The latest issue was released Wednesday. Its cover was inspired by an idea from comic book store owner Darrell Wall and completed by renowned IDW comic book artist Casey Coller.
“It is mind boggling,” says Wall. “I never thought when I opened this store three years ago that I would have a comic that’s exclusive to me.”
Ahead of issue Zero out on Weds 18th September I wanted to give a little insight into the atypical colouring styles I used for this issue.
From the outset I wanted to evoke the styles of the time where that was appropriate. With the top panel my initial plan had been to colour this the way that Geoff's work had often been done in Marvel UK but the time and place this story was set was meant to be confirming its place in Marvel US so I went for the Marvel US style of block colours and those pesky zip tone dots. In order to get something close to the old look I scanned several old Marvel US pages at high res to ensure that things matched pretty well.
For the second panel above we were dealing with events not previously seen so I had a lot more freedom and I decided to go for the Marvel UK watercolour/airbrush style where it should feel like we can see the medium being used to paint it. No effects, no tricks, just a lot of looking at Target 2006 for the way the streaks for reflections were used (as seen under Hot Rod. As for Rodders well he is coloured RG1 style throughout his journey because he's just an observer... Or is he?
Third panel is Jose's. My initial plan for this section set in the 90's was going to be Image comics style with high gloss, impossibly shiny skin and overloaded with unsubtle effects. That's my memory of 90's comics anyway! Stephen's gorgeous inks took things in a more classic direction so I decided to keep the zip tone look but the palette is very different between Geoff's and Jose's. I also decided that Buster was pretty in pink... That boy didn't vary his wardrobe much.
And last is Nick Roche's panel which as it is set outside of the RG1 universe entirely we went for an Animated Movie vibe meaning black outlines on foreground things with mainly bold colours and painted looking backrounds throughout.
Not only is this the first time I have properly coloured any of these guys, something for which I am still in disbelief about, I also got to work with Casey Coller again, another comic book hero of mine, although in the usual RG1 style.
I hope you pick up the book and I hope you enjoy all the nods!
