Monday, April 06, 2024

Print: Conan The Barbarian (autographed by Ernie Chan)

It's not that I don't care about modern comic books, or that I'm not interested in meeting current artists and writers, it's just that when I'm given a chance to say hello to someone that helped make the books from my childhood happen, then I'm really only going to get excited about meeting that person.

I visited the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend, and after quickly running down the list of attending artists, I saw Ernie Chan's name on there. Ernie is one of those guys who worked for years to ink and draw some of the books that made the mid to late '70s a great time for me to be a kid.

Conan the Barbarian

My first exposure to comic books came when I discovered a stack of old issues tucked inside a side table at my grandparent's house. They'd been left behind by an uncle who was a huge fan of the more obscure books like Doctor Strange, Man-Thing, The Tomb of Dracula, Warlock, Ghost Rider, and Conan the Barbarian. Over the years I was rewarded with book after book from that hidden stash, and aside from spending a crazy amount of time reading them, I also used to slave over studying and copying the art.

By the time I'd grown up and graduated from art school, the one thing that I'd come to admit was that I was never going to draw like those old comic book masters, and for sure I would never be as prolific as someone like Ernie Chan. Ernie's hands have touched an incredible number of great looking books, and just getting to watch him pen out an illustration for a few seconds was truly awesome.

The biggest thrill though, was the simple joy that came from sorting through a stack of books that he had worked on, and after deciding on one that I liked the most, I was able to bring it over to Ernie for an autograph. He was gracious enough to sign it, thereby turning my bargain box purchase into something priceless.

5 comments:

Reis O'Brien said...

Awesome! Yeah, Ernie Chan was the nicest guy. I'll be posting the comics he signed for me on my Conan blog.

I'm glad you got to meet him!

wiec? said...

i used to copy the art from the old Conan comics too. cool story. did he mention what he was working on now?

plasticfetish said...

I probably should have mentioned this (I bet Reis does/did at his Conan blog), but Ernie is mostly doing commission work, which can be purchased either at shows or through his Web site...

www.erniechan.com

I didn't have very much cash with me at the con, but I'd love to own something by him. Great stuff!

Reis O'Brien said...

I was seriously tempted to buy one of his pieces, but it would have tapped me clean, so I opted to pass. But, man, did I think about it!

disa said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.