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JANUARY 18th, 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR! NEW ART RELEASE! NEW AVENGERS 51+52! Hello! Sorry for the late notice with this, but at 4 PM PST today new art will be released at the Gallery0 store at chrisbachalo.net Art will feature selections from New Avengers issues 51 and 52 and will include several backing board and concept pieces. Also, prices have been reassigned on many of the current offerings at the store. Definitely worth taking a second look! I'll be in touch with further updates very soon. I hope everyone is having a terriifc new year thus far and I thank you for your continued support! Best regards, CB November 18th, 2009 October 19th, 2009 OCTOBER ART RELEASE Hello Friends! Sorry for the short notice , but we've new art going up at Gallery0 this monday afternoon, October 19th at 4 PM PDT. Featured work includes art from ASM 576, two backing board drawings and a really cool Wolverine concept piece. And apologies for my absence of late. Dark Avengers Annual is taking and its toll on my time. I read all that you send me and all your comments are very much appreciated. I'll do my best to get back to you shortly. Thank you for your continued support. Best regards, CB SEPTEMBER 21st, 2009. Can you draw and Paint like Alex Ross? My response to John in regards to finding work in the comic book business as an illustrator. From John-- I guess my question is what advice would you give to someone who is trying to break into the art market? hopefully some publication in comics.
Hi John! Honestly, if you can draw and paint like Alex Ross you'll find an audience and tons of work super fast. The thing is can you draw and paint like Alex Ross? If you've a non-distinctive style and very average talent like most of the posters on the Deviant art site you might have a tougher time. You'll recall that there is an old cliche about the starving artist. I like to contradict that statement by saying that I've never met a GOOD artist that is starving. I assure you that there is no way that Alex Ross will ever be able to get to all the work that he is offered. I can't paint like that guy and there's no way I can get to everything that I'm asked to do. So, the million dollar question is how good is your work and --if you want to work in comics--can you tell stories? A few ideas to get your work out there and find out if you're up to snuff-- First, It doesn't matter where you live. That's an excuse. I found work via the mail. These days its easy to get your work out there via the internet. Every publisher has a website. Send in a few jpegs of your work. If its really amazing, someone--eventually- will see it and respond and It only takes one reply to get the ball rolling. Put your portfolio on a site like deviant art. Show off your stuff. Find writers that want to get their stories drawn. I'm sure there are several sites on line where you can track someone down. Draw their book. Put it up. Share it with anyone that will look. Mail the work to every publisher--specifically books that you would like to work on. If you've a manga style don't waste everyone' time sending your samples to the X-MEN office as that's not what they are looking for. If you like drawing spandex probably not a good idea to send you work to Vertigo, etc. Make plans to attend a con that will have portfolio reviews and publishers. I'm sure Wizard Chicago in the mid-west has a lot to offer. Visit the publishers. Ask if they will will look at your work. If you are looking for scripts to draw hang out at a writing panel and ask if anyone is looking for an artist to draw their script. If they make it big someday , maybe they'll bring you along with them... Keep the sample of work small for portfolio review stations. 1-10 pages of sequential art and maybe a few examples of your best cover and color work. if that is what you would like to do. Early on, take any work that you can get. In High School I drew art for a guy that made t-shirts. My first job out of College was painting ceramic pots. My second working for the ad department of a real estate firm. Its all great experience. The most important thing to concentrate on for comic book work is to demonstrate that you can draw well, draw quickly (can you draw a page a day?) and tell stories with pictures. Hope this helps. Best of success to you. CB AUGUST 24th, 2009 FRIDAY: 4:00-6:30 - signing table DD 6:30-7:30 - Marvel Booth-- 538 SATURDAY: 11:00-12:00 - Marvel booth -- 538 12:00-1:00 - Signing table DD 1:00-2:00 - Sketch dual--room 714 Available drawing time is a little shorter in this version. I'll do my best to get to as many pics as possible... See ya'!! CB August 21st, 2009 The world tour continues and ends in Canada next weekend--the 28th and 29th. Current table schedule-- Friday--4-7 Saturday--11- 2 Table schedule is subject to change as I may be assigned to Marvel booth... I do not know where I am sitting. I'll be available for a few drawings. I may be able to get to 5-7--maybe more-- in the six hours. I'll do the best I can. Sorry, No guarantees I will get to you. First come first serve. $40-$70 price range. You can sign up when I arrive--and then take off and enjoy the show-- so that you don't have to wait for me to get my act together... It'll be great fun meeting everyone! See ya' in Canada, glorious and free! Best! CB AUGUST 7th, 2009 DOG DAYS OF AUGUST: ASM 575 ART RELEASE Hello Friends! Getting back to normal around here after SDCC. It was a brisk two days of action. Met a lot of great people, saw a few friendly faces that I’ve not seen in awhile and my spleen is still vibrating from the woofers at the EA booth--They had about a dozen large screen video game displays, manned by gamers with the volume cranked up. The place was rockin’! EA announced at the show my participation in their new game Army of Two: The 40th Day. Been writing and illustrating this PT for about six months now and its been great fun. We’re wrapping up production this month and the game is tentatively scheduled for release shortly after Christmas. Here’s a trailer… http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/23/new-army-of-two-40th-day-trailer-takes-aim-at-morality/ I’ll post a few frames of the art at the site very soon. Apologies to anyone who stood in line the Marvel booth expecting Tim and I at 12 PM Friday. Apparently Tim and I became stuck in an alternate reality in which we had confirmed with Marvel that we would appear at the booth from 1-2. In this reality Tim and I showed up at 1 and were just in time to watch the Stan Lee extravaganza. Not much action for us, but we had good seats for the show. Next up on the world tour—TORONTO. August 28th and 29th. Passports are in and we’re ready to party. Spike the punch bowl! I’ll post details and show times as the dates draw near. Wrapping up Sinister Spider-man. As I mentioned in the last update, deadlines were tight on this and it was going to be a miracle for me to complete the entire four issues. Here’s the final breakdown—issue one -22 pages, issue 2 -17 pages, issue 3-7 pages, issue 4—22 pages. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this gig but Brian Reed turned out some fun material. The last issue is a party and includes a bit with a poodle and corn dogs that’s a kick. Next up—Dark Avengers annual with Bendis! Long delays on this, but pleased to announce that a new release of art will take place Monday at 4 PM PDT. The subject at hand? Amazing Spider-man issue 575. Pieces up for grabs include the awesome double page spread with Spidey from pages 2+3. We also have several backing board drawings and concept pieces available for purchase. Check ‘em out at the Gallery0 store at Chrisbachalo.net on Monday JULY 17th, 2009--SDCC!! Hello all! This is it! We're kicking off the first leg of the word tour is at SDCC next week. Here is where I'll be and when--
FRIDAY: 11:00 - 12:00: 1:00 - 2:00: 2:00 - 4:00:
SATURDAY: 2:00 - 4:00: 4:00 - 5:00: That's about it. Its been awhile for me--attending a con-- so be gentle. I can sign books, chat, take pics, kiss your children, flex my muscles or show you my awesome new scar--I had hernia surgery about a month ago. And if you catch me at the right time and smile real nice--flashing your money clip full of cash works too-- maybe draw a doodle or two. Sounds good! See you at the show!! Godspeed! CB JUNE 19th. 2009 CB'S 2009 WORLD TOUR ADDENDUM! Okay, relative to the amount of appearances I make it looks like a world tour. Two Dates--- USA--COMICCON --July 24th and 25th. Plan is to attend friday and Saturday. I will be on Andy Schmidt's--my former X-Men editor-- portfolio review panel at 4 PM saturday. CANADA--Toronto Fan Expo-- August 28th and 29th. At this hour, I plan to attend friday and saturday, three hours each day. Except, I still need to find a passport and it's very important to me that the US lets me back into the country. The way I look at it, if I'm there, I'm attending, if not , I'm not.... Typically, I don't have a sketch list at these things. Its a case by case, time permitting situation in which I try to attend to as many people as possible in a very short amount of time... I will not have art for sale as everything that I have for sale is already up on the site and, well, you can buy it from there anytime. And carrying around thousands of dollars worth art in airports just makes me paranoid... I'll update with specifics as each show approaches. Looking forward to hanging out with you guys! I hope to put up ASM 575 up for sale in the next month or two. I'm under a huge crush for the next two months but will find a way to get these items out there... Same goes for commissions--that I have not been attending to. Apologies to all the folks in line. Thanks for being patient with me... Speaking of crushes--Sinister landed on my lap with a huge THWACK and a tight deadline. Time is pressing and shipping schedules were moved around and, as a result, I will be drawing 19 pages from issue two and 5-6 pages from issue 3. Weird as it seems, I will draw and color the entirety of issue four. Issue one of Sinister will ship this month as scheduled... There is a variant cover for New Avengers 54 . The variant edition was delayed one week--a result of that crush thing... That will be followed by my triumphant return to ASM! I've also been working on a big project for EA. Announcement at COMICON. You are up to speed! Thanks a bunch and best regards, CB JUNE 18th, 2009 CB'S 2009 WORLD TOUR!! Okay, relative to the amount of appearances I make it looks like a world tour. Two Dates--- USA--COMICCON --July 24th and 25th. Plan is to attend friday and Saturday... CANADA--Toronto Fan Expo-- August 28th and 29th. At this hour, I plan to attend friday and saturday, three hours each day. Except, I still need to find a passport and it's very important to me that the US lets me back into the country. The way I look at it, if I'm there, I'm attending, if not , I'm not.... I'll update with specifics as each show approaches. Looking forward to hanging out with you guys! Best regards, CB APRIL 21, 2009: BEEP! BEEP! My response to Kev regarding drawing action poses-- Man, if I had a magic wand or pixie dust that would just catapult you into dynamic action land I would let you have it. Rotten truth of the matter is that you have to do the work. Have a decent understanding of anatomy and anatomy in perspective. One thing about action is that the characters are almost never standing upright -- they are almost always leaning over, upside down or bent in an unusual direction... Look at artists whose work-- you feel-- are good at action. For me, growing up, I really liked the way John Buscema drew Conan action scenes. He had a wonderful gift for drawing characters in motion. Frank Frazetta was another favorite. His characters move really well. Michael Golden is really good with action and I especially enjoyed Jim lee's action shots in Uncanny X-Men. Todd MacFarlane pulled off some crazy angles on Spider-man. Integrating animation into your work is very helpful. I'm a huge fan of the Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny and Road Runner stuff and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The actions scenes in The Incredibles are the best! Stop on a few frames and see how Brad Bird sets up the action. Faces/heads are very important. Nothing kills a dynamic pose more than an uninspired face. Is the subject gritting his teeth? Mouth open? Tongue sticking out with saliva spraying about? Eyes bugged out or slammed tightly together in determination? Hair furiously flying about? Lots to think about... The rest is practice, practice, practice. You 'll arrive!! Best of success to you! CB APRIL 21, 2009 : I’M GONNA CRY My response to Patrick in regards to being frustrated with the creative process-- I get frustrated just like everyone else-- sometimes I just want to cry. Boohoo! Some remedies-- Time and practice--the more experience you have the easier the process will become. So, lots of patience with this... If you feel frustrated walk away. Drop everything and take a nap, leave the studio for a day or two, ride a bike, exercise, do something that burns off the tension. Starting on new books is my biggest headache and I often get stuck on familiarizing myself with the new characters and locations. Yesterday was a frustrating day. I was scheduled to work the evening , but I figured that it would be better to take the evening off, relax and hit the table fresh the next day. So far so good... Relax and think. If I'm looking for an good idea I have found great success by, simply, stretching out on the bed before going to sleep and working out concepts-- or whatever-- in my head... Look at the work of illustrators that you like for inspiration. I try and make it a point to look at other illustrators work for a few minutes daily. Hope this helps. Best of success to you! CB APRIL 4th, 2009 PROCESS In response to a question from Maurice regarding process-- Well, you could write book on this question, but, in general terms, I find the best moment on each page, make that the biggest image and then work the rest of the panels in around it. The process--I do thumb nail pencils on the page- unless its a splash in which I'll concept on another board an then transfer to final board--then medium tight drawing of entire page, erase with kneaded eraser to clean it up, then tight drawing with no blacks or rendering. I then make a 60% copy using a copy machine, indicate blacks with ink on that, check for any necessary edits, and then go back to the big image and --using the copy with blacks as a reference-- edit, fill in blacks and render with pencil. On average a page takes 4-6 hours. Best! CB APRIL 4th: THE RULE OF TEN THOUSAND Elian wrote-- I needed some advice. Ive beenw anting to be a comic book artist since i was 5. Now that im 20 i want to be great and go forward with my dreams. I was wondering if you could give me advice or tips regarding my path into the that realm. I dont exactly knkow how to start and i dont know if i should take any classes or even if an art degree is desirable or available in that area of art? Please help me. My reply-- Lots of directions you can go. Unless you're loaded with remarkable talent, I would recommend school. Take a look at the Joe Kubert school--they've a website and correspondence courses or my former X-Men editor , Andy Schmidt has a program called Comic Experience that may be worth a look. I've a BFA in Illustration so if you've a school nearby that has a art/illustration program that works too--my back up plan was to be an illustrator. They'll teach you how to draw, color and design well. Concentrate on drawing, life drawing, painting and 2D design courses. If you want to draw comics, draw comics. That means storytelling with panels--not pinups and covers. Some of the work is really dull, but great artists make even the most dull of subjects look really cool. I'm sure you can track down a few aspiring writers online that will share their scripts with you, if you don't write yourself. Know how to draw everything, not just superheroes, because you will get to draw everything. Study artists that you like. Don't copy their style , but see how really good illustrators tell stories with pictures. Note how they set up location, position heads that are speaking, choreograph action, etc. Most important, and this bears repeating, draw a lot!! As a serious artist you'll be drawing everyday, all day! If this is what you want then it'll be a pleasure. I'm listening to a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers. It's about excellence and one of the subjects he talks about is the rule of 10,000. Devote 10,000 hours of time--about three hours a day, everyday, for ten years-- into a particular task and you'll become an expert at that task--that "talent" is more about hard work than inherent skill. He sites examples such as the Beatles and Bill Gates who spent inordinate amounts of time on their craft before making it big. I started drawing at the age of 15 and was as "talent-less" as they come, but I liked what was doing, spent a lot time in my room drawing and painting and eight years later--and I was still pretty raw, but was good enough-- landed my first illustrator work on Shade. If you're really good you'll get a job in a snap. Know that comics publishing is a business and good art helps sell books. You'll start poor in the industry, but if you work hard and have a nice style you can work your up way up to the nice books and --maybe not Beatles and Gates money-- make a really good living. And If comics doesn't work out, or your interests change, you'll have a nice skill set that you can devote to other disciplines such as design, illustration or video games. Draw about 200 pages--about what I draw in a year-- stop on by and show me where you're at. We'll roll from there. Godspeed! CB MARCH 30th, 2009! Good to go! MARCH 18th On occasion I do interviews or answer questions from those who drop on by to say hello. I'll put a few slices up here for all to see. THE POINT OF DIMINISHING RETURN Questions from Nick-- Hi Nick! okay my questions are: Yes. I often wonder if what I'm doing is the best way to tell the story, or the best image to convey the best emotion. There is a point of diminishing return and its important to realize when that time arrives for each and every panel or page, cover or whatever. It took awhile to learn how to let go and move on, to not get too emotionally attached to the objective. do you ever have doubts about something youve done? any freak outs? Yes. Not as much these days as I've figured out ways to solve problems faster. I still have the occasional problem that arises and is hard to solve. Its the hardest part of the job. I was real close to total frustration on a cover that I just wrapped for the Avengers. I couldn't figure out how to make it work and ended up starting from scratch on the main character on the cover. I completely re-drew her--very rare for me. Much better now.... how do you know when your done with a piece, or a page?do you have to walk away or is it a feeling of completion? Part of what I said above regarding the point of diminishing return applies here. Otherwise , I look over the page and once I feel that I've reached a point of reasonable satisfaction I'll move on the the next problem. There's a part of me that could go on just about forever noodling, digging and scratching at a pic to make it "perfect" --and I'm never 100% happy with anything that I do--but I think I would go broke arriving at that point... Best regards, CB SPRING CLEANING March 14th, 2009 This is my favorite time of the year. Not too hot, not too cold, the air is clean, baseball is near, pro hockey playoffs are right around the corner, and the joy of the new year is still fresh with spring colors of greens, reds and yellows. New art is being released this Monday at 4PM PDT. This time around we are featuring the art from Amazing Spider-man Extra issue number one and a new release from ASM 555. We'll also have for sale an unclaimed commission and four really cool backing board drawings. These are some of the best I've ever created. I hope you find them to your liking. As I mentioned at the Yahoo group, I had one of my ASM proposals accepted so it looks like writing is in my future. We're starting small—its a one issue event-- with the goal to work on something big—the other proposal that I've submitted. I'll relate progress as it happens. In the meantime, I'm working on a string of five consecutive issues on New Avengers starting with issue 51, that should be shipping any minute now, and ending with issue 55. I'm splitting the book with series regular, Billy Tan. He'll be working the superhero beat and I'll be working the supernatural as the stories focus will be on the search for the new sorcerer supreme. Awesome scripts from Bendis! Variant covers by me. I'm not sure when my next arc will be on ASM. The weekly publishing schedule is complicated and finding the right arc with the right deadline is sometimes tricky—especially with me PT on Avengers. I'm sure we'll figure out something pretty quick… Check out Agents of Atlas! The first two issues of the book have sold out and I've a cover on the issue two second printing. This is a refreshingly good book and even more so that it doesn't have an Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men, Wolverine or Spider-man logo on it. Good for them!! Just finished watching The Wire season two. As Alan Moore mentioned in Wizard, this is the best of TV series. It's a great example of a well produced show. There are no big stars in the cast—and they are wonderful--which makes it even more special because it feels like your watching real life, with real people in real, unglamorous situations. The stories are compelling, with a wonderful attention to detail, and it says a lot about the writing when you've interesting plots with very few instances of heightened action--I think there are only two episodes with gunshots in season two. Check it out if you haven't already… Sorry to say that I gave up on Heroes. I'm not sure what to say except that it's grown boring. I think they lost the refreshing edge they had in season one that I really enjoyed. The arcs are way too long and it's not a very smart show. I like when Parkman was a cop with a wife in an extraordinary situation, that the goal was to "save the cheerleader, save the world", the present was the present, everyone didn't have "Special abilities" and that Suresh was a normal guy trying to find the truth and not turning into a fly. This season of 24 has been refreshingly good after the last two forgettable seasons. I braved season one of Damages and tried season two, but just gave up on that show. I feel that it should be a lot smarter considering the people involved. The Unit is very good and I still watch an occasional episode of House, but it seems to be growing a little redundant. Enjoying Lost and Burn Notice is great fun. I haven't seen Watchman and I've no plans to do so at this is time—unless my wife makes me do it. I'm with Moore on this as well, as I think it was mistake to turn it into a movie. I just haven't seen anything that compels me to spend time with it. I admire his zest, but Zack Snyder was the wrong guy to make this--take out a few of the visuals and an awesome Gerard Butler and 300 is a mess. The wonderful Terry Gilliam didn't make this for a reason… Some one once said that the brilliance of a lie is in the details. I feel this is the difference between a good story and great one. I started re-reading Watchman-- as I hadn't done so since its debut --and its amazing to soak up the detail and richness of this fine book. Reminds me quite a bit of the Wire come to think of it… There's a pretty good chance I'll be attending a convention this year in the east. I'll confirm when I know more… I still have plans for a sketchbook sometime this year… I hope to start work on a creator owned book… I'm making progress on the commissions list. Thanks to all of you that have been waiting for so long. I hope to get to you soon…. Working on a couple of other non-comic related projects that I hope to share with you in the fall… But, until then, I'm off to enjoy more the spring. Always great to hear from you. Please keep in touch. Best regards, CB 1/16/09 GREETINGS! All yours for the taking! Go get 'em!! CB 12/12/08 HOLLY HOLY! ITS DECEMBER!
Two Sypnosis from IMDB— Espinoza is a shy taxidermist who secretly dreams of executing the perfect robbery. On his first ever hunting trip, in the calm of the Patagonian forest, his dreams are made reality with one squeeze of the trigger. Espinoza accidentally kills a man who turns out to be a real criminal and inherits his scheme: the heist of an armored van carrying casino profits. Caught up in a world of complex new rules and frightening violence, Espinoza's lack of experience puts him in real danger. And he has another, more dangerous liability: he is an epileptic. Before each seizure he is visited by the ''aura'': a paradoxical moment of confusion and enlightenment where the past and future seem to blend. These attacks appear without notice when he least expects them, just when he needs all his wits about him... Written by celluloid-dreams official distribution company. I hope you all have a terrific holiday, thank you for your support and I’ll see you on the other side of the new year. I’ll be taking down the electric reindeer between now and then and prepare for the small gap in time when they’ll have to go back up again. OCTOBER!! 10/22/08 October? What happened to September? I recall sitting bored nearly to death in 8th grade history class holding my breath as long as I could hoping that it would somehow-- in the cosmic scheme of things --move the clock faster. Then came middle age. Jokes on me now. My kid is seven. I swear to God he was 2 just yesterday. He's not into girls yet, thank goodness, but he can kick my ass in Wii MLB Pro's spinning around the room like a top as I sweat every pitch. 8/11/08 One of the reasons I didn't want a website was because I DID NOT want to create this thing and then ignore it like so many others, so her ya' go... HOLY, GEEZ ITS A TIMELY UPDATE! Greetings. We've new art being released from XMen: Messiah Complex issue 206 going up today. We've 10 pages from that issue available as well as really nice Death and Poison Ivy backing board drawings and concept pieces featuring Gambit and Cannonball. Hope you find a few Special thanks to those of you who purchased art from Gallery0 last
month during the relaunch of the store. Turnout was fantastic as we And a thank you to all of those that have taken the time to visit and comment on the brand spanking new Website! We're very proud of our new arrival! Looks like the next project will be a sketchbook...I think...maybe.
Hey, I was the last dude on earth with a website and I'll be last with I just completed the covers for Amazing Spider-man 575 and 576. Be sure to duck as the fists are flying with these. We'll post them on the site soon. I'm wrapping up interiors for ASM 575 this week and will commence work
on 576 immediately after, which will complete my second arc on ASM. I'll also be working on a wraparound cover for Witchblade issue 125
this month. Its the last of a six issue cover deal for Topcow. The I finally saw Steamboy by Katsuhiro Otomo and If anyone hasn't seen it, please do, its an amazing piece of work. By now, I've seen pretty much everything the movies have to offer and nothing is too surprising, but I was floored by this film. On TV, I' m watching season three of The SHIELD--I know, I discovered it way late. Its my favorite show at the moment-- when Lost isn't airing--and I'm watching it really slow--maybe, an episode a week-- savoring every dirty minute. Anyone watching Madmen? How is that? You're up to speed! Best regards, CB 7/24/08 Okay, I'm last one with a website over seven years of age but here I am! Yes, its a website with my name on it, authorized by me, owned by me (I think) and hosted by me on this first day of Comicon 2008--I'm not actually at Comicon, but I figured I can recall this date easy enough and my Dads' birthday is this week.... For navigation purposes, I've tried to keep things simple--no sounds, no flying things, no ads. Just a nice place to show off the pics and to keep up to speed with what's going on in my corner of space. Hope you find it to your liking and please LMK if there is anything that is not working or if there is anything that you would like to see (sorry, no porn going up at this time). We're still moving in the last bits of furniture in to the new space and I'll do my best to keep you updated as things come and go. The site was created with diligence by my friend Kevin Cates (www.kevloucat.com). He made this place, built it with his own fingers, on his own computer--it is your computer, right, Kev?-- and I can report with confidence, that he has a very big patience button. So, if you're turning seven and would like to have your very own website just like me, Kev's the man with the means! Best regards, CB 7/30/2007: ZEB WELLS AND CHRIS BACHALO ON SPIDER-MAN
One of the initial launch teams is none other than writer Zeb Wells and artist Chris Bachalo. Yes, we thought that'd get your attention. Tom Brevoort, editor extraordinaire, has mentored his fair share of quality creators over the years, but Wells has singularly impressed him. "Zeb is the young gun, the baby of the group, and the guy who came to Spider-Man the latest," says the Executive Editor. "As such, he's the guy who's probably most in tune with how the readers of today relate to the character, and he brings a certain wit and charm to what he does. "He's the most off-the-wall thinker in our band, I believe," adds Brevoort. "More apt to go down avenues the others may never have thought to explore." Merry Marvel readers can currently catch Wells spinning his web of words in that slam-bang slam-a-thon known as HEROES FOR HIRE. Who's Well's partner-in-Spidey, you ask? Well, we'll remind you: its Chris Bachalo, and man is he a Marvel guy through and through. Bachalo's been all over the Marvel Universe and his kick-butt, in-your-face art has been seen in X-MEN UNLIMITED, GENERATION X, UNCANNY X-MEN, ULTIMATE X-MEN, NEW X-MEN, CAPTAIN AMERICA and X-MEN. Whew! We kind of get the feeling he digs the mutants. "I've almost completed [my] first issue," explains Bachalo, "and part of the experience has been a little weird as--and I've been doing this for 18 years--this is my first full issue in the Marvel 'superhero' universe. I worked on half an issue of HULK--my first work with Marvel--and part of an issue with DAREDEVIL. That's been about it. Or does GHOST RIDER 2099 count? So, it's a little odd not drawing mutants and Sentinel and the X-Mansion. Only, I'm not so far away from that world, as a certain mutant-enhanced Avenger is starring in this issue so a part of me feels at home." Brevoort has quite a nice artistic comparison or two in mind when he thinks of Bachalo and his work. "Chris is a major stylist, who somehow hasn't managed to draw that much Spidey in his long career," he notes. "He's like that little bit of Ditko or McFarlane in our mix, a guy who comes at the page with a completely unique design sense, and who's fabulous at communicating the buglike attributes of the character visually." Bachalo himself admits a rocky road when it comes to describing his own style. "Trying to put into words my style is always a bit complicated," he says. "To me, style is about a feeling, an intuitive response to the script and the subject matter. I haven't drawn Spidey much, other than in an 8-page story I did for the Marvel Universal them park comic and a few sketches here and there, but I've always had a pretty clear idea in my mind as to how I would draw him--since I was a kid, really--so I'm going with that. "I would probably describe my style as being somewhere in-between the classic Romita incarnation and Todd McFarlane's version of the character," Bachalo explains. "I've been looking at a lot of Jim Lee's UNCANNY work too, for whatever reason, and applying some of what I'm learning there. Really great stuff by Jim. I'm finding it inspiring." As we have learned, a multitude of comic book artists, perhaps even the great majority of them, believe the original red-and-blue Spider-Man costume to be one of the single most inspired designs ever in the 70 years of superhero history. Bachalo is of that fraternity, wholeheartedly. "I've always been of the opinion that the Spidey costume is the best ever created," Bachalo boldly states. "It's an outfit that's really hard to screw up. When Marvel contacted me last year to create a few new designs for his costume, I thought, 'What? You're crazy. How do you improve on that?' Joe Quesada did nice work on the Stark design, but I'm glad to be working with the classic. "Spidey has become such an icon in the past several years with the movies, marketing and licensing," Bachalo says, recalling an interesting piece of found Marvel art. "I can't go anywhere without seeing his image on something. The other day I'm taking my six-year-old to school and the campus he's attending and I'm standing there admiring my shoes, I guess, when I noticed that one of the tiles on the walkway leading to the front door had Spidey on it. The tiles are of the custom-made variety that are created to raise money for the school. Y'know, contribute $100 and you can have your own personalized brick cemented in the earth for all time. It struck me that, taking into consideration all the stuff we're exposed to every day, that a kid thought it would be cool to put Spider-Man on his tile next to his name for all time. "Now that's a pop icon." And at the end of the day, Bachalo is calm and serene about handling such a pop icon as Spider-Man. "Well, this may sound a little dull, but it's really great to be working on such a terrific book with such a terrific character." he says, beaming. "The best ever, I think. I'm grateful that Joe Quesada and Steve Wacker thought of me for this and I hope that I do a really good job and that the fans and Zeb Wells, my writer, like the style that I bring to the book." |
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