Rose City Roll Call 2014: Steve Lieber

Steve Lieber's Green Turtle Poster
Debuts at Rose City 2014

Rose City Roll Call! Cambot! Gypsy! Tom Servo! Croooooow! Periscope! Dark Horse! Kurt Busiek! Ooooooooooonnnnni! It's another Panel Patter feature on creators and publishers who will be at Rose City Comic Con! You can find all our features for the show right here!

Though Panel Patter is mostly devoted to indie comics, there's definitely some books involving superheroes that are "superior" to others, and one of the men behind such a book is artist Steve Lieber. I've been a fan of Steve's since I first read his work with Greg Rucka on Whiteout (review here of Volume 1 and Volume 2 from back in 2010, which feel really poor versus the reviews I do now), in which Lieber uses white the way most artists use black, because of the setting in the wilds of Antarctica.

Over time, I've jumped at any chance to read Steve's stuff, and it just keeps getting better and better. There's something about a Lieber-drawn page that captures just the right moment going on at any point of a story he's involved with. You never think, "Hmm, I wish the artist had shown us X instead" with one of Steve's panels, and often my reaction is "Wow, I wouldn't have thought to show it that way."

In the case of Superior Foes of Spider-Man, which Steve worked on with Nick Spencer, it was often, "I can't believe Marvel let them do that!" Pushing the boundaries of what you can expect from a superhero book at every opportunity, Steve and Nick (along with colorist Rachelle Rosenberg and periodic contributor Steve Ellis) really took a concept that could have failed badly and turned it into a comedy caper some of the best set pieces I've read in a comic. I interviewed Steve when I was doing feature work for Newsarama, and it was definitely my pleasure.

For the show, Steve will have copies of the trades of Superior Foes, the hardcover editions of Alabaster (his series working with writer Caitlin Kiernan), along with Whiteout, Underground, and anything else he can bring along.

New for the show will be the print above, in which Lieber brings his talents to bear on the main character in The Shadow Hero. It looks great, and even better in person.

In addition to being an amazing artist and storyteller, Steve is a fun guy to talk to with a dry wit and happy to discuss the art of comics with you, if he's not too busy. Make sure you keep Steve plenty busy at Rose City Comic Con this year!

Can't make Rose City? Steve can be found online here.