Books I'd Kill to Draw: Zot

I know there's no way in the world I'd ever get the chance to draw Scott McCloud's Zot in print (being a creator owned project and all) but Scott McCloud has been a huge influence on me. Long before I had heard about Understanding comics I was learning loads from his wonderful storytelling in the pages of Zot.
I actually got the chance to meet McCloud back in 2000 and had him sign my dog-eared copy of of the first Zot trade Eclipse put out in 1990. I still smile every time I look at it:)

Books I'd Kill to Draw: Iron Fist

This one was a lot of fun!

The Orson Randall incarnation of Iron Fist is easily one of my favorite new characters that Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction and David Aja have brought in to the Marvel Universe of late. He's got such a great pulp sensibility with his set of .45s and his Phantom like sweater.



Also, Martijn Form's farewell to Exterminators is up at Comics Bulletin with a wee quote from me in there.
Exterminators is unfortunately another of those great books cancelled far far too soon.

Books I'd Kill to Draw: Robin

As you can see from the title I've settled on my first new theme. Books I'd Kill to Draw is pretty self explanatory... I'll be posting sketches of characters from my favorite books past and present that I think would be a dream to work on (no matter how tonally wrong I may be for any particular title:)
These will be comics I grew up with, or am still reading, that have had a hand in shaping my comic tastes and style, and some that I just think would be a hell of a lot of fun to work on:)
We'll see some obvious stuff in these posts ( that means a fair share of capes and tights) but there'll definitely be a few surprises along the way as well.
Let's start with a pretty easy one. Below we have Robin...

...in true 90's fashion I imagine he's saying "Come get some.":)

Ummm...

I just realized I'm fresh out of new material to stick up here on the ol' blog. I've got several theme weeks rattling around in my noodle, and maybe a few things in my sketch books that still need to be scanned in, but for now just go watch this trailer for the Batman Brave and the Bold that Mike Manley posted up on his blog. Gorilla Grodd, Gentleman Ghost, Golden-Age Green Arrow and bunches of other stuff I'm sure starts with "G" like GREAT NEW CARTOON!

Star-Man... er MEN

Yeah... so I'm one of the few who STILL hasn't read any Star Man. Maybe I'll try to pick it up since it's in one of those big collections now.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Oh, and if you're out in San Diego have a safe trip back. I gotta say I'm pretty glad I didn't go. Staying home this time out has afforded me more time to devote to work, and I'm sure I'm keeping up with news from the show better than if I were actually there:) I'm a bit disappointed I don't get to catch up with a lot of my friends at the show, but it's such a mad-house there I probably wouldn't have been able to chat much anyway. Take care, folks!

Tara and Paul

October Pimpin'

Marvel's solicitations for October are making the rounds. Included in there is my second issue of Devil Slayer. Here's the details.

DEAD OF NIGHT FEATURING DEVIL-SLAYER #2 (of 4)

Written by BRIAN KEENE

Art by CHRIS SAMNEE

Cover by KAARE ANDREWS

In the aftermath of a terrifying firefight, the new Devil-Slayer finds himself on the run in Iraq, hiding from friend and foe alike. Now, unsure who he can trust, Danny Sylva must unravel the conspiracy surrounding the Bloodstone Group and solve the mystery of Operation: Xenogenesis. And if he doesn't, his life -- and the life of everyone on the planet -- may be forfeit. Written by award-winning horror novelist Brian Keene and illustrated by Chris Samnee (DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA)!

32 PGS./Cardstock Cover/Explicit Content ...$3.99

Tell your friends, okay?

Why So Serious-ly awesome?!

I'm sure there's nothing I can really say about the Dark Knight that hasn't been expressed elsewhere on the internets already, but I just have to say I loved it! No surprise there, right? It was a wonderful crime yarn (that just happened to have a few guys in costumes in it), the best Batman story (in live-action mind you) ever committed to film, and probably the best ensemble cast in any movie EVER. But that's just my two cents. Go and see for yourself, I hear they could really use the ticket sales;)
Since this one has already done so well maybe we'll be lucky enough to get a Commissioner Gordon spin-off film before they jump into another sequel. Give Christian Bale some time out of the rubber outfit to be in a Terminator movie or whatever, and get the real star of Dark Knight, Gary Oldman (who gave, in my opinion, the best performance in the film, in a role that he just completely disappears into) the top billing he deserves.
I honestly can't recommend seeing this move highly enough. Just don't finish off your soda too fast. This thing clocks in at over two hours and we don't need anybody poppin' a bladder in the theatre.

Colossus

In case you were wondering, yeah I saw Dark Knight yesterday... I'll tell ya all about it later:) Until then here's a Colossus sketch for ya until I've got the time to rave about movies.

Hope your week starts out on the right foot. My right foot stepped on a dead frog in the carport this morning! I need a cup of coffee.

Doom!

RICHAAAAAARRRDSSS!!!!

Man, those old Byrne issues of Fantastic Four ruled.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Look! Up in the Sky!!

Here's the one I mentioned yesterday. Maybe I'll try to get some more color stuff up here from time to time. Spice up the ol' blog a bit.

Spidey Sense Tingling!

Here's one of the doodles I did up for a couple of the kids before a recent family get-together.

I've got a Superman too(that needs a little cleaning up in Photoshop) that I'll get that up here tomorrow.

Heroes: Joker and Thanos&Death

Okay, I've milked the Heroes Con sketches all that I can. These are the last two pieces done at the show. Thanks again to everyone who made it out (a big thanks to those of you who passed along scans) and to all you folks who've been leaving comments. I really appreciate it.

Now it's on to posting somethin' new. Guess I'd better get back to the drawing board.

Heroes: Doc Ock and OMAC

Here are a couple great things that came out of the Silver-Age:)

Heroes: Big Boss and Mister Terrific

The sketch up top is of "Big Boss" (from a video game I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten the title of again) and below is Mister Terrific whose power (aside from the only one that I was aware of, which is his T mask that makes him invisible to cameras or computers or something...) is that "he's better than you.":)

Hereoes: Secret Invasion Hawkeye and DD

Here are a couple more sketches on those blank Secret Invasion covers. Unfortunately the ink I used on these two was different from the last time, so I wasn't able to erase all of the pencils without taking the majority of ink off the page with 'em. At least now I know what NOT to use next time.

Also, there's a short piece up at Newsarama about Pulp Tales with a bit more preview artwork than has made it out on the internets before. Great lookin' stuff, and apparently Boom! will have a limited number of copies up for grabs at the San Diego Comic-Con if you haven't already ordered yours.

Showtime for the Exterminators!

Hollywood Reporter has an article up on a show I just can't wait to see. Now if I just had cable...

Heroes: Martian Manhunter X 2

I guess his recent death got Martian Manhunter back on some folks radars. Can you believe I did TWO sketches of J'onn J'onzz at the same show?

Heroes: Oracle & Black Canary and ummm Oracle again

I was asked to draw the top piece in a sketchbook, but in my last-day-of-the-show confusion I managed to do the whole thing on a sheet of bristol board. I did the little head shot of Babs in the book to hopefully make up for my absent mindedness.

Hope you all had a safe Fourth of July... and fifth and sixth. Our neighbors are still celebrating nightly with fireworks:(

I've got my eye on you...

This one wasn't from Heroes, I figured we'd take a break from all those Heroes Con sketches for something a little patriotic since it's the Fourth of July.

Have a great holiday weekend folks. Be careful around those fireworks.

Heroes: Agent Maria Hill

This is the last scan of sketches I worked up before the show.
And yes that is MODOK's shadow:)

Heroes: Wolverine & Shadowcat and Casanova & Zephyr

Hmm, maybe these are my two favorite pre-show sketches:)

Heroes: Vision & Scarlet Witch and Woverine & Hellfire Club

These are a couple of my favorite pre-show pieces. I've never drawn any of these folks, with the obvious exception of Wolverine, but I'm really happy with how they turned out.