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.

Here’s my back cover illustration for Scarce Magazine #73, the long-running French fanzine. Editor Philippe Cordier interviewed me and Peter Milligan for a Human Target retrospective and kindly asked for a piece of art, so I repurposed this unseen 2009 San Diego sketch. The issue should be out next month, and there will be more info at Philippe’s blog. Well, more info if you can read French, that is.

Green Arrow & Black Canary #14 is on sale next week. Connor Hawke is back! I took some inspiration from exploitation movie posters, but what this cover really needs is some crazy kung-fu movie titling, Shaw Bros. style. Sadly, this is my last cover for GABC; it’s been a good run and it’s time to move on. Hopefully I’ll get to play in the DCU again soon.

Green Arrow & Black Canary #13 is on sale this week. Date night! This is one of those covers that didn’t come together until the end. I added the black sky and the burning fires in the background and suddenly there was a lot more depth and interest. Right before going to press, we also threw in some missiles to add to the mayhem. Note to self: explosions = good. I’m like the Michael Bay of comics. Boom!

Secret Six #2 is on sale next week! When I turned this one in, I also gave them 2 options for cover copy:

1. i can haz batmobile?
2. i’m in ur batcave stealin ur costume

We’ll see which one they go for…