Kirby-gasm - THE "LATINO EFFECT"

Warning: looking at these colours will actually make you a little high.

Gorgeous hues once again supplied by Kyle "Omega Sanction" Latino.

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OMAC-Colour!

Scorching colours by Kyle Latino. Thanks, Kyle - it's gorgeous!

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One Man Apple Core!

Really enjoying the all-new, all monstrous, Keith Giffen-ized version of OMAC. Here's my take on the big, beefy bugger:



Colours to come? Maybe!

D

(kudos to Kyle Latino for the blog title)

Kirby-gasm - INKED!

Click to King-size it!

Here's yesterday's pencils if you want to compare and contrast. I tightened up the Kirby logo, removed Infinity Man (sorry Kevin), removed Darkseid's pupils (couldn't make them work) and did a bunch of other small fixes and tweaks.

I had a blast - hope you like it!

D

Kirby-gasm!

This is a commission I'm working on at the mo - I was asked to do a whole bunch of Kirby characters in the style of one of those Marvel Handbooks. Remember those? Anyway - cool stuff, and it's nice to scratch that Kirby itch again. Inks to follow!

Harry Potter on a unicorn, flying out of the TARDIS

A semi-recent commission piece. Three of Jen Vaughn's favourite things, as requested by Chris "Chris Sims" Sims.

Enter: Sandman (literal version)

This is a pic that's been yelling at me to draw it the last few days. It's almost certainly been done before, but it's pretty irresistable nonetheless.

I'd like to reiterate here how much I love drawing Sandman. Striped top, cornrow hair - he's an inker's dream. Actually, both he and Spider-Man are brilliant for this sort of abstraction - Sandman cos of the stripes, Spidey cos of the webs and spot blacks.

The first one I did of these was a bit Romita-esque. I think this one is quite "Ditko-ish".

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The Crimson King!

(Not final art)

So, the cat's out of the bag - The Crimson Hand, a collection of comic strips from Doctor Who Magazine written by yours truly and drawn by a host of top flight British talent (and me), is finally coming out next year. I'm totally thrilled to bits about this, for any number of reasons: primarily, it's going to be nice just to read the whole thing as a novel, with its subplots, callbacks and running jokes plain to see. While I was writing TCH, I was hugely influenced by my other half (AKA The Brains of the Operation), who has a fondness for The Great Gatsby, Gothic fiction, and the freewheeling chutzpah of mid-century screwball comedy. So all that's there, and I'm hoping that when read as one piece, all those influences and levels will have an extra resonance.

The other reason I'm chuffed to see The Crimson Hand out there at last is that I'm a writer. I don't get to do much writing at the moment - I've got so, SO many art jobs on at the moment, it's untrue - but I don't want to forget that I'm a writer, and it'll be nice to point at an object and go "See that? I wrote ALL of that."

Now. All being well, I expect the trade paperback to include the following strips from Doctor Who Magazine:

Hotel Historia (art by me)

Thinktwice (art by Martin Geraghty - this is one of my favourites)

The Stockbridge Child (stands up quite well, despite my reservations at the time. Has some lovely Mike Collins art)

Mortal Beloved (my actual favourite, probably. This is where the influences mentioned above really come into their own. Fantastic, mordantly funny art from Sean Longcroft)

The Age of Ice (another cracker from Martin Geraghty. When the pages started coming in for this, I pretty much flipped my lid - bold, slick, sexy stuff. Why Martin isn't a bigger deal in comics I don't know)

The Deep Hereafter (a story I'd been struggling with for ages finally unlocked itself in the middle of a dark and stormy night. Beat poetry, noir, Eisner's The Spirit, all beautifully drawn by Rob "yer actual genius" Davis. Something a bit special, I think)

Onomatopoeia (how many times did I have to write that sodding word while working on this strip? Bit of an experiment: an entirely silent strip, with a story told entirely through sound effects. Detailed, vivacious art by Mike Collins)

Ghosts of the Northern Line (Bloody hell! It's Paul Grist!)

The Crimson Hand (the grand finale! Even I was surprised at how well the threads all tied up at the end. More gorgeous work from Martin Geraghty, apocalyptic colours by James Offredi)

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Even if I hadn't written this thing, I would still be all over it. So feel free to soil your pants with excitement, because this is going to be GREAT.

D

Absorb THIS!

A little belated tribute to The King - Absorbing Man gives the New Gods' Orion a bit of the old Ultra-Violence.

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The Golden Age!

UPDATE! Now with added INK!




This was a recent commission piece, where the commissioner asked for 10 (actually 11, but I couldn't fit the Atomic Thunderbolt in) of his favourite Golden Age heroes in one super team. My initial instinct was to do something really dynamic and showy, with the characters all racing towards us, lots of speedlines etc. But I feel like I do that sort of thing quite a lot, so I had a go at doing something a bit more thoughtful. A bit more - dare I say it - Alan Moore-y.

These heroes are, going clockwise from the left: Stardust, Moon Girl, Hydroman, Green Giant, Blue Fire, Doc Strange, Iron Vic (that's the guy with the cigarette - my favourite, as you can probably tell), Kid Tyrant (how about that name??), Black Cat and, in the centre, a guy called Strongman. As you can probably tell, I've worked out a whole backstory to go with this picture - I might work it up into a pitch sometime.


- D

Goin' Underground!

My favourite panel from this week:


This is from TIME SHARE, coming soon(ish) from Oni Press!

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Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with Some Cables

This is the panel Doctor Who strip editor Scott Gray described as "Kurtzman-tastic". Shamefully, I know next to nothing about Harvey Kurtzman (and he's never been a direct influence), but I've been compared to him enough times that I need to find out more. Where should I start, gentle reader?

The panel above is from a recent strip I drew for Doctor Who Magazine, script by Johnny Morris (not that one. Or that other one. That one). Doctor Who has a beard now. Beards are not, and never will be, cool.

D