The first one is a Joker sketch by Lee Bermejo, who's best known for his work on the Batman/Deathblow: After the Fire mini-series, the Superman/Gen 13 one-shot and the upcoming Lex Luthor: Man of Steel mini-series, written by Brian Azzarello.

The second item is a published piece by Gabriele Dell'Otto, who's probably best known for his painted artwork on the current Secret War mini-series, written by Brian Michael Bendis. This piece was published in a French and Italian sketchbook of his work.

The Joker Lee Bermejo October 24, 2004	Wolverine/Colossus/Nightcrawler Gabriele Dell'Otto October 24, 2004

Peter Franken

Marvel Must Haves: Wolverine #20-22 will have a variant cover by Romita with Wolverine his his "Patch" alter ego.

The book will go on sale on Dec. 2

Source: Comics Continuum

The first six issues of the series will deal with the Panther's origin. The next six issues will have the Panther take a greater role in the Marvel Universe, interacting with the Avengers, Spider-Man and the X-Men, and meeting many other black heroes, including Blade, Luke Cage and Storm.

Source: Silver Bullet Comicbooks

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

Starkings: Ladronn is just wrapping up the inks for the latest issue, then I guess there’ll be another three months while he colors each page in the style to which readers have become accustomed. Believe it or not, he is actually working faster. This issue is 33 pages, whereas the first issue pages were only 28 or 29 pages each, and he’s bringing it in inside of a year...

For the complete interview, click here

Source: Newsarama

The variant cover’s origins are linked to the alternate covers for The New Avengers #1-6; it’s Quesada’s original sketch for the complete six-part art that’s formed by the covers. Fans will be able to possess this titanic image in two distinct formats: Quesada’s new cover and by linking the 6 alternate covers together as one.

Source: Newsarama

Dr. Strange Brandon Peterson July 2004	Batgirl Brandon Peterson July 2004

Peter Franken

Source: Silver Bullet Comics

Marvel will also reprint the old "Age of Apocalypse" books with new original material, including the four issue Generation Next series, by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham.

Source: Comic Book Resources & Silver Bullet Comics

Busy over here. I have about 11 pages of the "Unspeakable" project wrapped...

Just finished pencils and colors on the Vamp/Mag [Vampirella / Magdalena] cover...Tim did an amazing job...

Same with 6 new DC/Upper Deck game cards for the Superman edition...[Richard] Friend on inks on that project....

Continuing my Oakley work... hope to post a few of the drawings at a later date...

Continuing on Hipflask...

Micronauts cover is done but there has a been a delay in shipping....not sure when that will be out...

Source: Chris Bachalo's Yahoo Group

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

MIKE JOZIC: From an art standpoint, are you approaching the book any differently than you would any of your other projects?

JOHN CASSADAY: I try to approach every project a little differently. Some allow more of a chance to experiment than others. This is the first time I've really done a big team book, so I'm looking at it in a more epic sense of scale.

For the complete interview, click here

Source: Silver Bullet Comics

• "Daredevil: Father #2," which, while late, will come in at 31 pages for the Quesada written and drawn project.

• "What If?" will return in the form of a mini-series. The mini will be a "fifth week" event in December, consisting of seven different books. The line-up includes:

  "What if Karen Page had lived?" by Brian Bendis, Kevin Smith, Alex Maleev with a cover by Joe Quesada.

• Mike Kaluta was announced as the new cover artist for the remainder of "Lucifer's" finite run, currently expected to end at issue 75.

Source: Comic Book Resources & Newsarama

Ross explained how he wanted to tell a Justice League story, pitting the heroes against their greatest villains. Ross said that he didn’t start out wanting to paint over Braithwaite’s pencils, rather, he wanted to design the project and serve as cover artist, much as he did with Earth X through Paradise X. "Over time though, my ambition shifted to wanting the artwork to be more mine, so, we’re doing six issues a year, and I’ll be painting every page. It’s Justice - the JLA versus the worst villains they’ve ever faced."

For more information click here and/or here

Source: Comic Book Resources & Newsarama

The first sketch is a Batman illustration by Pete Woods, who's probably best know for his work on Robin for DC Comics. The second sketch is a Death illustration by Rebecca Woods, who's probably best for her work on Marvel's Deadpool and DC's Robin. Collaborating on both titles with her husband, Pete Woods.

Batman Pete Woods July 22, 2004	Death Rebecca Woods July 22, 2004

Peter Franken

Witchcraft #1 Splash page by Peter Snejbjerg	Shade, the Changing Man #68 Cover by Duncan Fegredo

Peter Franken

"Okay guys, here's the dope....My first issue of Wolvie is #20....I'm not gonna do the Punisher series until they work out the small details with Garth Ennis (I don't know what those details are)...I AM doing the Gray Area series for Image(first ish is out June 23rd)...my other regular title, for the time being....was confirmed (I didn't really confirm it, just let it slip out at the Wizard Con in L.A.) AND denied because I was never supposed to leak it....I HAVE A BIG MOUTH, sorry, you know marketing, advertising, etc., etc., PLUS, the writer is a pretty famous guy and nobody wanted to upset him...er, um, I CAN'T say it...not until this weekend is over and Marvel starts flashing the artwork around the Philly con...then I'll be safe to say....this is so childish, I wish I could just blab it all out, but Marvel wants maximum bang for their buck, so....I'm denying everything...until the doors close in Philly, on Sunday night!! Whew!"

Source: Comic Boards

• Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets is resuming monthly status, and #50 will be an extra-sized issue that introduces a pivotal new character. The next trade paperback is due in July.

• Michael Kaluta is the new cover artist on Vertigo's Lucifer series.

• Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's We3 will ship bi-monthly.

• Frank Quitely is the cover artist on the new Books of Magick: Life During Wartime series.

Source: Comics Continuum

For the complete preview, click here

Source: Newsarama

One of the most recent additions to my collection is the Michael Zulli Destiny piece you see here. Michael Zulli is probably best know for his work (with Neil Gaiman) on DC/Vertigo's The Sandman (The Wake), which shows his art without being inked. Truly amazing stuff!

The scan here really doesn't do justice to the piece, because it's gigantic! It's roughly the size of three comic boards put together. Because of its size, it took six scans to get the whole picture, which I then pasted together again.

I hope you enjoyed it! - although the image here is a bit small...

Peter Franken

Incidentally, you may be interested to know that Ladronn has recently completed three "Tower of the Elephant" cover paintings for the Dark Horse CONAN comic as well as inventory cover paintings for SUPERMAN and FLASH. He has also recently completed pencils and inks for the Jodorowsky short story for METAL HURLANT "The Boy who cried Golden Tears". He has now started work on the third issue of HIP FLASK, MYSTERY CITY.

Peter Franken

Hope you've all been well.

Thanks for hanging out and keeping me company the past few months. I don't respond often enough but I continue to receive your postings. I wrapped my six issues of Cap about a week ago and though I'd drop by and say Howdy!

What's up....

Special thanks go out to Tim. He puts up with my wobbly delivery of pages and never complains, makes me look good with his fabulous inks---anyone that has an original really knows what I'm talking about ---and makes time to hang out at this site. A class act.

Check out the recently shipped issue number three of Common Grounds over at Top Cow. Jim showed me the original series independently published by Troy Hickman and company. I loved it, so I took a pay cut and managed to turn it around in the middle of my busy Cap schedule.

I recently completed a pin up for Mark Millar's and Top Cow's Wanted, featuring Deadly Nightshade and Imp. I'll post that soon.

I'm currently working on Comicrafts Hipflask:Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy written by The amazing Joe Kelly. It's really good. The issue is going to be told via a series of collage images very similar to what I did in the Witching hour. They are going to print the art using scans of the pencils. Should prove interesting. I 'll have that done in a week or two.

Check out the the new movie Around the World in Eighty days. I had a small part--so small I wasn't eligible for a credit-- in the design of the Bad Guys Scorpion Tattoo. I did travel up to Hollywood for a day to hang with the director Frank Coraci. Vey cool!

Doing a few conceptual drawings for Oakley at the moment .

Recently completed four cards for the upcoming Upper Deck/DC role playing game. I completed cards for Batgirl, Phantasm, Lady Shiva and Omen. Dunno when the release date is for that game.

I believe that the Marvel Role playing game just shipped. I completed five cards for that game including Invisible Girl, Juggernaut, and Spiderman.

I'm having a blast with the coloring. Hope you're enjoying the results on Cap, my covers and the trading cards. Special thanks go out to Marvel and Joe Q for giving me the opportunity, especially on Cap where time was a big issue.

My next --super top secret-- project will be a big one. Akira Yoshida is writing-- he's new to me, but his proposal read very well--Tim's on inks---Yayyy!--and I'm lobbying for the coloring chores. It'll be a six issue mini and--most likely -- will debut early next year and published by MC!

I'm putting together a proposal for a project after the top secret project--yep, I aim to write it. That'll be a first. It promises to be one that you will absolutely welcome. Hopefully, MC will agree.

New art for sale soon. Tim and I have about 10 issues of art to split. I will continue to sell at ebay as well as well as my website that, I hope, is active shortly. I'll let you know when its up.

I posted a few Cap pages as well as the sixth New Mutant cover that I did that was not used. They were concerned about differece of style --a reasonable reaction--considering the leap that I took on that cover.

Ok. Back to work for me. Keep in touch!!

Best!

CB

Source: Chris Bachalo's Yahoo Group

For the complete article, click here

Source: Superhero Hype!

• An Astro City special by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson and cover artist Alex Ross is scheduled for August. After that will be Astro City: The Dark Age a series of mini-series set in the 1970s that tells the tragic tale of the Silver Agent.

• Absolute Planetary is scheduled for October. The oversized hardcover collects the first 12 issues of the series by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday, as well as the complete script to Planetary #1 and the original preview story.

• Dunbier said he hopes to have Planetary on a quarterly schedule, with Cassaday's commitments now to Astonishing X-Men.

Source: Newsarama & Comics Continuum

For part one of the interview, click here

For part two of the interview, click here

Source: Newsarama

For the complete article and the two drawings, click here

Source: Superhero Hype!

For the complete post, click here

Source: ComiX-Fan

Click here for the first interview

Click here for the second interview

Source: Dynamic Forces & Comic Book Resources

For the complete article, click here

Source: Newsarama

I understand that the new "Black Panther" series will be drawn by John Romita Jr, before he takes over "Wolverine".

Source: Comic Book Resources

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

As to the places Gray Area came from then...

"This goes back to something I’ve always had a problem with myself – when you do something good, is it good, even if you’re not doing it for the right reasons? If you’re told to help an old lady across the street as a Boy Scout, are you really doing it because you really want to help the old lady, or are you doing it because someone told you that you had to do it if you wanted to get a badge on your chest. It’s like donating money to charity – and then you get to write it off on your taxes. Give more, write off more. I do feel guilty about those things."

For the complete interview with some preview art, click here.

Source: Newsarama

For the complete article, click here.

Source: Comic Book Resources

For the preview, click here.

For the other preview, click here.

Source: Comic Book Resources & Newsarama

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

Richard Johnston: Talking of which, do you see the end of Planetary in sight?

John Cassaday: I've got two scripts in front of me and Warren is in the middle of the next, which is #22. I plan to plug away at them as they come during my X-Men stint. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. Warren has made noise about extending the series past the original 25 issues in order to take his time ending it. If it needs more pages and we stretch it to maybe 27 or 28, why not? It has taken forever and at times has definitely been a monkey on my back, but I absolutely love Planetary. I know I'll miss it when it ends. However, it will be nice to close the back cover of that last one and move on...

For the complete interview, click here.

Source: Dynamic Forces

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

"If you've never read an X-Men comic, you can pick this up and enjoy it," says Cassaday. "We're paying attention to continuity, but we're not letting it clog up the works. We're using it to our advantage. To me, it's the essence of what everyone loves so much about these characters."

For the complete interview, click here.

Source: Comic Book Resources

Romita Jr. said that he hasn't started on Wolverine yet, but that he would be taking a break after two more issues to work on the other series. Klaus Janson will reportedly ink on Wolverine.

According to Romita, the two runs on the respective series will be a years' worth of work, and he doesn't know exactly when he will be getting back to Amazing Spider-Man, but he does consider his time away from the series as a sabbatical, rather than a full-out departure.

For the complete article, click here.

Source: Newsarama

For the complete interview, click here.

Source: Newsarama

Quesada has said he is on board to write NYX through #6. "I would like to go further, but it takes a lot of time, so we'll see," he said.

Source: Comics Continuum

Here's a small excerpt of the interview:

Newsarama: You were the first artist to use paintings on a very mainstream book. When I first saw your painted work I thought back to other painter-like artists like Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean. Those guys left mainstream comics at one point to do autobio or semiautobio stories.

Alex Ross: This is a terrible parallel to come up with here. The fact that the rock music scene had a drought of strong talent by either the death of Buddy Holly or the more of less imprisonment of Elvis in the military it made a good playing field for The Beatles to come in. That should be the last time I ever compare myself to The Beatles. [...]

For the complete interview, click here.

Source: Newsarama

For the complete article, click here.

Source: Newsarama