The latest Forecast is here, y’all, and I’m tight on time this week so I’m going to keep it short and sweet. There’s some great stuff here; there’s some good stuff here; there’s some great stuff here. I’ll let you sort through which is which! In other news, the weekly Horley 6k Token tax is due from me, lots of great comic artists get original commission love from Second Dinner, and, uh, there’s drama about Pixel variants. Well, we’ve got the time to cover at least two things today. Forecast, ho!
03/18
Spotlights
Artists (in order): Alex Horley, Jon Lam, Stefano Simeone
Source: Spotlight Cache
It’s another great Horley week, bringing out a terrific rendition of Firehair, the first fiery Phoenix host, founder of the Avengers 1,000,000 BC, and a deeper cut from recent comics— meaning she’ll be a character hungry for brand new commissioned art. And if this Spotlight is any sign, she’s gonna be a great recipient for that art— seeing her given the Horley treatment, bringing the prehistoric accoutrements to life and making her feel like a character far more than just a ‘skin’ for a Redheaded Phoenix Force Recipient. It’s a Horley: nothing short of phenomenal. (I’m spending more tokens this week, if you hadn’t noticed.)
Coming in the same cache will be Stefano Simeone’s debut Cassandra Nova, which is a simple but cool stylized version of Professor X’s evil twin on a pleasant pastel green sky backdrop— Simeone is a comic artist but to my knowledge hasn’t done Marvel art like this before, making this a nice addition to the “Second Dinner is commissioning comic artists” trend that I’ve appreciated seeing. Jon Lam is a veteran at this point, and we’re seeing a particularly foreshortened and dynamic Nico from him that once again pushes his work to new heights— while he isn’t an artist I often rave about, he’s steadily had work in the game that feels like it’s improving each time.
Junggeun Yoon’s Elektra
Artist: Junggeun Yoon
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Junggeun Yoon’s Elektra here is cool because she’s a character that Yoon’s had plenty of experience drawing covers for already— but this is a direct commission from Second Dinner if I’m not mistaken, meaning that it’s yet another prolific Marvel artist joining the Second Dinner ranks. New artists are something I’m always glad to see (especially amidst the ever-increasing flood of studio work) and I’m doubly glad that Second Dinner seems to be putting effort into commissioning work from Marvel cover artists to do cover-level work, getting a great piece and compensating them (when they could have just used an existing cover and not paid.)
It’s nice, and a great way to balance out the existing covers that I do love to see as well— Yoon’s an experienced Elektra artist, and this is a solid piece that uses the pink lighting and petals to soften a character normally absolutely wreathed in blood and murder. Make no mistake, though: that’s a blood moon behind her.
Artgerm’s Scream Bundle
Artist: Artgerm
Source: Bundle
It feels like we hadn’t seen a new Artgerm enter the fray in a minute, and so it’s surprisingly refreshing to see his variant cover from Scream: Curse of Carnage (2019) #1 enter this week. I’m not the hugest Artgerm stan, but I do think that he’s an experienced and solid artist with a clear style, and it’s cool to see that style (oft applied to conventionally attractive women in a pinup portraits) applied to the more irregular Symbiote design and textures of Scream here. Seeing Artgerm’s trademark rendering and detail applied to a graphic, fully ‘covered’ design like Scream’s is a welcome change of pace, and it flexes some real versatility on Artgerm’s part for that piece to land the same way his best pieces elsewhere do.
Creative House Pocket’s Cannonball Bundle
Artist: Creative House Pocket
Source: Bundle
Creative House Pocket’s reign in March continues, this time with a goggles-on Cannonball mid-blast. There’s a devil-may-care attitude about Cannonball here that’s fun when combined with that eye-gear— it reminds me of many a confident mall-rat I’ve seen, perhaps rocking a Guy Fieri-esque flaming hot button down. But maybe I’m projecting! Anyhow, that seems maybe a smidgen off base for ‘aw-shucks hick’ Cannonball here. But who am I to judge? It’s a fun piece with lots of personality, and I’m sure most people are going to be perfectly fine with whatever expression Sam’s got. It’s a dynamic and fun pose, and I do like how stark those inked shadows are in his rocketing lower half. Bundle buyers, keep an eye out!
03/19
Fireball Studio’s Firehair
Artist: Fireball Studio
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
For the folks reticent to spend the extra premium for a Spotlight variant, but interested in decking out Firehair, Fireball Studios is here with a 1200 Gold solution! This Firehair piece is stylized like traditional modern comic art, with a simplified style but a solid amount of depth and dynamism to it. Like the other Fireball Prehistoric Avengers variants, it feels particularly characterized by how clear the shapes and colors read, and I like how the flatter colors lend themselves to working with the especially graphically styled fire on both her hands. It might be my favorite of the Fireball Studio variants this week, and it’s certainly one that’s a fine starting point for newfound fans of Firehair looking for some variant art.
Brett Bean’s Kraven Bundle
Artist: Brett Bean
Source: Bundle
Brett Bean’s back in bundles, baby! While he’s not quite exclusive to bundles the same way someone like Justin Fields has been, there’s no disputing that Bean’s been primarily in Bundles since his SNAP debut. And it’s understandable! There’s something idiosyncratic about his style and its children’s book sensibility, boiling down each character he draws down to pure personality. Kraven’s devious Dick Dastardly chin here carries so much character, exaggerating the sinister hunter we all know and love into a delightfully villainous cartoon character. It’s all brought to life even further by those great colors, with a subtle grey-green really making those classic orange hues pop. So what can I say? $@#! you, I’m jealous, and I’ll see you in the vault next year.
03/20
Sergio Fernandez Dávila’s Carnage Cover
Artist: Sergio Fernandez Dávila
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Next up, we’ve got Sergio Fernández Dávila’s variant cover from Carnage (2023) #4, featuring an old-school kind of cover with Carnage ripping apart Spider-Man costume in an homage to the classic Amazing Spider-Man #238 cover (with Hobgoblin doing the same). It’s a fun reference and done with inks and colors that really remind me of comics in the 2000s that I grew up with, even if it’s really a recent cover. It’s a great pull for Second Dinner to get some of that energy from more recognizable comic eras into the game regardless, with so many commissioned pieces coming out alongside them.
Carnage is a fun character to also choose to emulate that cover, injecting an implicit level of bloody violence into the act of tearing apart a Spidey costume. Dávila’s modern-classic sensibilities bring that to life; I’m looking forward to seeing more covers like this broaden what we might see in SNAP.
Envar Studio’s Dagger Bundle
Artist: Envar Studio
Source: Bundle
Envar’s got some showings this week, with this Dagger bundle catching eyes because it’s also a solid bundle from a pure gold value perspective. Now if you know me, you know I’m not really one to care about more than the actual piece when it comes to a variant bundle; I’m not ga-ga over this piece, even there’s some cool lighting going on with Dagger’s light daggers in the foreground and that cool grey shading her suit. Envar does fine enough work helping set up exactly what a variant in this game should do at the minimum, which is provide a character with alternate art that’s interesting and different to look at. Moreover, I can appreciate the stylized decisions made to simplify Dagger, and the dynamic foreshortening helps the energy of piece a ton. Any value buyers might be picking this bundle up for Gold regardless of the variant; I’ll see the rest of you in the vault.
Deja vu? Deja vu.
03/21
Envar Studio’s Cable
Artist: Envar Studio
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Envar also has a General Pool Cable variant entering circulation at 1200 Gold, continuing to position studio work as some of the more prolific, available options for folks who don’t necessarily have the gold or keys to chase the ‘fancier’ variants. (Note the quotes!) It’s a good piece, too! Skeptic that I am about studios in general, I sometimes need to remind myself that there’s some good work to come from any of them every once in a while, and that this Cable is a good example of some of that. There’s a simplicity to how well that red cloak makes him pop, and it’s otherwise a great action pose in great lighting. I don’t have much more to say, beyond the fact that this may be my favorite Envar in the game right now!
03/22
Rian Gonzales’ Chibi Black Swan
Artist: Rian Gonzales
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
I don’t think Black Swan gets to head up the ‘Black Order needs more variants’ club anymore, with Rian Gonzales bringing her number of Released variants up to 5, from a datamined set of no less than 8! It’s no surprise, of course; Black Swan’s one of those characters with both a particularly striking visual hook and a particularly small backlog of comic art to her name (covers or otherwise).
By my estimate? She’s actually probably the most popular she’s ever been, being broadcast to a whole new audience of players who haven’t necessarily heard of her but love her design. (See: The Infinaut!) So Rian Gonzales is the latest to help power that hype train, channeling her trademark colors and cute Chibi style to give Black Swan a wildly colorful piece that breaks away from how monochrome her character can be drawn. Those vivid oranges, pinks, and violets really help those eyebeams pop, and that mischievous smirk adds a ton of personality.
03/23
Bengal’s Frigga
Artist: Bengal
Source: General Pool (Rare)
It might sound like a bit of a surprise, but Bengal may be one of my favorites for the whole week, with some really great colors and an understated but distinct style to the linework. Bengal’s another comic artist directly commissioned by Second Dinner, having done the Ghost Spider 2099 variant cover that came to the game absolutely ages ago, which has only made me more excited to see who else Second Dinner can bring to the game. I love the way these colors pop, especially in contrast with how generic the typical gradient shading can feel in comics and SNAP’s base style, and seeing how Bengal renders that skin tone should be proof that there is more to beautiful ‘life-like’ than the glossy stylized rendering that we see out of so much work in SNAP.
03/24
Vincenzo Riccardi’s Baron Zemo
Artist: Vincenzo Riccardi
Source: General Pool (Super Rare)
Riccardi’s back, bringing us yet another card in his psychedelic style, with that intricate lighting and those iridescent colors really adding a lot of depth and dimension to Baron Zemo here. I’m always a little amused by how Riccardi was clearly given a list of characters that featured multiple core cards in the Surfer deck, and Zemo is the latest in a series of 3-Costs that could go in a Surfer list if you wanted to trick out a full Riccardi deck. And why wouldn’t you? There are few artists who could create such a strong look across a list of 12, and I’d be wholly dazzled by anyone running that deck, whether or not it’s the cutting edge of Surfer tech.
Creees and Mooncolony’s Heimdall 1,000,000 BC Bundle
Artist: Creees/Mooncolony
Source: Bundle
We’re wrapping up with the latest of the Prehistoric Avengers tie-in bundles, which all feature, for lack of a term, ‘skins’ done by Creees and Mooncolony. Seeing Heimdall in a caveman outfit feels like a thinner premise than following through on the idea like the original Avengers 1,000,000 BC, and that’s really just how I feel about most of these variants tacked on alongside the pieces referencing the comics (and the Dino Avengers, who are in fact comics-compliant.) But there’s a novel kick you can get out of putting a familiar character in a funny costume, and these at least feel fresher than those classic base style variants that just put characters into slightly different outfits.
And That’s A Wrap!
Really, I do have to go. But I love doing these! So let’s get to the fun part where you tell me what y’all are feeling from this selection. Anything you’re agonizing over? Anything you wish was something else? Really, truly, are we spending tokens or keys as Horley Spotlight variant enjoyers? Big questions and more, to be answered below! And until next week… Ta-ta!