He's Really a Nice Guy...

Cyrus Vega sez...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Bat-stuff all over the place...

My inker, Marc Deering sent me this file, so I thought I'd share.  All ten pages of our story from the 80-Page Giant...

Also, today is the day that Detective Comics Annual #12 hits shelves ... so here's a peek at a two-page spread from the Question backup story I did for that.  Inks by Ryan Winn, color by Jose Villarrubia!

Color!

Alright, I can't help it ... this blog needs some color!

Inks by Marc Deering, color by Jose Villarrubia ... in stores today!

And here ... we ... go.

At last!  The book you've been waiting for!  The one that will change your life!  No, really!

Okay, so maybe not.  But still, I'm pretty proud of this story.  In stores today, as part of DC's new Batman 80-Page Giant, is a story I did with Brad Desnoyer, Marc Deering and Jose Villarrubia, and with a really nifty cover by Dustin Nguyen.  Below are Dustin's cover, as well as a few of the pencilled pages ... I may post some of the finished art later on...

Long time ... no posts...

Alright, it's been a little bit, simply because I've been hard at work on the last 50 or so pages of Miranda Mercury vol. 1 ... here's a detail from the inks I just received from Marc, for the cover to the hardcover:

Also knocked out a little backup story for Detective Comics Annual #12 (featuring The Question), in the last week or so.  That's due in stores just seven days after the Batman 80-Page Giant that I worked on hits shelves...

Here's the solicit for that, though I'm not mentioned, since I jumped on at the last minute to help out:

DETECTIVE COMICS ANNUAL #12


Written by DAVID HINE

Art by AGUSTIN PADILLA

Cover by STANLEY “ARTGERM” LAU

What starts as a Batman, Inc. recruitment trip soon turns into an international incident as The Dark Knight encounters a string of bizarre murders in Paris, France. Featuring both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson as Batman, this extra-sized spectacular guest-stars The Question and spotlights the debut of a new Bat-ally!



In part 1, Bruce, Dick and Renee Montoya are presented with a series of cryptic clues, which lead them to the underground catacombs of Paris — and the most unexpected of assassins! Continued in this month’s BATMAN ANNUAL #28!

On sale DECEMBER 8 • 56 pg, FC, $4.99 US




I also need to mention that for the first time, Miranda Mercury art is available. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170561095687&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT#ht_484wt_1162

This is a piece we donated to a charity auction put together by the Sphinx Group to benefit PROTECT, a group whose purpose is to protect children from abuse.

And finally, here's a JPEG of some REAL art ... it seems that Dennis, the child we sponsor through Worldvision, liked the cow I drew for him, because he sent me back some art of his own:

ROCK!

Miranda Mercury hardcover ... cover.

Having a lot of fun working on the cover to the upcoming Miranda Mercury collection ... here's a quick sketch for one of the bad guys we'll be seeing a lot of down the road...

Batman 80-page Giant...

Fresh from Newsarama, here's the solicit for the Joker story I recently finished...

BATMAN 80-PAGE GIANT 2010 #1


Written by BRAD DESNOYER, MATT MANNING, MANDY MACMURRAY, JOHN STANISCI, PAUL TOBIN and PETER MIRIANI

Art by LEE FERGUSON, GARRY BROWN, MATT SOUTHWORTH, RYAN KELLY and SZYMON KUDRANSKI

Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN

Some of the most promising new talent in comics are corrupted by the most depraved villains in Gotham City in this all-new special featuring The Joker, the Riddler, Calendar Man, Scarecrow, and yes, even Humpty Dumpty! It’s seven short stories, all in one giant issue! The joke’s on you if you think you’ll make it out of this alive!

ONE-SHOT • On sale DECEMBER 1 • 80 pg, FC, $5.99 US

More Miranda Mercury Goodness...

Miranda Mercury!

...so the Joker story is a wrap, getting inks and colors by a couple of tremendously talented guys, and I am back to drawing Miranda Mercury.  The home stretch for volume one, now ... I hope to have it done in just a couple of months.  But I've been told my loyal readers (all four of you) want to see something new, and I am one who likes to please the masses, so...

Here's a couple of final (for now) peeks at the Joker pencils:

...along with a look at everyone's (soon-to-be) favorite sci-fi heroine:

Friday the 13th...

Alright, Friday the 13th is a good day to finish off a Joker story, right?  Lots of fun, and the best thing I've drawn ... really looking forward to seeing it in print.

Next up is the rest of Miranda Mercury volume one, along with the Iron Man 2 sketch cards...

Hee Hee...

...well, I can't show much of anything that I am currently drawing, and I haven't had any time to do any new sketches or doodles for the blog, so ... here's a tiny peek at my take on the Joker.

Brains..!

Working on character sketches for the Joker/Two-Face story, layouts for Miranda Mercury #298, and some Marvel Sketch Cards ... but somehow in the midst of all that ended up with a zombie doodle that I liked enough to toss some markers on...

Since I can't post a lot of what I'm currently drawing, I may as well show off the zombie...

Dinos and cows, of course.

So I am getting ready to dive back into Miranda Mercury, as well as doing some prep work for this Joker story, and took some time to do a couple of sketches...

The first one ... well, I don't recall ever actually drawing a dinosaur, except for maybe in a couple of Batman samples.  You know, the T-Rex he keeps in the Batcave?  Yeah, I think that may be the only time I've ever drawn one ... at least since third grade, that is.

The second drawing is a quick sketch I did for a five-year-old boy named Dennis, who lives in Kenya.  We've had the opportunity to help sponsor him through WorldVision, and in his last letter, he mentioned that he likes cows, so ... there you go!

Superheroes Gone Wild...

...just finished up the GI Joe thing, a minicomic that will be packaged with the new toy line that hits this fall.  It was fun, even though I had a lot less time than I'd like...

Thought I'd toss up this two page spread from the Justice League vs. Dark Avengers samples I did back in January.  These are actually some of the pages that led to this GI Joe project, as well as the Joker story that I will be starting work on next week...

Ming the Merciless...

Doodled this out a few weeks ago, and thought I'd go ahead and finish it off and toss it up here this morning...

Okay, just to get this out there right off the bat ... I am a HUGE Flash Gordon fan.  Sure, I loved Star Wars as a kid, but when somebody says "sci-fi" to me, the first thing I think of is Flash Gordon.  And it's probably pretty clear that Miranda Mercury is a big ol' love letter, artistically, at least ... to my love of Flash Gordon, with a dash of Jack Kirby's New Gods thrown in for good measure.

So it was pretty heartbreaking to hear that the man who provided some of my very best childhood memories passed away recently.  Man, I only ever liked Star Wars comics if Al Williamson was drawing them.  His inking over guys like John Romita, Jr. was brilliant stuff.  And his Flash Gordon work..?  It was actually quite a bit before my time, so I was really fortunate to have the chance to read some of that at a young age, and it was a big part of me taking the path I've taken.

Thanks for all the great comics, and the inspiration, Mr. Williamson...

Some Spider-Man pages...

Here's a few Spider-Man sample pages I did for Marvel not too long ago ... I love Spidey, and John Romita, Sr's work is what spurred me into wanting to do this for a living, so even though these pages will never, ever see print, it was still a lot of fun to work on my favorite character and try to bring just a little of the life Romita breathed so easily into his pages to these...

Is this thing on..?

Wow.  Okay, so this IS still here.  Hm.  Guess I may as well do something with it...

For starters, here's the cover to Miranda Mercury #298, with inks by Marc Deering.

Working on a GI Joe project at the moment (and not sleeping much, let me tell ya), and once that's done, I have a ten page Joker story lined up at DC, which should be a lot of fun...