I know, I know, late, late, late, late, late, late, late. I'm late with this post. But give me a break OK, I've been laid off and in the midst of planning a return trip to Paris, for a month this time. Melicious and I leave tomorrow AM. Plus this is a long post chalk full of pictures and info and linky goodness.

Anyway, the artwork above is an original ink-wash by Tim Sale. Up until now the artwork covered here at The Crionna Collection has been fine art. But, I have a passion for well drawn and well written graphic novels...comic books. Quite frankly, compared with anything else there is no more easy, fun and portable way to see truly fine art than to read a good comic book. And Tim Sale is truly one of the masters. He has collaborated with writer Jeph Loeb (if you like "Lost" and "Heroes", you like Jeph's writing) to create some of the best books I've ever read. Their takes on Batman, Superman and Catwoman are fantastic.

Take a look at some of Tim's work:





The duo has also created an interesting series where they look back at how certain colors have affected the characters. Here are a couple of his best pieces from that series that includes Spiderman, Daredevil and The Hulk. The Hulk on the cliff is beautiful in its book form. So colorful.




I got to meet Tim at a March 23rd event at my favorite comic book store here in SF, Isotope. Isotope's owner, James, is well known in the industry and often attracts outstanding people to his after (store) hours parties (and for good reason, he and his staff of buddy's are some of the nicest people I've met in SF). The event was co-sponsored by Isotope and Whitney Matheson/USA Today/Pop Candy.



Isotope itself is an interesting place. As I said, James is well known and for each event he asks the artist to create something for his toilet seat collection. He's got quite a few:





This one is from an artist named Ben Templesmith. If you know "30 Days of Night" you know Ben.



Here's one of the guys who work with James at the store. Matt Silady wrote and illustrated a wonderful comic (if you can call it that, it's more like a beatifully drawn set of storyboards and a script for a great TV dramady) called "The Homeless Channel". That's "his" seat he's got with him.



And last but not least, here's James.



See y'all again in May, we're off to: