cover art
Ryan Ottley’s cover process for the next Invincible hardcover
On his blog, the insanely talented Ryan Ottley shares his process for creating the cover to the Invincible Vol. 7: Ultimate Collection, which features the huge cast of characters from issues #71-84, a.k.a. the Viltrumite War storyline.
“I always have a hard time with these covers, they are always packed with everyone from the issues so it’s tough to get any kind of composition,” he said in the post. “Here I tried to organize things a little bit but with keeping the same idea of all the other covers.”
The hardcover collection is due Feb. 15, and you can catch up on previous volumes, as well as purchase Ottley’s latest sketchbook, in his new online store.
- January 19, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | De Guzman leaves SLG, Powell joins Diamond
Jennifer de Guzman
Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman announced that, after 10 years, she has left her position as editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing: “My decade SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere. I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)” [Possible Impossibilities]
Retailing | Chris Powell, current general manager and chief relationship officer for Texas-based comic chain Lone Star Comics, has accepted the newly created position of executive director of business development for Diamond Comic Distributors. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund board member will start his new position in March. [ICv2]
- January 17, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin
A look at the evolution of the Avatar: The Last Airbender cover
On the Dark Horse blog, editor Dave Marshall shares the cover process for Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Promise Part 1, from writer Gene Luen Yang’s rough ideas to art duo Gurihiru’s cover sketches to Avatar co-creator Bryan Konietzko’s notes to the final product.
The 80-page graphic novel, the first in a series of digests continuing the adventures of Aang and his friends, arrives Jan. 25.
- January 12, 2012 @ 10:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
First look at Tony Daniel’s cover for Detective Comics #8
Detective Comics #8
To celebrate the 2 millionth “like” of its Batman Facebook page, DC Comics has debuted the cover for April’s Detective Comics #8, by Tony S. Daniel and Sandu Florea.
“More than 2 million people have signaled that they are fans of the Caped Crusader, a sentiment we whole-heartedly agree with,” Brandy Phillips, DC Entertainment’s director of publicity, wrote this morning on The Source. “It’s no surprise that so many people feel this way. Batman continues to be one of the most popular comic characters ever created, with top-selling and popular books Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight and Batman and Robin leading the way. And with Catwoman, Batwing, Batgirl and Batwoman rounding out the Batman family – the whole line is really on a tear, backed by some of the best creative talent in the industry including Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Tony Daniel, and David Finch, among many others.”
Check out the full cover below.
- January 4, 2012 @ 12:30 PM by Kevin Melrose
The 50 best covers of 2011
The fourth annual rundown of the best covers of the year features 50 images representing the work of 42 different artists (plus colorists, inkers, letterers and designers) from eight publishers.
Returning creators like Jo Chen, Dave Johnson, Paolo Rivera and J.H. Williams III are joined on the list by such “newcomers” as Francesco Francavilla, Viktor Kalvachev, Tradd Moore and Steve Morris.
As with previous installments, I’ve attempted to explain the appeal of each entry; some covers get just a sentence, while others receive entire paragraphs. That doesn’t reflect the quality of the image, but merely what I have to say about it.
For those interested in the lists from previous years, they can be found here: the best covers of 2010; the best covers of 2009; and the best covers of 2008.
With that out of the way, I present, in alphabetical order, the 50 best covers of 2011:
- January 2, 2012 @ 11:55 AM by Kevin Melrose
Stan Lee’s Super Seven gets a new name and a release date
Mighty 7
It’s been almost two years since A Squared Entertainment and Archie Comics announced they were teaming up with Stan Lee and POW! Entertainment to create a comic called Super Seven — not to be confused with the cartoon of the same name or the toy company with a similar name that filed suit for trademark infringement.
Now it looks like the project is finally going to see the light of day, although with a different name, as Stan Lee’s Mighty 7 is showing up on the Previews World site. The story involves seven aliens landing on Earth who are taught to be superheroes by Stan Lee himself. Alex Saviuk is penciling the book and drew both of its covers (You can find the variant cover for the book after the jump).
Look for it in March.
- December 17, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
Frank Cho reveals the rest of the cover for Avengers vs. X-Men #0
Earlier this week Marvel sent out the cover to Avengers vs. X-Men #0, which kicks off their big round-robin crossover by Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Jason Aaron and a slew of other big-name creators.
The cover they sent out by Frank Cho has a fairly large “A vs. X” logo covering up some of Cho’s artwork, so if you’re curious to see what — and who — is under the logo, Cho has shared the logo-less artwork on his blog. Hey look, it’s Ultron!
The #0 issue by Bendis, Aaron and Cho comes out in March.
- December 15, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Paolo Rivera shares his cover for Daredevil #10
Daredevil #10
Paolo Rivera, part of the creative team who have made Daredevil one of this year’s stellar comics, shares the somewhat-creepy cover to Daredevil #10. It looks like Daredevil crosses sticks with the Mole Man and his moloids (as he did on the cover to issue #9), who in recent months have popped up all over the Marvel Universe. These moloids don’t look near as friendly as the ones who adopted the Hulk, however.
- December 8, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Comics A.M. | The once and future Extreme Studios; Colleen Doran’s digital success
Youngblood
Creators | With the announcement that Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back in business, former Extreme Studios employee and current Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson reflects on his time with the studio. “From 1992-1998, Extreme Studios was more or less my life. Youngblood, Supreme, Brigade, Bloodstrike, Team Youngblood, New Men, Prophet, Youngblood: Strikefile, Bloodpool, Glory… We put out a lot of comics, and for the most part everyone involved was incredibly young. Rob and I were amongst the oldest at 25. So many of the artists involved in various aspects of production were just out of their teens, and that made the work as frustrating as it was fun. But looking back, the main thing I remember about that time is Rob wanted to share his success with people who loved comics and wanted to make a living in the business as much as he had.” [It Sparkles!]
Webcomics | A Distant Soil creator Colleen Doran, who began serializing the comic online in 2009, notes “my bottom line is up significantly, and my online audience is ten times higher than when I started the five day a week online serialization of A Distant Soil 2.5 years ago.” She also shares advice she received when she started the endeavor that hasn’t worked for her. [A Distant Soil]
- October 17, 2011 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin
Independent cartoonists imagine their own DC Fifty-TOO!
Blue Devil by Indigo Kelleigh
With DC’s “New 52″ titles hitting in a few short weeks, cartoonist Jon Morris has recruited a whole bunch of indie comic artists to put their own spin on what the relaunch could have looked like. Today he officially launched DC Fifty-TOO!, a blog that will feature mock relaunch covers by T.J.Kirsch, Marc Palm, Ryan Cody, Thomas Perkins, Robert Wilson IV, Matthew Allison and Benjamin Marra, among others. Morris asked them the question, “If DC approached you and offered you any DC property – past or present – of your choice to be your own new ongoing part of the DC Universe, what would the cover to the first issue look like?”
The first cover, featuring Blue Devil, is by Indigo Kelleigh, co-founder of Stumptown Comic Fest and creator of The Adventures of Ellie Connelly. Expect some others later today, with many more on the way.
- August 15, 2011 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Fantagraphics reveals covers for upcoming Barks, Gottfredson collections
Fantagraphics has revealed the final cover to Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes, the first volume in their series of Carl Barks collections. In addition, you can get a good look at the cover and spine courtesy of a brochure they published to promote the book.
- August 5, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Amazing Spider-Man #49 cover art expected to go for $100,000
Amazing Spider-Man #49
Heritage Auctions expects the original art for the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #49 to go for around $100,000 when it goes up for auction later this month.
Drawn by John Romita Sr., the cover features Kraven the Hunter and the Vulture double-teaming Spider-Man. According to Ed Jaster, senior vice president at Heritage Auctions, it’s only the second cover by Romita they’ve offered for auction.
In addition to the Spider-Man cover, several other comic-related items will go up for bid in Heritage Auctions’ Signature Vintage Comics & Comic Art Auction on Aug. 17-18. These include Victor Moscoso’s original treatment for the wraparound cover to Zap Comix #4, Steve Ditko’s original art for page 17 of The Amazing Spider-Man #12, a George Herriman hand-colored Krazy Kat Sunday comic strip and a page of art from an unpublished Superman story by Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy and Wayne Boring.
- August 5, 2011 @ 10:02 AM by JK Parkin
SDCC Wishlist | DC Direct, Graphitti Designs selling relaunch cover portfolios
Action Comics #1
DC Comics sent word today (and posted on The Source) that DC Direct and Graphitti Designs will sell limited edition portfolios featuring all of the first-issue covers from their September relaunch at the San Diego Comic Con. To get all of them, it sounds like you’ll be spending a lot of time at the Graphitti booth:
On Thursday through Sunday a different portfolio volume containing 13 covers will go on sale each day in the Graphitti Designs booth for $39.95. These portfolios will provide fans and attendees with something special to have their favorite DC Comics writer and artist to sign at Comic-Con. Only 520 copies of each volume will be available per day – be sure to get your copy before they sell out so you can collect all four!
Each piece of art is 9” x 12”. The list of what covers will come in each set can be found after the jump.
- July 14, 2011 @ 03:00 PM by JK Parkin
Because nothing says ‘mainstream comics’ like a good decapitation
Flashpoint #2 variant cover
Ouch. Above is the variant cover to Flashpoint #2 by Ivan Reis and George Perez. I wonder where the rest of Mera could be … maybe in a refrigerator?
- June 1, 2011 @ 09:28 AM by JK Parkin
DC Comics releases full cover for Search for Swamp Thing
Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing
Although they previously teased it with two characters blacked out, DC Comics has now released the full covers (plural) for the first issue of Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing.
The above cover by Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes’ is the book’s final cover, with John Constantine and Zatanna appearing where big blobs of black once dwelled. And after the jump is J.G. Jones’ variant cover, featuring Batman, Swamp Thing and Constantine.
- May 4, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin