Results tagged “Ken Hooper” from Birmingham Mail - Speech Balloon

KEN HOOPER (Aquaman, Indiana Jones etc) revealed that he's currently drawing a number of comic books for Moonstone.

What's more they are a mixture of pulp and clasic fiction, alongside American Golden Age characters brought back in a modern setting.

First off, Hooper and writer Chuck Dixon are working on the fighter-ace action hero Airboy together.

The artist is also in the middle of drawing the good girl character Domino Lady in her own adventure story. A page from the book is premiered here exclusively at Speech Balloons.

After that he will be working on another Domino Lady comic book where she teams up with the famous Baker Street detective Sherlock Holmes. "They end up going to Egypt to solve a mystery," was all that the artist would currently reveal.

For more about Moonstone visit: www.moonstonebooks.com

THE SEVEN LIVES of Dr Phibes, as previously noted, is a two issue mini-series from Blue Water Productions, and features the ongoing escapades of the classic character, as portrayed in films by Vincent Price.

This is the second Dr Phibes title the company has produced, with more intended. The Seven Lives of Dr Phibes is due for distributors' solicitation this November .

Above: Cover art for #1, from sketch to finished colour art, by Mel Smith, Ken Hooper and colorist

Below: Internal pages for #1 by Nadja Smith. As co-writer I recently redialogued the script to match the art for the letterer to insert later.

Concluding this short visual presentation is a sketch, again by Smith. For further information on The Seven Lives of Dr Phibes and other books from Blue Water visit: www.bluewaterprod.com/

THE SEVEN Lives of Dr Phibes continues the macabre story first established by Vincent Price in two classic horror movies.

This two-issue mini-series finds the infamous Dr. Phibes returning to wreck havoc and bid goodbye to the twentieth century in his own fiendishly special ways.

To be published by Blue Water in America, the featured cover presented here is by Mel Smith (Child's Play 2) and Ken Hooper (Indiana Jones).

The series is plotted by Smith with Clark Castillo (Dead Ahead), and co-scripted with yours truly, Paul H Birch.

For more about Blue Water Comics visit: www.bluewaterprod.com

SPEECH BALLOONS has been able to feature exclusive and rare artwork for the world to see and that continues here on Boxing Day.

Back in November Speech Balloons ran a feature on artist Ken Hooper (Aquaman, Indiana Jones etc) that featured a new pencilled image of Swamp Thing, a book he had worked on previously. Here we present that same image now inked by Rick J Bryant (Babylon 5, Shade, The Changing Man etc).

The pair have collaborated before previously, but as the pencil artist himself noted, the success of this piece means that it is "official notice of availability for cover art" from them, as of now.

KEN HOOPER is an American comic book artist whose work has appeared in books as diverse as Aquaman and Indiana Jones.

Back in 1986, artist Ken Hooper started working for local publishers in the San Francisco Bay area, finally settling down to produce comic books for Blackthorne. Two years later he replaced Mike Mignola at First Comics and began adapting The Chronicles of Corum, as well as illustrating covers for Malibu Graphics such as Planet of the Apes.

He assisted fellow artist Tom Yeates on DC Comics' Swamp Thing in 1989, and the following year began taking a solo pencilling credit on issues of Star Trek and Mr Miracle before committing himself to what became a popular run on Aquaman for the next two years.

During 1993 he worked for various publishers, contributing material to the fan favourite Elfquest series and two Indiana Jones books for Dark Horse. The following year he was back at DC as co-creator and regular artist on the Primal Force series while also drawing an adult story in the Elaine Lee written Skin Tight Orbit graphic album published by NBM.

He subsequently turned his talents towards creating illustrative material for the gaming book industry, briefly returning to comics with his own short story, Breakfast, in the Flying Colors Special. Concurrent with this Hooper has had had a prolific musical career, playing various instruments for a number of bands, and recording his own solo album, From The Edge, in 2004, followed by the limited edition Hoop Loops series.

He took care of cover duty and produced several standout pages for Wildcard Ink's Feed America's Children charity comic, and has also appropriated a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon style for work on their award-winning Gumby titles.

In recent years Hooper has been working with Tom Yeates and Ron Randall, producing graphic novels for the mainstream American book market.

He is currently delving further into the educational market and will be producing a series of six 20 page comic books consisting of double page spreads focusing on helping people make career choices. "It should be an interesting experience," the artist noted, explaining that they will delve into areas such as forensic science.

Concurrent with these he will be inking a Deathrace 2000 mini-series for Blue Water, alongside developing his own strips and books.

These latter projects combine Ken Hooper's penchant for adventure with a fantastical flavour, and promise to possess cool moody dynamics filtered with a modern edge, some may well feature the exquisite inking lines of Rick Bryant, a previous early collaboration between the pair being featured above.