#199: Be Quiet...

A new A QUIET PLACE miniseries from myself and Luke Sparrow

Jun 16, 2026

Welcome to DECLARATIONS a bi-weekly newsletter by artist/writer Declan Shalvey.

This is a regular workblog featuring exclusive peeks at upcoming projects with advance releases of original art/merchandise.

ALL THE LATEST

Posting this newsletter a little later today to coincide with the announcement of a new mini-series…

A QUIET PLACE: RISING TIDES.

I was previously discussing this under the codename ~~PROJECT SILENCE~~. For this I am reunited with artist Luke Sparrow and colourist Colin Craker, who I previously worked with on TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR: METAL. I’m writing and providing the main covers for the series.

The series is lettered by Jodie Troutman, but as it’s A Quiet Place …who cares about lettering, right…?

Ah I’m kidding. Actually, a large appeal of taking on thi book was th idea of writing what is essentially a silent comic. That’s not exacly the case though, sound plays an important part in the story, so the lettering approach is actually far more significant on a book like this and I’m excited to see what Jodie is going to do.

This book follows the current STORM WARNING mini that is currently being published by indistry greats Phil Hester, Ryan Kelly and Lee Loughridge but it is a totally seperate story. It really is an honour to follow a team like that with our own story in this very Quiet world.

The series was offered to me by editor Heather Antos who told me that she felt having a writer/artist [such as Phil Hester in the current volume] write the series would be a big advantage in making the more silent stoytellling work. I think that was an excellent insinct on her part and it offered an interesting creative challenge fro myself.

I would need a very capable artist to make this work, though. I was earger to wok with Luke Sparrow again after our very satisfying collaborations on TERMINATOR and I felt we had a great creative and storytelling flow that would be a huge asset on a project like this. Luke is undoubtedly doing the best work of his carreer on this, and having Colin reliably make Luke look his best means this is already a beautiful book.

I’ll expand on all this in future Declarations when I get the chance, but for now head over to Entertainment Weekly to find out more. All of the first issue is drawn and coloured and it looks absolutely spectacular. Someone who shall remain nameless messaged me after the previous Declarations to let me know the panels I showed a peek of was some of the best work of mine they’d seen. Such a nice thing to say…

…except it wasn’t my work, it was Luke’s! ANYway, here’s said panels, now in colour.

Been pretty busy lately, mostly writing. My latest Worklog:

Did a talk for a local creative event
Coloured PROJECT SILENCE #2 cover
Wrote THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS #5
Mini-interview for Stripwire
Wrote ~~PROJECT SILENCE~~ #3
Wrote lettering draft, ~~PROJECT SILENCE~~ #1
Notes on THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS #5
Development work, PROJECT AXIS
Pencilled PROJECT ARCA cover
Coloured PROJECT SILENCE #3 cover
Wrote MUMM-RA: THE EVER-LIVING #5

Lettering notes THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS #4

Thanks for reading Declarations! This post is public so feel free to share it.

-I’ve pencilled a cover for PROJECT ARCA. I’m being a bit premature, the book hasn’t even been pitched yet but I’ve been doing so much writing lately I needed to draw something. So, I thought I’d get ahead on it after having drawn the layout… 2 years ago…? Yeesh. I’ll probbly ink it this week.

I also got more inked pages from the artist and coloured pages from the colourist. I am delighted with how this is coming together, slowly but very surely.

-Last week I did a storytelling class for a local arts centre. It went great, despite it being for a group that were totally unfamiliar with comics. I was pretty rusty myself, but it seemed to go down pretty well. So well in fact that I’ve been asked to do another version of it for an arts event after the summer. Nice.

-I forgot to post sketches from London MCM! Here’s what I remembered to photgraph…

-I took on a new short story to draw. It’s a big character I’ve never taken a proper stab at, a great writer I’ve somehow never worked with before and for a special anniversary issue. What a treat! Will share more when able, but this will be a nice short project to flex on while I gear up on all the writing needed for the other various new projects I’m starting. Plus, I’m really itching to draw something at the moment. Going to call this PROJECT LIGHTNING for now. I got the script at the end of last week [it’s very cool] and have just started on the layouts. Out in August, I believe.

-The artist I’m working with on a short for the Negative Burn anthology handed in their layouts and have started drawing. Man, this story already looks great with the first panel.

-I’ve been doing a lot of research reading ahead of starting PROJECT LAZARUS. I’m going to rework my pitch in the next week or so while I work the art for PROJECT LIGHTNING.

-I drew a pizza for a thing.

Can’t say more about it yet but will explain when allowed.

-I’ll be doing a panel and a workshop at Flordia Supercon next month. A workshop on making comics and a panel about designing Moon Knight. Will have more info to share in the next Declarations.

-On the subject of cons, I’ve signed on for another this year in Europe. Should be a very fun one.

-Saw this video online last week and found it interesting, a conversation as part of IDW’s CreatorXCreator podcast series. This one is between two editors I’ve worked with; Heather Antos who edited OLD DOG, TIME BEFORE TIME [and currently A QUIET PLACE] and Jake Thomas who I worked with on the well-revieved PUNISHER covers I did for the Cloonan/Dillon/Horak run as well as the PUNISHER VS BARRACUDA series I did with Ed Brisson [that was never released]. It’s a fun look behnd the curtains at what editors really deal with by two people who are very very good at their jobs.

-Been a while since I recommended a Kickstarter. I’m a big fan of the work of Tomm Coker, and there’s a campaign to release his UNDYING LOVE series with Daniel Freeman in a lovley b&w oversized collection. It’s already met it’s goal, but I thought I’d share it here before the campaign ends in a couple of weeks.

UNDYING LOVE: ‘Not Dead Yet’ is a tale of horror and action, blending vampire mythology with Chinese folklore, set in modern-day Hong Kong.
Ex-soldier John Sargent has fallen for a beautiful Chinese woman named Mei. The only thing keeping the star-crossed lovers apart? She is a vampire. To free Mei from the curse, Sargent sets out to destroy the vampire who made her. The only problem: Mei was turned by one of the most powerful vampires in history...
This Remastered, Giant-Sized Hardcover Edition celebrates the fifteen-year anniversary of UNDYING LOVE’s original release, collecting the critically acclaimed story from creators Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders, Daredevil Noir) and Daniel Freedman (Birdking, Kali, Witcher: Blood Stone) in this format for the first time.

UNDYING LOVE: ‘Not Dead Yet’ campaign

Just before posting this, I saw that THUNDERCATS artist Joe Mulvey has a new series with writer John Lees coming out via Kickstarter called GRAWLGORE & SHANKS.

Grawlgore & Shanks is "The Lord of the Rings" meets "Knives Out" loaded with sharp wit, rich world-building, and fantasy-noir intrigue, from award-winning writer John Lees (SINK, Hotell) and acclaimed artist Joe Mulvey (Wailing Blade, Thundercats).

It looks like a lot of fun, looks like Joe’s best work to date on a totally original story. Also sporting some lovely colours from Ireland’s own JP Jordan. Check it out below.

GRAWLGORE & SHANKS campaign

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-o1u!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffdb63807-bf27-404c-b09d-49b13f833273_1025x88.png

ART DECO

I’m taking commissions! These are for pickup only at FLORIDA SUPERSON, offered first to you Declarations readers.

I was hoping I could open them up for the US more generaly, I might be able to take a couple more in the next newsletter, will see how I get on in the meantime.

A4 sized, full figure, inks w/ greywash, limited background, $700

Florida Supercon Commission List

Here’s a timelapse of my recent AGENT VENOM commission

THUNDERCATS

THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS came out last week with some dynamite work from Drew Moss and Igor Monti colours. Here are the preview pages!

Drew has wrapped up his pages on Issue 4. We had to bring in some help [as Drew had a personal issue] so thanks to Alessandro Ranaldi and the main man Joe Mulvey to get the book in on time. I just did the lettering notes and its a big, bold and fun issue.

My final scripts for THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS and MUMM-RA: THE EVER-LIVING are all done, hereby wrapping up my main work on the THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS event. Phew!

MUMM-RA

I’m riding high from having recenty handing in my script for MUMM-RA #5, wrapping the mini-series. I’ve done something very different with this issue and I can’t wait to see what Rapha Lobosco makes of it. Here’s an advance peek of the first page from Issue Four.