One hundred comic book artists have come together over the past year to create the next great joint art project, this time featuring the Dark Knight Detective and Bruce Wayne alter ego, Batman. Previous subjects have included Adventure Time, Wonder Woman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Hellboy, The Uncanny X-Men, and Captain America. This year a new group of some of the best-known names in the world of comics volunteered an original work of art featuring the Caped Crusader (how many nicknames does he have anyway?) penciled, inked, painted, or otherwise colored on a DC Comics Batman #75 blank comic book cover. It’s all for a good cause that gives back to–and in effect pays forward–comic book creators that have come before. It’s called the The Batman 100 Project.
Next week a standalone issue in the Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirensseries of anthology stories arrives you will want to get your hands on. Both the story and artwork coming in next week’s tale were created by one of the Pacific Northwest’s best visionary artists, Aud Koch (pronounced “odd cook”). You may know her from conventions or from her incredible Wonder Woman artwork that topped our discussion of the Wonder Woman 100 Projecthere at borg back in 2017, or from her other fabulous, fantastical works posted at her website here. Her work in the Jim Henson anthology is her retelling of Lorelai: Daughter of the Rhine. Her style is truly her own, with pages of unique design layouts and imagery that flows from scene to scene, but you may see some possible influences in the works of Jill Thompson, P. Craig Russell, Aubrey Beardsley, and Alex Niño. Koch’s artwork has been featured in The Wicked + The Divine from Image Comics, Vision, Ultimates2, and America from Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics’ Tales of Harrow County, and she contributed to the anthology Femme Magnifique, nominated for an Eisner Award this year.
Here is the description of Lorelai: Daughter of the Rhinefrom publisher Archaia:
In this German tale, Lorelai is a river nymph, born to the Rhine River, living in the shadow of a prosperous town called Wochara. But at the heart of Wochara’s prosperity lies a secret deal that Lorelei and the people of Wochara struck a long time ago. Every year, Wochara sends Lorelei a young man who becomes her husband for the year, living in comfort and luxury in her wondrous palace, while fat nuggets of gold wash up on the town shores. But not everything is as it seems and when she selects a young man who already has a lover, the deal between the people of Wochara and Lorelai is in jeopardy forever.
Here is a preview of what lies in store for you in next week’s Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens:
More than 100 comic book artists came together over the past year to create what is one of the best joint art projects featuring superheroes that has come out of the industry. And it’s all about the biggest superheroine of all. Some of the best-known names in the world of comics volunteered an original work of art featuring Wonder Woman, penciled, inked, painted, or otherwise colored on a 75th Anniversary DC Comics Wonder Woman blank comic book cover. It’s all for a good cause that gives back to, and in effect pays forward comic book creators that came before them.
It’s called the Wonder Woman 100 Project. All proceeds of the auction of the original artwork will go to the Hero Initiative, an organization that helps out the comic book industry by contributing funds to individuals and their families in the event of medical and financial crises. Most of the comic creators the fund helps were piecemeal workers in their careers over the past decades or those without any kind of retirement program.
And for those who can’t afford the original artwork, the Hero Initiative is creating a hardcover and softcover edition compiling all the covers that will be for sale in June 2017, with proceeds of those books also going to the Hero Initiative.
You’ll see some of the very best Wonder Woman images you’ll ever find. Many are from well-known artists, but some of the finest works are showcased by more recent artists entering the industry.
