BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES #4 COVER


Here's my cover variant to the final issue of Betrayal Of The Planet of the Apes, coloured by series colourist Jordie Bellaire. I took this alternate cover gig as well, Gabe Hardman was kind enough to ask me to contribute to the wonderful series he was creating with his wife, Corinna Bechko. Also, Jordie was colouring the series, so it was a chance to collaborate with her on something professionally. After 3 covers for the series, I was sad that our collaborations would end, but then got the great news that Gabe and Corrina had a sequel series Exile On The Planet Of The Apes, this time with artist Marc Laming, and wanted us to continue providing alternate covers. I'll be sure to post them as the issue are coming out.

Dec.

THUNDERBOLTS: 'NEXT BIG THING'


Last Friday I took part in a 'Next Big Thing' press call about the upcoming Tbolts v Tbolts arc; the Tbolts 15th Anniversary event, starting with #172. The call had editor Tom Brennan, writer Jeff Parker and myself, answering questions to the various comics news sites. Below are links to some of the report by the various sites, so anything you want to know about the arc should be contained below.

Newsarama
Comic Book Resources
iFanboy
i09

Really looking forward to this arc coming out. It's definitely the biggest thing I've ever worked on.

Oh, and during the week an interview I did with Chris Sims for Comic Alliance went up too; this one looking at a lot of old, terrible drawings of mine. Looking at my work from Age 10, to Age 30. It was pretty fun. Check it out here.

Dec.

NORTHLANDERS #47 PREVIEW




My first published story of 2012 is my final issue of NORTHLANDERS, issue 47, that wraps up the second arc of 'The Icelandic Trilogy'.

Getting to work on this series was an absolute dream. Almost exactly this time last year, Jordie and I were in the National Museum in Dublin, looking at various Viking remains and artifacts when she said I should do an arc on Northlanders. I laughed at her, as the idea of actually being offered such a wonderful project was completely unrealistic to me. Here I am, a year later... with my last issue hitting the stands. Crazy.

Thanks again to Brian Wood and editor Mark Doyle for offering me the story, and to Dave McCaig, who did an absolutely stunning job colouring my work. I've never looked so good and it had nothing to do with me.

Dec.

SWEET TOOTH and 2011 Wrap-up


Here's a SWEET TOOTH commission. For Jeff Lemire, no less. I was very flattered that Jeff asked for a piece of one of his characters by little old me.

This will be my final post of the year. And what a year it's been. Career highlights included my Crossbones one-shot came out and looked beau-ti-ful thanks to Matt Wilson. I got to draw T-bolts during the big Fear Itself event. I got to actually draw the X-Men in a Marvel comic; that was amazing. Drew the T-Bolts in Ireland, and Spidey in the same issue too! Drew an arc on Northlanders (one of my favourite books) for Vertigo.... it really was the year where I got to fulfil all my childhood aspirations.

So, thanks 2011. Hopefully in 2012 I'll get to do bigger, better and bolder things. My goal for 2012 is to do a comic project with Jordie. She's got great projects at Marvel right now, and I'm getting more and more frustrated that none of them are with me. Let's see if we can make it happen next year.

Thanks to everyone for their support in the last year. It's very much appreciated. Extra special thanks to Jeff Parker, Brian Wood, Matt Wilson, Frank Martin, Dave McCaig, Tom Brennan at Marvel, Mark Doyle at Vertigo ...and all the Irish crowd.

Best,

Dec.

THUNDERBOLTS #167 OUT TODAY


Man, this one took me by surprise. T-BOLTS 167, the second part of 'The Ripper Tour' story, is out today in all good comic shops. Above is a b+w page. See a coloured preview by the wonderful Frank Martin here.

Dec.

BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES #3 COVER



Here's the variant cover the Jordie and I did for Betrayal #3. Reeeaaallly happy with this one. I love design-heavy posters with limited colour palettes, but it can be tough to actually get those types of covers approved. Make sure you pick up the issue in a few weeks!

Dec.

SWEENEY TODD COVER



Got word from Classical Comics last week; Sweeney Todd is now fully coloured! All the book needed was a cover, so here it is.

Glad I waited 'til the end to do this cover; parts of the book are 3(!?!) years old so I'm glad that I could present the finished book with the most recent work possible.

Dec.

THUNDERBOLTS 166 OUT THIS WEEK




Yep, my latest issue of THUNDERBOLTS is out this Wednesday; do pick it up! It's the next arc of the current time-traveling epic that is happening in the book right now, where the T-Bolts end up in Victorian London on the trail of Jack the Ripper! As ever, Jeff Parker wrote a great and crazy adventure for the team. Also, I think the colour-work Frank Martin did in this arc has resulted in our best collaboration to date.

See the colour preview here.

Dec.

THOUGHT BUBBLE THIS WEEKEND!


Hey all, I'll be at THOUGHT BUBBLE; The Leeds Comic Art festival this weekend. I've heard wonderful things about the show for years but this is the first year I've been able to attend. There is a fantastic guest list this year including Adam Hughes, Jeff Lemire, David Aja and even fellow THUNDERBOLTS artist Kev Walker! I'll be at table 14 in the Royal Armouries Hall (see below) with Jordie where I'll be taking sketch commissions, selling sketchbooks and prints.

See more about the show here.


Dec.

NORTHLANDERS #46



Northlanders #46 is out tomorrow. Again, absolutely delighted with how this issue came out. Dave McCaig did a stunning job on colours. I hope ye all pick up a copy.

The above images are scans from the actual comic, so colours aren't 100% accurate.

Dec.

LILLE COMICS FESTIVAL

This weekend I'll be a guest at the Lille Comics Festival along with guys like Dustin Ngyen, Mike Allred, Rufus Dayglo and R.M Guera. Very much looking forward to it. Haven't been to France since I was quite young. I'll be drawing free sketches for anyone who wants them. I'll have some prints and sketchbooks for sale too. If you see me there, feel free to say hello.



Dec.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!



[Pumpkins carved by myself, Jordie and Stephen Thompson/Lisa Jackson]

Dec.

BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES



Next week #1 of BETRAYAL OF THE PLANET OF THE APES comes out from BOOM! Studios. It's written by Corinna Sara Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, illustrated by Gabe, with colours by (blog regular) Jordie Bellaire. I've seen Jordie work on all the pages and can honestly say it looks fantastic. Can't wait for everyone to see it. Make sure you get a copy!

Also, I'm doing the alternate covers for issues 2-4. The above image is the variant cover for #2, by myself and Jordie.

Dec.

SIN/CROSSBONES

Jordie and I are attending the Lille Comics Festival in a few weeks (Nov 5th/6th). As such, we were asked to contribute artwork to be made into a lithograph print that will raise money for charity. The theme was 'villains'. This is what we came up with: a Crossbones/Sin piece. The Red Skull raised his ugly head too.

Dec.