BLOODSHOT AND THE H.A.R.D.CORPS 16 cover

Lately, I haven’t gotten cover assignments often.

Don’t think i understand that yet, but its not a big deal.

But when i do get a chance to do one, i like to rock the ‘ose.

I’ve always been intrigued with Bloodshot from way back in the days when Valiant started just as i was moving in full sway with Milestone. When i got the chance to work with Warren Simons (editor in chief at Valiant) , we had been talking about doing some really great work concerning the new direction of the Valiant staple of characters. When he said he wanted me to come up with a great cover for Bloodshot…. I chomped at the bit happily.

Now understand, the cover art on this book is primo and with the likes of super detailed and hyper realistic techniques of Mico Suayan and Grandpa!, i needed to make sure i left my imprint.

Create some WOW factor.

I think i did it. And i had fun with it. 🙂

Don’t push me out to pasteur YET.

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Nine Slices of KATANA

It was a bit arduous, but even when i was all over the place professionally, i still
found time to pencil and ink most of KATANA issue #9. The sole reason for taking the gig was Annie Nocenti. I’ve been in love with that woman’s talent since she started actively writing Daredevil back in the 90’s.
She put Daredevil and many other mainstream characters through their mental paces …. There was always some Hitcock-ian twist. Some crazy character. Some crazy storyline. And deep mentally penetrating dialog complete with its own event horizon.
I got to work with another childhood fantasy and it felt great.

By the way, her eyes are kinda wild, too. So guess i should be careful what i say or she’ll do to me what she did to her luau’d pig. 🙂

I plan on pitching her some stuff soon, but i really want to work with her again on … Well…ANYTHING!

In the meantime, the Katana deadline was hellish, and a bit stressful at times. This one wasn’t easy.

But i did it for Annie’s Katana. As i said…. The time only allotted enough time for me to pencil and ink a certain amount of pages. And i wish i had it like Jack kirby…. You know…

…8 pages a day…

But i recognize my limitations.

The preview showed up on ComicBook Resources. But instead of taking you there…
I’ll keep you here by posting the preview HERE!

Enjoy!
And pick up the book this week!

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ChrisCross is dreaming VALIANT!

YES!!!

ChrisCross will be at NYCOMICCON! I’m talking about me in third person again.

I will be there signing with the guys at Valiant Entertainment for my stint on BLOODSHOT 0 and most likely some future work that I’m partaking as I type this. There is much to talk about and a lot to catch up on and i will endeavor to keep up the pace in creating these posts.

If you’d like to catch me at the Con, the booth number for Valiant is Booth #2028 inside the Javitz Center in Midtown Manhattan – and they’re bringing along a boatload of exclusive giveaways, all-new convention-only items, and superstar talent to celebrate their biggest NYCC ever!!

Okay… So thats not my voice and i ripped that. But i could have said it….:)

My schedule for the Con are as follows:

Thursday October 10 7 pm

Friday October 11 12pm

Saturday October 12 1pm signing 4pm panel

Sunday October 13 11am signing

I hope to see you guys there because i will be making the rounds letting people know about my company website going live on SATURDAY. the company is named ETERNAL KICK and it will be out there for people to see FINALLY!

And guaranteed Archer will be poking me trying to annoy me.

Tah tah for for now, guys!!!

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The sport of being Valiant

When Valiant announced that they were back in a position to be publishing books again, I think It took some people aback, those who were old enough to remember the first cache of the Valiant model… which was back in the 90’s.

Taken aback, but not in a bad way.

Back then, I was just getting out of School of Visual arts and I was working near full-time hours at a law firm in upper Manhattan. I decided that I was done with the 9-5 nonsense of the constant political pressures of the land of Esquire and I was going my own way. I had an appointment with the first echelon of Valiant that housed Bob Layton, Jim Shooter, and a ton of then-beginners who are now either high rollers (meaning doing work with animation or movies for “Hollywood”), Marvel/DC veterans, or doing their own thing. Then I discovered Milestone Media. In some weird turn in time, I could have easily been working with the Shooter gang instead of Club McDuffie.

Hey, it’s nice to have had options!

One of my great regrets though was never getting a chance to jump on any of those books. I kind of see the new Valiant as the Golden State Warriors. The new guys with a lot to prove going up against two big franchises like the Lakers and the Celtics and some really notable teams that make a ton of noise jostling for the third spot. I’ve had many discussions about Valiant’s new splash on the scene and myself and others really think they’re going to be surprising a lot of people soon enough when they’re the set party for that third spot. They just seem to have their stuff together, and they appear to know what they want and what it’s going to take to get there. And they have a possibility to bring in new readers. There’s a newness with all the characters and I think that’s what is needed to rejuvenate the comics market. Hopefully it will inspire others to put their two cents in to start a new renaissance.

The cool thing is I now have an opportunity to put my two cents in with Bloodshot #0.

I want to take my time with this one and really make it stand out from any other work that I’ve done before. It’s going to be the road to some great work that I’m planning that’s going to set new roads for me. And sometimes I just get tired of my own work, so I have to add new influences to freshen me and my muse up again. And I’ve been hustling to get better for awhile now. So I hope you like what I offer in my splash on Bloodshot. I’ll post that cover as soon as I get the go.

You can check out the link on my mention here and get warmed up for an origin of Bloodshot you may not have read before.

I team up with Matt Kindt whose bringing his own style of storytelling to the mix.

Hope you like what we put together soon!

Cross.

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WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU INDIEGOGO or YOU WANNA BE KICKSTARTIN’ SOMETHIN’…

okay… SO I’M doing my research to see what will be the best crowdfunding site to go to since myself and Vito Delsante are kicking up a gear to get our projects out there.  And i come across this rambunctious sister by the name of Robin Dempsey, who did a great amount of research on the ins and outs of getting funding through www.kickstarter.com (KICKSTARTER) and www.indiegogo.com (INDIEGOGO)… since these are the 2 most popular right now… and what the benefits will be for putting your said project on either or.

So while i’m compiliing my information, i thought it would be good to share Robin’s wealth of info.

Last i checked, her project did pretty well.  So if we all do the right research, crowdfunding proves that even in this economy, people love to see creative people go through extraordinary lengths to entertain them and will pay to help you do it in their own way.  So… here’s her vid, and don’t let her cute face throw you…

… she’s very crafty.  And that’s what it takes to be a shark about your dreams. ;D

So grab your wine glasses, pour out your best Moet…. or ginger ale…. ain’t nobuddy judgin’ heeyuh… and toast to your potential success.

Cuz if you don’t change, you die.

and hey, if winning was easy, losers would do it.

Right?

THE FIRST PASS AT SMALLVILLE BATMAN

WELL,  the thing about Smallville is that esthetically, all of the costumes on the set of that show are derived from everyday clothing that people either don’t normally wear or are tailored with DC characters in mind with a twist in the concept on clothing you can probably find anywhere.  They always teased you with the idea of capes and long boots. And i kinda liked that. It made the producers and the costume designers think inside the box and off to the left.  I wanted to go the same route with Bats. I wanted him to wear gimmicky clothing based on tech and materials already existing yet repurposed and reconfigured to match his sensibililties. Essentially, a well-talented CosPlayer who is great at making really great costumes would be able to pull it off easily and it would still look great.

    When Kwanza Johnson asked me to be on the Smallville project, there was no way i was  going to say NO.  Who would pass up the chance to create Batman for Smallville?  The thing that everyone was begging for when the series was live?  

    Hell YEAH, i was gonna do it. Even though i had something that i was privately working on and was going to take a month off to do it, you don’t pass up paying work. EVER. 
And defiinitely not something that’s going to make a mark like RECREATING one of the most prevalent heroes ever made.  One that even made weaponsmakers rethink portable, personal and mobile combat just off of the ideas the creators in the past had the Bats use to get out of hairy situations.  

   I came up with my first spin for Batman. I wasn’t going for cape, per say, just something that would turn into one if he needed to glide to the next building or out of a high flying plane in chaos.

You never know with Bats.

 

So i thought, if he went to a fetish shop and got some leather or rubber latex masks,  and some black facepaint, he could scare the living stew out of someone he was persuing.  The costume just naturally followed. 

Methinks it was too much for their minds.   They thought it would bring the wrong message… and it was too dark for the Dark Knight.  

 

Okay.  Right. 😀

 

HE’s the DARK KNIGHT, people.  I was going for urban warrior in a preparation for superurban combat.  So if he’s a Billionaire, he’d want nondiscript materials that he can alter to his liking with no crazy overhead and remaking material that will do what he wants is the ultimate in ego.  

Even up to slapping the inside of his elbows against his symbol unlocking the jacket that would cling to his inside arms so that it would balloon out as wings when he wanted to beat feet from tall distances.  Or smack the material and it would become superhard armor that would block projectiles and some energy bolts.  I know. I think too much.

IN the end, they didn’t use it, but you get to SEE IT.

I can’t wait for someone to CosPlay this uni.  I would FREAK in joy if they did. 😀

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ON THE VERGE OF A BODOG

(i have NO idea what that means.)

YO.

You should go check this out.

Some brothers i’ve known since college… one since High School… have come together to create a company called Verge Entertainment.

The company consists of three gentlemen….Joseph Illidge (a former DC editor, present Archaia Press editor, and writer), Shawn Martinbrough (an artist best known for his stint on Batman and his book How to draw Noir comics), and Milo Stone (who is the back and bone of the Verge engine.)

They worked in conjunction with BoDog (which if you’re into poker, music, ultimate fighting championships and the like, this is the company that does tons of that… and chances are you’ve watched tons of this kind of entertainment that they’ve financed) in bringing out a graphic novel called AYRE FORCE. They took real-life BoDog owner and CEO Calvin Ayre and made him a real man on a mission. I’m sure his ego loves it. Who wouldn’t want to be drawn with a gun fighting genetically altered children of a madman?

I do it every day making art deadlines!!

So click on the lavender Ayre Force type!

You’ll notice that there are webisodes. 2 in all. My artwork is in the second one.

Even got the credits!!

If you’re going to the NY ComiCon, they’ll be running the webisodes all day… poor guys at the booth… and you can see in hiDef and in loud bass and treble.

if that’s your thing.

I’m proud of the guys. And i’m glad i could be a part of it.

Who knows? Maybe a cartoon in our future?

Wouldn’t hurt!

Examples of working in the BIG CITY….

So… for the past couple of months, i’ve been busting my hump to get this work done. It’s been kicking my butt. Especially since i’m doing full pencils to get the pages done. I once told myself that i would never do full pencils on a project again unless i have mega-time to get it done.

And i must now learn never to say NEVER.

So i’m working on Totem, Tempest and Mario Gully’s Ant Unleashed. I remember looking at Mario’s character on MySpace and asking him to send me some issues so i can see what the character was all about. Little did i know that months later, i would be actually DRAWING his character.

Anywho…. so i’m doing the limited series called TAINTED for BIG CITY COMICS and i’m trying to get things done so i can ultimately move on to my own endeavors…..and it’s taking longer than i planned. Things aren’t going according to my schedule…

….and it’s making me antsy.

But the great thing about working on this project is that it’s giving me time to work out some kinks in the way i work on and visualize getting pages done. I’m sure i’ll be a different person should i be working with Marvel and DC again.

But i ramble.

These are the covers to the three books i’ve already done. Some of you may have already seen some of the images on other sites. SO.. see ’em again!!

And if you haven’t seen them, it’s new to you!