Process: Pasqual Ferry

Pasqual Ferry draws Wakanda. I was determined to avoid A+X, but this looks good enough that I'll have trouble passing it up.  

Process: Pasqual Ferry

Pasqual Ferry pencils and inks Kid Loki.

Weekly Process Roundup 8/27/11

The Weekly Process Roundup, which hits every Friday, is dedicated to showcasing everything other than finished product from The Long And Shortbox Of It's favorite creators.

• JASON puts a front and a back on ATHOS IN AMERICA! (above)
• PASQUAL FERRY shares some sketches from his days on ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR!
• PAOLO RIVERA uses himself (and some killer props) for DAREDEVIL reference!
• SKOTTIE YOUNG doodles the cutest JUGGERNAUT I ever did see.

Weekly Process Roundup 8/12/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, really, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists, illustrators, and writers, hitting every Friday.

• PAOLO RIVERA shares the pencils (above) of my favorite moment in Daredevil #1, and then adds his dad JOE's inks in for good measure!
• REILLY BROWN sketches THORCULES!
• PASQUAL FERRY previews a page from MIGHTY THOR!
• JEFF LEMIRE makes progress on UNDERWATER WELDER!

Weekly Process Roundup 8/5/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, really, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists, illustrators, and writers, hitting every Friday.

JEFF LEMIRE pitches the new ANIMAL MAN!

PASQUAL FERRY designs Asgardians!

LENIL YU covers SUPERIOR!

BECKY CLOONAN colors!

FRANCIS MANAPUL falls for THE FLASH! (above)

JASON closes JASON CONQUERS AMERICA!

Weekly Process Roundup 7/29/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, really, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists, illustrators, and writers, hitting every Friday.

• Tumblr FUCKYEAHKIRBY posts the pencils and inks for one of the King's THOR pages!
• PASQUAL FERRY has some fun with Loki!
• The Source shares the GARY FRANK designs for Horsewoman!
• MIKE DEODATO lays out a NEW AVENGERS cover! (above)
• FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA colors Black Panther!
• CHRIS SAMNEE plays favorites!

Weekly Process Roundup 7/8/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, really, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• DAVID AJA does some sketching at France Comic Con!
• SEAN PHILLIPS composes a killer scene for an upcoming issue of Criminal!
• KIERON GILLEN posts a Phonogram script!
• PASQUAL FERRY draws on a napkin!

Weekly Process Roundup 6/24/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

Sorry for the lack of process roundups, guys: I've been in Greece, and its been hard to keep up while I'm away. Expect more regular updates next week, when I'm back in the States: for now, here's some cool stuff I've missed while being away.

• Jeffrey Brown shares some "stages" from "It's A Cute Cat World!"
• Craig Thompson gives a tantalizing taste of three summer projects! (above)
• Moon shares some colored sketches and some cryptic messages!
• Pasqual Ferry is working on something that looks fun!

Weekly Procees Roundup 5/27/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• Sean Phillips draws a cover for Criminal! (above)
• Pasqual Ferry is working on something! [Something that was removed?]
• Francesco Francavilla does some inking!
• Chris Samnee sketches Magneto in the Savage Land!

Weekly Process Roundup 5/20/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• CHRIS SAMNEE puts a page for THOR:TMA up for sale!
• FABIO MOON does a warmup sketch!
• Pasqual Ferry draws Loki!
• Francis Manapul gives us a few layers of art from old work!

J.K./@JonGorga

Weekly Process Roundup 4/22/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• Pasqual Ferry tries his hand at architecture!
• Sean Phillips sketches a Criminal cover!
• Craig Thompson gets a first look at his new book!
• Moon instagrams a rabbit!

Weekly Process Roundup 4/8/11

The weekly process roundup is a collection of sketches, pencils, inks, thumbnails, everything other than finished product, from The Long and Shortbox of It's favorite artists and illustrators, hitting every Friday.

• Pascal Ferry sketches something summery (above)!
• Jamie McKelvie has some fun with Secret Avengers!
• Sean Phillips inks Criminal.
• Paolo Rivera videotapes himself doing the cover for Daredevil's new #1.

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King!

Seven months ago, Matt Fraction and Pascal Ferry began their long-awaited run on Thor.

Seven months ago, I told you that Thor may be the best straight up superhero work that Fraction has ever done and, seven months and seven issues later, I believe that more strongly than ever. If this isn't the best story arc from the last year, I don't know what the hell would be; if Thor isn't the best superhero comic published in the year, I have no clue what else it would be.

Mostly, this is because of Pascal Ferry. Ferry, a name we don't see nearly enough as far as I'm concerned, was almost certainly the best choice for a mythic title like this. He clearly has a very big imagination and, even better, he has the chops to make what he imagines real. Ferry's artwork is the exact opposite of everything that I usually hate about guys like Mike Deodato: his work has a certain softness and his characters jump off the page. His backgrounds are huge, almost all encompassing in scope and, yet, he handles the little moments (Thor's introspection on the death of Balder a couple of issues ago, Loki's sense of wonder at the forces of Asgard, assembled and victorious) with just as much skill.

Ferry's art, though, is all the more for the work of colorist Matt Hollingsworth; if Ferry makes the myth, Hollingsworth makes Thor pop (and I mean that in both senses of the word). This is perfect comics, in terms of art work. This is art for mass consumption that takes full advantage of the complications and benefits of shared universe, of modern gods and monsters. This is how comic books should look. This is how Thor should look, big and powerful and consumable.

And then there's Matt: Thor #621 is the promise of #615 (hell, the promise of JMS's Thor #1) delivered. If it wasn't clear yet that Fraction knew exactly the power of the character he was writing, Thor #621 should clarify. Fraction, here, eschews the idea that he is merely writing comics. Fraction, here, is instead a mythographer, in the Lee or Kirby or Simonson sense of the word. If Matt Fraction isn't the next great American comics guy, I don't know who would be. What better title than Thor (well, Mighty Thor as of this month) for a guy like that?

For all his prowess, though, Fraction is something of a sloppy genius; once the battle between the Asgardians and the World Eaters ends (Thor has to slice the World Tree in half!), a battle going on now for a good three issues after a hell of a lot of buildup, we get a series of vignettes, abstract events rather than a true plot. Half of this issue is resolution, the other half is suggestion for what comes next, threads of what we'll see in Mighty Thor and Journey Into Mystery. These vignettes could be a great mess; instead, they are intriguing clues with enough momentum of their own to carry the story forward.

This week is a week for whats to come, and, just a few years since being allowed to lie fallow for a while, Thor may be the most fertile ground that Marvel has to work with right now. The King is Dead (although rumors of his death may in fact be greatly exaggerated). Long Live The King!

Quote For The Week 1/17/11

The one-line to take away from this interview: If MIGHTY THOR is AVENGERS then JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY is SECRET AVENGERS. MIGHTY THOR storms the gates of Hell. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY sneaks in the back door and ends the threat with a single strike. MIGHTY THOR doesn't know that JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY exists, despite Thor being in it. It's a mythological black-ops comic, with a rotating team organized by the most Machiavellian figure in the whole Norse pantheon.

-Kieron Gillen, in this interview with Marvel.com on the newly announced Journey Into Mystery, which he'll be writing with Doug Braithwaite on art. The new title (well, actually the old title- Thor reverts to its old title with #622) will coincide with Matt Fraction's new book The Mighty Thor, which will have Olivier Coipel on art duties. I'll be sorry to see Pasqual Ferry go- his work with Fraction may have been the best comic of 2010- but, given that I get three of my favorite creators in return, I'll take the trade.

Update: It looks like we're not going to lose Ferry after all- Rich Johnston says that he'll be doing the art for the Fear Itself crossover, and then returning to The Mighty Thor when the crossover is finished. Sweet.

A Long Awaited Return...

Thor has, since its JMS driven relaunch a couple of years ago, consistently been one of Marvel's best books. Handled, as it should be, by premier talents like JMS, Olivier Copiel and now Matt Fraction and Pasqual Ferry (with fantastic up and comer Kieron Gillen acting as a bridge between the two), there hasn't been a bad issue of the book in a long, long time.

And Thor #615 may very well be the best of them.

Months and months ago, with the announcement of the creative team of Fraction and Ferry, Thor fans rejoiced- maybe the book will finally ship on time, we said. And ship on time it did, but with a pretty decent six month run written by Gillen that tied into the larger Siege storyline and acted as both prologue and epilogue to the larger shared universe story while tying up JMS's last loose threads. Now that Fraction and Ferry are here, though, aided by John Hollingsworth and John Workman doing colors and letters respectively, Thor fans should again rejoice, and doubly so: this is great comics, some of the best straight up superhero work Fraction has ever done.

Although we've seen great Thor writing from him in the past, this blows all of that other stuff straight off the world tree. The scope here is huge, epic and cosmic and takes its influences from the Thor greats of years past, greats like Kirby and Simonson (and if you don't believe that that's what Fraction and Marvel have in mind, then why do you think they brought Workman, who lettered on Thor for Simonson, back on board?). Fraction not only has a handle on all of these characters and their relationships- this is clear from the Thor/Donald Blake dialogue (which is a home run) and the way in which the titular character mourns for his half brother- but also the way a book like this should feel. The sense of impending doom, expressed explicitly near the end, that lurks underneath the whole story, that imbues it with a sense of urgency is an indication of just how brilliant, in both subtle and straight up ways, the writer can be.

Pasqual Ferry's art is soft in all the right ways, and his slight redesigns of the Asgardian garb to give it a more sci-fi feel and help signal the shift away from a fantasy based book. His art, although stiffer than I like generally, has a certain diffuse energy to it and his line, thin and soft, moves the comic away from Copiel's hyperrealism into a more mythic territory- this is not something you could walk out of your house and see going on down the street, and Ferry does a great job expressing it. Hollingsworth's soft colors and, in particular, Workman's fluid lettering help this impression as well.

If the next issues of Thor can be as good as this one- or, imagine, if they could be better- we have a new classic on our hands. Fraction and Ferry were a long time coming, but now that we have them we should feast and rejoice- they just don't make comics like this anymore, even if sometimes they try.