Friday, July 31, 2009

Angel 26+27 'Boys and Their Toys'









What-ho gentle readers!
Can finally talk a bit about the new Angel story arc by Brian and myself, since it was all announced at Comic-con last week.
The official solicit goes a little bit like this:

Angel #26: Boys and Their Toys #1 (of 2)
Writer: Brian Lynch; artist: Stephen Mooney; covers: Stephen Mooney, Nick Runge

Somebody has made a movie based on Angel’s adventures in hell! Angel and Spike go to a comic con to see how badly Hollywood has mangled true events, only to find themselves surrounded by supernatural evil at every turn. Can Angel tell the difference between an evil demon and a 14-year-old fanboy dressed as an evil demon? Is there a difference? The Angel: After the Fall team of Brian Lynch and Stephen Mooney throw Angel and Spike into an all-new hell!

Sounds good, right? Well it is. The issues were finished last week(writing AND art) and I think its some of Brian's very best Angelverse work. When I heard I'd get to illustrate an Angel/Spike 'buddy movie' type storyline I was pretty darn excited, as I loved the episodes of the show where they'd focus on the bickering, sibling-type relationship the boys share.
There's some stuff in these two issues that rivals Cavemen v Astronauts, I shit you not.

Here are my two covers, firstly the B+W version of the 'Action Figure' cover for issue 26(as I didn't do the colours) and then two versions of the cover for 27(which I DID colour).

The first version of 27 is the one that everybody's seen already, but the second is new. It shows our boy Groo(who features pretty heavily in this storyline, with his funniest dialogue yet) seperating the two sides of the Spangel head.
Chris and Brian quite liked the Groo version, but felt that it may be a tad mis-representational in the grand scheme of things. I agreed, and also felt the image was just more immediate without The Groosalugg in there muddying up the concept.

I think the lads were right to pick the simpler version, and so my mission to get Groo onto one of my covers goes on!

20 comments:

Declan Shalvey said...

The head-split cover is definitely one of my favourite Mooney-pieces. Great, clear cover, the likenesses are great, the drawing quality super-slick, and some bloody great colouring too.

Great work, sir.

Stephen Mooney said...

Wow, cheers Dec!

Wydam said...

Great concept for the #27 cover, and I love the #26 cover! Can't wait to see some inside art!

Brian Lynch said...

Best covers ever AND the interiors are sweet. I think people are gonna really dig these.

R. L. said...

Loving the covers, but I don't get why Angel's hair is on both sides for the split? The likeness for the Spike side has his fantastic cheekbones, but I didn't recognize it as him right away. Though I could just be super blind :-(

Stephen Mooney said...

The hairy strangeness will all be explained, stay tuned...

Skytteflickan88 said...

I love the Angel/Spike covers. I think the blue background color looked cooler, but I'll definitly get that cover.

Stephen Mooney said...

Fun fact: I never actually did a blue version, I think it got messed up over an email or something. But thing is... I like the 'rogue' blue version better too.
I'm thinking of asking Ryall+Brian if we can use it instead.

Classic Maiden said...
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Classic Maiden said...
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Classic Maiden said...

Boy, do I look forward to #26 and #27 'Boys and Their Toys' being released. I love the art that you did, shown here, especially the Spike/Angel head-split!

Cheers!
Sebina

Skytteflickan88 said...

That's odd. Could a Crips member have gotten their hands on the cover and changed it? hehehe

Stephen Mooney said...

That's as good an explanation as any!

Veiriti said...

As a huge Spangel fan I loved the cover with the splitter head! A Spangel cake! LOL I hope I'll see the explanation why the Spike's piece from the Spangel cake isn't with a blond hair!
I cant wait for these two issues!!!

Leigh G said...

Dude, you are an incredible artist. Those likeness are just spot on! I will definately be getting these issues and tracking down your older ones.

Stephen Mooney said...

Ah, cheers Leigh. You're being far too generous, but it is much appreciated!

ryan marshall said...

Actually there is a highly conceivable theory to how that cover became blue. it was most likely saved as CMYK which the web does not support as the colour system is RGB. So when you save as CMYK and post it on the web it would come out warped or distorted.

But either way I can't wait for these issues, i really really want that action figure cover. Also very excited to see Angel catch up w/ Spike post-Aftermath timeline.

Stephen Mooney said...

Good call Ryan, that must be what happened.

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