Jeff Parker is truly a scholar and a gentleman. One of those people that’s always a real joy to talk to and hang out with; ever since he moved to Portland, Oregon, the West Coast’s gain has been the East Coast’s loss. This was my first sketch from the 2002 Small Press Expo, which was the first one for which I was Executive Director. (Well, first one that happened. Greg Bennett and I had taken over for the 2001 show that was regretfully cancelled.) I miss seeing him at SPX, and it was no small coincidence that I sought him out early in the show to get a sketch.

Anyway, these days with him writing books for Marvel like Agents of Atlas and Thunderbolts (as well as with artist Steve Lieber for Image Comics, the caving drama Underground), his newer fans might not know that he’s just just an accomplished writer, but also an artist. I loved his graphic novel The Interman and I keep hoping that one of these days we’ll see a new big fat graphic novel that he’s written and drawn.

Until then, though, this shall serve as a visual reminder that he knows that one way to make a sketch involving wine look even better is to involve a monkey.

(Those who read my blog via LiveJournal may very well recognize this image, since it’s the icon I tag all the Wine-Book Wednesdays posts with. Et voila!)