Last Kiss Entertainment (that’s me) will have booths at the following conventions in 2011. So come by; get some free Last (chocolate) Kisses; tell me something fascinating about yourself; and keep me from getting lonely!
Emerald City Comicon, March 4-6, 2011, Seattle, WA. Booth #412
Comic-Con International: San Diego, July 20-25, 2011. I’ll be at the Last Kiss Entertainment Booth.
Art by Allen Freeman. ©2010 Allen Freeman
The basic concept of Last Kiss hasn’t changed much over the years: old romance comics with funny new dialog.
But there have been changes to the look and feel of the series. The most obvious are that the color is better and the gags are shorter. (And hopefully funnier.)
Short didn’t come easily, though. My source material–old romance comics–were talkative. Verbose. Bombastic. Gabby. Garrulous. And even wordy.
I liked imitating that style. It was fun to cut loose and write long. Not that I had a choice. After all, when I removed the old text from the original comics, I had to replace it with something. Otherwise, I’d end up with a hole in the art.
If I was an artist, of course, I could’ve just drawn something to fill the holes. And if it was something easy, I did. But anything that required any real talent (faces, hair, etc.) was beyond me. So I had to pile on the text.
Eventually, though, I hired Allen Freeman. At first it was just to color–which he does brilliantly! But then it dawned on me–hey, Allen’s an artist. A good artist. Maybe he can draw in those missing bits in the art.
Eureka! I finally had the freedom to write gags–without worrying about filling the “holes.”
(Click on images below to see: 1) original romance art; 2) my first attempt in 1996 to write Last Kiss text for this image; and 3) my latest version of the image–with color and extra art by Allen Freeman.)
I’m still struggling to be brief. (Gotta wrap this up soon!) But it’s a lot easier now because of Allen. He literally fills in the blanks for me.
(Below: Left–an image before Allen worked his magic; Right–magic courtesy of Allen.)
So I wanted to take a moment to give Allen some well-deserved praise. When he’s not making me look good, Allen stays busy with a seemingly endless number of other projects: illustrator, publisher, web designer, photographer and filmmaker. I get exhausted just thinking about it!
While in southern Cal, I’m be doing a signing at the ever-cool Metropolis Comics (in Bellflower) from 5-7 on April 21.
I’ll have Last Kiss comics and goodies, plus Disney comics and other things that I’ve written. Please stop by if you’re in the area. I’m not a rock star so I’m unlikely to be mobbed. Come by and keep me from being lonely!
Metropolis Comics, 16509 Bellflower Blvd., Bellflower, CA 90706
Tel: 562.263.0277
I’ll have an Artist Alley table at the Anaheim Comic Con from April 16-18, 2010. It’s going to be somewhat of a family affair since my wife (Shelagh), daughter (Caitie), and son-in-law (Chris) are coming along. Come by the table and meet me or a member of my family posing as me!
Click on image to enlarge.
Last Kiss often features smoking hot women, but this is the first time I’ve had a chance to show off a smoking hot woman with a smoking hot gun!
With the help of artist Allen Freeman, I recently transformed some unusual comic images into some fun Last Kiss-style magazine ads for CABLEready — a cable TV powerhouse which develops and distributes TV shows such as Inside the Actor’s Studio and The Magic of Harry Potter, and Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice.
Click on image to enlarge.
So far I’ve done two ads for CABLEready. More are on the way.
Good gravy and little dumplings! I’ve only got until March 6 to get all my T-shirt orders to the printer! So I’m having a four-day sale: Men’s and Women’s black Ts. Normally $22 each. But if you order by March 6, the price is only $18. If you can pick it up at the Emerald City ComiCon at Booth 408 on March 13-14, then no shipping. Otherwise shipping & handling is $6.
Select from any of the designs below. (The only way to be sure I have your size and the design you want is to pre-order.) E-mail me (john at lastkisscomics.com) with what you want–image design, male/female shirt, size–small, medium, large, extra large.
