I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, and now there was suddenly a need for it. So here it is, a gallery of all great artwork commissions that were created for the FREESTATECON show, in all of its forms, over the years. The link is below.

https://kcfancon.com/freestatecon_art/

The first image, based on “Tragic Prelude” by John Steuart Curry, was dreamed up by me, described by phone to Wes, who proceeded to knock it out of the park. Because Tragic Prelude is tied closely to Civil War-era Kansas, a decision was made to continue to use the character, who is based on abolitionist John Brown.

With a couple of exceptions, all of the artwork features the character, who was later retconned and dubbed “John Black”, as a resurrected John Brown.

Some notable non-JB depictions are the 2009 piece done by Riley Rossmo, who at the time was working on the incredible comic book, “Proof” published by Image Comics.

The other exception came in 2016, when Kelsey Wroten came up with the idea to promote comic books with two words: “Read Comics”.  This is a motif that I hope to expand upon in the coming years.

It’s been a blast working and collaborating with these artists over the years. I have always felt that I received these artists best work, and am eternally grateful for that.

Craig Klotz, 06/24/2022