#jesus blasco

[metabotulism]

[gurumog]

Panels from Invasion 2000AD Prog 01 Script by Pat Mills Art by Jesús Blasco IPC Magazines Ltd., 26 Feb 1977

In the Thargverse, King Charles III was the British monarch in 1999. The BBC newsreader bears a close resemblance to Angela Rippon.

[ginge1962]

The first volume of The Steel Claw from Rebellion and their Treasury of British Comics line.

This is the webshop exclusive hardback edition with a great cover by Brian Bolland.

The Steel Claw originally appeared in the Valiant weekly comic and made his debut in the 6th October 1962 issue.

This volume collects that 1st appearance and others till the 21st September 1963 issue plus tales from the Valiant 1965 & 1966 Annuals.

These stories were written by Ken Bulmer and illustrated by Jesus Blasco.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@themousefromfantasyland​

Mirror, Mirror

By: Jesus Blasco

[andybondurant]

New Post has been published on Andy Bondurant

New Post has been published on https://andybondurant.com/2023/02/21/cornerstone-a-faith-built-to-last/

Cornerstone: A Faith Built to Last

A Christian faith built to last rests on the foundation or cornerstone of Jesus. Unfortunately, this isn’t how it plays out for many who consider themselves followers of Jesus.

My Early Life in Ministry.

I started my first ministry job at eighteen. I had just graduated from high school, and stayed at home to attend a local junior college. My plan was to be an elementary school teacher, so I approached my church’s children’s pastor about volunteering in the kids ministry. I figured I should have some experience with kids if I was going to spend my life working with them.

Me at 18 (I have no idea who’s car that is)

In that meeting with Pastor Rod, he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I walked in to The office to volunteer, but I walked out with a part-time job. I was the kids min intern, and the lessons I learned were invaluable. 

Ministry Lessons at 18.

I learned to be effective in working with kids, you need to be prepared (which continues to be true – working with teens and adults too). Another of my mentors, Pastor Tom, used to say, “Either you put on a show for them, or they’ll put on a show for you.” He would go on to tell a story about a little boy who stood on his chair and slowly, piece by piece disrobed during a kids service. 

Put on a show for them, or they’ll put on a show for you.

tom blasco

I learned physical humor and concrete, visual lessons are most effective when teaching children. Again, these truths stretch to both teens and adults. You see it in the best teachers in and out of the church (It’s why those “prank” shows continue to be so popular through the years). 

I learned I am a good teacher, and I find pleasure in it. Most of my life has been spent ministering to children, but I now teach adults about Jesus, Scripture and biblical truth. So many of the things I learned working with children transfers to the adult world too.

I learned I enjoy graphic design, and while I’m not proficient in many of today’s different applications, I do have a gift for it. I started 30 years ago with a program called CorelDraw – long before advent of any of the Adobe products.

Yet, in that initial 12-18 months of ministry, none of those lessons learned was most important. The most important lesson I learned in those early months of ministry came in the spring of 1993. But before I go forward, let me back up for some history on the church I attended. 

Brother Ernie.

My church was named Full Faith Church of Love — the perfect, crazy, hippie name for a church birthed in the late 60’s. However, the pastor was far from being a hippie. Ernie Gruen, who we knew as Brother Ernie, founded the church in the basement of his home with a handful of families. His plan had been to be a Baptist missionary, but those goals came to an end after Brother Ernie was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues…a no-no in those days.

Soon this little church began to gain traction with the ‘Jesus People’ – the young hippies of the 60s and 70s who found Jesus. They were looking for someone to teach them the Bible, and Brother Ernie was a gifted teacher. He looked nothing like them – crew cut hair, thick framed glasses, a serious demeanor. Yet, Brother Ernie connected with them, and in the 70s and 80s, the church exploded from those handful of families to hundreds and then thousands of members. When I was on staff in the early 90s, we averaged nearly 4000 attendees a weekend, and we had 50-60 people on the church staff. 

We were a mega-church before the days of the mega-church (though now mega-churches are 10, 20 or 30,000 members).

By the early 90s, Brother Ernie was almost a charicature of himself. He was larger than life in my (little) world. I was on staff for about a year, and I worked in the office a couple of afternoons a week. I remember seeing him in the offices a handful of times, and I had a conversation with him 2-3 times at the most in that year. 

Talking to Brother Ernie was like talking to the Pope.

THE Ministry Lesson I Learned at 19.

Which brings us to the spring of 1993 when I received a phone call at home one morning (before the days of average people having a cell phone). I was given some information and told to attend an all church meeting the next evening.

The night of the meeting, I showed up to a packed church. Our sanctuary sat about 2000 people, and it was standing room only. There was a nervous energy in the building. On the stage, sat our pastors and elders. I stood at the back of the church, the proverbial fly on the wall. A lot of things were said at that meeting, but it started with the lead elder (board member) standing and sharing this information:

“We received a fax this weekend (again before the days of email, cell phones and messaging). Brother Ernie has left the city, the state. He is in Georgia. He has run off with his secretary.”

As you can imagine, it was if the air had been sucked out of the room. The meeting went on, then concluded, and the fallout began.

Within a few months, the church went from 4,000 regular attenders to about 2,000. Within a few years, the attendance dropped another 1000 members. I don’t blame anyone for leaving the church. Many people experienced some deep trauma through the situation. It was very difficult.

However, this is the lesson I learned:

People would rather put their faith in anyone but Jesus.

This was true of Full Faith Church of Love and Brother Ernie, and it’s been true of churches and leaders for the past centuries. It’s easier to put faith in a human being than Jesus. The problem is deadly to faith. It destroys the very thing we, as ministers of the gospel, are attempting to build – faith in individual followers of Jesus.

People didn’t just leave a church. They left their faith.

Building a Faith that Lasts.

A faith built to last begins with Jesus.

I love the Gospel of John, and he starts by retelling the creation story:

“In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God,  and the Word was God.  He existed in the beginning with God.  God created everything through him,  and nothing was created except through him.  The Word gave life to everything that was created,  and his life brought light to everyone.”‬‬

John‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT

Let me boil this down to one sentence for you: Everything begins with Jesus. Jesus created the earth. He breathed life into man and woman. He is the reason for your faith.

Whatever faith you have right now – no matter how big or how insignificant – it begins with Jesus. Even if you have more questions than answers, the faith to wrestle with your doubt comes from Jesus. Jesus is the foundation of your faith.

You could also say, Jesus is the cornerstone of your faith.

Jesus: Cornerstone of Faith.

Isaiah had a horrible job. He was a Jewish prophet who lived hundreds of years before Jesus, so his calling was to stand in front of the people of God and tell them of the destruction coming because of their sin. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, Isaiah’s job was to deliver bad news.

However, there was a silver lining within this call of Isaiah. Weaved within Isaiah’s prophecies of doom was a thread of hope — the coming Savior or Messiah. It is in one of these threads of hope that Isaiah uses the term “cornerstone” to describe Jesus:

“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken. I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness. Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down. Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.” 

Isaiah‬ ‭28‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus is the precious cornerstone that is safe to build our lives and faith on. If we build a faith (or a life) on anyone or anything besides Jesus, it is in danger of being swept away.

Cornerstone in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Apostle Paul picks up on this idea a few decades after Jesus has died, resurrected and ascended into heaven:

‘Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.’ 

Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT

Paul’s refers to us being the church under construction — each of us coming together as different materials to build the church. But it is the same at the core – we are to be built on and around the cornerstone of Jesus.

What are you building your life around? Who are you building your life on?

Are the walls of your life straight?

I’m not much of a handyman. I was talking with a friend the other day who casually mentioned he had spent the previous months remodeling his kitchen. I asked, and he had done ALL the work himself. This is not me. I’m very thankful for YouTube videos to guide me through the basic repairs and fixes I’ve done recently around my home.

I’m not a handyman or carpenter, but I have been to Mexico 4-5 times over the last ten years to build a home for the homeless. Now, to be fair, these homes are closer to a shed than what we consider a home in America. There is no electricity or running water. The structure is small (12x2o) with a simple loft on one side.

The second wall being prepared to go up in Reynosa, Mexico.

I have learned one thing in my travels to build these homes — the first corner of the home is vital. Thankfully, a concrete foundation is already laid before we arrive, so our job begins by building and joining two walls together on that foundation. When we join those walls together, we must make sure that everything is both level and square. If the corner is even a small bit out, the whole house will be off. Walls won’t line up, the roof won’t join, and gaps will leave openings for water and dirt.

When Jesus is the cornerstone of your faith, the walls of your life are straight. The roof of your life joins. The gaps that allow for corrosion and destruction are closed. It’s exactly what Jesus warned us about.

Jesus tells us he is the cornerstone.

Jesus himself is clear that he is the cornerstone of our faith. He uses a different term, but he has the same intention. Jesus calls it the bedrock.

““Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.””‬‬

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭24‬-‭27‬ ‭NLT

Did you catch the end of the word picture Jesus painted? He talk about the results of a life built on sand – the rain, floods and wind destroying the house of those who ignore his teaching. It’s the exact same imagery Isaiah used for those who build on lies and deception.

Anything but the bedrock of Jesus and his word is a lie. It all ends in collapse.

What are you building your life around? Who are you building your life on?

Your Story isn’t Over: Build on Jesus

Now let me encourage you. Your story isn’t over. Even if you’ve been building your life on the hope of a person, organization or philosophy besides Jesus, you can change your foundation. That’s the story of so many people from my church — both those who chose to stay and those who moved on.

A pastor leaving, a church split, a scandal, are all wake up calls to those of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus. It’s not too late to make Jesus the cornerstone of you life.

What are you building your life around? Who are you building your life on?

[techvercy]

Dozens of migrants piled together at Melilla border fence

Dozens of migrants piled together at Melilla border fence

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: African migrants sit on top of a border fence during an attempt to cross from Morocco into Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla, November 21, 2015. REUTERS/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda/File Photo By Ahmed Eljechtimi and Graham Keeley RABAT/MADRID (Reuters) -Dozens of migrants were pictured lying by a Moroccan border fence, some bleeding and many apparently lifeless, in…

[all-action-all-picture]

Stanley Baker (1928-1976) as Tom Yately in The Hell Drivers (1957, with Sid James in the background).

Doug Church was a former group art editor for 2000AD and other IPC titles like Battle Picture Weekly. I think it would be fair to say he made a massive contribution to the look and feel of the titles he worked on. In an interview with David Bishop (former 2000AD editor and author of Thrill Power Overload) he said that he kept photos of film stars for reference and suggested Baker as the basis for lorry driver Bill Savage. This was the main character in Invasion!, which began in 2000AD No. 1, and was initially drawn by Jesus Blasco. You can definitely see Baker as being the inspiration even though they never went for an exact likeness like has happened in some US comics.

Wonder who the Volgans were based on?

Laugh this off, Twinkletoes!

[weirdlandtv]

Illustrations from ALICE IN WONDERLAND by Spanish artist, Jesús Blasco (1919-1995).

[mysterious-secret-garden]

Jesus Blasco - Hansel and Gretel, 1970. A scene from the famous Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, showing the Wicked Witch making her preparations.

[thefailurecult]

[megamichaelbthings]

The Steel Claw - drawn by the superb comic artist Jesús Blasco and written by Tom Tully. This excellent series ran in the Valiant comic from 1962 until 1969. And is a prime example of how great how great British comics ( they were so much more than just the Beano or Dandy ) were with thrilling, exciting stories and amazing artwork. Their contributors deserve to be remembered and honoured as much as their American counterparts. I strongly recommend seeking out such great titles as The Valiant, Lion, Smash, Boys World and of course the father of them all the Eagle ( particularly from 1962 until 1969 British comics golden years ). 

https://plus.google.com/107528496066989305279

[downthetubes]

Incoming Rebellion Releases: The Steel Claw is back (and a classic Judge Dredd board game is coming soon, too!)

A classic Judge Dredd game gets a re-release soon, created by Ian Livingstone... 40 years ago!

The latest instalments of “Judge Dredd”, “Enemy Earth”, “Hershey”, “Hope” and “Chimpsky’s Law” feature in 2000AD Prog 2307 this week, a pretty quiet seven days from Tharg and co, with only the second Steel Claw collection – Reign of the Brain – also released by Rebellion. Next week, however, brings us something pretty special – the return of a classic 2000AD tie-in, forty years after it was…

[images4images]

African migrants atop a border fence, as Spanish Civil Guard officers stand underneath, during an attempt to cross into Spanish territories, between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla, Oct 2014. REUTERS/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda 1199x799

[joseandrestabarnia]

Inventario: 02857

Autor/a: Grañén, Blasco de (Fecha de nacimiento: 1400[?] - Fecha de defunción: 1460[?])

Escuela/Taller: Aragonesa / Española

Título: Virgen de Mosén Esperandeu de Santa Fé

Materia/Soporte: Tabla

Técnica: Temple

Dimensiones: Con Marco: Altura = 248 cm; Anchura = 130 cm

Marco: Profundidad = 26 cm

Sin Marco: Altura = 165 cm; Anchura = 107 cm

Descripción: Tabla central de un retablo dedicado a la Virgen María en el que se presenta a Nuestra Señora entronizada con el niño Jesús sentado sobre su rodilla izquierda, acompañado de cinco ángeles músicos situados alrededor del trono. Los cinco ángeles músicos ocupan la zona lateral y superior del trono reservándose la parte baja para el retrato del donante, su escudo sostenido por un ángel y una inscripción conmemorativa. Los instrumentos de música que táñen los cuatro ángeles que flanquean el trono son un arpa de mano, una flauta y una mandora. El ángel que asoma en la zona de arriba hace ademán de leer en el libro que sostiene en las manos. La virgen, de facciones finas y delicadas transmite dulzura maternal y melancolía, como si previera los dolores que le deparará el futuro (...). A la izquierda del observador y derecha de Nuestra Señora se encuentra arrodillado, en actitud orante, Sperandeu de Santa Fe, ataviado como caballero según la moda del momento; en el lado derecho del observador e izquierda de Nuestra Señora se situa un angel en posición sedente con una cartela en las manos en la que figura el escudo con las armas de Santa Fe de Tarazona, - mano empuñando cruz patriarcal de oro en campoazul señal de su linaje. Los colores son vivos, con predominio del azul, el rojo y el verde, pero es el oro en relieve empleado en el fondo, en los nimbos de los personajes sagrados y en el borde del manto de la Virgen, lo que singulariza la obra y la identifica como de la escuela aragonesa cuatrocentista.

Iconografía: Mosén Sperandeu de Santa Fe; Retrato; Virgen con Niño; Ángeles músicos

Datación : 1438-1439

Contexto Cultural/Estilo: Gótico

Lugar de Producción/Ceca: Tarazona y el Moncayo (Zaragoza (p), Aragón)

Uso/función: Devocional

Historia del Objeto: Formó parte del retablo de la Iglesia del convento de San Francico, Tarazona (Zaragoza).

Perteneció al marques de Casa Torres (Carmen Lacarra).

Lázaro la adquirió después de 1892 y en 1910 ya pertenecía a la colección Lázaro (Carmen Espinosa)

Clasificación Razonada: Es una composición frecuente entre las obras del pintor aragonés Blasco de Grañén, documentado en Zaragoza entre 1422 y 1459, que repite con ligeras variantes en los retablos realizados entre los años 1437 y 1439 para las localidades de Albalate del Arzobispo (Teruel), Tarazona (Zaragoza), Lanaja y Ontiñena (Huesca). El retablo del que formaba parte esta pintura fue contratado por Luís de Santa Fe, hijo de mosén Sperandeu de Santa Fe, con el pintor Blasco de Grañen en la ciudad de Zaragoza, el 6 de marzo de 1438 por la cantidad de ciento veinte florines de oro de Aragón, para ser colocado en la capilla familiar situada en la iglesia del antiguo convento de San Francisco de Tarazona. Del mismo retablo se conservan en el Ayuntamiento de Tarazona tres tablas, las dos primeras pertenecientes al banco con las escenas del Beso de Judas, el Lavatorio de Pilatos y la Flagelación, la tercera correspondiente a la calle lateral derecha con las escenas de la Circuncisión y de Jesus entre los doctores de la Ley.

Forma de Ingreso: Donación al Estado

Información del Museo Lázaro Galdiano, en la web Colecciones en Red, imagen mía.

[ronnola]

From the excellent Danger Man strip drawn by legendary Spanish comic artist Jesus Blasco

[all-action-all-picture]

The Steel Claw No. 1, December 1986. Cover by Garry Leach. A four issue limited series reprinting stories, by Ken Bulmer and Jesus Blasco, that originally ran in Valiant. Each of the four issues had a new framing splash page. The art on the splash pages for the first two issues was also by Leach.