme, Uncanny Inhumans, Web Warriors, [Marvel]).

Other nominees: Sandra Hope-Archer (16.02%), Danny Miki (12.95%), Jonathan Glapion (12.53%),  Matt Banning (12.22%), Tim Townsend (11.44%), Eber Ferriera (9.15%),  Stefano Gaudiano (6.92%) and Mick Gray (5.2%)

 

 

 

MOST-ADAPTABLE INKER: Walden Wong (19.97%)

(Earth 2, Robin War [DC]; Jupiter’s Circle v2 [Image]; All-New Wolverine, Guardians of Infinity, Max Ride, Web Warriors [Marvel]).

Other nominees: Scott Hanna (14.87%), Sandra Hope-Archer (12.43%), Jonathan Glapion (12.38%), Mark Morales (11.23), Victor Olazaba (9.57%), Norm Rapmund (9.2%), Danny Miki (8.01%), Jay Leisten (4.42%), Wayne Faucher and Dexter Vines, both at (4.06%)

 

 

 

PROPS (inker deserving of more attention): Scott Hanna (24.34%)

(Action Comics, Batman, Justice League, Superman: Lois & Clark, Wonder Woman [DC]; A-Force, All-New Wolverine, Avengers: Standoff, Civil War II: The Fallen, Drax, Nova, Squadron Supreme, Uncanny Inhumans, Web Warriors, [Marvel]).

Other nominees: Jonathan Glapion (19.14%), Klaus Janson (18.72%), Dexter Vines (13%), Tony Kordos (12.64%), Andrew Hennessey (9.67%) and Jason Paz (6.76%)

 

 

 

S.P.A.M.I. (Small Press and Mainstream Independent): Jonathan Glapion (23.45%)
(Reborn [Image]).

Other nominees: Stefano Gaudiano (23.09%), Karl Story (22.93%),  Brian Shearer (13.68%), Ryan Winn (12.43%) and Cliff Rathburn (6.66%)

 

 

 

 

 

ALL-IN-ONE (pencilling and inking together): Erik Larsen (18.46%)

(Savage Dragon [Image])

Other nominees: Nicola Scott (16.33%), Liam Sharp (16.28%), Stan Sakai (13.99%), Walter Simonson (12.95%), Jerome Opena (9.98%) and Joelle Jones (6.71%)

 

 

 

 

THE SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD (SRA): Violet Barclay, aka Valerie Smith (Golden/Silver Age) and Allen Milgrom (Bronze/Modern Age)

Other nominees (in alphabetical order): Michael Allred, Sy Barry, John Byrne, Ernie Chan, Jack Davis, Tony Dezuniga, Will Elder, Mike Esposito, Frank Frazetta, Gerhard, Geoff Isherwood, George Klein, Frank McLaughlin, Mike Mignola and Mike Royer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE JOE SINNOTT HALL OF FAME: Jerry Ordway and Rudy Nebres. Other nominees: Mike DeCarlo, Mark Farmer, Bob Layton, Pablo Marcos, Bob McLeod and Mike Royer.

Joe Sinnott, the award’s namesake and first recipient, made a statement regarding this year’s inductees:

“I have always been in awe of the fabulous art that Rudy Nebres does. Such detailed and beautiful ink lines are displayed on every page. I really enjoyed the outstanding work that Rudy did on The Savage Sword Of Conan. It is in my opinion some of the best illustration that I have ever seen. It is always a pleasure when we get together at shows. We always have such a good time. I only wish we could do it more often.

“Jerry Ordway, much like Rudy, is such a great artist in his own right. I greatly enjoyed his work on Superman. It is some of the finest that I’ve seen. I did have the pleasure of inking one of Jerry’s Fantastic Four issues, #296. He was one of many artists that I was able to ink on the FF through the years, and certainly one of the best. I only wish that we could have done more than just that lone issue together.

“I am so proud that these two fine gentlemen can now join our elite group. Welcome to the Joe Sinnott Hall Of Fame Class of 2017, Rudy and Jerry. You are both well deserving, and it is great to have you on board as members.

“Also, once again, a huge thank you to The Inkwell Awards for doing such an outstanding job in promoting and educating about the art of comic book inking. And to the Inkwells’ committee for electing Rudy and Jerry. To all the comic book fans, a big thank you for your continued support of The Inkwell Awards. And lastly to Bob Almond. Without Bob, none of this would be possible.”

The ceremony began with a special appearance by Guest Speaker and industry legend Joe Giella, who discussed the artform of comic-book inking, his career in the medium, and its artists. Inkwell Awards founder and director Bob Almond acted as both ceremony host and co-presenter, joined by hostess “Ms. Inkwell,” as portrayed by Hailey Skaza-Gagne (formerly Holly Black).  Artist and Inkwell Assistant Director Mike Pascale acted as co-presenter. Industry pioneer Allen Bellman acted as guest speaker to discuss his days in art school and at Timely Comics alongside SRA award recipient Violet Barclay. Joe Goulart gave a tribute for his friend, Rich Buckler, the recently departed legendary creator and Inkwell Ambassador. Almond offered a tribute for long-standing and inspiring Inkwell member Stacey Aragon, who recently passed after a decade-long battle with cancer. He renamed the SRA Award the Stacey Aragon Special Recognition Award (SRA), starting in 2018. All acceptance statements from the winners can be found in the “Results” section of the Inkwell Awards’ website in the near future.

The Inkwell Awards is the only existing official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and promote the art form of comic-book inking, as well as annually recognize and award the best ink artists and their work. Now approaching its 10-year anniversary, the organization is overseen by a committee of industry professionals, and assisted by various professional ambassadors and contributors. They sponsor the Dave Simons Inkwell Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Kubert School and host the Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award.

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Yesterday Stacey Aragon’s husband David Hansen posted on his Facebook page that his wife of several years had passed after a long battle with cancer. She was only 39. She was being treated for her illness for ten years, not telling me about it until much later after she joined us in July of 2009. She served as a contributor for social networking and fundraising until October of 2011 when she was promoted to the core committee, our first woman added to our committee roster. She only had a brief stint there from November 2011 to June 2012 because her cancer and treatments got more serious and she would need to move cross-country for viable health care in another state. But she remained as a senior contributor from November of 2013 until she passed, even sharing an auction notice on Facebook for us ten days before the end. She handled several duties over that time like updating our site’s Inker Resources section and Database, Fundraising, Nomination Committee Coordinator and a Volunteer Network. From this list she wasn’t able to significantly get the last two projects off the ground because her condition kept deteriorating. One of the projects she was experienced about and wanted to create was a multi-tier membership system so that we could collect annual dues with an incentive system.  That was not to be. She would wrap up her final days sharing all of our announcements and even attending some conventions in her area with Dave because it got her away from all the angst of reality and she was able to use it as therapy, even collecting donations from artists to ship to us.  She so enjoyed helping and giving to others that it made her feel better. This, her husband, and her connection to friends/family/loved ones via the internet were her lifelines and what I believe kept her fighting for as long as she did. She would often say that the Inkwells were her family. She was as close to family as anyone in my organization until recently with my present spokesmodel Hailey. As her availability lessened I never removed her from our team credits and in her last couple of years I listed as her position on our brochures, website and books as “heart & soul”. That’s where she touched me and so many who knew her.  I will be dedicating the Heroes Con live awards ceremony to her and give a brief tribute to honor her. I owe her at least that much for her gifts and making my non-profit better than it was when she joined it.  Rest in peace and thank you, Stacey.   Your friend, Bob Almond

The Inkwells send their condolences to David Hansen and her loved ones who are mourning her loss. I posted the following on my own Facebook page yesterday while sharing David’s announcement:

It happened at 3:01 this morning that after a decade of being sick and battling to survive, this world lost one of the most beautiful and selfless souls I had ever met. Stacey Aragon was a special, one of a kind spirit who had no bounds to her generosity, compassion, kindness, sweetness, strength and courage. I never had the honor to meet her in person but through nothing but some phone calls and numerous messages I knew all I needed to know over the years. That we were blessed to know her and to know her was to love her. She deserved better. Rest in peace, my friend. Thank you for all you did for my organization which you treated as your family, and may your husband and loved ones find peace, joy and love from your memory. We’ll most-assuredly miss you.

When she joined the committee I asked her for a bio and photo for the website committee page. She sent me several images of her when younger but this is the one she wanted to use and we did. Others are below: After her Ms. Inkwell: (top-bottom) pre-school/wedding/her with her cat Bermuda/and the rest pics from the 2000s.

A rare look at Stacey as a custom designed Ms. Inkwell which she volunteered to do while going to a show to represent us and collect donations. Her collar and tie may look weird but she explained that her treatments made her skin very sensitive to certain materials. I regrettably don’t recall the show she was going to or the year.

 

 

 

 

Rich Buckler passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.  He was 68 years old. His career spanned decades starting in 1967 to the present and in the 1970s-1980s he had significant runs at the mainstream publishers like Marvel Comics (Jungle Action with Black Panther, Fantastic Four, Thor, Spectacular Spider-man, and Astonishing Tales with Deathlok, a character he created), Archie Comics (Red Circle Comics line), and DC Comics (All-Star Squadron as created by both Rich and Roy Thomas, Justice League, World’s Finest Comics). Rich, or “Ron Validar” a 1970s pseudonym, rendered a wide assortment of covers for the “Big Two”; in a sense his work became a cover house style for them to draw in readers. As an artist he specialized as a penciller, inker, painter, an editor (Archie) and even a writer who wrote How-To books for Solson Publications. He also mentored and recruited artists as assistants that entered the comic book field. Two examples being George Perez and Denys Cowan.

In 2015 Bob Almond asked Rich if he’d accept the position of Inkwell Awards ambassador after listening to Rich repeatedly praise the necessity of comic book ink artists, a position that he accepted. He followed-up in 2016 with a reworked article on his views of inking for exclusive use at the Inkwell website. Rich was the last ambassador inducted to the non-profit organization to date.

Joe Goulart, a former Inkwell core committee member and close friend of Rich, shared the following announcement on his Facebook timeline and the FB Inkwell group page today:

“Yesterday the Art Community lost one of its greatest Ambassadors. Rich Buckler lost his long battle with cancer. Rich, having put smiles on so many of his fans faces, is an understatement to his ability to bring comic heroes to life in comics. From the Avengers, to Superman, from the Fantastic Four to the Secret Society of Super Villians, from Black Panther to Black Lightning, from Namor the Sub-Mariner to the Crusaders, and to his Iconic Creation of Deathlok. Rich was not only an artistic creator I had the privilege of bringing to my shows’ artists alley, Rich was my friend. Along with his wife, Mila, they became a part of my life and my family.
I will cherish all the times and memories Rich and I have spent together, he is no longer suffering.
Rest in peace my dearest friend.
RIP, Rich Buckler.
Heaven now has an artist of utmost talent.
I will miss you.
Joe”

Rich with Ms. Inkwell (Hailey Skaza-Gagne) at the 2015 Rhode Island Comic Con

Inkwell Awards friends from the Kubert School Michael Chen and Carol Thomas Hon have informed me and announced publicly today that the award recipient of the 8th Dave Simons Inkwell Awards Memorial Scholarship Fund was awarded on Friday May 5 at their annual awards ceremony to student Brian Benjamin! I regret that Hailey Skaza-Gagne, our spokesmodel Ms. Inkwell and I could not attend this year and appreciated special ambassador and scholarship maestro Clifford Meth filling in for us again. Dave’s sister Bette Simons has been notified and is excited as usual about this. Congrats to Brian and all the students awarded! And thanks to all the donors over the past year for their support!

For the group photo this is the copy that came with it from the school:

Congrats to all our scholarship and award winners!

Back row from left to right:
Alexander Manrique (Perfect Attendance),
Derek Arneson (EGBAR Foundation Scholarship winner)
Matt Pace (A Wave Blue World Scholarship winner)
Anand Ramcheron (A Wave Blue World Scholarship winner)
Emma Kubert (Dean’s List)
Andy Kubert
Ian Denney (Perfect Attendance)
Hailey Brown (Norman Maurer Scholarship winner)
Justin Franklin (Herb Trimpe Scholarship)
Dillon Snook (Dave Monahan Scholarship winner)
Gregory Ramos (Charlie LaGreca Scholarship winner)