The SIEGE That Almost Was

Today sees the release of the first part in Marvel's new geekstravaganza, Siege. Now I say that with love, I ran to the store today to get my copy, just like I do on any Wednesday where there is new Olivier Coipel art out.

In honor of this happy day, I'm gonna share with you the ghosts of a Siege promotion that never quite came together...

The concept was to have 3 full page illustrations, I guess to run in Marvel titles a month or two before the event as teasers, showing Thor's hammer, Cap's shield and Tony's armor, ravaged, burned and/or blood soaked.

It only got as far as these roughs, however. Shortly after the first sketch got approved, Marvel marketing decided to go in another direction for the promotion. These things happen, and I was paid for my time, but now I have this little piece of Siege apocrypha on my hard drive...

Aaaaand Action!

Picked up a bonus cover gig this month, Action Comics #887, just to add a little extra sparkle to the holiday season. The bonus to the bonus? Getting re-teamed with my Checkmate compadres Rucka & Trautmann.

I'm kind of embarassed to admit this, but drawing (and coloring) the Kryptonian crystals, at all kinds of sharp contrasting angles, like how they were in the movie (the good one), gave me nerd chills.

More Coverage

Thought I'd offer a peak at my next two R.E.B.E.L.S. covers. Looking at these here (along with the covers to R.E.B.E.L.S. #10 and Annual #1) I'm detecting a pattern. I seem to somehow have become Giant-Face-Guy.

How did this happen? I have a couple theories but I won't bore you with them. I do, however, pledge the following: a moratorium on enormous visages for the next few months. You heard it here first, True-believer!

Blackest Night R.E.B.E.L.L.I.O.N.

I've been so nose-to-grindstone, that one of these puppies has even come out before I got around to posting about it. Issues #10 and #11 of R.E.B.E.L.S. cross over into nerdgasm-of-the-year, Blackest Night and are extra large-sized at 30 pages each. If #10 is any indication, they also feature Andy Clarke doing some of his best work yet, and that's saying something because he is a beast. They also feature a Yellow Lantern Sinestro-Dox design by Yours Truly.

Oh Hot Moo!

At last! I can finally reveal my new regular cover gig: Marvel Universe A to Z Updates!!
This is a nerdgasm of the first order for me. Back when I was wee kid, I read more Marvel Universe comics than actual comics, and it was a secret dream of mine to one day contribute to one. Once I started working in the industry, that even seemed possible.
But in the intervening time a few things had changed. They'd switched from commissioning original character art for the entries to clipping and/or redrawing panels from the comics.
So that's that, thought I. But then one day I got an email asking me to do covers... *shudder.*
Best of all it's for the update books, which means that each issue is chock-full of all the oddballs and morts that I love. For instance on the above cover I got to draw Gladiator, Nimrod AND Xemnu the Titan. Xemnu the fucking Titan!!
Next issue: American Eagle, Fat Cobra, and Pixie... booyah!

Dungeons of the Past, Dragons of the Past

One of the things that's been keeping me away from you all is a new D&D book I'm contributing to called The Players Strategy Guide. This one should be interesting, as it's incorporating a totally new visual style distinct from other D&D products. As it's waaay to early to talk about posting any of that stuff yet, you'll just have to wait and see what I mean.

But it got me thinking back about all of the D&D art I've done over the last few years, that for one reason or another, I never got around to posting on the old site. So without further ado, I present for you here, a stroll back in time through my D&D folder.


I present these first two in glorious black & white, since with the benefit of hindsight, I'm not really feeling the colors. But enough yammer... onward!



The preceeding images appeared in Faiths of Eberron and Secrets of Sarlona, repsectively. Now for some good old fashioned mainstream D&D, from The Book of Nine Swords...
















That last piece is from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, as is this next one, which also features a break from form in that it's in pencil-tone, which, at the time, I think, was the mandate for D&D Chapter starts. It's also noteworthy in that it was co-opted and used as the Myspace icon for some metal band from Des Moines or something.

Pssst, hey, Metal Band from Des Moines, you can send royalty payments (and/or fruitbaskets) via the email address above. K thx.

I Fell into a Burning King of Fire

So seen here, is a promo illustration commissioned by my NYX partner-in-crime, Marjorie Liu, for, among other things, the July/August web exclusive over at chez Liu. Since it's now September, I think it's safe to post it here too.

The Fire King is the ninth book in Marjorie's acclaimed Dirk & Steele series. You can learn all about the book and how to get it here.

Based on the comments left on Marjorie's blog here, it sounds like a lot of readers thought this was the actual cover art for the book. Since it features typographical elements like a book cover, I guess I can understand the confusion. Still, wanna know how you can tell that there is no way that this is an actual book cover?

The title is bigger than the author's name. No publisher would ever let that happen.

I had a great time interpreting Marjorie's characters and flexing some character design muscles... haven't really designed anything I've illustrated since NYX, and even those were re-designs.

Marjorie and I are hatching plans for future collaborations related to the world of Dirk & Steele. Can't say much more than that for now, but watch this space (or Marjorie's blog) for more soon!

Marjorie and I at NYCC 09, with an auspicious portent looming over Marjorie's shoulder.