Holidays are coming…

Yesterday my best friend came over and said the most horrifying 5 words: Christmas is three weeks away. How did that happen, I found myself wondering?  How did the holidays creep up on me this year?  What was I going to get for people as gifts?

It’s quite possible you have another geek in your life.  Or that you don’t, but people keep saying ‘what do you want’.  Well, what you all wanted were gift suggestions, right?  Basically, these are the things that I think are amazing, and if you have a geek in your life, maybe they might think so too!

Charity based gifts

Within the comic world there are a few charities that do some great work.  The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) and Hero Initiative are two of these, and they offer a number of items whose proceeds help to support the organisation.  Who doesn’t love a gift that gives to many?

Both groups have scents available from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab based off comic and graphic novel works.  It includes Neil Gaiman’s Sunbird, Heroine based off work by Adam Hughs, and Sachs and Violens from the Perez/David title, Witchblade, and Dawn.

Hero Initiative also has a great ebay store with many of their limited books available, and there’s currently an auction on for original art that was sketched at Mid-Ohio Comic con.  It includes Mark Texeira, Billy Tucci and David Petersen art, and that’s only a few.

CBLDF has an amazing shop on their website.  Lots of signed books, artwork and limited prints, shirts and other things.

This takes us nicely into the next category, one of my favourites:

Original Comic Book Art

Really, this is one of the best things ever.  If you’re a fan of comics and comic art, owning a page from a book and artist you love is pretty damn awesome.  There are a lot of different people out there selling art, and sometimes you can find one person’s art in a few different places.  But if you know where to look, it’s pretty worthwhile.

Links to a few of my favourite artists (though of course there are a million more) and where to find them:

Amanda Conner
Nicola Scott
Cliff Chiang
John Cassaday

Terry Dodson
Darwyn Cooke
Eduardo Risso

Then there’s my most recent discovery.  Stuart Ng books. I have no idea how I missed this site before, but it’s amazing.  From out of print and sold out sketchbooks, to small publishing runs from a lot of amazing artists – including a lot of European artists and books from European conventions – there is a stunning range on this page.  It’s definitely worth a look, and make sure you go through it page by page.  If anyone wants to get me the 1992 Hernandez brothers Love and Rockets sketchbook, or the Francis Manapul/Agnes Garbowska combined sketchbook, I wouldn’t say no.

Beyond that, there are the books I think everyone should own.

Jim McCann & Janet K Lee’s Return of the Dapper Men.
Greg Rucka & JH Williams III Batwoman Elegy.
The first two trades of Power Girl by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner.
Any of the Secret Six trades if for some reason you’re not (or know someone who isn’t) already reading it.

Really, anything I’ve recommended on this blog is likely worth a look.

So there you go world, there’s a place for you to start.

Of course, this whole post begs the question: What would your ideal gift item be?