Masked

(UPDATED) Here is a link on Lou's blog about this piece.

Edited by Lou Anders, Cover Illustration by Trevor Hairsine,

Here's a description.

WELCOME TO THE SECOND “GOLDEN AGE” OF SUPERHEROES AND HEROINES

Superheroes have come a long way since the “Man of Steel” was introduced in 1938. This brilliant new collection features original stories and novellas from some of today’s most exciting voices in comics, science fiction, and fantasy. Each marvelously inventive tale shows us just how far our classic crusaders have evolved—and how the greatest of heroes are, much like ourselves, all too human.

In “Call Her Savage,” MARJORIE M. LIU enters the dark heart of a fierce mythic heroine who is forced, by war, to live up to her own terrible legend.

In “A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too),” BILL WILLINGHAM presents a fully-realized vision of a universe where epic feats and tragic flaws have transformed the human race.

In “Vacuum Lad,” STEPHEN BAXTER unveils the secret origins of the first true child of the space age—and disproves the theory that “nothing exists in a vacuum.”

In “Head Cases,” PETER DAVID and KATHLEEN DAVID blast through the blogosphere to expose the secret longings of a Lonely Superhero Wife.

In “The Non-Event,” MIKE CAREY removes the gag order on a super-thief named Lockjaw . . . and pries out a confession of life-altering events.

Also includes stories by Mike Baron • Mark Chadbourn • Paul Cornell • Daryl Gregory • Joseph Mallozzi • James Maxey • Ian McDonald • Chris Roberson • Gail Simone • Matthew Sturges . . . and an introduction by Lou Anders, “one of the brightest and best of the new generation of science fiction editors” (Jonathan Strahan, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year).

Originally Masked was titled With Great Power. Marvel had issues with the original title, so we had to change it last minute. Below are a few early comps that I played around with, what do you think? Which were rejected....

I enlisted the help of Trevor Hairsine, who did a great job getting the mood just right. These are some of Trevor's early thumbnail sketches. My art director and I talked about having a superhero be the protector standing in front of his city in the first sketch. The second concept was having a team of superheros flying overhead looking like airplanes in old WWII propaganda posters. The Third idea was a superhero in deep thought, contemplating his life as a superhero, hard decisions he has to make which was what we went with.



Here are two examples of type treatments I tried before coming up with the final cover.



Below is the final jacket. Which I think has a good balance of color and atmosphere. Not taking itself too seriously, it's a superhero book after all.



I love the book! It features some of my favorite comic book writers like Bill Willingham (Fables) and Peter David (Hulk). The first story by Matthew Sturges, Cleansed and Set in Gold
 starts the collection off with a bang.

Ghost Tactics Logo

This is a military inspired logo that I created for Ghost Tactics.

Play Dead Zombie Crawl

It was a lot fun working with Sam Weber on Play Dead. He really did a wonderful job. There was a lot of back and forth with what direction we wanted to go with. Whether we wanted the cover to more humorous or campy, but in the end I'm happy with the way this turned out. Though I wish we could of had the rest of the team on the cover.

Hundreds of zombies gathered this past Sunday for the latest NYC Zombie Crawl. Around 5pm they moved up Bedford Ave to play zombie football with Play Dead author Ryan Brown in McCarren Park. After the game there was a screening of Play Dead the Movie at the Knitting Factory. You can watch the trailer here.

I was out camping this weekend but I would've loved to have been there. Just look at these photos!

Here's a description.

Today’s #1 New York Times bestselling thriller writers agree: Ryan Brown’s compulsively readable first novel is unbeatable—a darkly humorous, rich and pungent zombie shocker that melds our national obsession with football and the newest wave of fascination with the undead.

For the first time in Killington High School history, the Jackrabbits football team is one win away from the district championship where it will face its most vicious rival, the Elmwood Heights Badgers. On the way to the game, the Jackrabbits’s bus plunges into a river, killing every player except for bad-boy quarterback Cole Logan who is certain the crash was no accident—given that Cole himself was severely injured in a brutal attack by three ski-masked men earlier that day. Bent on payback, Cole turns to a mysterious fan skilled in black magic to resurrect his teammates. But unless the undead Jackrabbits defeat their murderous rival on the field, the team is destined for hell. In a desperate race against time, with only his coach’s clever daughter, Savannah Hickman, to assist him, Cole must lead his zombie team to victory

. . . in a final showdown where the stakes aren’t just life or death—but damnation or salvation. Boundlessly imaginative and thrillingly satisfying, Play Dead gives small-town Texas an electrifying jolt of the supernatural, and is unquestioningly The Zombie Novel of the Year!

The Comeback Story of the Season . . .