JUSTICE LEAGUE:GENERATION LOST #8 goes on sale this week, both in stores and digitally from Comixology. I always liked the idea of Checkmate, and thought that modern black-ops knights were a pretty cool idea. Our gang has broken into the Checkmate HQ, but it looks like they didn’t really have an exit strategy. It was suggested that I go with wanted posters of the JLI, but I thought it’d be cool to see them hopelessly surrounded by these faceless soldiers. The chess theme is too strong to ignore, so placing them on the board worked both as design and story element. I think the sketch is stronger for its bolder thicker lines, so it lost that in translation, but I’ll have to remember that for the future. Also, all those agents took FOREVER to draw. Click on the image to see the original sketch, ink and final.

Justice League: Generation Lost #7 is on sale this week, both in stores and digitally on the Comixology app. This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to draw the whole team. As with the last issue, the sketch for this really needed to be in color to accurately show the silhouette effect. Click on the image for the sketch, inks and final.

JUSTICE LEAGUE:GENERATION LOST #6 is on sale this week, both in stores and digitally from Comixology. Who doesn’t love Saul Bass? I needed a graphic way to show the story of a man lost in time, and when the idea of time periods in concentric circles seemed like it would work, I couldn’t resist a nod to Bass’ iconic Vertigo poster. I began with a grayscale sketch, but started playing with a 70’s kind of palette which really helps sell the vibe. Click on the image for the sketch, inks, and final.

Birds of Prey #3 is on sale this week. Editor Janelle Siegel asked me to help out for this cover, and after hearing the story behind it — Penguin-ized versions of our heroines — I was in. All the monocles and tophats made me think of Alan Cumming in Cabaret, though I don’t know if I really captured the seedy feel as I wanted to avoid any burlesque comparisons. Still, it was a fun cover! Click on the image for the original sketch, inks, and colors.

Detective Comics #865 is on sale this week. While the initial idea was all there in the sketch, it needed some work.  I cropped the image, added some background elements, and ended up knocking out the prison bars in white for a more graphic feel. Click on the image for the original sketch, inks, and final colors.

The Hero Initiative (a charity dedicated to helping comic creators in medical or financial need) and Archie Comics have teamed up for Archie Covers: 50 Times An American Icon. I’ve always had a soft spot for Betty and Veronica, so this was a great way to scratch that itch and help out a great cause. I was curious what a high school garage band like The Archies might look like today, so here’s my hipster take on the band. Archie is totally straight-edge! The covers will be auctioned on eBay at a future date.

Birds of Prey #1 is on sale this week! This is the variant cover, and I was asked to spotlight the two newest members of the team, Hawk and Dove. “Birds” indeed. Click on the image for the original sketch, inks, and color comparison.

Detective Comics #864 is on sale this week! Feels like it’s been ages since I did any covers. I’ve been producing really tight sketches lately, and for this one, I actually just enlarged it and printed in blueline. I did touch up the lettering and some figure rendering in pencil before inking, and the last minute addition of the leaves and moon really pulled it all together. Click on the image for the original sketch, inks and colors.

Brave and the Bold #33 is on sale this week. After working on Greendale for more than a year, this is my first superhero book in quite a while. I’m trying to loosen up my inks, but it’s a slow process. Moving away from the dead line outline approach I was using before, I found some inspiration in newspaper strips like Friday Foster by Jorge Longaron and the really great Wonder Woman work by Carmine Infantino and the dearly-departed Dick Giordano, as well as other art by Jordi Bernet and Jorge Zaffino. I’m inking with the Namiki Falcon fountain pen, which feels wonderfully like an extension of my hand. The end results remind me a bit of Milo Manara, and I’m eager to see where more experimentation takes me. Speaking of experimentation, there’s an interesting little trick that writer J. Michael Straczynski cooked up later in the book to put you in the character’s POV, in the moment. When you get to the double page spread, trying folding the pages so the word balloon is whole (almost like a Mad fold-in). Let me know if it works! You can check out a 5 page preview at DC’s Source blog.

Supergirl #50 is on sale this week. I drew the 6-page backup written by Jake Black and Supergirl herself, Helen Slater. It’s too bad it was so short, since it took a few pages before I felt comfortable drawing her, but it turned out great thanks to the stunning colors provided by Dave McCaig. Check it out and lemme know what you think.