Art Attack: Anniversary/Birthday Present

I am blessed for so many wonderful things in my life, but nothing more than my amazing wife, Megan. A few months ago, we celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary and coming up next weekend is my 29th birthday; to commemorate both, Megan commissioned me an amazing piece of art from our buddy Todd Nauck...
It's me and Megan surrounded by my very favorite characters, Nova and The Flash, as well as her namesake, Miss Martian. Oh, and also Captain America (Megan wanted to include another Marvel icon). We're all chilling at the spot Megan and I took photos following our wedding in Newport, Rhode Island with us in our tux and dress.

I'm fortunate enough to have a great many original art pieces from Todd, but no question, this is my favorite yet. His incredible talent is undeniable and wow does he draw a wicked Flash.

In conclusion: I may be getting up there in the years, but I'm a luckier dude than ever! Thank you Todd and I love you so much, Megan!

San Diego 2010 Sketch-o-rama Pt. 1

Oh man, I am wiped the heck out from San Diego Comic-Con! I've been to three of these suckers now, and no question this was my favorite so far. Besides the show itself, getting to interact with fans and see what they think of what we're doing, I had the perfect balance this year of seeing my bros, spending time with creators who I love to chat with, fostering some camaraderie with my Marvel colleagues and going on trippy pro wrestling adventures that land me on the top of PetCo Park shaking hands with Paul Heyman.

But right now, as much as I'm still tingling from great stories and better friends, I'm pretty wasted from taking a red eye back and then heading into the office on three hours of sleep (I'm hardcore).

So while if the past is any indication all four of us will be checking in throughout the next little bit with anecdotes, pics, etc., for now I want to show off some of the sketches I was fortunate enough to pick up this year.

I did snag some new Nova pieces, but my sketchbook is actually still in the physical possession of the great Josh Adams right now. However, I did get a very special surprise Human Rocket rendering from none other than pro wrestling superstar and my Marvel.com broadcast partner "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels!

Not bad, eh? Chris may "fall down for a living" as he puts it, but I think he's got some skills! I see a bit of early Jamal Igle in that piece; very nice shading on the musculature. You may have a second career awaiting you Mr. Daniels!

However, Nova aside, I also had Megan's very special Miss Martian collection along for the ride and got two new portrayals of my favorite Martian, first up from Andy Lanning...

Many may know Andy as one half of the supreme cosmic writing duo of DnA along with Dan Abnett or even as a prolific inker, but he's also a hell of an artist in his own right when not working over somebody else's pencils, as this more than demonstrates. I had some very fun times with Andy over the past week as he's one of the funniest dudes in comics or anywhere really; ditto for Dan. Very glad to see DnA get their well-earned props on the Mondo Marvel panel from an appreciative crowd.

I also got Megan a sketch she's wanted for some time as she's always been jealous of my own Chris Giarusso Nova...

What can I say about Chris G's work? The guy is awesome and I don't think he's capable of bad art. His Miss Martian is absolutely adorable, but I'm not surprised. Megan is totally in love with this sketch already, so I owe Chris, also a heckuva nice guy.

So that's it for the first wave, but when I wake up in three days or so hopefully I should have more for you. In the mean time...Kevin, where are you, kid?!

Art Attack: Megan's Miss Martian Sketchbook

I've already told you all the secret origin of Miss Martian and how my wife, Megan, inspired everybody's favorite green Teen Titan, and also showed the kickin' piece she got from Ethan Van Sciver to canvas the inside cover of her sketchbook. But as with my Nova-themed book, Megan has amassed an impressive collection of Miss Martian sketches from various talented artists, and thanks to the magic of the scanner I got for Christmas, I'm pleased to present them here now...

Todd Nauck
It should surprise nobody that the first official entry in Megan's book is from our good buddy Todd Nauck. The always gracious Mr. Nauck had actually already drawn an incarnation of Miss Martian in the Teen Titans Go! comic adapting the animated series, but not so much the "classic" version. Todd had done his share of commissions and of course put some extra "oomph" in for my girl, putting together this sweet mix of the fun cartoon style and more refined "real" M'gann M'orzz.

Bill Willingham
One of the first comics Megan got into on a regular basis was Fables, so when I spotted the book's writer, Bill Willingham, in Artist's Alley at a Wizard World Los Angeles the weekend of her birthday, I thought one nice present would be a Miss Martian sketch from the man himself. An artist as well as talented writer, Bill had no problem putting pencil to paper and also as a bonus made the piece an unofficial Teen Titans/Fables crossover, with Miss Martian meeting Snow White and learning her unique "super power."

Juan Doe
Another buddy of mine from my Wizard days, ultra-talented man of mystery Juan Doe was extremely enthusiastic about contributing to this sketchbook (although he still refers to the character as "Martian Girl"). As with everything Juan does, this sucker is utterly unique and wonderfully stylized, bringing his knack for design and dynamic sensibility to a character he had never encountered before; just beautiful stuff.

Don Kramer
Another one of those "nicest guys in comics" you're always hearing about, Don Kramer actually lobbied to get a crack at Megan's book, and I'm not gonna say no to somebody with Don's mad skills (and suave good looks). This may look like it took weeks, but Don did it in an afternoon, complete with awesome background and incredible shading. Miss Martian seriously looks like a real figure ready to fly off the friggin' page. This is the kind of care and nuance Don puts into every single commission he does, so if you're at a convention he's attending, do yourself a big favor and track him down (and to the comic book powers that be: give him more work!).

Franco Aureliani
While she was serving as Wizard's official on-screen interviewer at their 2008's Philadelphia convention, Megan hit it off with Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, the co-creators of the Eisner award-winning Tiny Titans, which is tough not to do because those dudes are just fun. As they had recently introduced a super cute Miss Martian into Tiny Titans, upon learning of Megan's tie to the character, Franco was more than happy to do this adorable piece.

Dennis Calero
The second two-page spread in Megan's sketchbook came from X Men Noir artist Dennis Calero, who worked long and hard to create a dark, moody Miss Martian who certainly stands out from the pack and does not look like a lady you want to mess with. Not so sure about the bit in the bottom corner (I think he was a bit sleep-deprived), but no question Dennis has a one-of-a-kind style and finesses every line he puts on the paper, so it was cool to see his take here.

Terry Montimore
After he did a kick ass Nova sketch for me, my officemate Margarita's beau, Terry, was hungry for more and did this lovely layout for Megan just in time for our wedding. Believe it or not, this is not Terry's day job, which is pretty insane given how good he is at it. Terry has a great sense of humor and fun, which he does a great job conveying in his art, from the exaggerated facial features to the neat touch of the puppy. Why did he decide to include the Men in Black? Not entirely sure, but it works. I also love the color, which really makes the whole thing pop and adds a new dimension.

The Secret Origin of Miss Martian

I know that some of you are aware of this fact, but for those who don't know perhaps the coolest bit of comic book trivia about my life, there is indeed a Teen Titan named after my fiancee.

In 2006 after attending Wizard World Los Angles, Megan (my aforementioned intended), her friend Ashleigh and myself remained in the City of Angels for a couple more days on vacation. One night, we met up with Geoff Johns for an evening of sushi and Sapporo (the latter for me and Geoff) on him (he makes Hollywood money and I was 24, folks, no shame on my part). After Geoff and I overcame our disappointment over the fact that they never served us the Superman Roll we ordered, he told us a bit about his upcoming plans for Teen Titans, Megan's favorite comic (really the only one she read) at the time. Geoff mentioned that he was trying to come up with new characters for both the One Year Later roster and for what eventually became Titans West, and that he wanted to do more legacy characters for heroes and villains who didn't actually have any yet.

Perhaps it was the Japanese beer that fueled Geoff and my creativity as we noted that Ashleigh's last name was "Catsos" and thus there should really be a Catgirl (she ended up being cutting room floor material), but I've got to give full credit to him for realizing if you put Megan's first name and my last name together (as we're planning to do in under a month and a half), you got an alliterative identity in the classic tradition of Clark Kent, Peter Parker, John Jones, Matt Murdock, etc. Not only that, Geoff already had a character in mind who was going to have a double-M name to begin with.

And that's how Miss Martian got her civilian identity of Megan Morse (or M'gann M'orzz if you're from Mars).

Truthfully, we weren't sure if Geoff would remember his promise from that dinner, even though he had already put Megan in one issue of JSA the year before as an Air Force pilot who gets hit on by Hal Jordan (the best I did was score a cameo as a zombie who gets decapitated by one of Mr. Terrific's T-Spheres in an earlier JSA). Lo and behold though, Teen Titans #37 rolled around and there was Megan in all her Martian glory. Both Geoff and Miss Martian's co-creator, artist Tony Daniel, claimed around that time that her visual appearance was based at least a little bit on Megan, but I'm pretty sure they were just humoring her. It was definitely tough for me to keep the secret Geoff told me that she was going to end up being a White Martian from Megan so that when she went all monster form at the end of Teen Titans #40 I could watch her freak out, but I did.

So needless to say, even though Megan doesn't read Teen Titans regularly anymore, she always wants to know how "her" character is doing and always gets a smile out of reading her name being "spoken" by Wonder Girl or Kid Devil (and she just loved that issue where future Miss Martian made out with that dreamy Robin). We also both live in constant fear that the character will get killed off at some point, but with my old Wizard bud Brian Cunningham currently at the editorial helm of Teen Titans, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about...or everything to worry about.

Following in the footsteps of me and my Nova sketchbook, a couple years back Megan began her own sketchbook featuring Miss Martian. I need to scan in the entries from Todd Nauck, Bill Willingham and others, but I do have this gorgeous piece that Ethan Van Sciver did for the inside cover handy.
It's totally classic and awesome EVS, from the meticulous detail to the pronounced horror vibe (and as more than one person has pointed out to me, it's almost certainly not a coincidence that Ethan drew those aliens in the background in perfect position to see up Miss Martian's skirt). Megan couldn't have asked for a much better opener to her book as it definitely screams to whoever is drawing in there "You better live up to this benchmark," which Ethan said was his goal from the start.

Megan also bought the uncolored very first appearance of Miss Martian off Teen Titans inker Marlo Alquiza a couple years ago for me on my birthday (so she essentially got me a picture of her for my birthday, but that's my girl) and it hangs proudly framed on our wall.

The moral of the story: get Geoff Johns drunk enough and you too could have your very own Teen Titan (provided your name is alliterative)!