Guest Artist Gallery: Reilly Brown--addendum

A couple of weeks ago, in Guest Artist Gallery of the Gods, I ran a drawing of Typhon by Marvel Comics artist Reilly Brown. Reilly has recently been working on Marvel's Hercules franchise with super-talented writer Fred Van Lente. When Mr. Van Lente saw Reilly's Typhon post, he suggested that Reilly send us this special "almost was" picture from Marvel's Incredible Hercules series.



I'll let the illustrious Mr. Brown explain:

"Hey George, Fred Van Lente suggested I send you the Kid Typhon concept sketch to put on your blog since we're not using it for Hercules. I thought it could be a good idea, if you want it. Use it, don't use it, whatever.
The concept was that in order to defeat Typhon, Hercules made Typhon drink water from the Lethe River in Hades, which erases the memories of dead souls so that they can be reincarnated as new people. Or something like that. Somehow that turned him into a child.
Anyway, it's a funny drawing, and that's really the point :P"

Pretty cool huh? Reilly draws some of the best kids in comics (and believe you me, it's very hard to draw kids well), including a recent run on Hercules where Zeus was transformed into a 5 year old child. I'm loving his Kid Typhon, with his cute little snake legs and all, and I hope that one day we get to see a version of the story he described above. In the meantime, Incredible Hercules's loss is Guest Artist Gallery of the Gods gain, and we can all bask in the wonder of... Kid Typhon.

Nothing to see here!

Progress report: Cerberus

Heracles, taking the dog for a walk. I'd hate to see the pooper-scooper for this guy, especially since with three heads, he can eat three times as much, if you know what I mean...

Guest Artist Gallery: Reilly Brown

Well, it's been awhile since I posted (due to intense deadline crunches on Glory of Hera), but I'm back, with another exciting installment of Guest Artist Gallery of the Gods, this time with Reilly Brown and his terrifying depiction of Typhon, last son of Mother Earth and scourge of the Olympian gods.



Here's what Mr. Brown has to say about his choice for the Gallery:

"I picked Typhon because he's the ultimate monster from mythology. He was bred specifically to fight the Olympians, and he's described as being so tall that his head brushes against the stars in the sky, and his arms reach from one horizon to the other. He has wings, snakes for legs, 100 arms and 100 heads of all different types of animals, who all shoot fire out of their eyes and mouths. When I read a description like that, it sounds so crazy that I want to see what it looks like just to understand what I'm reading about, and the only way to see a creature like Typhon is to draw a picture of him!"


Reilly Brown is the heavenly body around which the rest of the eclectic assortment of artists who make up Studio Outpost 51 revolve- he is their rock, their Alpha and Omega. He first came to fame as the penciler on Marvel Comics Cable and Deadpool series, where he co-created the bizarrely popular Bob, Agent of Hydra. He since has gone on to penciling duties on such books as New warriors and Marvel Apes.

Reilly's first professional brush with things mythological and Grecian was penciling the one-shot "Hulk vs. Hercules: When Titans Collide". That assignment lead to his work as a regular artist on Marvel's exemplary Incredible Hercules book, and more recently, a back up series featuring the Agents of Atlas (the best thing Marvel is publishing, imho). Continuing this trend, he's currently hard at work on Hercules spin-off Prince of Power: Amadeus Cho, about Herc's former kid sidekick who also happens to be the seventh smartest person in the world.

On top of all of his Marvel work, Reilly is hard at work on a mysterious project for the iphone that is so apparently top secret that I couldn't find anything online about it yet so I will leave you with this-- it's great, it's classified and you will want it. Nuff said.

Progress report: Hydra

I posted this on my other blog as part of a lame joke I made there. But I figured I'd share this with you all (seeing as how I scanned it and all already). This is Heracles facing off against the Hydra, a monster who, every time a head is cut off, two more grow in it's place. As you can see, Heracles has been pretty busy. Enjoy!

Sketchbook Sneak Peek: Apollo and Artemis

This installment of the sketchbook sampler is a shot of those divine twin archers, Apollo and Artemis. So far in the series they haven't had that much to do, storywise-- unlike, say Hermes or Athena, they tend not to be "guest star" gods in other myths. A myth that features Apollo or Artemis in it tends to be all about Apollo or Artemis. Their own books aren't scheduled for a few installments down the line, so for now, they will tend to be background characters. I like to keep in shape drawing them, though, because when the time comes to tell their stories, oh man, you'd best believe they'll shine.

Progress report: The Glory of Hera-- wedding of Zeus and Hera

Update on Olympians Book 3: The Glory of Hera-- at least , that's the title for now. The higher-ups at First Second, my publisher, want to include Heracles's name somewhere in the title. In a sense, the book is completely named after Heracles-- Heracles is a title that translates as "The Glory of Hera". But they want something a little more apparent. So far, we have ideas along the line of "The Glory of Hera: The Twelve Labors of Heracles". What do you think? Any ideas?

Above we have a page of finished black and white art from "Glory of Hera", a scene from the wedding of Zeus and Hera. I was very happy, after their (mostly total) absence from Athena: Grey-Eyed Goddess, to have the opportunity to draw Titans again. I do so love the Titans.