#201: Miami Viced

Debuting a new feature: Declined

Jul 14, 2026

ALL THE LATEST

As this newsletter goes out, I’ll be on my way to the airport heading home from Florida Supercon in Miami. I had previously done that show years ago so it was great to make it back after all this time, I’ve had a lot of fun. More on that below.

My Worklog:

Lettering notes, A QUIET PLACE #1
Coloured PROJECT LIGHTNING short story
Rough/pencilled/inked/ coloured PROJECT LIGHTNING cover
Roughs A QUIET PLACE #4 cover
Roughs A QUIET PLACE #5 cover
Inked PROJECT ARCA cover
Wrote talk for Florida SuperCon panel
Outline; PROJECT AXIS
PROJECT LAZARUS research
Creator discussion; PROJECT LIGHTNING
Exhibited, Florida SuperCon
Wrote A QUIET PLACE #4 script

-Yes, Miami Supercon was great. Spending some days in a really fun city with great food, frolicking in a pool, etc, has been a great break I didn’t realise I was in need of. Was very fun to be back and hang out with old pals such as illustrator Kelly McMahon, writer Kyle Higgins and some guy called Dan Mora, whoever that is.

As you can probably tell from my sweaty face above, it was so hot. I drank enough cocktails and had enough gelatto to cool me down though. Oh, I also met another old pal…

Myself and Kelly did a class on comics covers and storytelling that went really well. It was nice to do something a little more educational at one of the bigger pop-culture shows.

I also did a panel about MOON KNIGHT that went very well. Some interesting questions I had never been asked before.

I was busier than I thought I’d be at the show; did more headsketch commissions than I expected. Turns out ABSOLUTE BATMAN is pretty damned popular these days.

I didn’t have huge expectations for the show but as it turned out, it went pretty great for me. I performed better than expected with commissions, as mentioned above I did some interesting panels and I got to bounce some ideas about my next Image book with Kyle, master of the MassiveVerse. Kyle’s a good guy to get some advice from as he puts so much into his work and the best ways to get it out to readers. Getting to spend some time with Dan Mora, was also fantastic. I was someone who raved about his early work back when he was working on KLAUS. He has swung by my table at cons many times over the years to say hi, but this was the first time we got to have some good chats. I drooled over his original art too. What a talent and a lovely guy. He even did this BATMAN sketch for a friend of mine.

…though, maybe I should keep it?

So when I land tomorrow I’ll be wrecked tired, but also very energised to jump on all the upcoming projects.

-PROJECT LIGHNING is all done. Handed in the colours before I left for Miami. I don’t think I can say what it is yet, but here’s a non-spoilery peek at a panel below. I’m extremely happy with it all.

-I inked the cover for PROJECT ARCA. I have no idea if this will ever see print to be honest, but I wanted to bank a cover in case it’s ever needed for a variant. As I was coming up with the book, this image really stuck in my mind and sometimes there’s images like this that you need to draw, to exorcise it out of you. I’ve been looking to draw this for a couple of years so if feels good to finally get it out. I’ll colour this once I get a chance.

-I saw that Jordan Thomas, an up-and-coming writer from the UK, has a new Kickstarter campaign that looks very impressive with Chris Matthews, his collaborator from a previous book called MUGSHOT, which I quite enjoyed.

This new project is called THE GODS AND MONSTERS OF HEDGRAVE

…A 120-page original graphic novel tale of aliens, ambition, conspiracy, Nazis and family. The book is the latest creation from Jordan Thomas and Chris Matthews, the creators behind Mugshots and Exorcism Island. This is a complete story, no cliffhangers or waiting for future volumes. This will be a softcover perfect bound book on high quality paper, a step up from most comics you will find in stores.

This is right up my alley, and I’ve set my eyes on the Kickstarter exclusive cover too…

GODS AND MONSTERS OF HEDGRAVE

-That ABSOLUTE BATMAN cover in Declarations #200 is SOLD btw. It was snapped up publicly, bot via ART DECO but I’ll always offer Declarations readers first chance at original art.

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

THUNDERCATS

THUNDERCATS X SILVERHAWKS Issue 4 came out last week. Here’s the preview pages by Drew Moss with colours from Igor Monti and letters by Jeff Eckleberry. Contributions in this issue also from Joe Mulvey and Alessandro Ranaldi.

That image of Panthro was one of the first moments I thought of when initially working out this story, and it’s soooooo cool to see Drew finally draw it.

Also, check out this fantastic cover by Eric Canete.

In the next Declarations, I’ll have some big THUNDERCATS news …so watch this space.

MUMM-RA

Issue Three of MUMM-RA: THE EVER-LIVING is out tomorrow! I don’t have any official preview pages at hand presently, but here’s an advance peek at one of the pages, with excellent linework by Rapha Lobosco and wonderful colours by Roshan Kurichiyanil.

I'm now all wrapped on the book outside of lettering notes. Rapha is handing in great pages for the final issue, I’m really going to miss working on this book.

A QUIET PLACE

I’ve just about wrapped my script for Issue 4 of A QUIET PLACE: RISING RIDES as artist Luke Sparrow hands in beautiful page after beautiful page. He drew this panel for Issue One that just broke my heart. Luke is so good.

I’ve also done the final lettering notes on Issue One. I have to say, Jodie Troutman is doing some excellent work on this book. Because A QUIET PLACE is very specific as to how sound is used, I’ve had a bit of a back and forth with editors Heather Antos and Michele Abounade. The end result is a really sharp issue, I’m extremely happy with this first issue from a creative standpoint. The editors have also scheduled my scripts well ahead of the art, so it’s been a very stress-free project so far.

DECLINED

Adding a new feature here, showing old cover concepts that didn’t make the final cut.

When working on covers I tend to provide two options to an editors, though bout 50% of the time I’ll hand in one option if I just feel it’s the strongest image. Years back I used to do a lot more options, but over time I found I’d end up putting more time and effort into images that just weren’t working. I’d end up spending a lot of time and energy into creative dead ends that some editors would end up picking, and I’d be left drawing an image that I really wasn’t enthusiastic about.

The above roughs were for a SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE #1 [2024] variant cover by editor Emily Newcomen. Initially I was asked for a shot of Vengeance himself so I went with [A] a big bad shot of his intense face, or [B] a badass shot of his whole body with his bike.

I recall after I handed these in [both I quite liked, would have been happy to draw either] someone else in editorial then decided that they wanted a shot of the two main GHOST RIDERS for the cover. I was a little frustrated as I really liked what I had come up with but hey; I’m happy to draw one GHOST RIDER, more than happy to draw two [especially as I am a Danny Ketch fan from back in the day].

Above is the updated rough that I sent in; a shot of the pair with their respective cycles in the background. This one got the green light straight away, and I moved on to pencils, inks and then colours.