Evolution of a Cover

Progress on the Gutter Magic Kickstarter

Happy New Year, friends! Hope 2026 has been off to a great start.

I’ve been busy working on a few different things, some of which you should be seeing on the stands soon, but in the meantime I wanted to give you an update on the Gutter Magic Kickstarter I announced I was planning last year.

It’s the 10th anniversary of the book, and the first time it will all be collected in one place, so I really wanted to do a special cover for backers to commemorate that.

When I was first talking to Brett Barkley about Gutter Magic, one of the first things I said was that I wanted the city to be a character in and of itself - like Mega City One, or Neo-Tokyo… one of my favorite things about reading old Judge Dredd comics was that every story seemed to have this impossibly huge cityscape, and while we were following one story through it, there were hundreds of other stories happening at the same time, and the background was constantly showing tantalizing hints of some of them, whether it was punks speeding across Mega City’s skyways, or a gang of robots holding up a liquor store.

Luckily, Brett delivered on all counts, bringing the city to life between the pages in a way I couldn’t be happier with.

I wanted to capture some of that same magic for this cover - and again, I was lucky enough to land on the right artist - Filya Brathukin.

I first became aware of Filya’s work when he partnered with my friend Deniz Camp (we all know who he is, right?) on the mindbending Agents of WORLDE, from Scout Comics.

Agents of WORLDE is a surreal visual feast, full of page after page you could get totally lost in, not to mention the covers. And the more I saw of Filya’s work, the more I knew he’d be perfect for this. Coincidentally, right around the time I needed the cover, he posted on X that he was looking to do some covers - so I jumped on the chance!

The first step was reviewing some sketch ideas he sent over, after reading the book:

I dug all of them, but felt like A was the one that would most get across what I love about Filya’s art - the intricate, detailed cityscapes he’s so great at. Once that was decided, it was on to pencils.

Then, as he did more work, things started to take shape and get more detailed!

Again, something you could totally get lost in, a city full of stories.

Beautiful as the inks were, they needed colors to really come to life, so I tracked down the talented Jason Wordie, who had also worked on AoW and was very familiar with coloring Filya’s intricate style. And the results came out great!

The only thing left to do was slap a logo on it! Here’s what I’m thinking

So there you have it - from concept to finished cover in the space of about 6 weeks. This isn’t 100% final, but close enough to represent the book on the KS page and elsewhere.

So, that’s a peek behind the curtain. Next on my list of things to do for this project is dusting off my InDesign skills and getting the interiors in shape. That might take a while!

In the meantime, here’s some books I’m looking forward to picking up:

ORLA! Volume 1

If you’ve been following Orla!, you know that it’s a wonderful blend of horror, romance, and comedy, expertly brought to life by John Lees, Sally Cantirino and company. John is quickly carving out a niche for me as the go to writer for spicy horror comedy, and Orla is just the latest in a long line of amazing work. The trade is out this April and I can’t wait to add it to my bookshelf.

Wild Animals Volume 1

And once it’s up there, it’ll be sitting next to Wild Animals, a brutal crime tale from Ed Brisson and Andy Kuhn. If we’re talking about carving out niches, Ed sits squarely at the top of the “desperate criminals making things infinitely worse for themselves” genre, and I’m here for this latest installment. If you’re a fan of Brubaker and Phillips’ Criminal, this is right up your alley. Up for preorder now, and coming out in February.

Peril of the Brutal Dark: An Ezra Cain Mystery

Also dropping in February is the first issue of Peril of the Brutal Dark, by my bud Chris Condon and his longtime partner in crime, Jacob Phillips. It’s one of the flagship books of DC’s Vertigo relaunch, and a damn good slice of two-fisted pulp noir that deserves to sit up there with the likes of Indiana Jones when it comes to classic adventure stories. It’s the Vertigo Book I’m most excited about reading, and once you check out the first issue, I’m sure you’ll agree! Out 2/25

Horror Not Hate

Finally, I wanted to let you all know about the Horror Not Hate Anthology, currently up on Kickstarter - featuring a calvacade of talented folks speaking up against hate and discrimination, including a story from myself and Caleb Ady.

Get the details and pledge here, if you’re interested. The campaign is only going to be live for a week or so more!

All proceeds go to help marginalized folks!

That’s it from me for now, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more news and ramblings about comics!

- Rich