Collision! part 2 of 2 (Or: I Learned Things.)

The final. Original art still available!

 Cover art to X-23 #9, part of the Collision crossover with the Daken book.

What can I say? For a seemingly simple cover, this one took a lot of twisting and turning to get out the door. This is a moment I've wanted to show for a while, and I was going for an intense stand-off, but I'm not sure the body language is selling it.

Finding the right color scheme took many passes as well, the journey from magenta to brown had many stops and side-trips.

An earlier version, as appearing in Previews. I dunno, I thought I was Benjamin or something. Or Jim C.

I'm reasonably pleased with the Daken (although the physical copy printed so red he looks sunburnt) but getting my flat style of rendering to 'work' on Laura, at such a large size was a whole other challenge.

In the end, it is what it is. I learned things.

For he's a Jolly Good... Snail.

It's Free Comic Book Day this Saturday May 7th. It's also the 35th anniversary of the Silver Snail comic shop, a landmark of Toronto comics culture, and I'll be spending it there.

Each year they commission an original poster to commemorate the event, usually featuring store mascot Bobo (the big robot guy,) in some fashion. This year, they asked me. (See image above,) If you want one come down to the store, they're gratis.

Past posters have been drawn by the like of Charles Vess, Dave McKean, Stuart Immonen, Adam Hughes and Simon Bisley, among others.  Clearly, someone screwed up this year, but I'm pretty chuffed about the whole thing, regardless.

The Silver Snail and I have had a long association, and it's inseparable from my secret origin. It was the first comic shop I ever set foot in as a kid with my Dad. I didn't buy my first comic there, but pretty damn close. It was a wellspring of inspiration for me growing up, for years I couldn't just walk in to the store, as soon as I saw it at the end of the block, I had to break into a run. It was the fire in which my love for comics was tempered. It was a place where amazing, undiscovered things lurked on every shelf. 

And I had plenty of time to discover them all, as in later years, my mom would often drop me off there while doing purchasing in the neighborhood, leaving me to wander the store for hours. I'm sure the staff loved that, and later still, in my twenties, when I worked there for a year or so (with some of those same staff, I might add,) I came to understand just how god-damned annoying I must have been.

I don't get to the store much these days, I live and work in neighborhoods in other parts of the city, with easy comic purchasing options walking distance. But I wish I did.

And hey, I'll be there tomorrow.