Steve Epting

Up next, we've got Hammer Fist number one, which has sold out again.

This is from Rick Remender and Steve Epting.

It's now going back for a third printing, which one of the things when it comes to a third printing, this isn't a situation where, hey, there's been a movie announced or it's been optioned or it's going to be a series, television series or something like that.

This is word of mouth pushing this title.

Who was the art on that?

Uh, Steve Epting.

Nice.

Yeah, Steve Epting did-

That might've been right around Velvet.

Remember Velvet?

I loved that book.

Oh, that book was great.

Marvel saw an opportunity to freshen up the entire line of Avengers-related books, notably launching new creative teams for Captain America and Iron Man.

Captain America was stewarded by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, while Invincible Iron Man brought in Warren Ellis and Adi Granov.

Both of these storylines would be instant successes that we know by name, The Winter Soldier and Extremis.

A need for a summer event would arise, leading to what would become House of M.

My three and two.

So my number three is Captain America.

I mean, Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and others, this is an unbelievable run.

It's a legendary run.

He did a lot of the Captain America I've read, especially the – storyline that I just spoke of the Civil War but not like when Captain America was Jesus Christ what am I trying to say the series Captain America during Civil War when it was tied in not really tied in I mean it is tied in Steve Epstein did a lot of that and it was great And so like when I'm looking at this art throughout this book, I was like, that's exactly very nostalgic to me.

So I give it a 10 out of 10 of that art, Steve Epting.

But this, you know, recommender, I'm curious where you guys sit.

Because like I said before, it's been, you know, he's been like Sacrifice Your Seasons, Escape, which came out a little bit ago.

Like, um, I do think Rick did a better job of cutting out his, um, his tropes that I don't care for his, his over, um, epiloguing their inner thoughts, which I strongly dislike, specifically from Rick himself.

The art phenomenon.

Velvet was my biggest dip into Steve Epting

art.

I'm sure there's many more people we can do.

I think of Tom Palmer over Steve Epting is where I really think of it.

Like, that's a very, like, yeah, you can, and it's, you know, early Steve Epting, but you can see way more Tom Palmer than Steve Epting.

Yeah.

It looks like it's in line with everything else as opposed to like, we got a new artist.

Indeed.

Uh, we're both Rick Remender fans, uh, from the, uh, sacrifices and some other books he's done and, um, so I was eager to pick this up when I saw that he was coming out with a new series with art by the, uh, the great Steve Epting, um, who also worked on Captain America with Ed Brubaker a while back, um, as well as a bunch, many other things.

Um, and, uh, Epting's art did not disappoint.

I, uh, I've always enjoyed his artwork and, uh, this is no exception.

Yeah, another great volume for sure.

Yeah.

So we're halfway through, Steve, and another

14 to go.

[laughs] Uh, he's been on the show a couple of times if you wanna check out, uh, great fun interviews with a wonderful, uh, absolute gentleman, uh, professional artist.

Um, worked with Steve Epting, and, and penciled and inked and all kinds of stuff.

And we had him on the show episode 23, uh, and then also, uh, he came back for episode 130.

Um, also celebrating a birthday a couple days later on the 22nd, Roy Thomas.

All right, so let's head over to Image, where there were multiple books.

And let's start with Hammer Fist, issue number one, by Rick Remender and Steve Epting.

This is, I don't know, double-sized, very hefty first issue, and it is... kind of a hard-boiled uh it's about a a mercenary hitman who gets pulled into a a job i think robbing I don't remember what it is that he thinks they're robbing exactly, but there's some twists and turns and it is not at all what he thought he was being brought in for.

This turns about three quarters of the way through or maybe two thirds into a supernatural story where they are stealing this hammer fist.

So to explain this a little more, we start with what is essentially a Brubaker protagonist, which

is

very appropriate given that it's Steve Epting drawing this.

So it really added to that vibe.

But speaking of thug life, let's get right into Hammerfist.

You and Steve Epting, thank you for sending me the first two issues.

Man...

Great stuff.

I haven't revealed it in the book yet, so we're still being a little tight-lipped, but I just say, you know, tonally it's very similar to Evil Dead 2 in that the one then, the chocolate and the peanut butter.

I like to, you know, try to take various chocolates and peanut butters that have not been mixed and say, what does this taste like? And...

Fortunately, I get to have a brilliant art team and Steve Epting and Matt Hollingsworth execute.

So no matter how crazy it is, it looks good.