It’s funny how the moments in which you discover something that will become important to you are often complete accidents or coincidences. I first saw artwork in the interiors of “Amazing Spider-Man” #677, the first issue of a crossover between “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Daredevil” written by Mark Waid. I only bought the issue because I was reading “Daredevil” and didn’t want to miss out on a part of the story and it was also, strangely enough for someone who loves Spider-Man as much as I do, the first issue of “Amazing Spider-Man” I ever bought. What I found inside was an entertaining tale of a team-up between Daredevil, Spider-Man and Black Cat, the possible start of a relationship between two characters I’m still annoyed no one explored further and artwork I fell in love with.
Emma Rios is an artist unlike any other I’ve seen in comics. Hailing from Spain, her work seems to contain influences from both European and Japanese artwork which forms to become some of the most fluid pencilwork I’ve ever seen. Her eye for storytelling brings out abstract detail in her panel composition to evoke the symbolic cinematography of something like a cross between Terrence Malick and Akira Kurosawa. Her inking brings out the furious detail of her pencilling that somehow manages to be fast and fluid and free despite being a static image. It’s a style that seems cultivated from all over the world that can mold itself to any project be it supernatural in “Hexed”, sci-fi in “Prophet”, superhero in “Doctor Strange” and “Captain Marvel” or western in “Pretty Deadly”.
Right now, her interior work can be found in “Pretty Deadly” of which five issues have been released and collected in trade paperback. The second volume of “Pretty Deadly” is being developed as of writing this and her cover work can be found in “Hexed” starting with the first issue released next week from BOOM! Studios. Emma Rios can be found on Twitter, Tumblr and Thought Bubble in November. All images except one (guess which) are taken from Flickr.
A sketch of Black Cat I got from Emma last year at Thought Bubble.
“Pretty Deadly” Teaser
Pencils for the “Pretty Deadly” Vol. 1 cover.
“Shutter” #1 Cover
Page from “Amazing Spider-Man” #677
Pencils from “Spider-Island: Clock & Dagger” #1
Page from “Prophet” #26
Doctor Strange character designs.
Page from “Osborn” #1
Page from “Captain Marvel” #6
Cover for “Zóna Cómic” nº0
“Pretty Deadly” Bookplate