Saturday, April 3, 2010

the great american (comic book) novel?

I FINALLY just finished reading every issue of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's epic and brilliant "100 BULLETS." all I can say is wow.
I had been meaning to sit down with the entire 100 issue run, and finally did so. wow. ok, I already said that.

Also, a monumental tip of the hat to cover artist extraordinaire Dave Johnson. I turned down this gig years and years ago and regretted the decision for a long time. Eventually I realized the only thing to regret is that Dave did twice as good a job as I ever would have!

Well, at least I was sorta part of the team, as I did a pin-up of cool character Cole Burns for issue #26...or was it issue #25? My memory aint what it used to be.


9 comments:

  1. I loved that Pin-up! I remember when Dave got the gig, I was kind of bummed that the whole Johnny Double squad wasn't going to carry on. Dave was talking about going with an old blaxpoitation painted movie poster vibe for the covers which sounded really ambitious. It was great to watch him evolve on those covers and see all the cool things he tried with them. Dave has really become one of the best!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Mr.Chiarello - Just wanted to drop you a comment and tell how much I love your art. I especially like your portrait of Atticus Finch and the Star Wars stuff. Do you mostly use watercolor? What's your favorite medium?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mark, I've known Brian since before he was Brian, and I've yet to read the whole 100 Bullets saga. For a long time, I delayed because I felt that Brian and I came from a similar place, creatively, and I was worried about rippin' off any of his ideas. Now I've come to realize what an extraordinary talent he is, so I really didn't need to worry! I'm making 100 Bullets my summer reading must!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sam, thanks for your kind words, especially re: Atticus Finch. God, I love that movie!
    Yes, I mostly use watercolor, unless I'm going for that flat, poster-like look, in which case I use gouache. I can never remember which medium I like better, so I just keep jumping back and forth.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great Pin-up!! i'm glad to see that it's a really paint piece
    What a coincidende but last night I was reading that issue again (in fact I'm doing it with all the saga) and this morning I started too search some of your work at the web, so here I am.
    Greetings from Spain! (and excuse my english!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Mark, I have been following you since Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop. The watercolor art with graphic element always giving me inspiration. So here I'm... working as a graphic designer/comic artist just want to be like you. Thanks mark. If you got free time feel free to visit my blog at: http://niezamcomic.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pedro,
    Welcome aboard from America! Spain is just a beautiful country, I think Barcelona is my favorite city in the world (next to New York!)

    Niezam,
    I checked out your blog and Deviant art page...really, really impressive stuff, pal. Thanks for the heads-up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. just went through the entire archive of the blog! Huge inspiration!

    George Pratt was/is my teacher (had him at Ringling 08-09). Your alumni class from Pratt College is a powerhouse :)

    can't wait for more posts!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Francis,
    Next time you see George, tell him I said he was/is a punkass!

    Mark

    ReplyDelete