Aspen Welcomes Artist Mike DeBalfo to the Soulfire Universe
Aspen Comics announced Saturday at the Official Aspen Comics Panel that popular artist Mike DeBalfo will be joining the Aspen Comics team and taking on founder Michael Turner’s flagship creation the magical action-adventure series Soulfire this summer beginning with Soulfire Volume Four #1, which will be released this August. This will mark DeBalfo’s first-ever foray into an ongoing series as he will provide both the covers and interiors. Aspen is eager to bring on DeBalfo’s exciting art to the world of Soulfire, Editor-in-Chief Vince Hernandez states:
“Mike’s art and more importantly his motivation to continually grow as an artist solidified our feeling that he’d be a perfect fit for Soulfire. After many discussions with Mike, we knew he was ready for the challenge of taking on one our principle titles and expanding upon it with his own touch. We’re excited to see what he’ll deliver, as well as seeing how his artwork will continue to progress as he gets further along. I know he’s more than ready to show everyone what he can do on both ends.”
DeBalfo’s arrival on the title with Soulfire: Volume Four comes at a crucial moment in the Soulfire Universe on the heels of the weekly summer crossover “The Search for the Light”, which will dramatically alter the future of the title and subsequent storylines. In accordance with the surprising events following “The Search for the Light” story arc.
DeBalfo and Aspen have for the first time in Aspen’s history redesigned a principle Aspen character, the Soulfire heroine Grace, for the upcoming Soulfire: Volume 4. Grace’s costume design as well as other dramatic changes will mark a new era within the Soulfire world and for longtime fans of the series.
In addition to his work on Soulfire, DeBalfo will teaming up with Aspen’s superstar colorist Peter Steigerwald to provide variant covers for the publishers other popular titles throughout the month of August including Executive Assistant: Assassins, Fathom, Homecoming as well as Soulfire. Artist DeBalfo discusses his upcoming work on Soulfire and other Aspen titles:
“Many fans are finally going to get what they’ve been craving from me; a series of twenty page issues of awesome, cover to cover, over the next several months! This collaboration has been a long time in the making but I was no less humbled when asked to be the guy to design the new Grace. I couldn’t be more excited about working with the Aspen guys to tackle what sounds like the most exciting Soulfire story arc yet. This is Grace like you’ve NEVER imagined possible. It’s going to be a wild ride so stick around!”
Aspen Comics’ “Search for the Light” summer crossover event will span five individual one shots starting in June with the release of Soulfire: Hope, followed by Soulfire: Despair, Soulfire: Faith, Soulfire: Power and ending with Soulfire: Grace. Each one shot will feature a different “Master” from the Soulfire Universe in their search for the missing “Bearer of the Light”, Malikai. New readers can also jump into the Soulfire series with the May release of the special Soulfire: Primer issue which recaps the first three volumes of the series, just in time for this summer’s event.
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