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Charles Soule Draws His Own Variant Cover For Curse Words #16 – Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Published Mon, 27 Aug 2018 11:59:31 -0500

Of late, we have had a spate of traditionally comic book artists who have seized the metaphorical typewriter and taken control of their artistic destiny by writing their own scripts. And jettisoning comic book writers to the scrapheap.

Well, some have come out fighting. such as Charles Soule who has decided to add to his already humungous writing workload by drawing some of it too. He tells Bleeding Cool,

"Curse Words #16 marks the start of the second half of the epic Curse Words story, and the beginning of our fourth story arc: "Them Blue Wizard Blues." Ryan and I wanted to make it really special, and so we decided to give this issue something that has literally never been seen before in comics: my art. I drew a variant cover for the issue, which is being revealed here for the first time.

And here it is.

There you go. He also states,

You may be curious about my process here. Obviously, Ryan is a brilliant genius at art and pictures, and trying to measure up to his skill as a draftsman would have been a fool's errand. So I decided to just go with my heart and create something that was basically just pure emotion.

What do you call your work, Charles?

When we solicited this piece, we called it the "Not Good" Variant, because honestly, I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. But now that it's done… well. I think the results speak for themselves. If we could do it all over again, I think we'd call it the "Not Not Good" Variant.

NNG for short? We love a good acronynm. Or, at least, a not not good acronym.

That's why we've decided to make this cover a 1 in 10 variant. Something this pure, this true… it shouldn't be easy to attain. You should have to work for it a little bit. The issue hits stores on September 19, but your last opportunity to tell your shop you want it is this Monday, August 27. Do so.

That seems to be today, doesn't it? FOC away… any last words before you are criticlly judged?

Finally, let me take this opportunity to thank Ryan Browne publicly for all the support and encouragement along the way. He told me what kind of paper to buy, took a call from me when I was at the art supply store to tell me about pens… just everything. I am blessed to work with him. #blessed."

As for Ryan, he is the comics artist, maybe we should let him have a…

"So, Charles… Charles likes to tell me what to do–A LOT. 'Draw a baseball stadium filled with 45,000 people! Now draw a two page spread of Manhattan! OH! Now draw a football stadium full of sad people–and make sure you can see all of their sad faces!!! No silhouettes for you!!!!! HAHAHHA!!!!'. He screams this mantra on repeat while he writes Curse Words scripts. No joke. He writes in a local coffee shop and the army of baristas had to build a soundproof isolation booth around him as he wrote. They are all such nice and accommodating baristas and Curse Words would not be possible without their craftsmanship and patience.

Okay I think we get the…

So, Charles… Charles once made me draw the Eiffel Tower (a hard thing to do) rampaging on the Las Vegas Strip (A hard place to draw), all while he poured hot coffee down the back of my shirt–and I sharply responded–"Why don't you draw it, you mother F%$#@!!!".

Thus a truly genius idea was born.

So, Charles… Charles is not an visual artist of any sort. Oh, he'll paint yah a real purdy picture with his silver tongue, that's for sure–but when it comes to piloting a stylus across the page, that's pretty much uncharted territory. BUT Charles was determined. He did not want to be a poor carpenter, so he sought advice for what tools make a great artist great. Charles bought these tools and set to work, pouring hot coffee down his own back as he drew so he could feel the torture of being a real visual artist.

Can someone get me some help? This is going a little…

So, Charles… Charles did it. Hours later he emerged from the isolation booth at his local coffee shop, his back burned and horrible, but with a true masterpiece clutched in his powerful hands. 'I've done it! The power is mine! Now! Someone show me how to operate a scanner!!!' -yelled coffee burned Charles.

can someone call an ambulance? If only for Charles' burns…

And now the world is a richer, fuller place. A Charles Soule cover exists–and it's actually quite lovely. Sure, I had to color the hell out of it and make sure to photoshop all the splashes of coffee that stained the page, but the end product is quite special. I'm proud of the guy!

I'm glad it all worked out, so if…

So, Charles… Charles. I say directly to you. Now that you've laid down in the hot coffee filled trenches and gotten your precious white jeans stained and crumpled with the pain and doubt of the visual artist, I feel that we can now work as one. You have the knowledge of creating something from nothing and then slapping a logo and $3.99 price tag on it–thus you know what it is to be me.

About that price tag…

So, Charles… Charles, seeing how successfully you did my job, how's about I write the next issue of Curse Words? C'mon! Just let me put on your white jeans and jump into the isolation booth! It's only fair!"

He does have a point… here's the solicit, It also comes in standard cover, Invisible Cover, CBLDF censored and CBLDF non-censored covers too.

CURSE WORDS #16 (MR)
(W) Charles Soule (A/CA) Ryan Browne
NEW STORY ARC

"THEM BLUE WIZARD BLUES," Part One
Jacques Zacques has returned to Earth seeking vengeance on the architect of his pain, our lovable hero Wizord. Uh-oh. With special variant cover by "artistically challenged" series writer CHARLES SOULE, and the first of five "magical" variants for this arc!In Shops: Sep 19, 2018
Final Orders Due: Aug 27, 2018
SRP: $3.99