JSA#54 p2 splash page prelim

JSA#54 splash prelim on EBAY

Here's the prelim of the splash page of the recent JSA I drew. Done as a guide to work out details, before tracing and refining onto the comic board.

JSA#54 page 4 prelim

JSA#54 page 4 prelim

Here's a new prelim, from a recent JSA issue,  done because I just needed to work out that one fight scene and get the characters in there that the writer (Marc Guggenheim) wanted. While it slows down my pace to do these, they are a great help with multiple characters, all using their powers or whatnot.

Shazam catalog cover sketch

Ebay link to auction

This was done in advance of drawing the cover for Capitol Distributing's monthly catalog, promoting the Power of Shazam series. Once the sketch was approved, I drew the cover, or flip cover, I can't recall.

Star Wars painting, 1979

I did this many years back, and though it has faded a bit, it still looks okay to me. I recall doing this on a weekend day, to experiment with Dr Martin's watercolor dyes. Fast and bold, using photo ref from a magazine, I did okay capturing the actors, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Alec Guinness, though I wish I'd spent more time on the layout. Enjoy!
Artwork copyright Jerry Ordway 2011, Star Wars and characters are tm Lucasfilm Ltd.

Adventures of Superman#483 cover color guide

Adventures of Superman Color guide #483 on Ebay

This cover came out nicely, in print. I got my asked for airbrushing, and also was pleased that the effect of the bad guy, Blindspot, worked in a nice subtle way.

Superman Movie 1979

Here's a painting I did back in 1979, inspired by the movie. I did this as line art, and then made a blueline board, thinking I would lay the linework over the color image. Well, I glazed the board, and painted this with oils instead, letting some linework in blueline show through. I like parts of this, but not all. But it's a snap shot in my art development.

Superman is TM and copyright 2011 DC Comics

Superman sketch for fun

Hey, I was doodling, and still getting used to the copic markers on this! Hope you like.
 want to bid: Superman sketch on ebay.com

Superman is TM and copyright 2011, DC Comics

The Death of Superman

Hey, I  just jogged my memory recently, by, oddly enough, watching "Newsies" with my family. It connects to the DC Comics storyline, The Death of Superman, in a strange way. The way? I keep mistaking it for the reason the Death of Superman existed. The movie I want to remember is 1993's "Swing Kids," also starring young Christian Bale. That movie is the reason Superman died, in the comics, rather than getting married to lois Lane.
 Anyhow, as I remember this, we, the Superman writers at that time (Dan Jurgens, Roger Stern, Louise Simonson and myself), had plotted out broad strokes for the many Superman titles, in conjunction with editor Mike Carlin, and associate Dan Thorsland, leading up to the wedding of Superman and Lois. We would chart out the rough outlines for over a year in advance, really, always leaving room for changes as the work started on a given issue. The wedding was scheduled for Adventures of Superman#500, far in the future. Somewhere in there, word came down that ABC was interested in doing a TV series called Lois and Clark. The possibility arose, of saving the comic book wedding, to do as a true tie-in to the show, a cross promotion. A great marketing tool to feed a potentially huge audience to comic book stores!  The execs were developing the show with  Thomas Carter as the perfect showrunner/ producer, based on his track record on tv with Hill Street Blues, The White Shadow, all great character driven shows. It would be a gritty drama, with an emphasis on the newspaper stuff, and the stories the reporters chased down. Sounded great to us, but suddenly we hear that Mr. Carter was going off to make the feature film "Swing Kids," and we were left scrambling to substitute a storyline for the wedding, knowing that the show was being delayed, the wedding had to be pushed back. We had to save the comic book wedding for the TV show. So we suddenly had a free slate, and somehow or other, the greatest comic hero met his death by our hands. Maybe a bit of spite found its way into our thinking, I can't say for sure.
Thomas Carter would have been terrific on Lois and Clark, but that never came to be either. It certainly would have been a different show,  more gritty and real. As it happened, the show worked in a frothy, "Moonlighting" vein as well.

                                                 line art by Dan Jurgens & Jerry Ordway

from the Death of Superman Omnibus edition, tm & copyright DC Comic 2011

Power Girl pin-up, playing with copic markers

Power Girl pin-up on Ebay

Hey all, I was goofing around with some Copic markers, trying them on greys instead of ink wash. I liked the dual tip on these, and the grey goes down nicely, with no blotchiness. Enjoy!

Power Girl is trademark and copyright DC Comics 2011

Captain Marvel shop talk cover sketch plus Power of Shazam#9 cover sketch!

Hey, check these out here, and then on Ebay if you want to bid. Click on the links.
Captain-Marvel-Shop-Talk-cover-sketch

Power of Shazam-9-cover-sketch-Jerry-Ordway