aspenNavBar

Friday, December 30, 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hope there is magic for you this weekend!


With Soulfire V3 #6 coming out Jan 18th we were reminiscing about Volume 1 and thought that this would be an appropriate image to ring in the New Year.  We appreciate you being our fans and look forward to sharing a remarkable year with some amazing talent!  Have a safe weekend!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Arizona Comic Con Jan 6-8, 2012




Aspen Comics will be representing in the fine state of Arizona next week.  Aspen creators Joe Benitez (Lady Mechanika), Frank Mastromauro (Shrugged), Tony Parker (Dead Man’s Run) and Mark Roslan (Broken Pieces) will be at the Aspen Comics Booths 217 & 316 all weekend long.
We will have 500 copies of a limited Dead Man's Run #1 Amazing Arizona Comic Con Exclusive Variant by Parker and colorist Peter Steigerwald. 


We hope to see you there!


Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Greg Pak Mints!

FANCY FRANGO FUN!

Greg Pak, writer of Dead Man's Run, sent the Aspen Studios some delicious mints for the Holiday season.  They are so delicious whenever we print we eat one.  It's going to be like Pavlov's dog when we run out...we'll hit 'print' and taste the mint in our mouths...yum.  Thank you Greg!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sneak Peek - Fathom V4 #3!

Fathom #3 will be in stores tomorrow featuring the writing styles of Mr. Scott Lobdell, pencils by Alex Konat, and coloring from the talented Beth Sotelo.  Here is a little peek of some awesome Aspen Matthews!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Lady Mechanika #3

must find mistletoe...
We have an exclusive Holiday cover on sale over at the Aspen Store: http://www.aspenstore.com/Lady-Mechanika-3-Cover-E-Aspenstore-Exclusive-p/lady-mechanika-3-e.htm
We also have the book available signed by writer, penciler, and inker Joe Benitez and colorist Peter Steigerwald!  Pick yours up today and make your Holidays that much more Mechaniky!  You'll receive 10% off at checkout with code HOLIDAY11.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Sneak Peek: Lady Mechanika #3

I've got pink hair and a tiny hat...want to fight about it?
Lady Mechanika #3 will be available in stores tomorrow, make sure to grab your copy!  Here is a tiny peek at one of our favorite drawings in the book.  It came out SO awesome!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Holiday Cards!

We've been filling up Vince Hernandez's door full of the awesome holiday cards we receive.  Pretty soon he won't be able to see who's knocking!  We have some kick ass fans!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Chris Rupp visits the studio the same day Fathom #3 is delivered!

"Oh my!"


Chris Rupp came in to Aspen today and was fortunate enough to be here when we opened up Fathom #3 from the printers!  As you can see he was totally shocked by the ending, as will you be!!  In stores December 28th!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Almost ready for Santa

dreaming of sugar plum fairies

Someone had discarded perfectly good Christmas tree branches in our office building!  We seized the moment to not be wasteful and added said branches to our already decorated comic rack.  The office is starting to smell delicious.  If only Peter Steigerwald would come to work dressed as Santa...that would be a Christmas miracle!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

New Assistant Editor...for the day

Such work reading all these comics 
Oh my!  Lady Mechanika #3 in my favorite color PURPLE!
Excellent read...will read again after nap.

Bastian stepped in as Assistant Editor today to help Editor In Chief Vince Hernandez.  He was very excited to share in the Aspen goodness that is Lady Mechanika!  #3 will be in stores December 21st!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

New Statues!

mmm...statues
The new Fathom statues arrived in the office!  Designed by Michael Turner and sculpted by Dean Mason, there may be some wrestling to see whose office they end up in...we'll keep you posted to the winner!  They will be available in stores March 2012! 


Get some more info from our friends at The Daily Blam:  http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2011/12/12/aspen-comics-debuts-new-fathom-aspen-matthews-statues

Monday, December 12, 2011

Colorist JOHN STARR is a star!


Colorist JOHN STARR is a star! He's being filmed while coloring an upcoming project! John has worked with Aspen Comics for many years now on such projects as Executive Assistant: Iris vol.2, FATHOM vol.3, Soulfire vol.2, and the upcoming Fathom: Kiani vol.2!!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sunday, August 28, 2011

What's up in the studio today?


We had some surprise visitors today!
Vince spied our guests peeking through the door and
invited them in for a quick tour and some free comics!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

What's up in the studio today?


Brooke intently searches through our new batch of DC Comics for some new favorites!
Which ones will she choose?


Mark attempts to focus on his work and remain uninvolved.
Unfortunately for him... I don't care and took his picture anyhow.

Comic Monster talks Haunted City with Chap Taylor and Peter Johnson

http://www.comicmonsters.com/features-1200-Haunted_City_interview_with_Taylor_and_Johnson.html

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What's up in the studio today?


Steph and Old Man Joe demonstrate their inner selves!


Chaz helps Steph fix her email. Joe draws Lady Mechanika #3 pages...
...and they are all very patriotic and height oriented.


Saturday, August 6, 2011

What's up in the studio today?


Frank comes in after playing football to make sure Mark is working. (and he was)

Friday, August 5, 2011

What's up in the studio today?


Lori's working on pages.


Vince is receiving new pages from FedEx.


And Mark and Steph are going over promotions and images for all our upcoming projects!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Aspen Comics Studio Tour

Aspen Comics Studio Tour: "Aspen Comics Frank Mastromauro and Peter Steigerwald, along with artist Joe Benitez discuss the creation of Aspen Comics, its future and the late Michael Turner."


Thursday, June 30, 2011

Lady Mechanika #2 in stores July 13th!

Late night work at the studio requires music that is all rise!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Well, well, well, look what came in the mail today!

Executive Assistant Iris TPB will be in stores June 22nd!!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Lady Mechanika #2 on it's way!

Part 2

Friday, May 13, 2011

Lady Mechanika #2 on it's way!

Video Part 1
Pencils: Joe Benitez, Digital Inks: Mark Roslan, Colors: Peter Steigerwald

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

A teeny peek at the process of Lady Mechanika #2

Pencils by Joe Benitez, Digital inks by Mark Roslan, Colors by Peter Steigerwald

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mark Roslan on the grind

Didn't catch him doing Broken Pieces but stay tuned! We'll be showing a new cover very soon! -Steph

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Happy Cinco de Mayo from Aspen!!

Love this poster, it's from a past convention and now hangs proudly on the wall at our office.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Took a quick video of Talent sketching...


I took the liberty of videoing Talent drawing a piece for charity! If you read the blog yesterday then you know Talent is in the spirit of giving- I'm waiting for my drawing now lol.
-Steph

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Surprise visit at Aspen from Talent Caldwell!!


Talent came to visit us from the far-away East Coast and he brought an original piece of Charismagic art for Vince, what a stand up guy!! This officially makes Talent the first person to gift Vince with art from something he's written.
STREET CRED

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

BROKEN PIECES TRAILER



Here is a trailer for Mark Roslan's newest Aspen property, BROKEN PIECES. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Over Peter's shoulder...Lady M

Wanted to show you guys some Peter action so I snapped a pic over his shoulder. He threw me across the room afterward but lucky for you my camera survived!!
(no one was hurt)

Monday, April 25, 2011

I love this Lady Mechanika costume!!

Lady Mechanika Cosplay

Found this pic from the LBC Expo over the weekend, yay for Lady Mechanika!

FCBD at The Comic Bug


This year Aspen will be at The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, CA on FCBD. Aspen guests will include from 12-3pm:
David Wohl
David Schwartz
Frank Mastromauro
Peter Steigerwald
Vince Hernandez
Mark Roslan

Joe Benitez will be there from 3-5pm.

We'd love to see you there!!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Lori hard at work!

Working on the Aspen Swimsuit Splash Edition....oooooooo!!! Guess which lovely lady she's drawing!?

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Long Beach Comic Expo this Saturday!

We've got quite a few guests at the Long Beach Expo, check out this link to see the full list:
LBCC Guest List

Aspen will be at Booth #201 from 10am to 6pm with a panel at 1pm.

Friday, April 15, 2011

SNEAK PEEK!

So I came across this page in the office... and wanted to show you guys! shhh!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Cover Process - Siya Oum

V here! The always super Siya Oum was kind enough to share her cover process for her cover to Charismagic #4. Below are the steps involved in creating an awesome cover image!


Before starting any cover, Siya and I discuss the elements of what will be on the cover and what we're looking to achieve in terms of cover theme. For this #4 cover, we knew there would be two other "Lady" covers for issue #4 in addition to the direct cover by Khary, so we decided on Hank's girlfriend, Alle Star, as our character for this cover. After discussing setting, Siya produced a series of rough sketch layouts--this one being the one we all liked the best.

After the layout stage, it's time to get in there for the heavy work--this is where the artist's drawing talents shine through as Siya draws in the more finite lines for the image: figures, background, etc. I've worked with Siya enough to know this is where I sit back and let her do her thing.

Once the lines are set, for a complete pencil-to-color illustrator like Siya, it's time to go in and establish the color palette and tones for the piece. Again, her talents take over as she sets the mood and feel for the entire piece at this stage. As you can see, the minor details like color fx, outfit accessories, and setting textures aren't added in yet.

Once Siya establishes her colors, she goes in and fully renders the figure and background elements. At this point we'll discuss the minor details listed above and also discuss any changes to the piece. SFX like her jewelry and outfit are added in. We also felt the sky should be even more green to reflect the setting (to be revealed in issue #4):

Now the process comes together and we have the finished cover art with sfx, accessories, and revised background added. Now it's sent to production where Mark will work his own magic and decide cover dressing colors and themes for the logo and other cover type:
And abracadabra! We have the finished cover for Charismagic #4!