Dave Johnson Drink and Draw Doodle
Artist: Dave Johnson (Penciller)
7 Comments - 187 Views - 3 Likes
Artwork Details
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DescriptionThis one’s a doozy….. Dave Johnson has been one of my favorite artists since Super Patriot. When I discovered his website I’d visit it almost daily. He had a section of sketches that I loved so much I printed them out and saved them. I’m not sure when exactly but he offered up a sketchbook collecting the sketches and I think for $100 he’d do a sketch in the book (now called a remarque I guess). No way I was passing that up! I paid and waited patiently. After a while I emailed him to follow up. I believe he answered with something like “It’s coming”. I don’t remember how much time went by but I followed up again. No answer. I was always checking ebay for his art and I saw someone selling a bunch of his art. Stuff that I’d asked him about and he told me he wasn’t planning on selling it. I messaged the seller to see if he was Dave or how he got a hold of so much of his art. He told me Dave had given him the art to sell to raise money to have him go out to LA and work on a book with Dave. I told him my story and asked if he could please remind Dave about my book. The guy agrees to talk to Dave for me but then asks if I’d be willing to buy some of his books from him. For $50 he’ll send me $100 worth of his books. He says they’re mostly image books and promises me there’ll be something in there I’d like. I felt obligated to help him out and agreed. A few weeks later I get a box FULL of books. So many books. There was a mix of what looked what could be fun books to read. I don’t remember what order I read them in or how many books were in there exactly but let me just say that I liked everything. Invincible, Walking Dead, Brit, Tech Jacket, Battle Pope. Yeah, the writer was a guy named Robert Kirkman and he sent me the first issues of all those books. First prints. I showed them to my friends and let them borrow them. I got them back in HORRIBLE SHAPE. A few months later EVERYONE knew who he was and copies of walking dead 1 were selling for like $50. I figured mine were in too horrible condition to sell. After a while the first few walking deads were over $100 each. I went ahead and took them to my shop and they almost cried when they saw them. But, they gave me $90 for the first 3 walking dead single issues. I don’t remember what I got for the invincibles but I kept the rest. Unfortunately my storage unit flooded so I know I lost the tech jackets…… I felt kinda guilty so I mailed Robert a gift. When I saw him next I told him this story and he mentioned his wife not liking what I sent him (it was an action figure of a porn star dressed as slave leia so it makes sense). Now, somewhere in all of that long story, I got a package from Dave Johnson with the sketchbook. But, in place of where the sketch was supposed to go there was an apology for taking so long………..but he included this! Ok, he can take all the time he wants on anything from now on! This is actually published in one of the Drink and Draw books and has a great quote from Dan Panosian about how great it is. And I agree! Thank you Dave and Robert for everything! You both remain two of my favorite creators! Oddly enough, I don’t think they ever worked together as far as I know. Maybe maybe it was that super patriot mini series Robert wrote but I don’t recall Dave doing anything on those. **Update** i read Dave did a little bit of work on an invincible issue. also, looking at this again, i remember reading that Joe Kubert liked drawing on cardboard b/c you can't erase and therefore have to use every line. it makes something like this even cooler i thinkSocial/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Shelton Bryant
Member Since 2005
Posted on 3/21/2024
Great Style and Color and Wonderful use of Light!! Luv that Smile!!............Congrats!!!
Marcus Wai 
Member Since 2005
Posted on 3/21/2024
Cool story with Kirkman! You could have said that your wife didn't want it in the house either which is why you sent the figure to him. As for Johnson's art, this is one of those great 50's styled ghoul and girly pieces and that coaster has a thirsty surface to absorb all that color.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
Posted on 4/11/2024
That is a smashing story well told – withholding the name of the benefactor until midway through the anecdote. Dave Johnson is a super talent and it is a pity we don't see much of his interiors. In fact, Red Son with Millar is the only one that comes to mind that I have read. I guess covers and commissions are more lucrative (and less stressful). Don't beat yourself up too much about lending your comics out and having them returned in less than pristine condition. Many of us have been there (albeit with comics not so valuable as the ones you cite). Someone once told me that the comic I had lent them had accompanied them to the john, which was definitely more information than someone with nascent borderline OCD needed to know. Harry Bliss once wrote that if you lend comics out then do it with the expectation of never getting them back and then everything else is a bonus. Alternatively, I had a tutor once who said categorically that he never lent his books out; I suppose he had been badly burned in the past. I had utmost respect for him saying that. But enough about me, me, me – that's a top-notch pickup and, as you say, worth the wait.
Nando Xavier
Member Since 2018
Posted on 4/12/2024
Simon Ma wrote:
That is a smashing story well told – withholding the name of the benefactor until midway through the anecdote. Dave Johnson is a super talent and it is a pity we don't see much of his interiors. In fact, Red Son with Millar is the only one that comes to mind that I have read. I guess covers and commissions are more lucrative (and less stressful). Don't beat yourself up too much about lending your comics out and having them returned in less than pristine condition. Many of us have been there (albeit with comics not so valuable as the ones you cite). Someone once told me that the comic I had lent them had accompanied them to the john, which was definitely more information than someone with nascent borderline OCD needed to know. Harry Bliss once wrote that if you lend comics out then do it with the expectation of never getting them back and then everything else is a bonus. Alternatively, I had a tutor once who said categorically that he never lent his books out; I suppose he had been badly burned in the past. I had utmost respect for him saying that. But enough about me, me, me – that's a top-notch pickup and, as you say, worth the wait.
keep talking! i love good stories. its why i try to put in as much as i can remember when i post art. and great call on the lending comics. too true! now, trades are a different story.
Dave did Chain Gang War for DC which was ok, but it was his Super Patriot that i think really showed off what he could really do. Not sure how much of it was Keith Giffen and how much was him but it is incredible! after that (and after posting this) i saw he did a page or a sequence in Invincible (i'll have to track it down) and i think he did something for a harley quinn book where a different artist did each page. other than those and as you mentioned Red Son, i can't think of anything else. my goal is to own a published page/cover from him one day.
i do own a calendar page he did for Marvel early on in his career that is pretty cool. it has spider-man fighting Rhino. i'll post it one day.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
Posted on 4/13/2024
Nando Xavier wrote:
keep talking! i love good stories. its why i try to put in as much as i can remember when i post art. and great call on the lending comics. too true! now, trades are a different story.
Dave did Chain Gang War for DC which was ok, but it was his Super Patriot that i think really showed off what he could really do. Not sure how much of it was Keith Giffen and how much was him but it is incredible! after that (and after posting this) i saw he did a page or a sequence in Invincible (i'll have to track it down) and i think he did something for a harley quinn book where a different artist did each page. other than those and as you mentioned Red Son, i can't think of anything else. my goal is to own a published page/cover from him one day.
i do own a calendar page he did for Marvel early on in his career that is pretty cool. it has spider-man fighting Rhino. i'll post it one day.
Cheers for the heads up about Super Patriot. I have put my eBay order in – can you believe I can get all four new unread copies from 30 years ago for less than a tenner? – and even if the story sucks then at least I can be sure it will be really nice to look at (which I have to snootily say was my previous experience of early 90s Image books). Like you, but when I was young and had the energy, when I would "discover" an artist (eg Yeates, Sale, Quesada) I liked I tried to track down all their previous work (no mean feat before the internet) and scoop them up before the comics became economically unaffordable (!) Simpler times, eh. Probably sound like Grandpa Simpson to you. Will keep my eyes peeled for your Spidey/Rhino page when you upload it.
Nando Xavier
Member Since 2018
1 - Posted on 4/14/2024
Simon Ma wrote:
Cheers for the heads up about Super Patriot. I have put my eBay order in – can you believe I can get all four new unread copies from 30 years ago for less than a tenner? – and even if the story sucks then at least I can be sure it will be really nice to look at (which I have to snootily say was my previous experience of early 90s Image books). Like you, but when I was young and had the energy, when I would "discover" an artist (eg Yeates, Sale, Quesada) I liked I tried to track down all their previous work (no mean feat before the internet) and scoop them up before the comics became economically unaffordable (!) Simpler times, eh. Probably sound like Grandpa Simpson to you. Will keep my eyes peeled for your Spidey/Rhino page when you upload it.
Flatulena! It was a short he did. Now I gotta find where it was published. Posting a sketch I got of that one really soon. See my horror themed book. I think he also did the second super patriot miniseries as well.
Simon Ma
Member Since 2013
Posted on 5/5/2024
Nando Xavier wrote:
Flatulena! It was a short he did. Now I gotta find where it was published. Posting a sketch I got of that one really soon. See my horror themed book. I think he also did the second super patriot miniseries as well.
Well, that first SuperPatriot mini-series was a bit different from the comics I used to get in the 90s and I think even DJ would say that his art has become a bit more polished since then. But, hey, it's good that we don't all like the same things or, as the saying goes, think how long the queues/lines would be.
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