#118
ALL THE LATEST
After getting OLD DOG #5 done, I had to switch gears a bit, but not taking my foot off the OLD DOG pedal, as it were…
-I did a cover for a new Image series that looks pretty cool. I only saw prep material so I’d say it’ll be a while before it’s revealed so will have to sit on it. By a couple of creators that I’m a big fan of.
-Drew and coloured the cover for the second issue of that new series I mentioned in the last Declarations. I get to go pretty gory on the covers, which is fun. The book is great by the way, art is lovely and the writer is one of my top 3 guys, so it’s a great book to be doing covers for.
-Another cover! For Marvel this time. It’s been solicited, though not online yet, so ye get to have a first peek, it’s for DAREDEVIL & ECHO. I always love getting a shot at Ol’ Hornhead but getting to draw Echo was cool, and Demogoblin was a hell of a lot of fun to draw. Pretty happy with the colours on ths too, a friend said to me something along the lines of “these colours are so good, you don’t need Jordie anymore” which I take as a huge compliment, as we all know how great Jordie’s colours made me look.
-I just did a rewatch of The Wire while I was colouring OLD DOG #4 and then a week later heard the news of Lance Reddick passing away. Man, he was so good, I loved him in everything I saw him in... Fringe, Bosch, even as far back as Oz. Back when I was designing characters for the Underbolt characters in THUNDERBOLTS, Reddick was my inspiration behind the Centurius character [below]. Anyway, RIP to a great.
-The wonderful Dan Berry is ending his long running Make It Then Tell Everybody podcast. If you haven;t listened, you should go check out all the episodes by a wide range of eclectic comic makers. I was a guest on it many a year ago, Dan is a great interviewer and just one of the most pleasant people I’ve ever met. It’s definitely worth checking out and by all means, drop some cash his way for his efforts as he very much deserves it for YEARS of effort.
-Speaking of podcasts, I was on the Blake’s Buzz podcast talking …well, Old Dog and Alien I think? Man it was last week and I can’t even remember what I was yammering on about. Sure give it a listen, and let me know :P
-I am LOVING the new [and final] series of PICARD. So much so, I have a new desktop image for the first time in about 10 years [replacing a previous Trek desktop].
-I know I always rant about being busy [poor me!] and yes, I am very busy. I’m more having a problem lately of making significant progress on one project at the cost of another. I can make a lot of headway on one project if I can put one aside for a few days, then work on the other, while putting the first out of the way for a bit. OLD DOG takes up so much of my energy and headspace, that it’s had to clear time [duh] for TIME BEFORE TIME, as I don’t want Rory to be waiting on me, nor my editor to be waiting on me for ALIEN [both editors make sure the aritst is never waiting on me, and rightly so]. I read somewhere that Jeff Lemire will just write a whole body of scripts of a project, and then move to the next. Man, I envy having that …I’m always working to the upcoming deadline. On the other hand, I would worry if I tried working ahead way on something, I’d end up just having to do it all last minute, like doing my homework on a Sunday night. What I’m grateful for, is having great editors to manage all the specifics, and I can manage 3 projects as is without things falling apart. I’m in a good place.
-The incredible Karl Kerschl has launched a Kickstarter for his comic DEATH TRANSIT TANAGER. It looks savage! You can support it here. Not that you need to frankly, it’s already doing gangbusters, but it looks class and I think ye’d all be into it.
OLD DOG
So yeah, with #4 done, I needed a *bit* of a breather, but schedule is tight so I couldn’t lose my momentum. I gave the script for #5 a polish the next week, and chipped away at my layouts into last week, then jumped on pencils. This issue was designed to be a bit of a ‘bottle episode’ in that it takes place in one location, and keeps the ‘budget’ down You often hear filmmakers say about comics, that they ‘have no budget’. That’s not true, the budget is TIME, so with this issue, I wanted to design a story that would be faster for me to draw, on the pencils front at least. So far, that’s the case, I’ll have the whole issue’ pencils finished this week. Inking won’t take AS long… mainly with some production help, the issue will have a slightly faster turnaround. I’m a week behind the schedule editor Heather Antos made for me, but when starting the series, I know I wanted to take and issue to do something strange, and I also knew by #5 I was probably going to be stuck for time, so always had a mind to take those two things and make them work together. I don’t mean to get too ahead of myself here, still a lot to do, but I’m hoping this weird experiment will pay off as an interesting experience for the reader. I tend to get very practical minded when it comes to getting comics DONE, but I never wanted to lose sight of the fact that with Old Dog, I want to be able to take some weird turns and not get too formulaic. Hmm, I think I AM getting too far ahead of myself… better shut up!
Clayton just sent me the letters for #4 and I’m really happy with it. Never feels DONE until Clayton’s done his magic.
ALIEN
It’s nearly here! #1 is out April 26th and I’m really happy with how the fist issue has come together. The FOC was yesterday, I would normally bang the drum about the FOC more, but I don’t think ALIEN needs *my* help selling itself, but if you are curious about the series, do let your local retailer know NOW. It’s been such a cool experience to take the reins of a franchise like this and build a new approach for the series. I should stress, this story takes place in its own corner of the ALIEN universe, but is still a part of the wider universe that’s been established. The book is relaunching with #1 and will have its own distinctive feel, but it’s not a retcon or anything like that. I haven’t seen any preview pages online yet, so I’m just going to slip this page by artist Andrea Broccardo [with Triona Farrell colours] into your inboxes. Don’t tell no one.
As ye may know, I provided a variant cover for the series too [Order code FEB230670] and you can see me ink it below. I played some of the Alien soundtrack to get in the mood and you know what…? Bad idea! It stressed the hell out of me while I was inking!
TIME BEFORE TIME
Jorge has wrapped up his last issue, and what a BEAST of an issue it is. I’m really going to miss seeing his pages in my inbox. Nearly every page is a spoiler, so here’s a panel.
If there’s any justice in this world, Jorge’s work on this arc would make him a superstar. I’ve been sent a galley of a graphic novel of his and while a totally other genre, the work is amazing.
However, this isn’t the Jorge Coelho section of my newsletter, it’s the TIME BEFORE TIME one, so here’s the rough for the cover I’m working on next [#26]
Will Morris has handed in all his pages for #24 and they are just beautiful. Really going out on a high, as regards this being the final one-shot. Make sure you preorder this issue, very likely you’ll miss it otherwise.
DEC RECS
THE GIANT KOK-JU
Written by Gerry Duggan/ Art by Scott Koblish
Published by image Comics
FOC for this was yesterday too I’m afraid but still, HAD to spread the word about this. Gerry is a good friend from our time on DEADPOOL together, years ago he told me the idea for this book and I howled with laughter, been howling ever since. I’m so glad he and another DEADPOOL alum got together and did this book. It’s bold, funny and gross in all the right ways. I heard it compared to THE PRO somewhere and I think that’s pretty apt. A gloriously juvenile take on the Kaiju genre. Just go order it, you won’t regret it.
OUT SOON
April 19th
TIME BEFORE TIME #22 [W/C]
April 26th
ALIEN #1 [W/VC]
May 3rd
MOON KNIGHT #23 [VC]
May 10th
OLD DOG #4 [W/A/Col/C]
Oh, you were on the Buzz? Awesome, I'll have to check that out. That Alien page looks great too.
Cheers, Dec!