Last Kiss Featured in Forbes Article about Romance Comics

by John | Feb 14, 2025 | Blog

For Valentine’s Day, Forbes magazine’s Rob Salkowitz interviewed me about classic romance comics and included some mentions and art from Last Kiss.

—John Lustig

Cute, but not in my pants!

by John | Aug 28, 2024 | Blog

John will be at SD Comic-Con in Booth #5560

by John | Jul 21, 2024 | Blog

Comic-Con Announcement

Yippee! I’m attending this week’s San Diego Comic-Con after all.

Plus my friend Spencer Brinkerhoff III has graciously offered me space at his Booth #5560. (It’s a corner booth right by the doors between F & G Hall on the first floor–near Artist Alley.)

I’m bringing some Last Kiss goodies as well as a few of the Last Kiss, Marvel & Disney comics I’ve written. But my main reason for being there is to meet readers and fans. So, please come by and say, “Howdy!”

(I’ll announce more details as I know them.)

Interview with LK’s John Lustig on Youtube

by John | Jul 7, 2024 | Blog

Recently I was interviewed by Ron Austin and Jon Thaler for Bellevue College’s Digital Learning & XR Lab. The early part of this Youtube interview is about me and my comics career. And then–since the XR Lab is about emerging technology–we talked about my occasional use of generative artificial intelligence in Last Kiss. And then we delved into  the ethics, practicality and general oddness of using AI to create art.

By the way, interviewer Ron Austin is the co-director and co-creator of Bezango, WA—a great documentary about comic creators in the Pacific Northwest. And yeah–I appear briefly in that film too.

—John Lustig, Last Kiss creator

RIP the Amazing Trina Robbins: Comics Pioneer and Inspiration

by John | Apr 14, 2024 | Blog

Like much of the comic book community, I’m mourning the April 10 passing of the great Trina Robbins.

Although she was 85 when she passed after a recent stroke, Trina was so full of life, so warm and energetic—both as a person and as a creator—that she seemed eternal. Whenever we met at a comic con, it instantly became one of my favorites con moments.

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When I started doing Last Kiss, I received so much encouragement and support from her. She was a one-woman cheer squad. And I know she did the same for many other creators—particularly for female creators, but also men.

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It’s hard to imagine anyone with such a unique career. In addition to working on various comic series, her accomplishments included being…

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—The first woman to draw Wonder Woman in a full issue of a Wonder Woman comic.

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—A seminal organizer, supporter and creator of female-created, underground comics in the early ‘70s.

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—(Quoting from her Wikipedia page) Trina was also “intimately involved in the 1960s rock scene, where she was close friends with Jim Morrison and The Byrds. She was the first of the three “Ladies of the Canyon” in Joni Mitchell’s classic song from the album of the same name. In the late 1960s, she ran a…clothing boutique and made clothes for Mama Cass, Donovan, David Crosby, and others.”

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—The designer of the Vampira costume for Warren Publishing’s Vampira. (And, if memory serves me right, Trina also sewed the first Vampira costume. And looked gorgeous in it.)

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—Was a prolific author, contributor and/or editor for a staggering number of books. At least four dozen, but I’m sure more.

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—Many of those books were about early female comics creators and their works. And most of those creators were little known or totally forgotten until Trina wrote about them.

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In her later years, she mostly focused on being a book author. Part of that was because she was writing about subjects she loved. But it was also—and this is based on my memory from one of our discussions—because she wasn’t getting enough work, recognition and opportunities in comics.

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She was always loved and valued by some of us. But by the time she died, she was loved and held in high esteem by a vastly wider audience—both in and out of comics. She earned that through hard work, talent, boundless enthusiasm, kindness and by forging a career that was truly unique and important. God bless her. She truly will be missed.

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More About Trina:

—Memorial to Trina on the Today Show

Mailing List Resumed

by John | Feb 2, 2024 | Blog

Note to Readers:

Hurrah! We’ve solved the technical issue that made it difficult for me to send out Last Kiss comics to my mailing list. And I’ve resumed the mailings. Sign up here if you haven’t already.