I know, I know, it’s a tough spot for SNAP right now—there’s a lot going around with lots of feelings on the community’s part, on my part, and (presumably) on Second Dinner’s part. And there’s some really important conversations being had (alongside important conversations that haven’t), but in the meanwhile I want to make sure that we don’t get sucked into pure doom and gloom when there’s still joy to be found other parts of the game. Don’t read that as attempting to distract from things that need to be addressed: they do. But at the same time, the game continues, and I want to continue contributing to the community that’s helping keep this game together. So let’s take a look—there’s some cool stuff this week.
06/24
Winking Studio’s Spotlight Dormammu
Artist: Winking Studio
Source: General Pool (Spotlight)
Maybe it’s the way Dormammu’s excellent design lends itself to monstrously dramatic lighting, but this Winking Studio variant (as per usual, releasing for the new card) feels like it really grabs at some gravitas in a way that not all of their work does, and the piece is all the better for it. I really love the simplified fireball head and the way it still manages to keep the ominous feeling of that face in the flames, even rendered in this more fun, cartoonized style. It’s a solid one for the folks looking forward to Dormammu, but the reminder, as always, is that it seems that these may return for a Token price earlier—consider your 2400 Gold carefully! The Token price will likely be equivalent, but if you’re anything like me, Gold is a heckuva lot scarcer.
Creative House Pocket’s Agatha Bundle
Artist: Creative House Pocket
Source: Bundle
Creative House Pocket is taking a page from the mainline comics capitalizing on Agatha’s resurgence in popularity, tackling her reimagined younger form with that anime flair that the studio is built for. It’s on-model, too, following in the footsteps of Julian del Rey and really hewing close to that baseline purple robe, stylish white streak of hair going on. What this piece also brings is the front-and-center dramatic light of that purple ball of glowing magic, adding some dynamism and pizzazz to what will no doubt be a popular variant already for anime fans.
Nicola Saviori’s Venomized Red Guardian Bundle!
Artist: Nicola Saviori
Source: Bundle
Saviori’s back with that trademark stylishly horrifying, alien Venomized flair, as always; no matter the character, he seamlessly combines the incredibly appealing bright colors and broad curves of a stylized cartoon with the abject horror that a toothy, parasitic ooze can inflict on the body of its host. Poor Aleksei is sporting teeth for an abdomen, and the character (or, what we see of him) is also rendered in that delightfully expressive cartoon style. Saviori’s behind the single bundle I’ve caved for before (his Venom) and I’m always going to feel that jab of temptation… I guess I’ll be seeing all you bundle buyers in the vault next time around!
Zoltan Boros’ Bast
Artist: Zoltan Boros
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Zoltan Boros becomes a repeat SNAP artist with this Bast, bringing some aggressive, roaring energy to Bast here. She’s depicted quite straightforwardly here, perhaps even moreso than any other variant she’s got: it’s a catperson goddess, complete with an admirable catperson goddess physique. (And fur.) It’s competently drawn and ferociously animalistic, and the intersection of people who like Bast and the people who enjoy some more animalistic monster-person energy is probably a big one—if you fall in that category, you very well may enjoy this one.
06/25
Creative House Pocket’s Dormammu
Artist: Creative House Pocket
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Dormammu’s back-up variant is here at a sane 1200 Gold, and so folks that want a cool alt-art that maintains that dramatically cool composition and lighting should look to one of the best Creative House Pocket variants in recent memory here: the dread ruler of the Dark Dimension has his shadowed face pushed up close and personal in a remarkably dynamic composition, and the colors help push that to achieve something genuinely cool. With only this week’s variants mined for the card as a whole so far, I think that this will be the variant being rocked by acolytes of Dormammu everywhere.
Rian Gonzales’s Copycat
Artist: Rian Gonzales
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Rian Gonzales has a couple of variants this week, including this fun Super Rare variant that gets away from the common trend of Chibi by Gonzales and instead renders Copycat in still-adorable but more realistically-proportions. Gonzales really utilizes her strength for incredibly bright, dream-like colors that bring shapeshifting to life in a more magical way—I love the way those wispy clouds curl around her arm, mimicking the common ‘line of transformation’ we see often in pieces with Copycat with some real added flair. The little emphasis on those pointed ears cement the impish feel to the entire piece, making for a variant that’s as fun as Gonzales’ best.
06/26
Cover Alert: Howard The Duck (2023) #1 Annie Wu Variant!
Artist: Annie Wu
Source: General Pool (Rare)
I love this Howard the Duck cover, and I love Annie Wu! She’s a phenomenal comic artist with a more restrained kind of comic linework than some of the more outrageously dynamic art we’ve seen in SNAP—but her work maintains all of life and expressiveness so key to great comic art, and this relatively simple cover of Howard reading a comic book encapsulates that. Maybe, quietly, the best part about this piece is the background of larger-than-life superheroes Howard is walking among, making for some great storytelling that lets us know the regular duck-guy that we’re following through the very irregular world he resides in. It’s a wonderfully told piece, and it’s a steal for 700 Gold, if you’ve got it to spare!
Cover Alert: The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #17 John Giang Variant!
Artist: John Giang
Source: Bundle
It’s covers back-to-back this day, with maybe the spiritual polar opposite to the last one: Spider-Man in symbiotic excess, rendered with a dramatic gloss by John Giang. It’s less storytelling than Howard reading a comic book, but it’s got lots of energy as Giang depicts the fluid tendrils of the black suit merging with the solid form of Spidey’s body. It’s a more cinematic cover that will appeal to lots of folks that want a more striking piece from their Bundle purchase. Give it a shot, if you’re interested!
06/27
Cover Alert: Silk (2022) #1 Rian Gonzales Variant!
Artist: Rian Gonzales
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
The back-issue cuts keep coming with this Rian Gonzales variant from Silk’s 2022 series (not to be confused with the relaunched series in 2023), and it’s another classic classic non-Chibi one! Rather than just leaning cute, Gonzales taps into the less-tread cool factor in her work, using those colors to render Cindy in streetwear seamlessly with her ordinary outfit. It’s contemporary in a cool way for a character already so current, and it’s really refreshing to see Gonzales tackle a different tone from her ordinary SNAP-specific Chibi fare with the cuteness turned up to 11.
06/28
PANDART STUDIO’s Doctor Doom
Artist: PANDART STUDIO
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Doom finally gets a PANDART, and it gives him a subtle but interestingly divergence from his classic design thanks to a more prominent nose on his mask. Of course, he’s always had a nose—you can check, I did too—but something about the framing combined with tweaks to the ‘facial structure’ of the mask in other ways makes this Doom look quite different. He’s otherwise recognizable, and rendered in those dark colors and shadows quite competently; I never thought I’d say it, but it is refreshing to see PANDART among the studio fare for the week, and Doom looking more different in a specific way makes this piece stand out as at least interesting! It’s solid, and if anyone’s looking for a Doom variant (he’s got plenty, of course) this is a perfectly serviceable option.
06/29
Rian Gonzales’ Gwenpool
Artist: Rian Gonzales
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
And we’re back with Rian Gonzales to finish us out, giving us a commissioned piece that helps to fill out Gwenpool’s strangely small variant catalogue. I especially appreciate the Pride flair for a queer character (she’s ace!) but there’s some great specificity in the character’s blonde lashes, that quirky bow, and the general pinkness of it all. It’s got a lot of character for a character that’s already got a lot of character, and Gonzales’ design decisions make for really great additions to an alt-art for a popular character and card in the meta game right now.
Wrapping Up
And that’s a forecast! Hopefully, you’ve got some favorites to look forward to this week, and hopefully there’s more to look at when a patch hits very soon; on top of that, hopefully good news (or, at least, better news) strikes very soon. But for now, I wanna hear from you guys! What variants have caught your eye? What are you skeptical of? Let me know below, and until then, see you next time!
P.S. Congratulations to PakMan24 for winning the giveaway last week! Enjoy the PAX code and goodies. For everyone else, be on the lookout for the next giveaway opportunity here on Snap.Fan!