It\’s been a few months as we revved up production on our second arc but today\’s finally the day – Skullkickers is back!

Please head on down to your local comic shop and pick up a copy of #7, the first part of our second bombastic story arc, and let us know what you think of it!

If you\’re at all on the fence, let us entice you with:
– An exclusive 6 page preview of Shinku, a new creator-owned series coming next month from Image.
– More banter
– A bloody and violent dinner party
– The word \”jumblies\”
– Our two mercenary morons finally get names!

GO! Buy the issue, show your friends, support creator-owned comics!

On the front page of Image Comics official website they\’ve got a spiffy promotional pic of the trade cover turned sideways. Only a few more weeks until the trade paperback is in stores!

The 2011 Harvey Award Nomination Ballot is now available. Nominations for the Harvey Awards are selected exclusively by creators – those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field. If you\’re a pro, you should nominate your favourites from 2010.

If you\’re feeling so inclined, here are some categories that I think ye olde Skullkickers is most applicable for:

BEST LETTERER
Marshall Dillon. Marshall works his tail off on Skullkickers, providing the typical dialogue and sound effects, but also fun alternate narration bits, subtitles and more, enhancing the humour and improving the storytelling at each step.

BEST COLORIST
Misty Coats. Misty\’s moody and dramatic colors give Skullkickers that extra kick every single issue. Flip through any of our 5 released issues and you can\’t help but notice the quality of her palettes.

BEST COVER ARTIST
Chris Stevens. Chris\’ Frazetta-esque covers are eye-popping and engaging, delivering the feel of an old fantasy paperback while never seeming old fashioned.

MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT
Edwin Huang. Edwin\’s drawing and storytelling skills are well beyond his years and he\’s getting better with every single issue.

BEST NEW SERIES
Skullkickers. We\’re an ongoing now and people seem to be digging it. Comedy books aren\’t typical award fare, but I think we\’re delivering the goods with each issue. On time and high quality.

SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
If we weren\’t as applicable for the previous category, I hope you\’d think of us as solidly appropriate here. 🙂

Here\’s a little step-by-step on the just-announced Skullkickers #3 second printing cover artwork.

As soon as our rep at Image asked about the possibility of a second printing cover for this issue, I had ideas about showing our mercenary dwarf interacting with the cosmic bull from his vision… wait, you haven\’t even read issue #3 yet so you have no idea what that means. Well, suffice to say, after you give the issue a read on Wednesday it\’ll become readily apparent what this is all about.

Anyways, I thought about him hugging the bull, being licked by it, something goofy. My wife actually had the brilliant idea of the dwarf riding the bull like a bucking bronco. As soon she said that I had a clear vision for it and sketched out a quick rough:

From there I passed the rough doodle over to Edwin and he rocked out the wonderful full size line art:

And last, but certainly not least, the line art was sent to Espen Grundetjern for an amazing color finish:

The colored version blew me away, adding an incredible amount of atmosphere and depth to the piece. I think that both issue #3 covers (the original and this second print one) are two of the best ones we\’ve had so far in the series. I hope you agree!

Last night saw the premiere of AMC\’s Walking Dead TV series and the reports are coming in that it had fantastic ratings and solid reviews across the board.

If you haven\’t seen the new show or read the award-winning comic series, take some time and do so. The quality of storytelling, the characters, the emotions… The Walking Dead is a fantastic achievement on every level.

As fellow Image creators and lovers of great comics all around, we\’re ecstatic for Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard and wish them huge success.

Once again, surprising no one, comics are awesome!