Marvel Young Guns '04 Sketchbook

Background

Marvel reckon they have some new talent; they reckon they're worth making a noise about. They also reckon you'll pay US$4 to hear that noise. Heh, I guess in my case, they were correct.

Story Details

This comic is monochrome all through, with the entire book being dark brown print on a mottled tan-colored background. The effect they're aiming for is an "Old West Wanted Poster", or "aged treasure map" type of feel. They get about as close as you would expect given that they're working with 21st Century high-quality glossy paper stock.

There are 48 pages here with no ads. I guess that's where the US$4 tag comes from. On those pages you'll see pencil art (with a bit of ink, felt, and some air-brush) by Jim Cheung, Olivier Coipel, Trevor Hairsine, Adi Granov, Steve McNiven, David Finch, JR JR, and Greg Land.

The Spidey appearance that justifies this review consists of Spidey on the front cover, as well as two Finch New Avengers panels on the interior. Oh, and in the interior centrefold. But the cover is actually a reworked cut-and-paste of the centrefold.

General Comments

There's a fair mix of different styles in here. I can't draw to save myself, but I know what I like. Not that you care, but my personal favourite out of this lot would be Greg Land, followed by Finch. If you're the kind of fan who likes to know what's going on in the artistic community - if you care about who's hot and who's not, then you probably need to dip into your wallet and grab this little portfolio.

Overall Rating

Marvel has some good artists coming through. This book shows you exactly what they can do. Solid three webs.