Marvel has chosen eight artists to be its marquee creators with its just-announced Stormbreakers initiative, and now the publisher is rushing out a sketchbook so fans (and retailers) can get to know more about the artists.
Scheduled to debut November 18, Stormbreakers 2020 Sketchbook will contain (you guessed it) sketches from the 2020 class. As a reminder, the artists are R.B. Silva, Carmen Carnero, Natacha Bustos, Iban Coello, Peach Momoko, Joshua Cassara, Juan Cabal, and Patrick Gleason.
"These eight artists have proven their unrivaled talent and passion for storytelling, and much like Beta Ray Bill, they are truly worthy of taking up the mantle as one of Marvel's Stormbreakers, the next generation of elite artists," Marvel Comics editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski states. "We can't wait to show you all what's next. And to all our Stormbreakers – take up your hammer!"
Marvel is sending preferred retailers 25 copies of each sketchbook at no charge, and selling 25-pack bundles for $10 each - that's a wholesale price of 40¢ each. It's up to retailers if they give them away free to retailers, or charge for them.
This will be the first stage in a multi-part awareness campaign for the Stormbreakers artists by Marvel. In December, each will draw a Stormbreakers-themed variant cover for one of Marvel's major ongoing titles.
"There's a special skill set you need to have in order to draw comics at the highest level," Marvel Comics' executive vice president Joe Quesada says. "Like the finest illustrators, you must be able to draw anything and everything at any given moment, have the keen storytelling eye of a master film director, the ability to convey emotion in characters like the world's greatest performers, and the imagination of the greatest storytellers in history.
"But to be a Marvel comic artist, you need all of that as well as the ability to make your characters and stories jump off the page. They need to be larger than life, yet grounded enough that we all see ourselves within them. We're thrilled to bring together Marvel's Stormbreakers, a team of super up-and-coming talents who will continue that legacy."
Stormbreakers 2020 Sketchbook goes on sale November 18.
Marvel's Stormbreakers artists have a high bar to live up to. Read our list of the best Marvel stories of all time.
