SHADOWMAN from AKKLAIM

In the 90’s, when new companies were booming in the Comics industry, I had the chance to get a stab at working with a number of Indy companies.   One of them was a company called AKKLAIM who was famous for doing video games and decided to branch out into the realm of comics.  In between my work on Captain Marvel for Marvel, I got a call to work on a filler issue (what companies call when the regular artist on a monthly series has to take a break and needs another artist to stand in on artistic duties to keep the books coming out on time) to work in a genre I rarely get to do.  Superhero/mystical/horror.  There’s not many books like this.  So I gave it a go.  And I had a bit of fun with it.  

This is an oldie but goodie and if you’ve never seen it, I’d like to share it with you.  

It was written by two great writers named Danny Abnett And Andy Lanning who told me they really enjoyed my work on that issue. 

I hope you will too. 


The Mighty 7

Sometime ago, Vito Delsante and I , we who are (were) partners at my company ETERNAL KICK, were in talks with The Great Archie Publications about working with the Great STAN LEE And his Mighty 7.

Something we wanted to really work on and hopefully retool so that the mightiness of Stan Lee continued on….
…. But after a year of negotiations, it didn’t pan out. It was kind of one of those losses you just snap your fingers and suck your teeth and go, “Awww, MaaaAAAAaaannn…”

…but…

…we’re still in talks with Archie for some other cool stuff. And I’ll let you know when things are completed and greenlit.

** which also didn’t pan out**

but…. That means you get to see the cover we had worked out that would double as a campaign poster!

And I never hold things back from the fans. Not if I can help it, anyway…

What…? You never seen a hypocrite before?:)

Well this hypocrite comes bearing art. I hope you likes.

The first cover:

20140419-182410.jpg

And here’s the cover concept that was supposed to be the first … Or second… Eh… Who cares…:)

It never got done, but it think it would have been iconic…!

20140419-173934.jpg

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.

20131129-151827.jpg

20131129-151855.jpg

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!

20131112-073309.jpg

20131112-073320.jpg

20131112-073348.jpg

20131112-073359.jpg

20131112-073409.jpg

20131112-073419.jpg

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.

20130511-011716.jpg

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!