Interview with Hell Vetica Illustration!

Welcome New Subscribers!

We have doubled in subscriptions this month and I am ecstatic to welcome the new folks. Because of the growth and amount of inbound news we are planning a twice weekly edition of FOMO LOCO. We will also be doing regular giveaways as a thank you for the support. Keep any eye out on how you can win a big slabbed book!

If you have something to promote or want to sponsor the newsletter, please email us at [email protected]. Thanks! - Nathan

DID YOU KNOW

In Today’s Email:

• Exclusive Interview - Hell Vetica Illustration!

• This Week’s FOMO - Red Sonja: Empire of the Damned #1

• Community Sales and Deals 

• Comic Conventions You Need To Attend 

This Week’s Trivia Question (answer at the bottom): Before co-creating Spider-Man, Ditko worked for which comic book company where he created characters like The Question and Blue Beetle?

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Hell Vetica Illustration!

I have been subscribed to Hell Vetica’s Patreon for a while now and attend at least one of the “Madhouse” YouTube auctions per week. If anyone epitomizes the comic community, it is Hell Vetica. His welcoming attitude and sense of humor make me proud to finally land an interview with him. - Nathan.

Where can the community find you online?

Usually hosting MadHouse Comic auction on Youtube or on my Instagram.

What is your origin story and where does your online name come from?

I've been doing artwork since I was able to pick up a pencil. My grandmother Marian was and is the soul of my drawing passion. Everyday after school, she would teach me something new. As I got older, I began to study and watch the works of my uncle Augie, as he was a skilled and passionate tattoo artist. His art style became the standard of what I would want to one day be able to achieve, and became motivation to practice every day.

This, alongside the comic book influence from my uncle George, crafted my current interests in comics and art alike.

My name is an amalgamation of my career choice and my love for art. Hell Vetica was always about being the representation of 2 worlds - 2 sides of a coin.

The hell portion of my moniker represents the art style I have adopted. I have a fascination with exploring heavy contrast and heavy Ink to create depth and horror inspired artwork. The Vetica portion represents my graphic design background. I tend to lean towards a cleaner and fluent style of graphics in a professional environment. Being that helvetica is a font that just about everyone knows or has come across in their lifetime, I aspire to have people know the artist as well.

Can you talk more about your art and when you started?

My grandmother had an unbound love for art, and drew a new portrait every day while watching movies in the living room. As a kid, I would come home from school with new sketches in my notebook and she took quick notice of them.

As the oldest grandchild, I can say she was ecstatic at the very least. she put me through college level art studies from an early age. The most memorable of these exercises was the plastic bag sketching. She would take a bag, crumble it into a ball and toss it on the floor. Given seconds to draw, she instructed me to draw the bag.

As the bag expanded in size, i quickly realized, this was a lesson of patience, and most importantly, how to fill in the blanks with my imagination. These lessons, along with the artistic influence from my family household growing up, put the puzzle pieces together in crafting my own art style and passion for the craft.

As I taught myself to draw, I eventually went to college to dedicate interest into becoming a graphic artist while taking advantage of the life drawing and art classes available. This lead Into my current career as a graphic designer. I can honestly say - all that time spent drawing in class paid off whereas my teachers always said otherwise.

What’s in your personal collection? What are you collecting, reading, or hunting right now?

I always collect anything McFarlane. Spawn was always one of my favorite drawing subjects growing up. I can say that Todd has been a huge influence in my art style. That being said, I will never turn down any issue of Spawn, old or modern.

What are some valuable lessons you have learned along the way? Advice for someone looking to get into comic book selling?

I would say it's all about being humble. Transparency and a great attitude go a long way. A genuine personality creates a great and trusting relationship along with a positive emphasis on your brand.

Personally, I can say that I am always looking for panelists that can remain professional on a communication front when it comes to the business front of selling books, but their priority should always be having fun and being transparent first. If someone comes into the hobby looking to upcharge, overprice and over grade books for a quick buck, that person just isn't cut out to be a reliable seller.

What are the best platforms right now for selling and how long have you been doing your show?

The best platform is always word of mouth and honestly anywhere you can build positive relationships with your community. We're all collectively in a small rut with comics and the economy right now. All platforms (in my opinion) should be more focused on having fun, maintaining consistency, and just showing up for the community.

Overall, my personal favorite platform would be YouTube for the live interaction with everyone. My main motivation for MadHouse along side my wife, Lady Vetica, has been to promote the health and longevity of the community and our hobby together. As long as I could say a couple of things on a microphone to bring a smile to someone’s day, thats enough reward for me.

What challenges have you faced in the last year?

This past year has been full of family loss and new struggles that have come along. Most recently, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. Being that I am unfortunately conditioned and used to being around cancer in my family, I have learned that the best medicine for any troubles is positivity.

With challenges always come lessons and experience in life that makes us much more rounded and prepared for future issues we are bound to encounter.

Do you have any predictions for 2024?

I feel that 2024 will open up a lot of opportunities for people both new and veteran in the comic book hobby. I honestly look forward to new members of the community celebrating our hobby with us this year!

What services does the comic book community need that currently don't exist?

A sense of where to begin collecting and what stories to really sink their teeth into. I think we need to collectively try to be more in tune with newer collectors to be suggestive of where to start and how to properly and safely get into comic book collecting.

THIS WEEK’S FOMO

Red Sonja: Empire of the Damned #1 with 25 Variants

Collectorz.com has a great roundup each week covering release from all publishers including the issue with the most variants - Red Sonja: Empire of the Damned #1 wins this week with 25 (!) cover versions. Here’s more from the site:

New issues for big titles:

These are the new issues for the most popular titles:

• Batman, Vol. 3 #146

• X-Men, Vol. 5 #33

• Venom, Vol. 5 #32

• Star Wars, Vol. 3 (Marvel) #45

• Transformers (Image) #4

• Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #4

Cool new exclusives:

Our picks of some cool new exclusive variants:

• Poison Ivy, Vol. 1 #21F: Natali Sanders Exclusive Variant

• Deadpool, Vol. 9 #1S: Dan Panosian Exclusive Variant

• Rook: Exodus #1F: Mike Rooth Exclusive Variant (Ltd. 500)

Read more on Collectorz.com.

COMMUNITY SALES AND AUCTIONS

Shortboxed Themed Auctions Accepting Books

Shortboxed continues to kill it with their themed auctions. They have 2 big events coming up and are accepting Spider-Man and Pre-Code Horror books:

CALL FOR THEMED AUCTION SUBMISSIONS

That’s right, we’ve got two themed auctions coming up.

• Spider-Man - keys and variants, all eras

  • Submissions must be:

    • Valued at $150 or more

    • Related to Spider-Man (all Spider-Man titles or crossovers count)

    • CGC Universal, no Sig Series

    • Received by April 8th

• Pre-Code Horror

  • Submissions must be:

    • Valued at $150 or more

    • All Pre-Code, all the time

    • CGC Universal, no Sig Series

    • Received by April 22nd 

Click the image above to submit to Shortboxed or check out the FAQ here. Super easy to sell your books as they do all the work.

Elite_comics11 is doing a 6 day virtual con on Instagram. Big daily giveaways as they host buzzard_brothers_comics, shattered_comics, kentuckykeys, and a ton of other sellers.

Here is info from their channel:

-ELITE LIVE Sales, Exclusive Deals, Special Guests, Auctions, Trivia, and THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in MASSIVE DAILY Giveaways!

-TONS of Comics & other COOL RARE Collectibles (Art, Retro Video Games, Vintage Toys, Pop Culture Memorabilia, and so much more!)

-APRIL 3-8TH! LIVE, ONLY on @elite_comics11 on Instagram!

THIS WEEK’S COMIC CONVENTIONS

April 6: KingKon 2024 - Park Ridge, NJ

April 6: LouisvilleCon 2024 - Louisville, KY

April 6 - 7: Collect-A-Con Houston 2024 - Houston, TX

April 7: QuadCon Racine 2024 - Racine, WI

Send us news or anything you want to promote: [email protected].

Trivia Question Answer: Charlton Comics