Josh Middleton On Supergirl #48

Another solicitation and another spectacular cover on Supergirl by Joshua Middleton. Supergirl #48 sports a great cover of Supergirl in agony as she feels the brunt of the Banshee's cry.

I really love when Middleton breaks down the process behind the covers on his blog. Here is the link with some blurbs and my usual two cents of commentary ( http://joshuamiddleton.blogspot.com/2009/09/supergirl-48.html ).

As you can see from the above thumbnail, the final image stayed pretty close to my initial concept. In fact, when I was adding some color to the thumbnail in Photoshop to submit for editorial approval, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to reproduce the "scream ring" effect on the final- I was just screwing around when I came up with it and couldn't remember exactly how I did it, but I liked it.

It sounds like Middleton had this picture in his mind from the beginning so the thumbnail is close to the final product. This is different than other posts we have seen on his blog where there are a couple of thumbnails done each with a slightly different take on the scene. (We saw 4 thumbnails for the 'Hamlet' cover of Supergirl #47.

I wonder how often that happens ... that the artist is 'struck by the muse' and comes up with the final design on first shot.

I agonized over how to draw the actual cover; I knew that it would technically be much easier to draw Silver Banshee and Supergirl on two different pieces of paper so that I could work with them separately in PS, but I would be sacrificing a nicer looking piece of finished art. In the end, practicality won, and I have yet another cover drawn in pieces. It was the right choice, however, because having Supergirl on her own layer floating over Silver Banshee allowed me to add all of the effects without having to make selections or deal with weird edges around Supergirl.

The Banshee piece alone lacks both Supergirl and the concentric rings of the scream and as a result feels unfinished. You definitely feel the effort behind the wail though ... the neck muscles and taut face do evoke the feeling that she is screaming as hard as she can.

The only part of the cover that doesn't completely work are the wide eyes with so much white showing. While the eyes help bring out that feeling of effort again (she is even straining her eyes), they feel just a bit cartoony to me.

Supergirl was first drawn with blue pencil on a sheet of vellum, then I laid another sheet on top of that and drew the final lines in ink with a pen. The most important part was getting the balance right between Supergirl and the black and white background so that the contrast is striking, yet reads well. I had to lighten the background a touch and added a little bit of a soft halo of white around Supergirl to help pop her off the background. After staring at it for a while and nearly getting dizzy, I decided it was done.

The Supergirl portion of the cover is really amazing to me in how dynamic it feels. I can feel Supergirl being battered by the sound. I can see her cowering as she tries to cover her ears. And the pained expression really works.

I also like the whitish halo around Supergirl as it makes her stand out just enough so she feels 'above' the picture.

I sound like a broken record but every Middleton cover has been fantastic. It is one thing to satisfy the readers of the book, which I think he has. But his covers are so striking, I am sure the casual reader scanning the new arrivals at least pauses and hopefully thumbs through the book and buys it. That eye-catching quality is rare ... I know because I scan the new arrivals every week and rarely does something grab me.

I hope Middleton has a long run on the title as cover artist.