Jack & Roz Kirby Award for Independence!

To my absolute surprise, last weekend at the Original Art Expo, I was the inaugural recipient of the Jack & Roz Kirby Award for Independence— alongside a powerhouse lineup of fellow cartoonist recipients Bill Sienkiewicz, John Romita Jr., Kevin Nowlan, Walt Simonson, Zoe Thorogood, and John Byrne.

Fittingly, most of the other recipients also happened to be creators on the touchstone comics work of my life, Claremont-era X-Men— and whose work inspired me to start making comics in the first place, with Jack Kirby himself as the co-creator of the title (and the Marvel Universe as we know it)!

The final, individualized awards are currently being hand-crafted by the visionary Carlos Soca of Manifest Sculpt— but I was lucky enough to see his meticulous prototype while at OAX:

Thank you to everyone involved for even considering me among such talented company. I’ll keep doing my thing!

And I had a great time at OAX— thanks to everyone who bought some original artwork (you can find more here), and for all the new friendships developed over the weekend.

Proxy bidding now open for my John Lewis/Kitty Pryde/Nightcrawler piece.

I’ll be selling original artwork at OAX in Orlando on February 20-22 at table A39, with more of my originals available nearby at Athenaeum Comic Art’s booth— and on Saturday evening, the below piece featuring my late, great friend and hero John Lewis flanked by Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler will be auctioned.

If you’re interested but aren’t attending the show, proxy bidding is open now.

Rogue.

Here’s a Rogue pinup I just finished— an all-time favorite of mine!

Here she’s on the same riverbank where her powers manifested with her first teenage kiss, depicted in an old Classic X-Men backup story that was very influential on my early comics-making brain.

I’ll have this original for sale next month at OAX as well— more surprises to come!

John Lewis. Kitty Pryde. Nightcrawler.

Here’s my finished John Lewis/X-Men mashup piece! He’s paired with Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler as moral cores of the team (and two of my top five), as well as people of faith. This piece will be auctioned next month at OAX (Original Art Expo) in Orlando, thanks to the folks at Comic Art Fans.

If original art is your thing, I hope to see you there!

Original Art Expo (OAX)!

I’m honored to be a special guest at OAX, a show dedicated to original artwork from an incredible lineup of cartoonists and illustrators!

OAX will be happening February 20-22 at the DoubleTree Hotel (5780 Major Blvd.) in Orlando, FL. I’ll be selling original pages, illustrations, and a handful of commissions at my table— and as a bonus, my art dealer Athenaeum Comic Art will have more artwork of mine at their booth as well!

I’ll also be making an original piece to be auctioned off over the weekend, with a portion of the auction price going to benefit the Hero Initiative and the Jack Kirby Museum.

More info as it’s confirmed!