Entry 307: Lets hit the road!

Hello blogness my old friend. I've come to blog with you again.

So much to catch up on! Like for instance, we are right in the middle of the 5 issue mini series Bebop & Rocksteady Hit The Road! Depending on when you read this, issue 3 is about to come out, or it's out, or it's been out for years and is being celebrated as one of the best single comics ever created. Look, I don't know when you are reading this.

Entry 303: Bebop, Rocksteady, PAKLIS, & You!

If you'd have told me, ten years ago, that I'd someday be working on my eleventh comic about Bebop and Rocksteady, I'd have done a spit take and then laughed openly in your face. And that spit take? Not water, but a sandwich... Because I used to eat sandwiches instead of drinking water. All my moisture was derived from sandwiches.

Entry 302: So Venomized

Another VENOMIZED variant cover!

The other Venom cover I did was the one where Ghost Rider is Venomized. You can see that here: Entry 290

This time the idea was to do a classic Venom scene. Now the truth is, I don't know much about Venom. I really wouldn't know any of his classic scenes. So if I had said yes to the job, I'm sure they would have come back at me with a bunch of scenes they thought would work and I'd chose one. But I don't like taking jobs unless I can already see a cool thing to do with it. What if I took the job, they sent me the references, and I just wasn't inspired. So before I took the job I asked my buddy Ben Bates, the only person I know who knows anything about Venom, if he could think of an interesting Venom scene. I was looking for something that wasn't generic, something that could only have happened with Venom. Ben pointed me to this scene from Amazing Spider-Man #300 by the great Todd McFarlane.

Entry 290: Venom Rider & Teenage Mutant Ninja BATMAN?

Dustin's Blog: Stardate 123456789 10 11 12...13       14

I've been watching a lot of Star Trek Next Generation lately. I'm having a great time. It's a great show! 

Okay bye.

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Dustin's Blog Supplemental:

I’ve spent most of the past year working on my upcoming creator-owned comic series, Paklis, which has been great. It's so creatively fulfilling, but I'm making no money. I won’t be making any money off Paklis until it’s published. To stay focused, I’ve been turning down all work-for-hire. So, I’ve basically just been living off savings, which is okay I guess. I did save it for this purpose. But it is stressful to watch funds dwindle as I work on a project that a big part of me fears people wont even like.

Anyway, immediately following the election, I guess the future just seem too uncertain and I had a moment of weakness and I excepted 2 paying cover jobs. So here those covers are!

Entry 276: Amnia Cycle Chapter 4 COVER

Here it finally is, the cover to Amnia Cycle Chapter 4. I'm so excited to be posting an Amnia Cycle thing again! It's been too long. It's been since before Infinity Gauntlet.

Speaking of Infinity Gauntlet, THANKS to everyone who picked up issue 5 and to everyone who picked up the series. And to everyone who has sent me feedback and written reviews. As it was my first big writing gig and a story that was coming from me, I was pretty anxious the whole time about how people would like it. I'm grateful to everyone who checked it out.

I'm currently working on a couple projects. Most of them are personal, like Amnia Cycle. I am working on one thing for a publisher, but mostly, I'm taking time for my own projects. I'll talk more about these things soon.

So um . . . how are you?

blogged and blogged

Entry 275: The Covers of Infinity Gauntlet.

The cover for Infinity Gauntlet #1 was never intended to be a cover. It was early on in the conceptual stages of the story when my editor at Marvel told me that they needed an image for promotional purposes. I had drawn some concept drawings but the story was still just an idea and hadn't been worked out. For instance, I knew Star Lord would be in it but I wasn't sure what role he would play. I also hadn't thought of including the dog. I didn't even know that this story would be set in Battle World or even what Battle World was. This is evident in my use of stars and planets on the cover. I had originally conceived the story as a space adventure.

Entry 271: Infinity Gauntlet Covers 3,4,&5

That there is my cover for Infinity Gauntlet #3. That issue should be coming out some time soon, I think.

But that's not all! Here is my cover for Infinity Gauntlet #4.

Entry 239: MY Spider-Man!

Here is my cover for Spider-Man : Edge Of Spider-Verse #3

This project is a very special one for me because it's a big step towards my goal to be primarily a Writer/Artist. That's right, they are letting me write and draw a Spider-Man comic. It's true that I wrote the Rocksteady and Bebop issue, and I did some art assistance on it, but this will be my first published work as a writer/artist... And it's SPIDER-MAN!... Well, sort of.

Actually, this is a "re-imagining" of Spider-Man. This is a Spider-Man in an alternate, parallel universe. Hints the name "Edge of Spider-Verse". Every issue in this series will be a different Spider-Man or Woman in a different universe. So, for an issue, I get to create my own version of Spider-Man. Which, in my opinion, is so much better than working on the regular Spidey. This way I can really cut loose and get creative.

So what is my version of Spider-Man like? I'll be showing you some concept stuff later. For now I'll say that my story is kind of a sci-fi medical thriller. It also has a bit of sci-fi horror. It is also a Super Hero story. I was thinking a lot about Osamu Tezuka, David Cronenberg, and Stan Lee as I came up with this.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of working on this now... I hope it turns out good.

Blogged and blogged

Entry 237: AMNIA CYCLE Chapter 3 Cover

Behold!

AMNIA CYCLE   CHAPTER 3    COVVVVEEEERRRRR!!!!!

My readers, you may have noticed that I've been taking an extra long break between chapters 3 and 4 of Amnia cycle. I've taken a break between the previous chapters but this one is a little longer. The biggest reason this break has been longer is because I've moved out of Periscope studio and into a whole new studio space.

Me, Jeremy Barlow, and Ben Bates have settled into our new studio, for the most part. It's been tricky adjusting to the new set up and I don't think I'm up to %100 productivity. But you know what enough excuses.

Let's see, what's going on with me?

Final issue of S.H.I.E.L.D. is only half done at this point. Colors on issue 5 are underway. We got Sonia Oback back. I haven't seen any of it yet, but we're trying to make these last two issues as good as we can.
I've started simultaneously writing and sketching Amnia chapter 4. Once I get a big chunk of it done I'll start rolling out those pages.
I've got a big "Blast from the Past" post in the works. I love doing these posts. I think this one will be a good one. Lot's of never before seen art.
Then there is a secret project that I've begun working on. It involves me writing, me drawing, and Marvel. It'll only be an issue and you'll never guess what it is, but I'm excited about it.

Maybe in my next post I'll show you guys some SHIELD 6 art.

Till then
blogged and blogged

Entry 236: The New Avengers 20 & 21 COVERS

Hellooooooo, readers!

How are you? How's it going? You know I feel like we never talk anymore. I'm posting Amnia Cycle pages so much these days I never take the time to post other things, and just get cazh. You know?

…Wait. is that how you abbreviate the word casual? "Cazh"? Is it Cajj? Damn it. It's hard to be so cazh when I'm fussing over the more casual spelling of the word casual.

Anyway. About the cover-- Doctor Strange done gone kilt them people.

Read more and see more--

Entry 228: SHUTTER #1 Variant Cover

"This doesn't look like an Amnia Cycle page! It also doesn't look like S.H.I.E.L.D. or Avengers or The Inhumans. WHAT IS THIS IMAGE I'M SEEING?" you are probably asking yourself right now! Well ask the part of your brain that knows how to read and then look at the picture again. Did you get it that time? That's right! This is a cover for a new comic from IMAGE called SHUTTER!

Keep reading for more info and my preliminary sketches for this.

Entry 223: NEW AVENGERS 18-19 Covers

I am super good at blogging, guys! How many blogs have I blogged this past week? Like 3 or something? I am blogging it up! I know you are all on Facebook and Twitter acting like stupid idiots, but look at me, blogging it up old school. This is where it's at, man. So, before you go back to tweeting your fool head off, why don't you relax and enjoy the blog.

The New Avengers #18 and 19 have conjoined covers, and you guessed it, they were drawn by me. (Am I becoming a go-to conjoined cover guy? Do not pigeon hole me, comics industry!)

Wanna see my sketch and the colored version? Well here.

Entry 221: Avengers AI cover

I was just updating my About Page. Have you guys ever checked out my About Page? If you haven't, you should. I have listed every single thing that I have ever worked on on there, and beside each thing I have provided a link to every blog entry having to do with that thing. It's the ultimate guid to my work and this blog.

So anyway, I was just updating it and I realized that I never did a blog entry about my variant cover to AVENGERS AI #1, which I did back in March of 2013. Like a year ago! So, here I am fixing that oversight. I may be a year late but, guys, check it out. I did a variant cover for AVENGERS AI #1.

Here's my sketch for this cover. As is the case most of the time, I think the sketch is the best version of the cover.

So the idea with Avengers AI is probably obvious. They are robotic artificial intelligences. It's a team of super androids. So I decided to create some kind of circuit board/inside a robot brain thing.

Here's a look at Marte Gracia's colors.

As far as I know this was the final color version of this cover, but I think they ended up using an earlier, less final, version when they printed it. I have no idea why, it was probably a mistake or a miscommunication. It's a shame because I like this version better than what was printed.

At any rate, here it is just for you, my readers.

Blogged and blogged
(now I can go update my About Page)

Entry 216: AVENGERS 180°

Okay. 

Here it is.

The second half of my

Avengers 180°

I did want to reveal this cover by cover, but the whole thing was just put up on Comic Book Resource. So here it is.

AAAAAAANNNNNDDDD

Here is the whole thing together. The Full 180°

Entry 215: AVENGERS #25 Variant Cover!

So. Yep. This is my Variant Cover for Avengers #25. Once again Justin Ponser on colors.

Eh?

EH?

How bout a slightly WIDER look like this.

Entry 183: ROCKSTEADY & BEBOP!!!!!

WHAT IS THIS? and WHY HAVE I POSTED IT?

Well this was drawn by my good friend, Ben Bates, and it is a variant cover for the ROCKSTEADY AND BEBOP issue of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles VILLAINS Micro Series.

And I'm posting it here because... I WROTE THIS!

That's right, I wrote the ROCKSTEADY & BEBOP comic! That's crazy right? I mean, I really doubt you could have seen this one coming. Maybe you're not surprised that I've ventured into the writing side of comics, but BEBOP & ROCKSTEADY? That, you couldn't have seen coming.

I've mentioned Ben Bates a few times before on this blog. In the last few years Ben has been one of the best things to ever happen to the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. He's also worked on Megaman, Star Wars Adventures, New Crusaders, My little Pony, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Though our published works are very different stylistically, Ben and I have a lot in common regarding our thoughts on the art of comics and the philosophy behind what drives us. Like I said, we're good friends.

How this comic came to be was: Ben heard from the Turtles editor at IDW that they were open to pitches for their upcoming VILLAINS micro series. Ben went to our mutual writer friend, Jeremy Barlow (They'll Bury You Where You Stand!) to see if he wanted to pitch something. We were all excited about this opportunity. I was excited because being close friend with these guys often means I can have some influence over their work and I was looking forward to throwing around ideas for Ninja Turtle stuff. But Jeremy had schedule conflicts and couldn't do it. That's when I said to Ben "let's pitch something ourselves. What have we got to loose?" Ben was thinking the same thing. Nether Ben nor I have ever written a comic for anyone other than our selves, so we thought our chances of pitching something and having it be picked up were slim, but we decided to try anyway. So we started brainstorming.

We didn't pitch a Rocksteady & Bebop story right away. We thought that maybe the B&R issue was going to be too important and that we wouldn't be allowed to write it. So we opted to write a pitch for the character SLASH.

Our first pitch wasn't excepted because it didn't fit with where the series was headed. So we wrote another Slash pitch. Again it was shot down. Bobby, the editor, told us that they were more interested in a B&R story. So we decided to give it a try.

Ours wasn't the only B&R pitch Bobby had gotten, and at first, it didn't look like he would be going with our story. After the three pitches we had done, if he didn't go with our story we weren't sure we would pursue it any further. But, he did decide to give us a chance! And just like that, we had the job and the pressure was on.

So yeah, Ben is drawing this comic, the story has been collaborative, and I wrote the script. 

I've got a whole lot more to say about this. It's been a learning experience, I'll put it that way. It's been positive. More about all that later.

Anyway, this is exciting, guys! This is a big deal for me... I hope it doesn't suck.

This issue will be out in October. Stay tuned for more ROCKSTEADY & BEBOP news!

Oh and here's the main cover for this comic. Our cover better represents what this comic will be like, but this one has our names on it which is cool to see.

Blogged and blogged!

PS-- AMNIA CYCLE-- first installment-- tomorrow

Entry 167: Avengers Covers #11 and #12

Look what I've got!

Two more AVENGERS COVERS!

As usual, Justin Ponsor is killing it on the colors.

I know what you're thinking, "More Avengers covers? Didn't you just do a blog entry that included 3 Avengers covers? And already you have more? What's going on here, Dustin? Is this ALL you draw now? Avengers covers?... I mean, draw something else, man. This whole Avengers cover thing is getting old."

Well guess what-- you're not the boss of me. Okay? You don't tell me what to draw. Marvel does. I am Marvel's dancing monkey NOT YOURS! Okay pal?

Moving on.

Entry 166: Avengers Covers 8,9,10

AVENGERS COVER #9

That's what you are looking at there. Which can mean only one thing-- That's right, it's me Dustin Weaver's blog here again with another BLOG ENTRY! And once again, I've got 3 covers all at once to share with you.

So lets waste no time, and I mean NO time. Let's not spend a split second more than what is necessary and get straight to the art. I mean your time is valuable. My time is valuable. TIME IS MONEY! We'd be stupid idiots to just let it go to waste. I mean we might as well sit around lighting our cigars with one hundred dollar bills. So seriously, everyone, when I say we shouldn't waste any time then I mean we shouldn't waste any time.

Entry 163: Avengers #7

Hi. It's me, Dustin Weaver.

I hope you, the readers of this blog, are having a happy holiday season. As I write this, we're just a few days from it being New Years. So HAPPY NEW YEAR!

You guys got Avengers #1 and #2 didn't you?-- DIDN'T YOU? If you did, then great! You've done well. If you haven't, well how are you going to know what's going on when it gets to issue 7, the first issue drawn by me... You are planning on getting my issues right? Issues 7-9? If you're not, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE? This blog is only for people who buy my comics. If you have no intention to buy comics that I draw kindly stop reading and leave. Go and don't let the "back" button hit you on the way out. --All right. Now that they are gone-- Guys, here's a preview of issue 7. 

 

 That cover IS a reference to this old ad for Marvel's New Universe back in 1986.

Entry 162: Avengers Covers 4,5,6

Okay! Finally! Covers!

As promised, this is my entry about my covers for Avengers #4,5,and 6. I am a man of my word. Three covers for the price of one blog entry-- What a deal! Is any other comic artist's blog bringing you deals this good? I DON'T THINK SO! I'm practically giving blog content away here. Blogtent.

So yeah! What you see above is my cover for Avengers #5.

And here is cover #4 (without the logo this time) followed by cover #6