Captain America #616

Tomorrow is the release of Captain America #616, which features an 11 page story written by my buddy Cullen Bunn with art by myself and my tag team coloring partner Rico Renzi. Here's a look at the first two pages of our story:





"It's the 70th Anniversary of Captain America's debut and we're celebrating by beginning a bold new direction. A double-size main story by award-winning writer Ed Brubaker sees Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes both struggling with the shocking ramifications of the Trial of Captain America and what comes next! A forgotten portrait of Captain America, painted in the waning days of World War II, brings up nearly forgotten memories of those turbulent and frightening years for Steve Rogers -- memories of yearning, of loss and of innocence betrayed, brought to you by writer/artist Howard Chaykin. Captain America falls under the vampiric Baron Blood's spell in an untold tale of the Invaders! Plus: Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, and the Secret Avengers investigate a modern day Hitler!

This special issue is written by Ed Brubaker, Howard Chaykin, Frank Tieri, Mike Benson, Alec Siegel, Kyle Higgins, Cullen Bunn and much more. The artwork is from Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Paul Grist, Paul Azaceta, Jason Latour and more too, cover is by Travis Charest"

Hope you dig it. More soon...

Grundy luv Teekl?

KC Planet Comic Con is over. Not to be presumptuous but it seemed that a great time was had by all. Extra thanks to my gracious host Jason Aaron for helping line up my trip and for putting up with me for 4 days. My conceptions of Satan worshipping hill people have been forever changed. Also a thank you to B Clay Moore for letting me crash on Sunday , for opening his home to everyone for a Pre-Con party and for confirming that Kieffer Sutherland is a pale Jack Vincennes.

Big thanks to my comics buds new & old and everyone who stopped by to say hi. I'd list you all but I wouldn't want to forget anyone.

Anyways, here is one of the sketches I did this weekend---Solomon Grundy and Klarion the Witch Boy, America's favorite Sitcom.






More soon...

12TH STREET AND VINE

Just a reminder that I'll be in Kansas City this weekend for KC Planet Comic Con.

KC PLANET COMIC CON
Overland Park International Trade Center
6800 W 115th St, Overland Park, KS 66211
(1/4 mile East of 115th & Metcalf, behind Jo-Ann)

Saturday March 26, 2011 from 10 am to 6 pm
Sunday March 27, 2011 from 10 am to 4 pm

I'm really looking forward to catching up with old friends and eating my weight in BBQ. The plan is actually to consume more cows than meals. Also very much looking forward to seeing how the limited run of SPACE TIME GIRL prints I did for KC's Elite Comics turned out.

While there I'll be doing a limited number of con sketches. Due to the amount of stress they tend to put on me and the fact that I've got outstanding pieces to do from past shows I'll likely cut them off pretty quickly. My list is filling up so if you can let me know early that you're interested by all means do so (jaslatourATgmailDOTcom). It would help to get a jump.:



As always the more interesting and the better. I love Superman as much as the next guy but lets be creative. It's more fun for us both that way. Above is the start of a Batman and Robin sketch but the curve ball villain is why I said yes (Rhymes with Domingo).

How about this. You let me pick the subject? I really hook you up. Sound good?



More soon...

JUST ASK THE KING!

I was in a whiney mood yesterday so I asked the King for advice. (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE:)



I'm sure the real guy was much more of a sweet heart. I still think it's ridiculous to compare his career path to anyone else's though.

More soon...

Store Frontin'

So it took ten years but I finally have an internet store. Just follow the link to the right under PATRONIZE or click the image below:



Right now the only available items are NOCHE ROJA and Sketchbook vol. 4. Though in the next couple of weeks I hope to add limited edition SPACE TIME GIRL prints and possibly a reprint of Sketchbook vol. 5.

All money will change hands via Pay Pal for now and flat rate shipping is for the lower 48 states,(though if you're outside the U.S I'm sure we can work something out.) Every order will also come with a little postcard sized print of ZIP POP NOIR:



The last thing in the world I want to do is under cut comics shops, but I keep hearing from people who say their store doesn't carry NOCHE ROJA. So given that I have a decent little stock of them I'm going to offer them through my store for a while. So if you can't find it via your local shop or bookstore and you do want it, rest assured I have it and will trade it to you for good old fashioned American greenbacks (well the digital facsimile thereof that is).

Beyond that, I don't know, what would you like to see? I'm definitely open to suggestion, so lemme know.
More soon--

SPACE TIME GIRL

So Nathan Fox , Kevin Mellon and I were invited to do limited edition prints for this year's Planet Con, Kansas City . The theme was "Space Girls" and we were limited to a red black and white color scheme. This one really caused me to beat my head against the wall, but after a lot of hemming and hawing this is what I came up with. The background and dialog are from an old Kirby 2001 comic adaptation (which I re-inked and tweaked to suit my evil purposes). Much respect and many apologies to Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick and Jack Kirby.

I really wanted to go for a classic silkscreen kind of look. I hope it works that way and isn't a confusing mess. Anyways, more soon...

-J La

Radioactive blood

"Is he strong? Listen, bud, he's got radioactive blood."



This is the first color pass. It may be subject to revision and/or variation. I wanted something neo classic, like retro fitted sneakers. That's the idea anyway.

Dig these crazy buildings, Dad:



More soon...

- J La

Cave, man.

I was kind of late to Nick Cave but these last few years he's managed to carve his face on my Mt. Rushmore of songwriters . So I tried to doodle him. Attempted to go for tone and feeling more so than likeness--



Despite having done it for a few summers in High School I remain a so so caricature artist. I may have picked up too many bad habits there. But this little Mort Drucker on caricature article is helpful. Stolen from Brunner , who got it from J. Scott Campbell who got it from God knows who or where.



Speaking of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, unearthing their album No More Shall We Part is turning out to be the cherry on a year in which he's dominated my headphones. Strange, haunting ruminations on fame and faith and love-- Every track is like a novella orated by a mad preacher. Even as a largely non-religious person I can appreciate that. I feel like most worthwhile art is existential in some way or the other anyway, so I have no real problem with an artist probing religious themes and questions. I'd guess the line is drawn for me when the personal becomes too much of a pulpit.

But I mean shit it worked for that hack Michelangelo, right?



He's a bit younger in that than the version I tried to draw. Blah, blah. Excuses. Excuses. More soon...

ACTION! (is his reward)

Spider-man was one of my earliest comics loves. The cartoon fascinated me and once I started collecting comics I bought nearly every issue for about ten years, beginning with the McFarlane stuff and barreling right through the clone saga. I'm a bit out of the loop these days but even the most cursory glance reveals that the art on that line of has never looked better. Paolo Rivera, Paul Azaceta, Javier Pulido and Marcos Martin just to name a few.

In fact the last issue Marcos Martin drew (AMS #655) inspired me to tackle a long overdue commission. So here is the work in progress layout. About half way into it I decided to treat it as practice cover. (Do I want to do covers? Uh... maybe?)



What's difficult and fun about drawing Spider-man is knowing where to break and where to bend, when and where to focus on or ignore anatomy and reality. Like many of my favorite takes I feel I do a better job when I veer away from "showing off". His costume tends to fight against a lot of bending and crazy acrobatics I generally want to inject. All those lines become something of a mess to deal with when treated like a traditional over the top superhero. Maybe that's why he's generally worked better treated more like an indie comic. I don't know. That's a challenge that might be worth tackling.

Anyway, as you can see. It took a few passes to figure out this pose.




Now that I think about it I guess I technically drew Spider-man for print once, in Daredevil: Black & White #1. Below are the pencils for a Spidey wanted poster that ended up In that story. In print I went with the black costume, which every cartoonist under 40 seem to prefer, because it's a black and white comic and because it's more criminal and menacing. The text is lifted from an old Ditko Spidey.




Anyway that's my little trip down nostalgia lane, True Believer. More soon...

CAROLINA BLUE

It's official, by God it's official. Chris Brunner and Rico Renzi's cover for the LOOSE ENDS Free Comic Book Day preview:



. Big thanks to Jason Aaron for the amazing pull quote. I can't be sure but I think he actually meant it. Now go tell Chris and Rico how much you love them.

More soon...