cover art
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
Vertigo reveals cover, contents of Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures #1
Vertigo has released the cover and more details on Strange Adventures, the science fiction anthology they plan to publish in May.
The cover, above, is by Paul Pope, and as previously reported, the first issue will include a chapter of Spaceman by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso, which will get its own series from Vertigo in the fall. Other contributors include Jeff Lemire, Ross Campbell, Kevin Colden, Peter Milligan, Paul Cornell, Denys Cowan and many others. You can find the complete table of contents after the jump.
- April 28, 2011 @ 10:30 AM by JK Parkin
David Aja’s Red Skull: Incarnate cover process
Red Skull Incarnate
Much like he did for his 5 Ronin covers, artist David Aja has posted his preliminary sketches for his Red Skull Incarnate covers, for which he pulled inspiration from Nazi war propaganda posters.
“I did extensive research into historical documents for the styles,” he said on his blog. “In order to make that work, I used different typographies each issue, emulating different typefaces in real work; so I needed a uniform tone, technique and color in the finished art to identify all the covers as a whole collection.”
The five-issue miniseries by writer Greg Pak and artist Mirko Colak kicks off in July.
- April 27, 2011 @ 10:02 AM by JK Parkin
Bendis reveals the cover to Brilliant #2
Brilliant #2
Over on his Facebook page, writer Brian Michael Bendis shares the cover to issue #2 of Brilliant, the new series he co-created with artist Mark Bagley for Marvel’s Icon line.
The comic, about a group of students who “invent” super powers, kicks off in July.
- April 26, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Jillian Tamaki covers Best American Comics 2011
Best American Comics 2011
Skim creator Jillian Tamaki, whose upcoming Awago Beach Babies is due in 2013, is providing the cover for this year’s Best American Comics volume. She shares the final artwork, plus some initial sketches for other cover ideas, on her blog. The 2011 volume is guest-edited by Alison Bechdel, who joins series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden.
- April 15, 2011 @ 02:30 PM by JK Parkin
Terry Moore offers a first look at Rachel Rising cover art
Rachel Rising
With Echo wrapping up soon, Terry Moore announced his next title, Rachel Rising, last month, and now he’s revealed the first issue’s cover on Twitter.
“Rachel is a woman who wakes up one morning in the woods and realizes that she’s sitting on a freshly dug shallow grave,” he told Comic Book Resources’ Kiel Phegley. “She freaks out, digs up some of the dirt and realizes the person in the grave is her. The story goes from there, showing how she goes back into down to figure out what’s going on. This is a woman who has died, but she’s back. And she remembers who killed her. That’s the starting point for the first issue.”
And it explains the cover. The first issue is due in July.
- April 13, 2011 @ 09:00 AM by JK Parkin
J.H. Williams III wants the funk for Static cover
Static Shock Special
Artist J.H. Williams III shares what I believe is a variant cover for the upcoming Static Shock Special DC is putting out as a homage to Dwayne McDuffie. At least, the solicitation for the title lists Derec Donovan as the cover artist.
At any rate, it’s a wonderful piece of art that Williams says was inspired by funk music.
“I wanted to try some different things in attitude,” Williams wrote on his blog. “The Milestone characters always had this unusual quality to them, which I think made them pretty cool. And some of them seemed to have this Funk aspect to them. Now when I say Funk, I’m referring to Funk Music. So I decided to see if I could bring that more forward in attitude for this cover. The result is pretty effective. It still has this iconic quality that the genre should have, but now it feels like Funk meets Superheroes to me. Resulting in something different than what I usually do.”
You can see the steps in his creative process, from rough sketch to the final version, over on his blog. The comic comes out in June.
- March 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM by JK Parkin
Watch Paolo Rivera paint the cover to Daredevil #1
Timelapse of Paolo Rivera Painting Daredevil #1 from The Comic Archive on Vimeo.
Wow, he’s really, really fast.
Courtesy of the Comic Archive, artist Paolo Rivera shows how he created the cover to the upcoming Daredevil relaunch. As announced this past weekend, Rivera and Marcos Martin are teaming up with writer Mark Waid to chronicle the adventures of Matt Murdock and his alter ego.
- March 22, 2011 @ 10:07 AM by JK Parkin
First look: Conan: Island of No Return, Solomon Kane: Red Shadows covers
Conan: Island of No Return #1
Courtesy of our friends at Dark Horse, we’re pleased to bring you a couple of cover reveals for their June-shipping books. First up is Conan: Island of No Return #1, above, which is by Michael Kutsche. The book itself is by the team of Ron Marz, Bart Sears and Randy Elliott, features Conan teaming up with a pair of sister thieves for a heist.
And after the jump you’ll find the two covers for the third issue of Solomon Kane: Red Shadows, by Guy Davis and Gregory Manchess. In that issue, Bruce Jones and Rahsan Ekedal take Kane to Africa. You’ll also find complete solicitation information for both books.
Click below for high adventure …
- March 5, 2011 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin