#146: AlIEN DAY

More on my Alien run, on this holiest of holy days, with the gloriest gift of artwork!

Declan Shalvey

Apr 23, 2024

"You Child, what day is it?"
"Why sir, 'tis St. Aliens Day!”

Yes, lots of ALIENS in this Declaration. But first…

I’m currently working my way through the first halp of PROJECT RAVEN pencils.

-I see my cover for MIDNIGHT SON: BLOOD HUNT#2 is online. Go pick that up June 26th

-Oooh! They’ve also released my WEAPON X-MEN cover, featuring Zombie Wolverine. This was fun. Out May 15th.

-I was offered a Marvel short story to write last week. I seem to get one short story a year over there which, is a tradition I’d gladly keep. It’s involving a character I certainly am into, should be a fun gig, requiring some character design work too. Had a call with the editor yesterday and it all sounds quite fun. Gonna call this PROJECT TATTOO.

-On the subject of new writing projects, the one possible project I mentioned before seems to be working out, it’d be an ongoing writing project on an established property. This would keep me pretty busy for the rest of the year; effectively writing 3 work-for-hire books [also doing covers] and drawing one of them. Not a bad problem to have, mind. Very near giving this a project codename.

-All this will make 2024 a very work-for-hire year. I don’t want to abandon creator owned pursuits so I really want to spend some time on PROJECT ARCA but I have one last story to write for the OPERATIONS project before I can dig into it. Ideally before I need to dig into the untitled project. Just hard to make the time when there’s so much exciting paying work coming my way, something I don’t take for granted.

-The latest TAPE DEC is out! Nailing down a time to talk with Andrea Broccardo next, to talk about out time on AlIEN, if ye’re not sick of hearing about it by the end of this Declaration.

-I can’t really elaborate on this, but got a pretty cool update on the SAVAGE TOWN animated series. Some impressive people coming aboard. All I can say for now!

-I’m a big fan of illustrator/concept artist Ian McQue. He’s recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for a narrative book showcasing his incredible Mileship illustrations.

Co-written with game designer and author Jim Rossignol, MILESHIPS is a product of many years of work and insight, through which McQue has explored his science fiction concept with meticulous intensity and real-world inspiration. Sketches from docklands and fishing towns, highlands and marshlands, paintings and studies of people, ships, and places, have all found recombination in McQue’s complex and contemplative work.

Go take a look at the campaign, about a week left on it. I’ve absolutely pledged, this is gonna be a beautiful book.

Ian McQue's MILESHIPS

-I’ll no longer be able to make it to Fantasybasel in Switzerland, unfortunately, just too much on. But, I had already agreed to MCM London on May 24-26th and can still make that. A much more manageable trip for me. Come see me at table A-07. See you soon London!

-Normally, there’s too much secret stuff in this newsletter but not so much this time, so if you please do share it with people you might find it interesting.

Thank you for reading Declarations. This post is public so feel free to share it.

THUNDERCATS

Snarf is back! Yes, it was satisfying to hold off on this reveal.

I’m starting the script for Issue Seven at the moment, have just finished colouring the cover for that issue too. Gotta say, it is fun to be doing covers to a monthly book I’m writing, like I got to do on TIME BEFOE TIME.

I did an interview with Freaksugar about working on our THHUNDERCATS series, give it a read here.

And just because I do my best to give ye sneak previews, here’s a page from Issue Four by Drew Moss!

Drew is working on the big climax of our first arc and it’s a joy to see the pages come in each day. I got a page from him today with a moment I’ve been waiting sooooo long to see.

ALIEN

With Alien Day being this Friday and all my ALIEN work now out in two collections, I thought I might talk about my experience taking on the ALIEN series for Marvel Comics.

Back in 2022 I got an email from editor Sarah Brunstad asking if I’d be interested in relaunching the series as writer Philip Kennedy Johnson was wrapping up his then stint with artist Julius Ohta. I hadn’t yet read the book, honestly, but was definitely a fan of the franchise. Marvel were very open as to what I would like to do: follow what PKJ & co had done directly, or maybe do something new, etc… to have a chance to put my own stamp on this franchise was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I put together some rough ideas, some of which were shot down as they were too similar to what had been done in older stories, which was fair enough. I was told I would get 10 issues for sure, no promises beyond that. Knowing I had those 10 issues was great though, meant I could really sink my teeth into the project and not have to wrap it up jst as it started.

Below is the pitch doc that I sent to Marvel for approval by 20th, the licensor of the property. I generally like to put together a visual doc like this when pitching something, it helps me tease out the story and get an overall feel of a book. helping to develop it in my head more.

Before I could pitch any ideas I needed to really nail down what I felt were the core themes for an Alien story. I didn’t want to dig into the lore/origins, I wanted to take the best of what had come before, but not regurgitate it. Show something new, but not alienating [no pun intended]. What I settled on were the below thematic roadmap, to stick to these lanes and tell a good story within them. Other’s opinions may differ, but with was the approach I settled on.

Wanting to also establish the visual tone of the book. I enjoyed the previous series, but for my take, I wanted to lean more towards the stark cinematography of Alien and Aliens [I’m happy to say that ultimately my editor Sarah Brunstad helped me do so, with finding the right artist in Andrea Broccardo and colourist Triona Farrell, later Ruth Redmond].

In the doc I also developed two main ideas for the first arc…

Both Marvel and 20th were more keen on the ‘Thaw’ storyline most so that’s what we went with for the first arc, knowing we’d have to come back and decide what to do regarding the second arc.

As I was developing that first story I couldn’t really let go of the ‘Descendant’ storyline, but 20th had some problems with the pitched version of that story. While working on Thaw, I had an idea to bring in a variant xenomorph and realised there was a way to take elements of Descendant and work it into a sequel to Thaw, showing the lifecycle of a new Alien species, making it all one bigger story. It meant having to rework Thaw a little bit as I was writing it which made things harder for myself, but Sarah and 20th were very helpful to me to find ways to work it out.

My main visual suggestion for the creature was to look at monster designs by Guy Davis from his work on BPRD and the film Pacific Rim.

Series artist Andrea Broccardo was more than hapy to take that lead and run with that and hashed out some great designs.

We went more with that first design but I liked the second one so much that I worked a version of it into the story as an ‘underdeveloped’ version of the Submorph that we see in Thaw [below], before revealing the more armoured version by the end of the arc.

Andrea's second pass: Submorph Queen, Queen/Kaiju 'mother', Young Submorph

I liked the Kaiju design, but I thought it migh be better to make it a bit more ‘alien’ than what we’re familiar with, so suggested turning it around an make its back into its front, which everyone seemed happy with. My edit below.

All this was being worked on while Andrea was drawing Thaw as we knew we would need a guest artist in order to keep him on as the series artist for the next arc. We really wanted to keep the same team going and I really enjoyed working with Andrea, he was talented, fast, great to work with, enthusiastic and he loved working on the book. The solution was to make one issue a guest issue, where we could do something a bit different outside the main story. That idea evolved into what became the annual that was drawn by Danny Earls. Danny had all these designs done for him by the time he started on the annual, giving Andrea the time to wrap up Thaw and make a start on Descendant.

[My design for new Syth model appearing in Descendant]

If you read the pitch above you can see a lot was changed from my original idea, but a lot of it is still in there. Things clearly develop in the actual writing but the core of the pitch of Thaw is there and while Descendant changed a LOT more, all the important elements are in that story. I still managed to get a Queen in there and work in the Yutani family [though I had to skirt around that a little] fro example. I was also able to dig into Dayton’s backstory [an idea that came to me while writing Thaw] and dig into synths a bit more [original design for 122-M above] that I ultimately ended up drawing as a way to help Andrea’s schedule. There was a worry about how we could keep Andrea on if we got to keep going [I would have looked to Andrea for more story input as he was brimming with suggestions but by the time he joined the book, my two main ideas were locked down] but Marvel decided no to continue, so that solved that problem I guess.

Considering the larger continuity issues of a well-established franchise like ALIEN I’m really glad I was able to carve out my own little corner of that universe, with nods to the larger tapestry [the suits from Alien 3, the ‘Alpha’ program from the previous Marvel series, etc]. It is a huge honour to have my own little slice of this word [with Andrea & co] and with that chapter closed, I’m very much looking forward to this new Romulus film and even more so the upcoming Noah Hawley ALIEN TV series.

To further celebrate ALIEN DAY, I’m adding my original art from the series on the ART DECO store. More below.

And if ye have any questions about any of this, fire them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

OLD DOG

The OLD DOG DOSSIER LIVES! Well, Kinda.

The print proof arrived last week and it’s looking faaaaaantastic. There are a handful of small errors I didn’t spot in the preview PDF though so I’ll need those to be taken care of before I sign off on the print run. Bound to take another week or so. Will be worth the wait though, just look how good it’s turning out!

The errors are small admittedly [though one big one] but there’s no point in waiting this long just to send out a flawed version of the book. Just a slightly longer wait to deliver the best book that I’ve promised. I think they’ll be fixed this week, then off to the printers next week.

OPERATIONS: The latest intel from Black Circle operative…

I still need to finish my final story for the OPERATIONS project but I’ll get it done this week.

ART DECO

It's quite fitting that the vaulting of our first ART DECO original art collection coincides with the release of another terrific DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE trailer!

This Wednesday, 4/24 at 11:59 PM EST, covers and interior pages from my work on DEADPOOL and WOLVERINE will be taken off the Art Deco web store and enter the vault. What does that mean exactly? We're making way for new pieces and this art will no longer be available for sale online. This week will be your FINAL shot at getting any of the art in this current collection so don't miss your chance!

ALSO!

We mentioned making room for new original art in the ART DECO web store... and you aren't going to have to wait long for it! We are celebrating ALIEN DAY this Friday with a new collection featuring my work at Marvel on ALIEN. The drop will include all of my pages from Volume 2 : DESCENDANT, totalling just under 20 pieces, as well as a pair of covers and a third featuring our favorite xenomorph adversary; THE PREDATOR!

As always, Declarations subscribers will get a head start on the release. The Deadpool + Wolverine collection enters the vault Wednesday evening and the store will immediately be locked down and enter password protection. Shortly after, the Alien art will go live and you will be able to access it for purchase with the password NEWTLV426. This will give subscribers an over 24 hour head start from the public release, set for Friday at 1PM EST. So once you get your pieces in the presale- don't forget to tell your friends about the drop!

ART DECO STORE