Back at Penciling + New Interview

And a look at the Phenomena Book 2 cover proof

Hello from Castrum Lusitania, my fortress in northern Portugal. Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.

The last few weeks were of an irregular nature. Trips to conventions, some announcements, kids coughing all night, a short batch of script that forced me to constant changes from pencils to inks to grey tones back to script and thumbnails…

But now I had a more substantial bit of Phenomena script which allowed me to get back into the longer gears that make things much smoother. So I got to spend most of this week penciling. Which means that next week is gonna be nothing but inking. Happy times.

How many pages?

17 in 5 days. That’s a very successful week, particularly because it had some interruptions. Annoying things like a nail in one of the car tyres that need repairing or an hair cut. God, I hate hair cuts but I like my hair short. Meaning I get them often. It’s a penance I’ve learned to live with.

But pencils! I believe I can show you some. As a context, this is all a big, pivotal scene in the third Phenomena book, but most of the pivoting occurs through dialogue (I spoke about how well Brian nailed it last week in terms of script), so there’s very little that looking at pencils can spoil. Nonetheless, I’ll post some of the most innocuous panels for your viewing pleasure.

One of my favorite pages from the book.

Phenomena Book 2 cover proofs

The mailman brought a great surprise this week: proofs for the cover of Phenomena Book 2:

It is simply looking glorious with those Chris O’Halloran colors. Folks from Abrams asked for something different from the first one (which was purple with a yellow logo) and I proposed a large, menacing orange sky, which they enjoyed very much. I also proposed the logo in blue, to complement the orange of the background, and works perfectly in print.

The cover as a glossy finish over some elements (like Matilde and the logo/title) which makes it pretty striking when seeing it live. It truly feels like a deluxe edition.

New interview

Finally, a new interview. You get the text in French but the original audio version in English, which works as a mini podcast. This was recorded in Brussels, during the Heroes Comic Con Belgium and it goes over my entire career, going deep into Phenomena and A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance in particular.

Recommendations

I imagine this is hardly a surprise, but Geof Darrow is one of my favorites. His work is an inspiration and the man behind it is no less. Kind, funny, generous and will not accept a compliment under any circumstance without some self-deprecating humor. Naturally, being such a fan, I got his latest Shaolin Cowboy book: Cruel To Be Kin.

It’s humbling and inspirational to see Geof pouring so much into a book when he has nothing to prove to anyone. He could get away with a lot less but there’s a commitment to a certain type of storytelling that is unwavering and a stoicism that prompts admiration book after book. And the dialogue is incredibly funny as well, being much more complex than you’d think at first glance. Because Geof could take the easy way and focus on the drawings only, but he knows that can get over indulgent, so he built an intricate style of speaking that mirrors the madness of the world he so well created.

One sequence in particular grabbed me for two reasons. First, it’s absolutely breathtaking. And second, the elegance of the movement. Both things are very good adjectives to the entire book - Geof draws breathtaking sequence after sequence, always with incredible grace and elegance when constructing figures and movement - but it is perfectly encapsulated into these two spreads where the main characters fights hundreds (thousands?) of birds.

It’s comics at its best, doing something that is impossible to replicate in other medium. Buy it, read it.

Until next week, keep reading comics.

André