Spider-man

Very quick sketch in Photoshop-


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Dave Stevens (1955-2008)

Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens passed away earlier this week.

I never met Dave, and I don't have any funny or interesting stories to tell about him, but I loved Rocketeer. I loved the pulp inspired sensibilities and the ultra cool avaitor's outfit topped off with an Art Deco inspired streamlined helmet. I loved the criminally underrated movie that had a perfect cast. I loved the image of the Rocketeer atop the observatory with a Mauser in his hand (that he'd just taken from a KO'd Nazi naturally), American flag waving behind him. It felt to me like a character that had been around for decades, right along with the Phantom, the Shadow, Tarzan, and the Lone Ranger - an instant classic.

It's quite a tribute to Dave Stevens' talent that a character who only appeared in a handful of comics (five? six?) had such an impact, at least among comics fans. I know the general public probably couldn't pick the Rocketeer out of a line up, but he endures as an icon in the comics universe as far as I'm concerned. Even as I type this I can see the 3" high Rocketeer figure that has stood on one of my bookshelves the last 15 or so years - standing guard with his hands on his hips.

Click here to read a nice remembrance of Dave.

Swamp Monster Thing Man

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Another old speedpaint, slightly updated.

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 -


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Conventional Thinking

The world tour begins this April as I will be appearing at two seperate conventions in a 10 day period. First up is the Toronto Comicon April 12-13 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, and the following weekend I'll be attending the New York Comic Con - April 18-20 at the Jacob Javits Center. This will be my first time at both of these shows and I'm looking forward to it. Stop by and say hi if you're in the area.

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-


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You Say You Want A Revolution...

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Red Skull

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Portrait

Just goofing around again in Photoshop, trying to get the hang of this "painting" thing -


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One From The Vault

Back in the latter half of the 90s, I found myself working on various mini series, annuals, and one-shots as opposed to an ongoing monthly title. This left me time in my schedule to do work for Marvel's Creative Services department. These were the people who commissioned art for liscencing, coloring books, toy packages, statues, and a million other projects.

You may remember that in the 90s there was a boom of theme restaurants, like Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock cafe and a zillion others. In 1998, Marvel decided to get in on the act and opened "Marvel Mania Hollywood" on CityWalk alongside the Universal Studios theme park in the greater Los Angeles area. Creative services asked me to draw some character shots for the restaurant's menu and provided me with a template of odd shaped panels to place them in. Here's the results, inked by Scott Koblish -

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Marvel generally wanted the characters to be "on model" and provided me with current reference for some of the characters. I'm certain, for instance, that the Fin Fang Foom drawing was based on John Romita Jr.'s version. The Sinister Six illustration on the other hand, was obviously based on Ditko's versions of the characters, which I'm sure was my own decision since, as I've stated before, it was my favorite comic as a kid. Anyway, I did the drawings, sent them off, and never heard anymore about them.

Flash forward 10 years to Christmas 2007. I received The Marvel Vault as a gift. It's full of reproductions of various collectibles and little seen memorabilia from throughout Marvel's history. I didn't really get a chance to look through it too much until last week when I was sick, and guess what I found on page 169? If you said "the Marvel Mania menu", then you were obviously actually paying attention to this rambling post. Here it is, in all of it's full color glory -



The restaurant only lasted about 2 years, so I never expected to see this long forgotten art actually in print. It was a nice surprise.

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.


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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.

Civil War Soldier

Just a quick value study to try out a new rake brush I made in Photoshop. I doubt I'll take this any further, but if I do I'll post the finished product here.


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Black Widow

Pencils by me, inks by Butch Guice. From the upcoming Captain America #34.


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Checkers

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. I'll be posting more regularly soon, but in the meantime, here's a little something my daughter and I colored in a restaurant last week while waiting for our meal -


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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.

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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 #33: Sneek Peek

A few random panels from the upcoming Captain America #33. Inks by Butch Guice -

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Old News

Last Wednesday Newsarama ran an interview with me about my work on Captain America. It can be read here.

Also last Wednesday, Captain America #32 came out -



I'll try to post something a little more current next time.

Captain America #35 Cover

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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 -

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Needless to say, I'm thrilled.

Return of the Hunter

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I finally got a copy of the El Cazador trade paperback that came out a few weeks ago. It's nice to have a collection of the series, since Crossgen folded before the first trade could come out. I remember having lunch with Chuck Dixon one day right after he arrived at Crossgen to discuss the future of Crux (the book I was drawing at the time, and which Chuck would be taking over as writer), and Chuck said his plans were to "ride it out for another year and then you and I will do a pirate book". And though it was not in any way as easy as it sounds, that is exactly what happened. I think I may have enjoyed working on this book more than anything else I've done in comics, and I wish that this type of book could actually be a litte more viable in today's comic market.

The Falcon Fights Alone!

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Quickly roughed in panel from an upcoming issue of Captain America. The title of this post is borrowed from the cover copy of Captain America #177 (which coincidentally also features the phrase "Captain America is no more!").