Captain America #43 Cover

Marvel's October 2008 solicitations are beginning to appear, featuring Captain America #43. Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #43
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils by LUKE ROSS
Cover by STEVE EPTING
Bucky has survived his first major trial as the new Captain America, but now a villain from his past - both as Bucky in WW2 and as the Winter Soldier during the Cold War - has come to the U.S. and he'll have to face his history just as he's finding his feet in the present. The beginning of a gripping war and espionage tale, with some familiar faces for long-term Cap readers, as the New Captain America moves further into the Marvel U. And for this action-packed three-part story, award-winning Cap writer Ed Brubaker is joined by acclaimed artist Luke Ross (Jonah Hex, Samurai).
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

This issue marks my 20th painted cover, and it's an ongoing experiment. Next month, I'll try to post a step by step of the cover process, much like the page process in the previous post.

2007 Cover Of The Year

The fans at Marvel.com have voted Captain America #25 2007 cover of the year. Read more about it here.

Thanks to all who voted!

Captain America #42 Cover

Marvel's September solicitations are here, featuring Captain America #42. Here's how Marvel describes the issue -

CAPTAIN AMERICA #42
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by STEVE EPTING
The final chapter of the epic "Death of Captain America" saga is here! The New Captain America, the Falcon, the Black Widow, Sharon Carter - all in a final showdown with the Red Skull and his minions for the future of America!
32 PGS./Rated T+ ...$2.99

Comparing the cover featured in the article to the one above you'll notice that:

A) The cover on Newsarama is unfinished.

and

B) I changed the background at some point during the painting.

Not my favorite cover, but not my least favorite either. After all, it does have Arnim Zola on it.

UPDATE: Just for comparison's sake, and a little peek at the work in progress, here's the cover as posted in the solits-



You can see my pencils on the two main figures of Cap and Red Skull with flat color underneath them. The smaller figures below are more finished, but there was still work to be done on them. I liked the graphic appeal of the star, but the dominant blue field behind it merged too much with the blue of Cap's costume and made him recede into the background. Cap (and the Skull) needed to be the focal point and the cool blues of his costume contrasted much better against the warm red and white stripes.

Secret Invasion

Here's a secret: this Secret Invasion Sketch Cover is on eBay right now. If you're interested, go have a look here.

Captain America #41 Cover

Marvel's August solicitations are starting to show up, featuring Captain America #41. Here's how Marvel describes the issue -

CAPTAIN AMERICA #41
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by STEVE EPTING
The epic "Death of Captain America" tale hits its penultimate chapter... and the final battle between the New Captain America and the people who killed Steve Rogers begins here!
By the Eisner-Nominated team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99


Also, last week The 2007 Eagle Award was given to CAPTAIN AMERICA 25-30: THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA under the category Favourite Comics Story published during 2007. Thanks to all who voted.

Captain America #39 Cover

Since it's been popping up here and there on the web after being leaked on Marvel's site, I suppose it's safe for me to go ahead and post this here.

The cover for Captain America #39 -

Rock The Vote - Captain America #38 Cover

Marvel has released some of May's solicitations and therefore revealed the purpose of the Red Skull painting from a few days ago. Here's how Marvel describes Captain America #38-

CAPTAIN AMERICA #38
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils and Cover by STEVE EPTING
THE SAGA OF THE NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA CONTINUES!
Bucky Barnes never wanted to be Captain America, but he's doing his best to carry on the legacy of Steve Rogers, in his own way, while trying to save Sharon Carter from the Red Skull and his minions. But maybe he's not the only one running around in a Captain America outfit!
Part Two of "The Man Who Bought America" by the acclaimed team of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Ed suggested doing a cover featuring the Red Skull in the style of an old Soviet propaganda poster and this is what I came up with-

Captain America #34

The new Captain America makes his debut today as Captain America #34 hits the stores, written by Ed Brubaker, penciled by me, inked by Butch Guice, and colored by Frank D'Armata.



You may notice the cover is slightly revised from the solicited version. The muddy yellow background really wasn't working for me and in the end, I dropped it out all together.

Also, CBR is running an interview I did with them about this issue here.

Captain America #36 Cover

Marvel's March 2008 solicitations are out, including Captain America #36. Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #36
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by STEVE EPTING & BUTCH GUICE
Cover by STEVE EPTING
THE SECOND ACT OF THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA COMES TO ITS SHOCKING CONCLUSION!
The new Captain America fights the Red Skull's minions with Black Widow at his side and chaos erupting all around them! Meanwhile, Sharon Carter, still under the control of Dr. Faustus, makes a horrifying discovery about the next stage of the Skull's plans! By Eisner and Harvey Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker with art by master storytellers Steve Epting and Butch Guice.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

I did another montage for this cover, and though I think there was some potential for a decent cover in the rough, I'm afraid I didn't quite pull it all together in the final version.





The image above is the finished version of the cover. Unfortunately, the cover being used for the online solicitations is an earlier, unfinished version that was rushed out for the catalogue.

Captain America #35 Cover

It's that time again - Marvel's solicitations for Februaray '08 are up, and Captain America #35 is among them. Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #35
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Penciled by STEVE EPTING & BUTCH GUICE
Cover by STEVE EPTING
THE NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA FIGHTS FOR THE HEART OF HIS COUNTRY IN A CITY GONE INSANE!
Last issue was just the tip of the iceberg, as the Red Skull's master plan kicks into motion, and chaos begins to take hold of the US, with only one man to stand in its way, but is he up to the task? By Harvey and Eisner Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker with art by master storytellers Steve Epting and Butch Guice!
32 PGS./Rated T+…$2.99

You may notice a new name in the credits. Butch Guice will be inking the next several issues, starting with #32, which comes out tomorrow. Butch and I have been wanting to work together since our days at Crossgen. Here's a little sneak peek at some random panels from issue #32 to give you an idea what the collaboration looks like -






Needless to say, I'm thrilled.

Rejected Cover Sketches: Thor 83

Back in 2004 when I returned to Marvel, one of my first assignments was to do covers for Oeming and DiVito's six issue run on Thor. This sketch was for issue 83, which quite obviously featured a few guest stars - Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk, who are seen posing politely behind the star of the book, Thor himself. Sadly, It was later decided that Hulk wouldn't be appearing in this issue after all. The cover sketch wasn't technically rejected, I was just told I needed to remove Hulk, since he was previously engaged and would be unable to attend the festivities in Thor #83. Since this composition clearly wouldn't work without Hulk's massive frame in the background tying everything together, I scrapped it and started over. Here's the final version - colored by Laura Martin:

Captain America #33 Cover

Marvel has leaked out some of December's solicitations a day early, and as luck would have it, Captain America 33 was among the chosen few. Here's how Marvel describes the issue:

CAPTAIN AMERICA #33
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils & Cover by STEVE EPTING
The Winter Soldier faces off against Iron Man!
The man at the top of Bucky's hitlist is finally in his grasp... but saying anything more than that will spoil all our surprises! Still, the final moments of this issue will stun fans just as much as the final moments of Captain America #25 did!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Wow. That sounds pretty good!

Captain America 32 Cover

Marvel has released their Nov.2007 solicitations which includes Captain America 32. Here's how Marvel describes the issue -

CAPTAIN AMERICA #32
Written by Ed Brubaker
Pencils & Cover by Steve Epting
THE EPIC DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY CONTINUES!
The Falcon and Black Widow hunt together! Can they save the Winter Soldier from becoming a tool of the Red Skull again? And if they do, will he just go kill Tony Stark? And what of Agent 13, Sharon Carter, who shot the final bullets into her true love, Steve Rogers, and has seen her life fall apart since then? Those answers, much action, and more! From the Eisner Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker and Fan-Favorite Artist Steve Epting, who brought you the biggest selling comic of the year!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

The entire list can be seen here.

This is my tenth cover painting (!) and I'm still experimenting with the process I'm using to produce these. This one (like the last 2) started with a pencil and ink wash drawing that was then scanned for painting in Photoshop.