Me... in the Secret Avengers?

This was a wonderful surprise for Christmas this year. The amazing Matteo Scalera managed to sneak me into The Secret Avengers #37. That's me becoming a Decendant right there! Many thanks Matteo!

Journey Into Mystery #646

Journey Into Mystery #646 is out now – there's a preview over at CBR – with words by Kathryn Immonen, art by Valerio Schiti and colours by the very talented Jordie Bellaire. I did the flats for this issue – wonderful art to work on.

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

Bill Willingham continues his impossible run of prolific, high-quality, highly varied stories based on the idea that all the fables, myths and stories of the world are secretly true, and that they all live together, hidden among the real, "mundy" world. The hardcover Werewolves of the Heartland tells the back-story of Bibgy Wolf – this time as a crack Nazi-hunting guerrilla in the dark forests of Germany. This past comes back to haunt him when he discovers a midwestern town populated entirely by werewolves that have been created by a beautiful, ruthless Nazi scientist who isolated a serum from blood that Bigby left behind when he helped foil a Nazi attempt to revive Frankenstein's monster to fight on their side.

I did the flats for this for Lee – so I've had a sneak peek at the art – it's fantastic. Who would have thought 18 months ago when I put a pre-order for this on Amazon that I would end up working on it!

Earthbound Dossier

 

A project I recently did some colors for  – Earthbound Dossier #1 – just came out. It's available as a free download over at drivethrustuff.

Publisher Ben Ferrari says "... Filling this book are introductions to dozens of characters who have appeared in the pages of Earthbound's books since it's inception in 2009. ... Earthbound Dossier #1 is our 18th book... We now have a large enough library of characters and teams to fill an entire book with pin-ups, complete with bios and stunning art. ...I want to thank you for giving Earthbound Dossier #1 a chance and I honestly hope you enjoy what you read."

Go over and grab a copy, why don't you?

Devovled

Dynamite Entertianment  announced at NYCC that Rick Remender is writing a new creator-owned series Devolution. Coupled with the breathtaking art of Paul Renaud, Devolution promises to be one of the most unique and innovative comics to be on the stands! I recently did the flats for Lee on the preview pages for this – can't wait to read the first issue.

Breast Cancer Detection Heroes

 

A new ad campaign in Mozambique by Associação da Luta Contra o Cancer (ALCC) is using Wonder Woman, Catwoman, She-Hulk and Storm to promote self-examinations for breast cancer prevention.

The ad copy says:

Nobody’s immune to breast cancer. When we talk about breast cancer there are no women or super women. Everybody has to do self-examination monthly. Fight with us against the enemy and, when in doubt, talk to you doctor.

The images are striking - the faces of the characters are only partially seen, but are easy identifiable.

Here’s a link to the artist’s DeviantArt page.

Marvel vs. DC Comics: Who Makes More Money?

Who makes more money, Marvel or DC Comics? Here's the comparison of the US box office tallies of the two comic book companies, in 2012 dollars with values adjusted for inflation. See who wins over at fancydresscostume.co.uk

DICE

I've been crazy busy the last month or so, I've had pages dropping on me from all directions. So this weekend I'll be taking a day off to head to Dublin for this great event. Hopefully I'll get to meet a few peeps I've worked with over the last year in the flesh!

The first Dublin International Comic Expo will be held in the Pembroke District of Dundrum Town Centre this weekend, September 29th and 30th.

Guests include Matt Fraction, Rafa Albuquerque, Jeff Parker, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Nate Cosby, Tommy Lee Edwards, Ben McCool, John Layman, Lauren Sankovitch, Mark Doyle, Jeanine Schaefer, Kieron Gillen, Jaimie McKelvie, Doug Braithwaite and more.

1 Day passes are €15.00 Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) passes are €20.00, you can buy tickets from the Big Bang Store, or online by clicking here! 

Concept Art From The Sandman Movie That Never Was

A long while ago Neil Gaiman pitched a three-part cinematic adaptation of his comic book SANDMAN to Warner Bros. The project never got off the ground and was then canceled. What we're left with is this stunning concept art by SANDMAN and BEASTS OF BURDEN illustrator Jill Thompson.

This art is up for sale and available for ogling. Gaiman announced the release of this concept art on Twitter: "Some years ago, I had to pitch/explain SANDMAN to Warners. Jill Thompson illustrated the pitch. That art's for sale."

View the entire gallery over at Cadence of Comic Art. Each image is priced from $800-$900. I only wish I could afford even a corner of one of these beautiful pictures,

Wonder Woman #12 Preview

Check out a preview of Wonder Woman #12 over at IGN. Written by the extremely talented Brian Azzarello with some of the cleanest lines around by Cliff Chiang and sumptuous colours by Matt Wilson. Wonder Woman faces a choice: Defend Zeus's throne from Apollo – or defend her closest friend!

Fables Fun

I've been having great fun flatting Fables for Lee - you can check out my flats for #119 over here.

I've just started following @fablescon on Twitter. Its the official source of information (and daily competitions) on the Fabletown and Beyond 2013 convention being held in Rochester, Minnesota in March 2013. I would love to attend - so if anyone wants to fly me out I'd be most grateful :)

Oh My Bog Gods!

I couldn't believe that I got to work on my two favourite bog-gods at the same time this week. You wait ages for one plant elemental and two turn at the same time.

The Man-Thing flats were for Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe #4 for me old mate Lee Loughridge, and the Swampie flats are for DC's Swamp Thing #0 for my new mate Matt Wilson.

The menacing Man-Thing appeared in the first series of horror comics I collected as a teenager— pocket sized Chiller – I used to buy one or two a week for 20p out of a box at a local flea market. The Secret of Swamp Thing was also the first graphic novel I bought in the last 80s. So, this has been a very rewarding week for me.

Saucer Country

I had the pleasure of flatting SAUCER COUNTRY #4 for Lee  – and he did a magic job on final colours. I've been really enjoying my old mate Paul Cornell's take on this 'The X-Files meets The West Wing' story. Check out my flats over here.

Paul's fantastic M.R. James pastiche  'The Occurrence at Slocombe Priory' appears in  StarShipSofa Stories Volume 3 – perfectly accompanied by the illustrations of Tom Crielly.

IDW Take On The Zilk

Continuing their new partnership with 2000AD, IDW Publishing announced a collection of Al Ewing and Brendan McCarthy’s THE ZAUCER OF ZILK. Len worked with McCarthy on the colours for this – and they did a fantastic job! You can check my flats over here.

Dimension-hopping onto comic stands this October, THE ZAUCER OF ZILK is a story that simply must be seen to be believed. The two oversized issues of ZAUCER are bursting at the staples with McCarthy’s brilliantly vivid art and he and Ewing’s fantastically ambitious story, taking readers on a wild, phantasmagorical journey across unique worlds with characters that are colorful to say the least.

ZAUCER OF ZILK #1 of 2 will be in stores October 2012.

IDW Publishing

Sandman Prequel Announcement

Twenty-five years after one of the most celebrated graphic novels of all-time hit shelves, award winning and critically acclaimed author and screenwriter, Neil Gaiman, announced his return to THE SANDMAN. Gaiman made the surprise announcement, via video, at DC Entertainment’s Vertigo panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Karen Berger, Executive Editor of Vertigo, then revealed that Gaiman is paired with artist, JH Williams III, with Dave Stewart on colours for the series.

THE SANDMAN mini-series will be published by Vertigo in 2013, and I might have a bit of exciting news myself regarding this in the future – stay tuned!

Wonder Woman

Just a quick sneak peek at another project I've been working on – Wonder Woman! This is a panel from issue 12, written by Brian Azzarello, with pristine art by Cliff Chiang. I've got to say that these are some of the sweetest pages I've ever worked on! A big thank-you to Matt Wilson for letting me flat these!

Women Who See 100 Million Colours

Most of us with normal vision can perceive one million different colours, which sounds impressive. Researches now suspect however that a tiny percentage of women may be capable of seeing 100 times that amount.

The science of super-vision all boils down to cones — special neurons, located in your retinas, that convert incoming light into the electrical signals that feed your brain information pertaining to color. Your typical retina houses millions of cones, but in humans those cones usually fall into just three categories. Each category of cone, on its own, is capable of detecting around 100 different hues; but pair it with either of the remaining two classes of cones and their powers complement one another. Just like that, the number of perceivable colors jumps from just 100 to 10,000. Combine the signals from all three kinds of cones and that number leaps to one million colors.
Mutations in the genes that code for cones are responsible for color blindness in males. The fact that many of these genes reside on the X chromosome makes color blindness much more common among males than females, but it also gives rise to another possibility: a small percentage of women may actually posses four color cones.

Veronique Greenwood at Discover Magazine documents the search for women with this rare trait by newcastle University neuroscientist Gabriele Jordan. No easy task, for all kinds of complex reasons and one simple one:

[These women] might experience a range of colors invisible to the rest. It’s possible these so-called tetrachromats see a hundred million colors [1004], with each familiar hue fracturing into a hundred more subtle shades for which there are no names, no paint swatches. And because perceiving color is a personal experience, they would have no way of knowing they see far beyond what we consider the limits of human vision.

Some women may perceive millions more colors than the rest of us. Are you one of them? (io9)

The Dark Knight Rises

The latest trailer for the Dark Knight Rises is out... I cannot wait!

Speaking of Batman - issue 5 of Batman Arkham City: End Game is now out on the DC Comics app for .99c.  You can find some of my flats here.

Finally a Fable...

I finally got to work on my favourite comic, Fables. It's taken 118 issues but I finally got my grubby hands on some pages. This is really a highlight for me - the only thing better would be Sandman, but that's finished, so not a chance of that! Check out my samples over here.

Also, the third chapter of Batman Arkham City: Endgame just came out - check out some of my flats.

Radiolab goes colour!

Our world is saturated in color, from soft hues to violent stains. How does something so intangible pack such a visceral punch?  Jad and Robert tear the rainbow to pieces in this recent episode of Radiolab.

To what extent is color a physical thing in the physical world, and to what extent is it created in our minds? They start with Sir Isaac Newton, who was so eager to solve this very mystery, he stuck a knife in his eye to pinpoint the answer. Then, we meet a sea creature that sees a rainbow way beyond anything humans can experience, and they track down a woman who we're pretty sure can see thousands (maybe even millions) more colors than the rest of us. And we end with an age-old question, that, it turns out, never even occurred to most humans until very recently: why is the sky blue?

Gay Green Lantern

I did some flats for Earth-2 #2 , in which DC's Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott is the latest comic character to come out as gay. I love being part of such an important issue in comic history. 

Writer James Robinson talks about it over at comicbookresources.com
 
One Million Moms, the conservative Christian campaign has retreated from Facebook after a post about DC Comics’ reintroduction of Green Lantern Alan Scott as gay was inundated by comments largely supportive of the publisher’s decision. Read more over at CBR.

Batman Arkham City Lockdown

I just discovered this great game on the app store. I've been mildly addicted to Infinity Blade II for the past few months, so this makes a pleasant change. The game play is very similar to the Infinity Blade series, and is fiendishly difficult until you start leveling up!

Speaking of Batman - issue 2 of Batman Arkham City: End Game is now out on the DC Comics app for .99c. It looks great on the iPad, so treat yourself to some eye-candy! You can find some of my flats here.

Tyrant In Slumberland

Just received this beautiful limited-edition print from Steven Bissette and Chuck Forsman - not sure how many are left, so be quick about ordering one!

Batman Arkham City: End Game

Issue 1 of Batman Arkham City: End Game is now out on the DC Comics app for .99c. Download it now - the art by Jason Shawn Alexander and Lee's colours are outstanding.

This is the first of six digital-first comics which finds the Joker's reign of terror continuing despite his death. The Clown Prince of Crime had a contingency plan, it seems, and now Batman and the Gotham City police are left to deal with it.

 IGN have a great interview with writer Derek Fridolfs.

You can find some of my flats here.

Action Man!

Received my contributors' copy of Massacre For Boys Action Special today. Some smashing strips in here – well done Chris and Steve! Pop over and buy yourself a copy!

My contribution to this issue – colours on Holt Bros. – can be seen here.

Busy little Bee

I picked up  2000AD Prog 1783 today whch features the penultimate Zaucer of Zilk strip - you can check out my flats here.

 
Also picked up were Blue Beetle #9 (flats here) and the first issue of Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms (flats here).

So, with the newly picked up flatting on Batman: Endgame, Fables – yes, that's right, I said Fables! – and Saucer Country I'm a very busy boy!

Disassembled

A great short of some Marvel characters inadvertently causing chaos by animator Junaid Chundrigar.

Hmmm...

Just bought this Neil Gaiman signed Doctor Who: Monster Invasion Extreme series card off ebay. Why? Neil Gaiman and Doctor Who, that's why! Don't tell Mrs Saturate.

D&D: The Legend of Drizzt

Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt - Neverwinter Tales is out now in Hardback from IDW, pick up a copy why don't you. Len did an amazing job on the colours in this. You can check out my flats here.

The MOST POPULAR CHARACTER from the MOST POPULAR FANTASY WORLD of all time comes to life in his FIRST ORIGINAL comic book tale! Drizzt leads this massive thriller into R.A. Salvatore's next blockbuster novel! Drizzt and his companion Dahlia hunt for something that seems part vampire and part elite dwarven warrior and must find out how the evil lich Valindra Shadowmantle and her minion Korbin Dor'crae factor into the mystery.

Batman: Endgame Sneak Preview

Here's a wee sneak peek of the Batman: Endgame project I'm flatting for Lee Loughridge with stunning art by Jason Shawn Alexander.

The Munker Illusion

It's no secret that putting various colors together makes them look different. Put off-white next to black, and it looks completely bright. But did you know that, with the Munker Illusion, you can make something change color completely, right in front of your eyes?

The Munker Illusion is one of those illusions that works, even when you know the trick. Your brain knows that it's making a mistake, but that doesn't matter. You still see something that you know can't be right.

It's a chromatic illusion, which means it relies on your brain's way of seeing color. As illusions go, it's one of the simplest ones out there. It has three elements: a background color, a colored shape, and bars that go over the entire picture in a third color. Generally the bars and the background will be at opposite ends of the spectrum — either very light or very dark. The shape will be the same color. All that will vary is in one picture, the background will be bright, and the bars will be dark, while in another, the background will be dark and the bars bright. The shape's color won't actually change, but it will appear entirely different.

io9 have a great article about this illusion.

The Terrible Touch of Charognae

The Zaucer of Zilk of speeding to a conclusion in  2000AD Prog 1781. You can check out my flats here.

Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos is really starting to amaze -  what a shocker, the Dark Judges are loose! Amazing work by me ol' mucker Colin MacNeil.

Holy mutated Bat logo!

...speaking of the Dark Knight – I received my first Batman pages to flat for Lee Loughridge today. Excited much?

Massacre For Boys

 

An amazing bit of promo material, for the Massacre For Boys Action Special I did some colours for, by David Frankum. Can't wait to see a printed version.

Bye Bye Strange and Darke

Just picked up Judge Dredd Megazine 323 containing the final and most exciting episode of Strange & Darke: New Blood. It was a great run and I'll be sad not to be working on it anymore – unless of course there's another series. You can see my flats for this here.

Also on the shelves this week is 2000AD Prog 1780 featuring the sixth part of Brendan McCarthy and Al Ewing's The Zaucer of Zilk. You can check out my flats here.

I also picked up Blue Beetle #8 which I did a few flats for Pete Pantazis – flats here.

Timewaster of the Day: Color

Color is a timesink of a game that brings out your interior comic-book colourist. Great fun - and startlingly frustrating in places!

Working At DC

OMG! I would love to work here... the folks over at BuzzFeed got the enviable chance to wander around DC's New York HQ and take candid photos of their envy-inspiring offices.

Bibliography

I've just compiled all the titles I've done credited/uncredited colours or flatting for over here.

I actually impressed myself with the amount of work I've done over the last few years.

Forgotten Realms

I've just received a digital copy of Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms #1, which marks my first credit in a US comic. A big thanks to Len, who turns my flats into works of art!

It's Not Easy Being Green

I just finished a couple of pages of Blue Beetle #9 for Peter Pantazis – and here's a sneek peak of who turns up.

2KAD Thursday!

2000AD Prog 1779 is out today – featuring the continuing trials and tribulations of The Zaucer of Zilk. You can check out my flats here.

The Longhunters

Here's another page for for Earthbound Dossier #1 for Earthbound Comics. This is Longhunters by Ruth García Martín. I was chanelling Mignola through Watterson!

Fancy Pants!

2000AD Prog 1778 is out today – featuring the continuing trials and tribulations of The Zaucer of Zilk. You can check out my flats here.

There's a great Director's commentary for ZoZ from Al and Bren over at Forbidden Planet.

"Just over a year ago, Brendan sent me an email regarding a possible new series for 2000AD. We’d worked together before on a couple of Dredds, where he’d come up with the plots and I’d done the scripts, and while my stuff was a bit ‘wordy’ – I have a habit of erring on the side of dense, ‘old-school’ verbiage, which isn’t always the right way to go – he obviously liked the way I extrapolated on his ideas enough to bring me in. This time, he was after – I quote – “a new, wacky, totally surreal “Sooner or Later/Hewligan’s Haircut’ type of strip called THE ZAUCER OF ZILK… It will mix the surrealism of 60′s Dr Strange with a ‘Lord of The Rings’ imaginative scope. And with a bit of The Mighty Boosh in there too.”

Earthbound Dossier #1

 

Here's the Centurians - my first colours for Earthbound Dossier #1 for Earthbound Comics. I'll be doing a few more pin-ups for this edition.

Dungeons & Dragons Sale!

ComiXology is having a 50% off sale on all D&D titles, including the Legend of Drizzt mini series I worked on. Head over and fill yer boots! W00t!

Each Magician to his Own Technique!

Just picked up 2000AD Prog 1777 featuring the third part of Brendan McCarthy and Al Ewing's The Zaucer of Zilk. Wacky stuff! The difference between my flats and Len and Brendan's colours is startling! Amazing background textures. You can check out my flats here.

Batmanthulu

This beautifully moody Batman by Mike Dubisch just made it into my collection (a companion piece to my other Dubisch masterpiece).

Mike does private commissions - so head over to facebook, friend him and get yourself an original!

Doctor Who: "The First Question" - 50th Anniversary Trailer

Exciting stuff!

Blue Beetle: Runaway!

Words: Tony Bedard. Pictures: Ig Guara. Final colours: Peter Pantazis.

© 2012 DC Comics.

I finally got to flat a top tier Superhero comic for DC Comics – yay! I did a couple of pages of Blue Beetle #8 for Peter Pantazis, with art by Márcio Takara. I'd love a few more DC pages... hint, hint!