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Marvel
News: Spider-Girl Lives!
At
least, that's what they're telling us. And nothing else
beyond that for now.
I think
it's not an April Fools' Joke from Marvel. That would have
been The Scarlet Spider Lives!
But
actually, we did get this piece of news from Marvel this afternoon,
too, and some nifty artwork. So have at it:
Marvel Comics is pleased to announce that artist Joshua Middleton
has agreed to an exclusive creator contract with the publisher
through the year 2004. Middleton will be brining his unique
brand of comic book art to Marvel as regular cover artist of
the May-debuting NEW MUTANTS ongoing series, as well as interior
artist for the enigmatic "NYX" series, debuting later
in 2003.
Middleton's
agreement gives him the opportunity to pursue all aspects
of the artistic process for his Marvel work - from pencils
to inks to colors ... a challenge the artist has enthusiastically
accepted.
"What
has pleased me so much is Marvel's willingness to embrace
my process, allowing me to create good work the only way I
feel I've been successful - on my own," said Middleton.
"It has not been my experience that this is normally
the case in the mainstream arena, so the notion that I could
work for Marvel Comics and be able to handle every aspect
of the art is just
remarkable."
Middleton
described the "heart" of his relationship with Marvel
as, "To produce something beautiful, and hopefully memorable."
"Marvel
has made it possible for me to draw something I can believe
in on the grand stage, provided all the support such an endeavor
requires, and has rewarded me for choosing to give it everything
I have," the artist said.
Middleton's
agreement with Marvel also allows him to continue work on
his much-anticipated creator-owned project, "Sky Between
Branches".
"There
was never a question of what to do with 'Sky between Branches,'
as Marvel offered from the outset to allow me to continue
on with the project should I desire to do so," said Middleton.
"I've
been such a huge fan of Josh's work, but it wasn't until I
saw the work he was doing in 'Sky Between Branches' that it
became very evident that this guy was onto something completely
different and stylistically unexplored in comics," said
Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. "His impeccable draftsmanship
coupled with great storytelling and a unique color sensibility
makes Josh, in my mind, one of the hottest new talents to
keep an eye on. I so firmly believe this that I... hmm, actually,
that's an announcement for another day!
"We're
thrilled that Josh has come on board and joined the Marvel
family. So far he's thrilled Marvelites with his beautiful
covers and a few pages here and there, just wait until he
sinks his teeth into one of our ongoing books!"
NEW MUTANTS,
an ongoing series by writers Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina
Weir, with pencils by Keron Grant and covers by Josh Middleton,
debuts May 21st.
And
may I say, as a fan of the original New Mutants run pretty
much until Rob Liefeld (aka "He Who Should Not Be Named")
got ahold of it, that I have really high hopes for this book.
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