I just cracked open the box of Skullkickers #3 comps that arrived from the printer and I\’m happy to report:

a) The issue is printed and will be on time.

b) It looks fantastic. This is the first one that looks as bright and lush as I hoped it would. We\’ve finally got the printer settings rockin\’.

c) Without trying to sound cocky, everyone who has read it so far and talked to me about it thinks it\’s our best issue yet.

Rock!

Make sure you get it on your local comic store\’s pull list. Issue 3 arrives November 24th.

The unofficial Skullkickers Facebook fan page has hit 300 members, so I thought I\’d commemorate that with a couple sneak peek panels from Skullkickers #4, arriving in stores December 22nd.

How fresh is this art, you ask? Edwin sent this line art to me less than an hour ago!

The mystery assassin from issue #1 is skulking around somewhere… What are they up to?

The unofficial Skullkickers Facebook fan page has zipped past 250 members, so I thought I\’d commemorate that with an inked teaser page from Skullkickers #3, which will be in comic stores November 24th.

Have you reserved your copy yet? 🙂

I know a lot of fans have told us how much they enjoyed the Hulk homage cover we did for our first issue, so I’ve had a few ideas percolating with different salutes to the stuff that Skullkickers draws influence from.

Dungeons & Dragons, with all the manic kookiness it has in trying to create epic fantasy stories with your friends that turn into gut busting laughter instead, is a big part of the Skullkickers equation. I want to riff on some of the famous (or even not-so famous) imagery from the game when appropriate.

With the issue #5 cover I knew we were going to show a giant demonic monstrosity smashing things and it reminded me of the old school D&D module called “Castle Amber”.

I asked Edwin to use the Castle Amber cover painting by Erol Otus as a starting point, keeping in mind that our cover illo has a completely different shape. I think he did a fantastic job subtly using that imagery without just copying it outright. I wasn’t sure if RPG fans would pick up on the reference, but now that you can see it side-by-side I hope you get a kick out of it.

If you haven\’t had a chance to read Skullkickers #1 (or, if you like the look of our spiffy new cover) you can jump on board with the amazing 3rd printing of our premiere issue now in comic book stores. Tell a friend!