It’s a light load today in the midst of a slow news week! With all of Second Dinner going on some kind of company time off, we’re down an OTA patch and generally chilling with not much new. Compound that with the fact that datamined Spotlight variants are out of the picture for a bit, and we’re looking at a quieter forecast than usual. But that isn’t to say there isn’t work worth covering! Speaking of which…
05/20
Cover Alert: Artgerm’s X-23!
Artists (in order): Artgerm
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
We’re kicking off with what will no doubt be hugely popular: Artgerm’s variant cover for NYX (2024) #1! (If you’re counting, that brings us to at least 3 different covers from the same series. Someone up there’s a fan!) Artgerm once absolutely dominated discussions of favorite artists in SNAP, and while he hasn’t had too much presence in recent months for the game, people always seem excited when some of his work comes to the game. This particular variant cover is a great return to Artgerm’s strength for highly rendered pinups of attractive characters— X-23’s rocking her classic outfit and showing off some washboard abs, and her claws are gleaming on full display.
Perhaps the most striking for me, though, is going to be that lighting; I love that transition from the cool, almost dispassionate white-blue light above on her face and shoulders to the warmer lighting below (accompanied by a bloodstained backdrop). It adds a ton of variety to the piece and makes Artgerm’s sometimes-static looking figure work really come to life!
Yo Shimizu’s Gwenpool
Artist: Yo Shimizu
Source: Bundle
Yo Shimizu is doing their part to finally help bring Gwenpool’s variant catalogue up to snuff, giving us an overt anime-inspired variant for the chipper reality-breaker from our universe. There’s something more resonant than normal about an anime style from Gwen (in no small part thanks to her classic run being done by Japanese illustration duo GURUHIRU) and so Shimizu’s style feels right at home here. The pink katana feels like the perfect over-the-top flourish to top it all off. It’s pretty clear that at this point there’s lots of precedent for anime-style variants to be in bundles, and this is no different— if that’s up your alley, I’d expect to be on the lookout for more like this.
ARTTREE’s Aero
Artist: ARTTREE Studio
Source: Bundle
Speaking of! ARTTREE is another studio that does precisely that! Striking some sort of balance between Artgerm and Shimizu, it gives us a third anime-style option in one day, with the high-fidelity rendering of the former artist but the more 2-dimensional, bright lighting and colors of the latter. I suspect there will be heavy overlap in the demographic that these variants all appeal to, and it’s understandable how. I’m always a bit skeptical of an art studio, and this hits the level of high contrast gloss that I’m not always the biggest fan of, but this Aero ultimately falls on the right side of appealing for me, with some colors that really pop.
05/21
Cover Alert: Elixir’s Quiet Council Portrait!
Artist: Phil Noto
Source: General Pool (Rare)
Another cover is here; this time, it’s X-Men Forever (2024) #2, featuring the Krakoan portrait for none other than Elixir! Noto’s a great source for a more grounded conceit in any given comic, owing to the great life he instills in all of his expressions and figures, and the idea that Krakoa would have its most influential players immortalized in portraiture like nobles and politicians (posed in front of that alien Krakoa-plant imagery!) was terrific. Grounding that with Noto’s painted style that’s equal parts comic and realistic makes it all a resounding win, especially for Elixir’s debut shop variant. And, like all of these excellent covers have been for new cards, it’s landing at 700 gold: an absolute steal for one of the best variants launching this week.
05/22
Creative House Pocket’s Khonshu
Artist: Creative House Pocket
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Khonshu’s working a pushed, dynamic standing angle here, courtesy of Creative House Pocket, and he’s doing so with a hood and blue fire coming out of his iconic bird skull. It’s the sort of creative liberties that I’m glad to see even from a studio like Creative House Pocket, giving us more than just a same-ish alt-art of a character for a variant. Props are due when they’re due; this Khonshu is one of the more transformative ones we’ve seen so far, with that splash of blue fire adding an interesting colorful dimension to such a monochrome character and (perhaps intentionally) lining up with the light blue of a Full Moon Khonshu in-game.
Is that a coincidence, or a benefit of custom commissions being tailor-made for this game? Who’s to say. Creative House Pocket fans, enjoy! And Creative House Pocket skeptics, consider reconsidering a moment for this one. I know I did!
05/23
George Kambadais’ Debut Firehair
Artist: George Kambadais
Source: General Pool (Rare)
This is an exciting one! I’ve followed George Kambadais on Instagram for quite some time (he’s got wonderful Spider-Man fanart) and so seeing an artist like him jump to a huge platform like SNAP. It’s a bonus that he’s getting a chance to flex his style on a character in need of commissioned art like Firehair— I really am a fan of this trend of Second Dinner seeking out more diverse artists to fill out catalogues like hers, and that it’s a great way to introduce lots of different looks to characters that wouldn’t have much of any source art otherwise.
Kambadais’ flat colors and stylized 2-D look are a big departure from what we’ve seen of her so far, and he nails a certain dynamism within the abstraction of that style: her pose, from her foreshortened arm to her billowing hair, feels like it’s given that much more energy because it’s not quite aligned with what ‘realism’ might dictate. It’s a solid piece, and, while Firehair’s slim catalogue already has some stiff Horley-shaped competition in it, anybody interested in breaking from reality (or anybody who didn’t get the Spotlight) may very well be interested in this one. Here’s hoping to see more Kambadais soon!
A.J. Nazarro’s Promo Colossus
Artist: A.J. Nazarro
Source: Promo
A.J. Nazarro remains one of the more successful attempts in SNAP to convert some of these characters to a Disney-esque look and stylization. And there’s been a few artists that have tried! Nazarro’s edge is that they don’t let the allure of cartoony stylization get them away from the fundamentals. This Colossus has so much heft and weight to his design, and, while he’s heavily stylized, the anatomy’s tangible even in those exaggerated tree-trunk arms to help ground the whole thing.
I’m a big fan of the look, and while I’m not positive this Colossus will be released a certain way over another, it’s certainly plausible that we’ll be getting more log-in rewards where he might show up. If he doesn’t, keep your eyes peeled during the next limited game mode to see where he pops up next.
05/24
Helen Jee’s Ghost-Spider!
Artist: Helen Jee
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Helen Jee, as far as I’m concerned, is always an artist I’m going to give proverbial roses to in the show that is SNAP. Her style for a paper-doll-esque look, with muted colors and wonderfully earthy textures, has been adjusted to fit a more detailed and up-close figure here in Ghost-Spider, and it adapts really, really well to the increased compositional drama of Gwen looking over her shoulder at us, perched in a web.
I love her expression, and I love all the colors and lighting that are adding a very specific mood to the entire piece: that orange light giving all of Gwen’s costume and hair a warmer tint establishes such a wonderful atmosphere. Contemplative? Melancholic, even! She is a Spider-person, after all. I’ll see you guys in the shop; I might not be able to turn this banger down like I have countless others.
05/25
Lee Woo-Chul’s Loki
Artist: Lee Woo-Chul
Source: General Pool (Rare)
Lee Woo-Chul Loki taps into a similar vein as their other work, applying ‘life-like’ realistic rendering to a deceptively stylized ‘appeal-driven’ look into a piece not unlike work done by folks like Artgerm. And, like Artgerm, Woo-Chul has hits and misses, though they ordinarily set themself apart through pure labor and quality— while it’s often not my favorite look, it’s hard to deny when Woo-Chul nails a piece in quality.
That’s what’s at play here, with a terrifically pushed angle from below and that mischievous green glow around his palms and eyes. It’s not my top Woo-Chul piece, but it is one that may entice fans of either Woo-Chul, anime, or Loki: for 700 gold, it also falls under the ‘what a steal, art pricing is arbitrary’ line of thought that you might be a bit of at this point.
05/26
Junggeun Yoon’s Hit-Monkey
Artist: Junggeun Yoon
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Junggeun Yoon’s wrapping this up with another assassin; if you recall, he recently had an Elektra enter the game, and so it’s only fitting he come back with another killer-for-hire. Yoon’s figure work with this Hit-Monkey is quite good, with the inherent ridiculousness of a monkey dual wielding guns foreshortened up front and center to help underscore how over-the-top the character is.
At the same time, I do love the gravity of Hit-Monkey’s expression peeking out from under those glasses with those burning yellow eyes. Mostly, I’m always excited to see a comic artist get their break into SNAP and then come back for a clear encore of sorts; I hope that Second Dinner keeps that up, as well!
Wrapping Up
No Spotlights, like I said, but expect those missing Spotlight variants for the newly released cards to come within a week; until then, we’ll just be doing business as usual with all the other releases. For any friendly neighborhood commenters last week, I apologize for not doing my round of replies like I normally do! Pesky life can get in the way of what really matters: community forum engagement.
So talk to me, and I’ll talk back! What do y’all think? Is there anything I’m big on that you’re not so much? Vice versa? Let me hear down below, and I promise I’ll be responding right there with you. See you next time!