Super Bowl Sunday!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Captain America: First Vengeance #1 Cover. 2010.
Gouache and acrylic on bristol board, 11 x 17".

I'm going to the Super Bowl! Well, sort of. Actually, I'm not really sure. Here's what I do know: I provided the cover for Captain America: First Vengeance, a movie tie-in that will debut, along with the movie's first trailer, during the Super Bowl. Marvel recently announced that the comic will be made available for free at the movie's official site, captainamerica.com, on Sunday. Finally, a reason for me to watch football (my apologies to all you fans out there—I actually love watching the Super Bowl... I just don't follow sports and never have any idea who's playing).


Captain America: First Draft, an extremely rare variant...

When I first painted the image, I had only as much reference as was widely available on the internet, which consisted of an Entertainment Weekly cover, concept art, and low-res pics of a stunt man on a motorcycle. In other words, I didn't know exactly what the helmet looked like, and so did the best that I could with what I had. Just prior to the cover's on-line debut—and after the helmet was revealed—my editor asked for a revision with more faithful details. But I don't think I was fast enough; it looks like the image they used in the press release was a Photoshop fix. We'll have to wait and see which version makes it to the digital comic.

In other news, I'm heading up to Providence today to give a lecture at RISD, my alma mater. This will be the third year I've done so for my long-time friend and colleague, R. Kikuo Johnson, who teaches a winter-session comic book storytelling class. I hear I may be meeting a certain Marvel movie celebrity as well. I'll try and get pics, but no promises. Have a great weekend!

13 comments :

  1. Wow, that's awesome! Talk about crazy good exposure!

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  2. It's great to finally see your painting without the cropping of the title!

    It's strange how Marvel couldn't at least provide you with reference for the movie uniform.

    I think I prefer the goggles, but we'll see how the movie goes.

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  3. Beautiful painting! Great to see the full image. Any chance of a Cap'n America week like you did with Iron Man2?

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  4. wow, just wow! congratulations. I'm your fan from Italy

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  5. Nice work.

    Hey, you know what's really easy to get to from Providence?

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  6. Thanks, guys!

    Narciso, I eventually got the reference I needed... but I'm actually not revealing the whole story just yet. Let's just say my work isn't over yet.

    Chad, I think that can be arranged. If you don't see anything then, remind me!

    Joe, I have no idea what you're talking about... but I'm already back in Brooklyn now so it matters not.

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  7. Ahhh dude! I can't believe I didn't hear about that lecture! I walked into class just checking around! And I know who you are talking about! I saw him there too haha

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  8. Yes, we didn't widely publicize it this year because it was just for Kikuo's class. I like doing the smaller lectures because I can actually have a dialogue with the class... even when James Franco is there.

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  9. I've pretty much been refreshing the Captain America movie page throughout the entire Superbowl in anticipation of this comic. No luck yet!
    Do you think they'll make this into a poster?

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  10. it wasn't available until the game was over.

    http://captainamerica.marvel.com/, and click on digital comics.

    proud mom.

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  11. Hey Jon, you and me both. As my Mom mentioned above, it didn't go up until the game was over. No word on a poster... yet.

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  12. Just saw this for the first time today, Paolo. You've really captured the spirit and atmosphere I'm hoping we'll see on screen. Great work!

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