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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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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