Rocket Raccoon:
I was asked by Jon Morris to contribute to his blog project: The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe REDUXE Edition. Jon has previously organized several projects with indy artists coming up with their own covers for an alternative DC New 52, for a re-imagined Marvel, for re-imagined comic covers in general, and for new corner logos for various comics. The idea of the REDUXE Ed. of the Marvel Handbook is to have current indy artists redraw all the character portraits from the handbook, but with the freedom to redesign/reinterpret the character as they go.

I went for Rocket Raccoon simply because, as an animal character, he was purely in my wheelhouse. I combined a few visual cues from several various incarnations of the character and filter that all through my inking sensibilities (and with some copper-ish steampunky guns). Below are the pencil sketch and inks.

My Grandparents:
Gilbert & Doris Petersen were a pretty big part of my life. We lived only a few miles from them, and I saw them at least once a week from my birth right up through when I left for college. Even though neither lived long enough to see Mouse Guard released on a national level, I have tried to put their presence in the books (Fall is dedicated in their memory, there are mouse cities in honor of them, and the whole matriarchal society is because of the strong woman my grandmother was.) I sculpted these mice for them as Christmas presents around 1998 (6 years before I drew issue 1). My grandmother was the best baker I'll ever know, & my grandfather was a bit of a cowboy, so their mice sculptures depicted that.


Fan Art:
This piece of Saxon, Kenzie, & Lieam was painted by Andrew Bayliss. I really like the sense of scale and imminent danger. Great job Andrew!

2012 Appearances:
Heroes: June 22-24
San Diego Comic Con: July 11-15
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept 8-9
New York Comic Con: Oct 11-14
Detroit Fanfare: Oct 26-28
Thought Bubble: Nov 17-18