How to use this Page

This week we celebrate the artwork of comics legend Paul Smith! The 600th issue of Uncanny X-Men hit the stands this week and I was very pleased to see that Smith contributed one of the variant covers for this landmark issue. X-Men was really the reason I got into comics as a kid. In fact the very first comic I picked up and read(besides the Bob’s Big Boy comics they used to give away when you ordered a kid’s meal..) was Uncanny X-Men #166 with that glorious Paul Smith cover of The X-Men battling the Brood!

A good friend of mine at the time(probably ’83/’84) had an older brother who collected comics and he had an big, old chest full of them(no bags ‘n boards, mind you..). So, when I’d go over there for a sleep-over, I’d get to rummage through his treasure trove of funny-books and then pull a few out for some late-night sleeping bag reading! Those Paul Smith issues of X-Men were truly magical, and always will be to me. There have been many great artists to work with Chris Claremont on his classic X-Men run, including legends like Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Bob Wiacek, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor Smith, Arthur Adams, Alan Davis, Jim Lee, etc. etc, but for me, my favorite X-Men artist will always be Paul Smith. 

Smith is mostly a self-taught artist. He worked as an animator on Ralph Bakshi’s The Lord of the Rings and American Pop before working at Marvel Comics in the early 1980’s. After establishing himself on titles like X-Men, Doctor Strange, and Marvel Fanfare, Smith would go on to do more independent, critically acclaimed series like Leave It To Chance and The Golden Age, both with writer James Robinson. He continues to work in mainstream comics for special projects, and cover illustrations, while also staying very busy with private commission work.

The best place to get updates on what Paul Martin Smith(PMS) is up to and to see more art is on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

This week we honor the work of Boston based cartoonist/animator Bob Flynn, who illustrated a variant cover for the latest issue of Kaboom’s Over the Garden Wall. Flynn has been contributing comics and covers to titles like SpongeBob Comics, ARGH!, Nickelodeon Magazine, and Heeby Jeeby Comix, which he co-created. I really like his bubbly, liquid-y, cartoon drawings; they really ooze to life on the page!

In addition to comics, Flynn has worked as a character designer for the animated series Bravest Warriors and he is the Director of Art & Animation at FableVision Studios.

You can read one of his self-published comics Brain #1 for free on his website here, and you can check out more of his art there while you’re at it!

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

Ben Caldwell dazzles us this week with his eye-popping cover art for Catwoman’s Teen Titans GO! variant. In addition to comics, Caldwell has worked as a toy designer, on various animation/video-game projects, and childrens book illustration. He also writes and draws a popular series of “how to” books called Action! Cartooning. It’s nice to see more and more artists like Caldwell bringing their “animation-style” to comics. It makes perfect sense since there’s so much crossover nowadays between comics & the TV/movie industry.

Ben Caldwell is also known for The Dare Detectives! series of graphic novels, The Wizard of Oz All-Action Classics adaptation, and Star Wars Clone War Adventures comics.

Caldwell graduated from the Parsons School of Design for Illustration and currently lives in New York with his family.

You can see the latest sketches and project updates by following Mr. Caldwell on his twitter page here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

Legendary comics artist Walter Simonson gets honors this week, because of his excellent “Joker-shark” variant cover to the latest issue of Aquaman. Simonson helped define one of Marvel’s most popular characters with his run on The Mighty Thor starting with issue #337(1983). From very early on in his career Simonson was a frequent collaborator with fellow comics legend, writer/editor Archie Goodwin on DC comics such as Detective Comics and Manhunter. Simonson’s dynamic style pushes out in bold perspective and influenced many comics illustrators to come after him.

Walter Simonson has worked on many comics with his wife, writer Louise Simonson, including a memorable run on X-Factor, and later on the World of Warcraft comic for Wildstorm.

Simonson received the Hero Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, which was presented to him by his wife Louise.

You can catch the latest news/artwork from Mr. Simonson by following him on twitter here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

This week we celebrate the great Kyle Baker for Comics Illustrator of the Week! Baker contributed the variant cover to this week’s Bizarro Comics #1. I first saw Kyle Baker’s work gracing the covers of Web of Spider-Man and Marvel Age when I was a kid. The first full interior work I saw by him was DC’s excellent Mature Reader’s version of The Shadow with writer Andy Helfer.

After working as an intern for Marvel Comics during his senior year of high school and then working on art assists for a period of time, Baker started to pick up penciling & inking assignments for The Big 2, including drawing the Howard the Duck movie adaptation for Marvel. Not being satisfied with just doing work that others wanted him to do or drawing in the style that was considered popular & marketable for the time, Baker decided to write & draw his own comics. This led to the publication of The Cowboy Wally Show graphic novel. Although, it was a low-printed indy book, it was enough to get the attention of editors looking for new original voices. So, 2 years later DC Comics published Baker’s next original comic Why I Hate Saturn, which would go on to win an Eisner Award and help solidify Kyle Baker as a creative force in the industry.

During the 1990’s Baker began to branch out, contributing regular comic strips for major magazines & newspapers, as well as work on animation projects, including an animated music-video with KRS-One in 1994.

Kyle Baker, to this day, continues to be a diverse artist, working on films, games, music, comics, illustration, etc. You can see what he’s been working on, including animation storyboards and preview comics pages on his Quality Jollity website here.

Other notable works by Kyle Baker: Nat Turner, Plastic Man, Instant Piano, Deadpool MAX, Justice INC, King David, You Are Here, Special Forces, and Truth: Red, White & Black.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

Comics artist Steve “The Dude” Rude(note: he was The Dude before Jeff Bridges’ infamous character was..) graduated from the Milwaukee School of Art and Design, before co-creating one of the 80’s most iconic independent sci-fi/fantasy comics Nexus. Rude drew most of the 100 or so issues of the Mike Baron written series, which spanned from 1981 to 2009. Rude has proven himself to be one of the modern masters of comics illustration and I hope to see his work in a future “indy” comic, although for what he can make drawing popular comic book characters, he doesn’t really need to do that.

Steve Rude has also worked for many of the major comics publishers including a Batman/Superman World’s Finest mini series in 1990 for DC and Spider-Man: Lifeline mini series for Marvel, just to name a couple.

Rude won the Russ Manning Outstanding Newcomer Award in 1984 and is a rare recipient of all 3 of the following awards: an Eisner, a Kirby, and a Harvey for Best Artist.

You can get the latest updates and see more of Steve Rude’s artwork on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com – Andy Yates

A couple years ago, Chris Samnee was in the unenviable position of having to replace artists Paolo Rivera & Marcos Martin on Marvel’s Daredevil, as regular series artist. Now, 40, or so issues later, that memorable run on Daredevil(which is still going) will now be remembered by most folks as the “classic Samnee/Waid Daredevil run” thanks to Samnee stepping up to the plate artistically! Chris’ stunning visuals match Waid’s character driven scripts perfectly! Studying the great comics artists he grew up with in the 1980’s, and working hard at his craft since he was kid(he got his first professional comics credit when he was 15!), Samnee has become one of the most respected artists working in comics, today.

Chris Samnee won an Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker for his work on the The Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom, and a Harvey Award for Most Promising Newcomer for 2011’s Capote in Kansas, published by ONI Press.

You can follow the steady stream of updated Chris Samnee art on his website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Zac Gorman, a life formed between Nintendo NES, and X Box 360; he played video games as a child in Detroit, MI, before settling in front of a larger screen in Chicago, Illinois. His comics filled books are Magical Game Time, and Costume Quest, both of which can be ordered here, as well as art prints, pins, & other knick-knacks.

After getting his feet wet, artistically, with SNES’ Mario Paint, Zac Gorman attended Kendall College of Art and Design.

Currently, you can find Zac working on the comic book version of  Adult Swim’s Rick And Morty for ONI Press, and he occasionally provides storyboards and character designs for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

You can take a behind the scenes peek at the inner-workings of a mad genius at Zac Gorman’s website here.

Here’s a link to a recent podcast featuring Zac Gorman.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Babs Tarr is a core member of the new Batgirl creative team that has been making waves, lately, with their new interpretation of the character, and fresh, modern approach to superhero mythology. She works as the interior artist on the book, while artist Cameron Stewart provides story breakdowns, and cover art. Babs Tarr has drawn a number of dynamic comic book covers herself, like this week’s variant cover to another trailblazing book, Gotham Academy.

Babs Tarr is an accomplished painter, video game concept artist, and all around versatile freelance illustrator. Her many clients include Hasbro, Disney, DC Comics, Boom! Comics, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe. Tarr received her BFA in Illustration from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.

You can catch up with Babs Tarr’s convention schedule, and more artwork on her website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Jill Thompson has been bringing her distinct watercolor illustration style to comics for the last 25 years.  Early on in her career she collaborated with legends like Neil Gaiman on Sandman, George Perez on Wonder Woman, and Grant Morrison on The Invisibles. Thompson has gone on to create her own characters, including The Scary Godmother, which has been adapted for children’s live theater, and two T.V. holiday specials. She also created the children’s series Magic Trixie, and Beasts of Burden with author Evan Dorkin for Dark Horse Comics.

Jill Thompson graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and has been honored with multiple Eisner Awards for illustration in comics.

You can catch up with recent updates, and see more artwork on Jill Thompson’s tumblr site here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Michael Golden is part of an elite class to emerge out of comics Bronze Age(1970-85), along with other legends like Mike Zeck, Frank Miller, and John Byrne. He worked briefly at DC in the late 70’s, before making a name for himself over at Marvel with his dynamic, detailed drawing style on the miniature superhero team, The Micronauts. Golden would go onto create one of the most popular Uncanny X-Men characters, Rogue, with writer Chris Claremont, and enjoyed critical success with his work on The ‘Nam(a war comic written & edited by Vietnam War veterans Doug Murray & Larry Hama).

Michael Golden is also an accomplished advertising, and commercial design artist, but he still finds time to create covers for some of the biggest titles in comics, including The Fantastic Four, and The Walking Dead.

You can listen to a recent podcast with Michael Golden talking about his early days in comics at Panel Borders here.

For the latest news, and art images from Mr. Golden, you can follow his facebook page here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Lucky for us, Geof Darrow is a stickler for the details. His intricate, clean line artwork attracted the attention of comics creator Frank Miller in 1990, and the two would go onto create Hard-Boiled, and Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot for Dark Horse. After serving as Conceptual Designer on all 3 Matrix movies, Darrow created the original series Shaolin Cowboy for The Wachowski Bros’ Burlyman Entertainment in 2005. He continues to produce new Shaolin Cowboy comics, to this day.

In the early 1980’s, after studying his craft at the American Academy of Arts in Chicago, Darrow worked with such comics legends as Jack Kirby(at Hanna Barbera studios), and Moebius(City of Fire art project).

Geof Darrow has won 3 Eisner Awards for excellence in writing/illustrating comics, as well as an Inkpot Award.

A good way to check out more art, and keep up with Mr. Darrow’s work is to “like” his facebook page here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Francesco Francavilla is an Italian comic-book artist who’s fame has skyrocketed the last 5 years. He’d been working in the independent comics scene since the mid-2000’s on projects like The Black Coat, and Sorrow. Francavilla’s first high-profile project came in 2008 when he collaborated with Matt Wagner on a new Zorro series for Dynamite Entertainment. From there he got to infuse his classic pulp style art on Marvel’s Black Panther, and Scott Snyder’s first Batman story arc in Detective Comics.

In 2012 Francavilla introduced his own noir vigilante, The Black Beetle, to the world in the pages of Dark Horse Presents. Since then, 2 volumes of the critically acclaimed series have been published(No Way Out, 2013 & Necrologue, 2014).

Most of Francesco Francavilla’s recent work has been focused on the mega-hit Afterlife with Archie, which gives readers a more mature, horror take on those classic Riverdale characters. He also continues to work on various personal, and professional illustration projects, including some exclusive movie posters for Mondo.

Francavilla is frequently updating his blog with new art, so if you like what you see click here for more!

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

When David Petersen’s Mouse Guard hit comic store shelves in 2006, I remember thinking, in my very jaded, pessimistic way,“oh, there’s another furry animal gimmick book that probably won’t last more than a couple issues..”. So, now 8+ years later, and multiple volumes of Mouse Guard stories later, I realize how terribly wrong I was. David Petersen has proven that his little creator-owned book had the perseverance to make it against all odds, just like his little furry protagonists! Petersen accomplishes bringing a classic illustrated storybook aesthetic to his comics. His background in printmaking has helped him develop this style.

In addition to Mouse Guard, Petersen has done numerous cover illustrations, and poster art for big name clients like Marvel Comics, IDW, and Mondo posters.

David Petersen earned his degree in Fine Arts from Eastern Michigan University, after a short stint in community college.

You can see up to date news, and the latest artwork on David Petersen’s blog here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

Joshua Middleton has been working in comics, book illustration, film, and animation since 1999. I first noticed his work in the critically acclaimed creator owned series Sky Between Branches back in 2002. His clean lines, and lushly painted art helped to land him a gig at Marvel, where he drew the first four issues of the mega-hit series NYX, which introduced Wolverine’s daughter, X-23. He has produced many covers, and occasionally interior art for DC Comics over the years, including this week’s special Flash variant cover for Detective Comics. He will be doing all of the artwork for two issues of Wonder Woman, coming up in April, and May.

Middleton served as a concept artist on the cult-favorite science fiction film Serenity in 2005, and was a character designer/art director on the 2009 series, Green Lantern: The Animated Series for Warner Brothers.

There’s a lot more artwork to drool over at Joshua Middleton’s website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

I had to post a lot of images for this week’s Comics Illustrator of the Week, because Bill Sienkiewicz has so many amazing pieces of art to share. I only just scraped the surface of his body of work! One of the first comic books I ever read was Dune, the Marvel comics adaptation of the David Lynch film. I didn’t really read it, so much as I absorbed the dynamic art by Sienkiewicz within those pages. It was the first time I’d really seen an example of comic book art crossing over into the “respectable” fine arts realm.

Bill Sienkiewicz (pronounced sin-KEV-itch) is best known for his magnum opus, Stray Toasters, and his work on Elektra: Assassin for Marvel. He incorporates a combination of oil painting, acrylics, watercolor, mixed-media, collage and mimeograph into his art, which is very rare in comics. Sienkiewicz has done a lot of work for Hollywood, including The Dark Knight, The Grinch, and The Green Mile just to name a few.

He recently worked on the critically acclaimed Daredevil:End of Days series with friends, and fellow comics legends, Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Alex Maleev, and Klaus Janson. His variant cover for Wytches #1, the highly anticipated new Image series, is truly disturbing, and shows a master artist at the peak of his craft.

Other works of note are Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix, Santa: My Life & Times (An Illustrated Autobiography), and a stint designing multimedia stage productions for Roger Waters’ 2006 Dark Side of the Moon Tour.

Bill Sienkiewicz has recieved numerous awards, and nominations, but one of the biggest honors was a  2004 Eisner Award for DC Comics’ The Sandman: Endless Nights.

You can read more about Bill Sienkiewicz’s illustrious career, and see more examples of his art on his official website here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates