Wednesday, July 08, 2009


I feel kind of stupid now--stupid but happy...After my post last night about how impatient I was for certain things (my Modern Masters book, for example) I woke up this morning to find a box full of Modern Masters Vol. 21 waiting for me on my doorstep, fresh from the printer! The book looks great and even managed to surprise me with a very nice and touching introduction written by Karl Story--thanks, Karl! I also want to thank Eric Nolen-Weathington for getting it all started and overseeing everything, and also for dealing with my control-freakish tendencies when it came to art selection. Todd Dezago also deserves massive thanks and appreciation for keeping me talking and bringing out some good stuff in the interviews we did. Thanks, guys!

Like I said in an earlier post, I feel neither modern nor like a master of anything, but this book turned out pretty spiffy! I'm guessing it'll be in stores next Wednesday.
--C

7 comments:

James Figueiredo said...

Congratulations!
I've been waiting for this volume of Modern Masters since it was announced (big fan of your work here!), can't wait to get my copy.

Best,
J.

Marc Deering said...

Hey Chris!
I inked you up on 1 piece, check it out, http://www.inkingissexy.com/

Been a long time, drop me a line!

Marc Deering
marcdeering@gmail.com

Kyle said...

Fantastic. I can't wait to buy my copy. Congrats Chris!

The Korinthian said...

Great, Chris!
I want my copy right now!!

Steven Wilcox said...

I was surprised to find the Modern Masters book on the shelves. I went into the store specifically for the new Darwyn Cooke graphic novel, The Hunter, and saw the cover staring at me... Awesome book and a nice tribute. Still pouring over the art...

Anonymous said...

Love the book – so much great stuff – what’s the story on the Tom Strong Tintin homage cover – and why wasn’t it used as it’s a stunner

Chris & Xan said...

Thanks, everybody, and thanks for the compliments on that unused cover, Sean. Here's the story:

We had referenced other publications on every cover so far, so the Herge tribute seemed fitting, but after i finished the pencils, I thought it just wasn't a real "grabber" as a cover. Editor Scott Dunbier agreed and I held on to the Tintin inspired piece and drew a new cover with a little more tension. Ultimately, I wish we had used the original homage cover--it was a better drawing and I hate how elongated I made Tom's head in the cover that was used. Oh, well...

Anyway, I later inked and colored the Herge cover and even added logos and text in the Tintin style and it was actually published as the back cover of one of the collections, but without any of the text stuff. The pencil art was used inside the collection as well. How it's reproduced in the Modern Masters book is exactly how it would have looked had we used it as the final cover art.

--C