Six degrees of Kerry Gammill

Sigh.

This is going to be a tough one.

I can never look at this man's face without some regret.
Without some sadness.
Without feeling something's amiss.

I mean, we all have to die someday, right?

But at 34?

I'm a Born Again Christian and, even still, that doesn't set right with me.

Not that I blame God or anything. That would be counterproductive.
And frankly, just dumb.

God has done way too much for me to think like that.

I met David Hunter in 9th Grade.
Always well-groomed, always neat, always put together.
One of those brothers that you always enjoyed being around.

One of those regrettable things you say to yourself, "It's a shame that we didn't hang around more after college."

He had this crazy knack for showing up just when i didn't expect him but always when i needed to see someone that made sense.
This man was NEVER in trouble with anything. This man always had your back. And if he was scared, he never showed it on his face.

He was potentially a great comic artist. He love drawing, and he loved superheroes. More than anything else, he LOVED KERRY GAMMILL.
I mean LOVED. KERRY GAMMILL.

Everything he drew was inspired by K.G.
We used to talk about his run on Avengers and Power Man and Iron Fist back in the days.
And David would go on for hours.
How it would be his one dream to meet Kerry.

When i made it into professional pencilling.... the big leagues...
He would come to signings and tell me how proud he was of me.
But more with his eyes than with his mouth.
He believed i should have hit up Marvel and DC two years before i did it.

But every time i saw him, it was more important to me just to know how he was doing.
I had his phone number, but life would get in the way.
I would bump into him on the streets of Manhattan, seeing him with basketball in arm, drinking a diet coke...
something that he really enjoyed since he acquired diabetes in the Navy.

Couldn't drink that regular stuff.

We would walk into Jim Hanley's Universe, yuck it up a bit,...
then he would go his way and i would go mine. And i always said that i would call him and make it a habit of it.

Never did it.

I would let life get in the way.

I saw him on my 30th birthday. After i made the decision that i wasn't chasing women anymore. Wasn't gonna be anything except my relaxed and confident self when i did meet them. That if i didn't get the number, it ain't no thing.
This after i gave a girl i was chatting up back her number because she was playing head games.

As i walked away from her, there he was... walking across my path. We spent the rest of my birthday together just chillin' and taking pictures.
He even bought me a Big Mac. Can you beat that with a bat?

I hadn't seen him in a year or so after the last time i met up with him and i was busting my butt trying to make a Captain Marvel deadline and about nine-ish my phone starts ringing.

And my little voice told me it wasn't good. Dave's sister was on the phone. I hadn't talked to her since she was preteen. And she's calling me 10 years after i saw her last. and the first thing she said was hello. And the next thing i said was.."He's dead, isn't he?"

She was stunned.

And she said yes.

Turns out that he acquired hypertension brought on by the diabetes and he had been puking for the better part of a week and refused to go to the hospital.

Talked to his sister, girlfriend and his mother.. said he was going to drink some apple juice and then wake up in the morning and get himself checked out.

And never woke up.

I just pray he made peace with God.

That was on January 11, 2002.

The first of two Davids that died that year.

The other in February. All from High School.

I went to the wake.

I brought flowers and met up with his sister. She'd grown up so beautifully and she just had that "mommy" look. I hugged her as i went down the aisle and i saw my boy, David, ...

34 years of age...

in a casket.

I laid down the flowers next to him.

He just look like a doll.

You could tell that spark that gives life was nowhere near him now.

"You never bring me flowers" i said to him.

and just stared after laying them down on his left side.

And i remembered all of the stuff we did as homeys and made some great
funny moments by telling his sister and family all the funny stuff he did.

Because i didn't think there should be any crying at his funeral.

He was just too cool for that.

Even in the casket.

I talked about his art and his sister kept saying, "Kerry Gammill".

and i laughed and said, "Kerry Gammill."

I hugged her and left early and made an internal promise that i would tell Kerry that David said, "Hello."

I'm sitting at NYComiCon April 19th, and my road-dog Smoke, the professional wrestler,
brings Dwayne McDuffie (writer of the Justice League and BEN 10 cartoons) and Kevin Grevioux (writer/actor and creator of the Underworld movies and writer of the New Warriors for Marvel). We talked and carried on. I was really glad to meet "Uncle Dwayne" and Kev.
I walked to eventually bump into Eddie Berganza, DC editor...
I run smack into Joe Quesada's wife....
Talked shop with Dan Buckley, Marvel Enterprise President...
Bumped into Drew Johnson, artist of Supergirl...
Run right into Andy Helfer, senior partner of Serious Comics
whose shaking hands with .....

KERRY GAMMILL.

I introduced myself to him and told him how much i truly appreciated his work in the past and told him of my now 5 years deceased friend whose whole world artistically consisted of him.

He smiled and shook my hands and gave his condolences.

and i told him that David said "Hello."


So i kept my promise, David.

I told him "Hello" for you.

I still miss you though.

See you in the afterlife, dog.

Yup.

sigh.

As tough as i thought.

Million Dollar Baby

See... this is what i'm talking about.

How parents keep their kids out of trouble. How they keep their kids out of fights.
How they discipline their children.

Kids can't scream and tear up your living room if you tire them out.

One thing is for sure. No kid in ANY school is going to mess with this girl.

Preparing to CON myself....

Follow me....

It's alright... look down... i wanna show you something....!






















































You see all this above me?

There was SO much to do before i went to NYComiCon that i think i aged at least a decade in days. Something liked being locked in the Fortress of Solitude and coming out a whole lot more funky than i went in. And a lot more on the hairy side. I detest looking and feeling like a Yeti.

And i'm six foot nine. SO that's not necessarily a stretch.

So.. in a previous post, i talked about working with Verge Entertainment. My boy Joe Illidge... whom i've known since High School, by the way....when we ALL had more hair....
.... gave me a call wanting me to help him and the gang get some artists to help the Verge put together the second installment of their webisodes called Ayre Force.

Featuring Calvin Ayre. CEO of BoDog.

Of which i've learned has just retired his commission of said comglomerate.


Guess the Bear bile scandal via his nemesis Janus Winter was too much for him to bear...


heh.. bear....


So anywho... they wanted some info on artists to do the Ayre Force Webisodes and i, like i didn't have enough on my plate, said that i would take on the job if they really needed the art that badly. So...

As i cried butt-naked, fetal-positioned and sucking my thumb in my favorite stress corner of my apartment...

I helped out.

Mind you.... and don't tell anyone this...

I REALLY HAD FUN!

Was still butt-naked and crying...

but it was COOL.

i hadn't really done any real animation in-betweens since S.V.A.

And THAT was some time ago. I went to S.V.A. for animation and painting/illustration.

So it was nice to do something different than the ....eurmm.

okay.. forget that sentence.

It waa nice to do something different.

heh.

Now.. i guess you would like to SEE some of the stuff i did above actually move. Gotcha.

It's really simplistic pencils and inks on many scenes and i did like 2/3rds of the work.

Milo Stone was the brother engorged in the After Effects.

If we had time, i would have liked to do more so that it would have come out smoother.

The excuse of every artist everywhere on the planet.

Here's the first vid....
Glad you liked it!!

and now that you have an IDEA what the premise is... here's the second installment that all that work led to....

enjoy.

what?

No. I don't have popcorn, doggonit.

Just sit and watch.

I must say though... the screams are hilarious.


See anythang in purple? Click that thang!!

ON THE VERGE OF A BODOG

(i have NO idea what that means.)

YO.

You should go check this out.



Some brothers i've known since college... one since High School... have come together to create a company called Verge Entertainment.

The company consists of three gentlemen....Joseph Illidge (a former DC editor, present Archaia Press editor, and writer), Shawn Martinbrough (an artist best known for his stint on Batman and his book How to draw Noir comics), and Milo Stone (who is the back and bone of the Verge engine.)

They worked in conjunction with BoDog (which if you're into poker, music, ultimate fighting championships and the like, this is the company that does tons of that... and chances are you've watched tons of this kind of entertainment that they've financed) in bringing out a graphic novel called AYRE FORCE. They took real-life BoDog owner and CEO Calvin Ayre and made him a real man on a mission. I'm sure his ego loves it. Who wouldn't want to be drawn with a gun fighting genetically altered children of a madman?

I do it every day making art deadlines!!

So click on the lavender Ayre Force type!

You'll notice that there are webisodes. 2 in all. My artwork is in the second one.

Even got the credits!!

If you're going to the NY ComiCon, they'll be running the webisodes all day... poor guys at the booth... and you can see in hiDef and in loud bass and treble.

if that's your thing.

I'm proud of the guys. And i'm glad i could be a part of it.

Who knows? Maybe a cartoon in our future?

Wouldn't hurt!

Examples of working in the BIG CITY....

So... for the past couple of months, i've been busting my hump to get this work done. It's been kicking my butt. Especially since i'm doing full pencils to get the pages done. I once told myself that i would never do full pencils on a project again unless i have mega-time to get it done.

And i must now learn never to say NEVER.

So i'm working on Totem, Tempest and Mario Gully's Ant Unleashed. I remember looking at Mario's character on MySpace and asking him to send me some issues so i can see what the character was all about. Little did i know that months later, i would be actually DRAWING his character.

Anywho.... so i'm doing the limited series called TAINTED for BIG CITY COMICS and i'm trying to get things done so i can ultimately move on to my own endeavors.....and it's taking longer than i planned. Things aren't going according to my schedule...

....and it's making me antsy.


But the great thing about working on this project is that it's giving me time to work out some kinks in the way i work on and visualize getting pages done. I'm sure i'll be a different person should i be working with Marvel and DC again.

But i ramble.

These are the covers to the three books i've already done. Some of you may have already seen some of the images on other sites. SO.. see 'em again!!

And if you haven't seen them, it's new to you!

WELCOME!!!

MY PEOPLE!! Welcome to the opening of my blog... FINALLY!!! I've had this darn computer for 3 some odd years and you would think that with all the time i spent on it, i would have had this thing up and running.
Well, it's finally up and i guess i can tell you what you will be seeing here on THE CHRISCROSSER. You will see artwork, some phlosophy through my eyes, my business intentions and some blurbs on future projects. Among other things. But mostly, just to show people who've believed and had invested in my art for years what i've been up to and what i'll be producing in the next coming months and years. And as i continue to learn new things... like actually making this blog....(sheesh, it took forever), i will be keeping you up to date on what i get myself mixed into. And hopefully that statement won't come back to bite me in the pooper.

I will be posting some art on here soon, but in the meantime, as i'm getting ready for NY Comicon, i'll be busy trying to get my deadlines done on the last three books of the Big City Comics project called TAINTED... which involves their major characters ANT, TOTEM, AND TEMPEST.

Right now, i'm doing three pages that are kicking my behahnd.

I'll post pics of the Con here also.

So in the meantime, as i link this to places that will actually get you to read this... please subscribe to my blog and post this to your Google Reader or your own blog.

I'm sure you will enjoy what's coming.

Tah for now.