His name—Monte Moore.
His game? Illustrating delicious pencilled covers for
the upcoming VAMPIRELLA : DEATH VALLEY STORY ARC!
Monte Moore is the latest talented artist to have his
work grace the covers of VAMPIRELLA. Join us for this
exclusive Vampirella.com Q&A as we learn more about
this mysterious new talent...
Q: Monte, let's
start well, at the beginning. How did you get your start
in comics?
A: Through a local comics shop, I met a bunch of artists
who were into self-publishing books of their own artwork.
I contributed to their books first, airbrushing their
pencils for the color covers. That led to doing my own
book this year called, MAIDENS: The Monte Moore Sketchbook,
published by SQP.
 Q:
How were you discovered by Harris Comics?
A: A cool story, actually. To promote my MAIDENS book,
I took out a full page ad in Realms of Fantasy, a sci-fi
fantasy magazine. David Bogart [editor of Vampirella]
got ahold of the book—he must have liked what he
saw, because soon after, I got an email through my website
to call him up about doing some work for Vampirella.
That phone was in my hand in about one second!
It's interesting to note that I submitted my work to
Harris Comics way back in 1993. I didn't get any response
back then, but I've worked hard in the last seven years
to improve to the level that Vampirella demands. It
just goes to show that perseverance does pay off!
Q: Were you excited
to work on Vampirella?
A: Absolutely. Vampirella is a highly respected and
established character. She's perfect for what I love
to do—illustrate sexy, strong women. It was particularly
great to be commissioned to do full pencil covers, the
first time I've ever been asked to do that. In the past,
my work has been inked and colored—it's truly a
big compliment to have the finished Vampirella cover
showcase just the pencils without any other enhancement.
Q. Harris Comics
has a reputation for being a damn tough company to work
for—the editors never accept anything less than
the artist's very best work. Have you found this to
be the case?
A: Yes, there are extremely high standards for how the
Vampirella character is represented. The artist is given
a lot of freedom to express themselves, but definitely,
hard work is necessary to reach the final illustration.
For example, I went through a half-dozen sketches before
we nailed the first cover design, and I'm already on
my seventh sketch for the second! The lengthy process
is all worth it, with the best Vampi cover possible
as the result.
Q: How can fans
get in touch with you?
Check out the Monte Moore website at www.mavarts.com,
or fans are welcome to correspond with me directly by
emailing to mavmktg@qadas.com
Monte Moore's first Vampirella
cover debuts for Vampirella : Death Valley #1 (Vampirella
Monthly #24), coming later this month!
Monte Moore's limited Vampirella cover can be ordered
NOW from your local comics shop, or join
the Vampirella Scarlet Legion! Legionnaires are
able to order all Vampirella limited covers directly
from Harris Comics at special member prices!
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The
finished pencilled cover!
(Bigger is better! Click on the image for a
larger view.)
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Monte wasn't kidding! Here's
a peek at just two of the many cover design
sketches for Vampirella Monthly #24
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Coming
soon...Monte's cover design for Vampirella:
Death Valley #2
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