Bedazzled

Well, the proverbial cat's out of the bag.

It's been banging around on twitter for about a week now, and I have to say, I'm a bit taken aback. So far the buzz and interest about this one adds up to roughly double everything else I've worked on put together (which may not be saying much, but I'm impressed.)

My new Marvel project is... *drum roll* Dazzler!

Not just any Dazzler, Disco Dazzler.

Which is, for some people, the only Dazzler.

The story, entitled "In the Blood", is written by #1 Dazzler superfan and Marvel Marketting majordomo Jim McCann, and will be out in May. The solicitation'll run in the next Previews. Be sure to bug your local comic establishment to order high. Why? 'Cause! It's Dazzler, man. Back in the silver jumpsuit.

Actually, allow me to speak to that for a moment. No, it's not a flashback or Year One story. And yes, there is a very good, story-dictated reason why she is back in them disco duds. You'll just have to read it to find out what that is...

Jim talks at length about the project here.

Also, follow me on twitter if you haven't already. I'm tweeting my Dazzler playlist, track by track.

Almost Forgot One

This, my friends, the cover art to R.E.B.E.L.S. #14 marks the last comic image of mine with starfish anywhere in it. Yes 14. Which comes before 15. I know, I know... see the title.

Those of you playing the Kalman-Starfish drinking game over these last few months have been getting pretty pickled, I know, especially since we counted stars of any kind for at least one month during my Captain America story.

Speaking of which, I never did post any pages from that Cap story, did I?

See how I did that? I am ninja, hear me roar. The story was called In Memoriam and ran as a back-up in Captain America #600.
In other Mighty Marvel News, I finally have script in-hand for my Mystery One-shot. The cover is done and approved, huzzah! and should be appearing in the next Previews, at which time I can finally fling back the curtain, and reveal who the star is.
Wait, star...?

Guess who's a R.E.B.E.L. now?

Above is the cover art to R.E.B.E.L.S. #15. It's notable for a couple of reasons. First off I tried a new (to me anyway) technique here. After drawing Starfire the usual way, in blue pencil and pen on bristol, and scanning the line art, which looked like this:

I printed it out again, smaller, on some nice paper and laid down the skin tones using a brush and inkwash, which looked like this:

Yeah, I flipped it at this point, thinking it worked better, but was asked to flip it back for final. Which is what you see up top, digital colors and hand painted tones married together, huzzah.

Secondly, this cover features *wait for it* the return of a signature! Or, if you're a purist about such things, the return of a name. Aren't you glad you read all the way to the bottom for that tid-bit...?

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.