NEW BLOG!

hey everyone!

wow, it's been a while since i've been on the blog.
well, we have a brand new website and a brand new blog over at the ol' Astonish Factory!
and here's the link . . .

NEW Astonish Factory Blog

Thank you all for visiting!

all the best in everything,
mike . . .

Facebook Pages and update news!

i know it's been forever since i've updated this blog, so to start it back up again, here are links to the new Facebook pages for the Astonish Factory and Herobear . . .

The Astonish Factory on FACEBOOK

Official Herobear and the Kid on FACEBOOK

here at these sites you'll find info on the new Herobear and the Kid series that i'm re-launching with BOOM! Comics!
there will be a special new 6-page story in the FCBD of Boom! Comics  . . . AND there will be a new one-shot Herobear and the Kid special coming out in June of this year!
so check 'em out with your comic shop and thank you all for visiting this lil' blog!
:)
more info sooon!

take care and all the best,
mike . . .

Marvel's Avengers

The Avengers are here!
i sooooo loved this movie soooooo much.
made me feel like a kid again!
so much fun.
got me inspired to draw a reeeeeally quick fun scribble of the team.
enjoy!
:)
all the best,
mike . . .

Jason Lethcoe's Snodgrass and Sharpe Comic Strip

my friend Jason Lethcoe has a very cool new comic strip based on his hit novel series "No Place Like Holmes."

the strip is called "The Adventures of Snodgrass and Sharpe" . . .

here the links . . .

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/jason.lethcoe

WEBSITE
http://www.jasonlethcoe.com/

enjoy!
:)
m . . .

KING ME comic strip

hey everyone,

just wanted to share the link to a brand new project called KING ME . . .
it is a comic strip i'm doing. hope you all like.
:)

http://www.kingmecartoons.com/

enjoy and all the best to you,
m . . .

Super Amazing Dynamite Joe!

Sooooo . . . you mix a camera phone, snacks, kids, video games, a dinosaur, aaaand a super amazing . . . peanut . . . 
and this is what you get. . . 


something NEW from the 'ol Astonish Factory . . . DYNAMITE JOE! 


Dynamite Joe's Super Amazing Blog! 


ENJOY the silliness!


all the best,
mike . . . 

Herobear and the kid Sundays

Since Christmas 2011 landed on a Sunday this year, and you've all been good lil' girls and boys . . . here is one more Christmas gift . . . the very first Herobear and the Kid SundayTown Chronicle . . . braaaaaand new.  More to come sooooon . . .


all the best always,
mike . . .

Christmastime Herobear

Christmastime is a reminder to us all to embrace a little more, care a little more, and love a little more. 

On a Christmas long ago, Tyler’s grandfather, Santa Claus, first created Herobear as a special gift he knew would be perfect for his grandson one day.   Santa shared the magical toy with all of the elves at the Factory and immediately they found themselves in awe of the little creation, embracing and connecting with the heart and soul that had been poured into it. 

It so happened that every year, Santa would bless the elves with a gift to thank them for all of their hard work.  So, in honor of his most special creation that Christmas, Santa spent an extra moonlit night at his workbench and crafted a unique memento.   With a twinkle in his eye, he gave a little more and cared a little more as he carved each of the elves a special, wooden Herobear sculpture as their Christmas gift of the year.

What you see here is one of those unique Herobears that has traveled all the way from the heart of the North Pole Factory. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
All the very best,
m . . .

Herobear lunch sketches

sooooo, i found an extra pen and Herobear found his way onto some extra paper towels after lunch.  fun to draw on other materials and non-regular sketch/copy paper . . .
:)

take care and all the best in everything,
m . . .

Herobear

Just some phone post-it scribbles . . .
:)

all the best,
m . . .

Astonish Factory Facebook page

Official Astonish Factory Facebook Page

hey gang,

just wanted to point you toward the Official Astonish Factory Facebook Page.
click the link HERE( the Astonish Factory Facebook Page) or on the side of the blog page on the left . . .

Enjoy!
:)

all the best,
mike . . .

More Herobear sketchin'

hey all,

tried something different with my sketchin' of Herobear. 

found a fun and easy screen recording program.

enjoy! 

:)

all the best,

m . . . 

Sketchin' Herobear

just had a little time at lunch . . .  and as i often do . . . found myself sketching a familiar friend . . .

:)
m . . .

Disney's "Where's My Water?"

I recently got to work with Disney to help them develop/design their brand new original iPhone app "Where's My Water?"
what a GREAT time i had doing it.
working with Tim the creator and Valerie and Joe and the whole team was really awesome. they are all super talented.

here's a little sneak to some of my designs being used for Swampy and his world  . . .

anyway, i hope you guys like the game. it's really very fun. 

:)

all the best in everything,

m . . . 

Hey everyone!

hey all!

wow, it's been a while since i've posted.
(i wonder how many blog posts start that way? maybe that's a blog post in itself. ;) )
;)

anyway, i just wanted to say hi and let you know that i'm still here being busy, busy, busy with regular life, family, working for the studios, and drawing and writing away on new projects.
hope you all have been well and life has been good to you.

i'm hoping to keep updating pretty regularly and i've got a TON of new stuff to start sharing, so to start off, here's a fun project that came out alittle while ago that i got to be part of...
ARCHIE BABIES . . .

cover

sample page

sample page

 i wrote 4 of the 5 stories and helped develop this BRAND NEW little kid graphic novel for Archie Comics.
it's sweet and nice and fun for little kids, and i'm really proud to have had the chance to create in the Archie Universe. i had a great time working on it, and the artist , Art Mawhinney, did a great job with the stories.

anyway, check it out and i hope you enjoy it.

take care and all the best in everything,
m . . .

JLA #50 Cover

Hey everyone!
wow, it's been a looooooooooooong time since i've put some new stuff up here.
not that i haven't been doing new stuff, of course, it's just been a busy, busy bit o' time.

anyway, here's another something i did recently for the good ol' Hero Initiative . . .

it's a cover for the JLA #50 special covers . . .
here's the front . . .

and here's the back . . .

hope you all like it.
:)
i had a great time doing this particular cover.
it was fun to go very cartoony with it.


okay, and just so you don't think i fell off the planet, i'll have some updates on a bunch of new stuff very soooooooooon!
hope everything is good with you all.

take care and all the best always,
m . . .

Archie Comics Cover

hey everyone,

here's another auction for charity.
this time it is for the Hero Initiative.
please go check out all the very cool artists involved and if you can, be a help to a very great cause.

here's a link to my cover now up for bid. . .

Mike Kunkel Archie Comics cover

hope ya all like it. it was great fun to do.
take care and all the best,
m. . .

Charity Artwork Auction

hey gang,

just a quick note to let you know that there's a day or so left on a piece of my artwork up for auction that is benefiting the children's charity . . . www.protect.org .
the auction is put together by the very cool Sphinx Group and they've got a number of talented artists helping out. i'm glad to be included with all of them.

so, if ya get a chance please go check it out here . . . :)
Herobear Drawing in pencil and ink


take care and all the best,
m . . .

New Astonish Factory Website

hey everyone,

just wanted to let you know that we re-designed the ol' Astonish Factory website.
wahooooo!
:)
you can find it here . . . The Astonish Factory . . . www.theastonishfactory.com

it has lotsa new stuff on it and captures more of a feel we' d like the factory to have.
hope you all like it and enjoy visiting.
this is the start of more new stuff coming soon.
:)
enjoy and all the best,
m . . .

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam TP

hey all,

just wanted to let you know that DC Comics released the trade paperback collection of the Captain Marvel book that i did for them.

it's a really nice little collection of my issues with some sketch pages in the back and also along with a couple different stories by the other team that took over the series.

i was honored to have been able to have so much fun with a character i've loved since i was a kid and be able to launch a brand new series for DC. so if you're lookin' for something fun to read and share with friends and family please do check it out on Amazon . . .

Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam TP

:)

hope you enjoy it.

all the best,

m . . .

Disney's Kick Buttowski

hey everyone,

well, the Disney show i storyboarded on all last year is finally getting ready to have its premier. . . .huh, i didn't even mean to rhyme that. ;)

DISNEY'S KICK BUTTOWSKI!!!!

also, here's a link to a really fun promo that Disney put together, KICK BUTTOWSKI trailer promo. the series is premiering FEBRUARY 13, 2010 at 9:00am on Disney XD. please check it out and i do hope you enjoy it. there were a ton of talented people that worked on this project. it was created by Sandro Corsaro and was directed and guided and fearlessly led by Chris Savino. Disney is really getting behind the series. they are even offering the first half hour for FREE on ITUNES! how cool is that. :)
you can check it out here . . .



anyway, i'm really proud of it and hope you all enjoy it. please check it out and don't forget to tune in on February 13, 2010.

take care and all the best,
mike . . .

Hero Initiative Auction and other fun stuff

hey everyone,

hope you are all having a great Christmas season and enjoying all the Holiday spirit possible.
:)
i just wanted to point you toward some recent fun stuff . ..
first off, the very cool Hero Initiative folks are auctioning my WOLVERINE cover that i did. so hurry on over and check it out. And if you can, go help out a great cause.

Here's the link . . .


mike kunkel WOLVERINE COVER

ALSO . . .

i recently did a cover for a friends new book that was coming out. It's entitled "SCRATCH9". here's a little write up on it to enjoy . . .

ComicBookResources

more stuff coming soon.

anyway, Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to you all.

all the best,

m . . .

Sooo Bored ;)

hey everyone . . .

Okaaaay . . . So I saw this pup in the parking lot. His expression of boredom was so exaggerated, it cracked me up.
it was early morning, and the windows were all open, so he was getting losta fresh air . . .
But I'm betting he would rather have been anywhere else but there. :)

take care and all the best,
m . . .
:)

The 2009 September Art Sale!

hey everyone!

well, the 2nd September Art Sale has officially started. . .
wahoooooooo!
:)

thank you for all the interest and contacts that everyone has sent. we've had a lot of interest in artwork, and we are glad to offer some very special pieces. we don't do this too often, so we hope that you take the time to visit all of the artwork auctions.
Also, please remember that 10% of every winning auction price of every single piece of artwork sold during the September Art Sale will be donated by the Astonish Factory to the TOYS FOR TOTS charity.

So don't delay!
Below, you can find links to all of the auctions to the Astonishfactoryexclusives . . .
take care and all the best,
m . . .



AUCTION 1 LINK . . .




AUCTION 2 LINK . . . .




AUCTION 3 LINK . . . .



AUCTION 4 LINK . . . .




AUCTION 5 LINK . . . .



AUCTION 6 LINK . . . .




AUCTION 7 LINK . . . .



AUCTION 8 LINK . . . .

All of these auctions are listed under our name . . . astonishfactoryexclusives.

Special Original Art Sales

hey everyone,

Okay . . . so, i don’t often sell original artwork.
Here and there at a show I’ll sell a piece or two, but it’s very special to me and it’s hard for me to part with. However, a couple years ago we did a special set of art auctions here at the Astonish Factory that we collected a portion of the proceeds and donated to the Toys for Tots Charity.
I thoroughly enjoyed that.
It was a great success and a good bit was donated to a very special and awesome cause. Considering that at the heart of Herobear and the Kid there is a magical toy that connects with a little child, we figured this was a perfect fit and great charity to support.
:)
well, it’s time to do it again.
So, starting in the next few days, we will be putting up a number of art pieces from Herobear and the Kid, The Land of Sokmunster, Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam and other fun artwork. We’ll post links here to all the auctions and keep everything updated.
The artwork will range from original pages, covers and rough sketches. Please take the time to check them all out. We hope that all the pieces find very good homes. Also, don’t forget that a portion of the proceeds from every sold piece of art will be helping to support the Toys for Tots charity and making a difference in children’s lives.

thanks and all the best in everything,
m . . .

Wolverine Sketch Card

hey everyone!

well, I had to add one more fun thing to the Hero Initiative Wolverine Project . . .

they had special Hero Sketch Cards too, so I did a “Mini-Wolverine.”
hope ya like.
:)

all the best,
m . . .

Wolverine!

hey everyone,

well i got to do something rrrrrreallllly fun . . .
i got to draw Wolverine!
the HERO INITIATIVE has done special one-of-a-kind covers over the last few years for their charity.
they started with the Spider-Man covers, then they did the Hulk, and now they are doing the Wolverine covers.
it's a very cool thing that they do with these covers . . . 100 artists are asked to do their own unique cover, and then the original piece is auctioned off and the money helps to support the HERO INITIATIVE . It is a non-profit organization, whose purpose is to help and support our seasoned, older comic book creators who have laid the groundwork for the industry we love. I feel extremely honored when they ask me to collaborate in these events. i had fun doing the Spider-Man cover and now I've been given a chance to do a Wolverine image.
i do hope you all like it. . .

again, i'm honored to be part of this, as they have asked some really amazing and talented artists to be part of this and i'm just very thankful to have my lil' sketch alongside theirs.
i'll keep you posted on what they do with all the covers and when they make them available.
take care and all the best,
mike . . .

my new "samples" blog

hey gang,

i created a lil blog(www.mikekunkel.blogspot.com/) to post some samples of my designs and work and such.

not a lot, just starting to add to it now.

it's kinda of a portfolio, but noooooooot really that official . . . it's more of a lazy online record of some of my stuff and way of sharing with people. i'll put up designs, storyboards, book illustrations, comics, sock puppets, wood carvings, cave drawings, birthday cake decorations, and even lawn and shrubbery sculptures . . . you know, the usual sorts of stuff.

;)

anyway, check it out and visit every once n' a while and i do hope you enjoy.

:)

take care and all the best,

mike . . .