Pintakasi's "The Lam-Ang Experiment"

"The Lam-Ang Experiment" is futuristic science fiction based on the medieval Ilocano epic of Lam-Ang.  This 3-volume graphic novel is written by Michael A.R. Co. and illustrated by artists from the Creative Media and Film Society of the Philippines ("Pintakasi").

Kip Omolade's Expecting

Click on thumbnail to view full image in artist's gallery.

"Expecting" was selected for Spectrum 11: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art.

Brass & Steam Productions' "Pirate Lovers"

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Commissioned by Brass & Steam Productions from Alex Boca.

Michel Ocelot's "Kirikou and the Sorceress"

Kirikou and the Sorceress is a 1998 feature film from director Michel Ocelot. Based loosely on folklore that Ocelot was acquainted with during his childhood sojourn in Guinea,¹ this animated tale opens with the birth of the undersized but extremely precocious Kirikou.

The curious newborn hears from his mother that a powerful sorceress has stopped the community's water supply and annihilated all the men in the village. Upon learning that the his last surviving uncle has set off on a seemingly doomed quest to challenge the witch, the resourceful Kirikou rushes down the road of flame trees to assist his mother's youngest brother...

Karaba the Sorceress

Kirikou's uncle battles
the sorceress's minions

Daxiong's "The Ming Dynasty Emperor" and "The Swordmaster 2"

Detail from The
Ming Dynasty Emperor

Please click on thumbnails for full view of images in artist's gallery.

The Swordmaster 2

Fasole's "Cyperpunk Samurai"

Snow Crash fanart by Fasole (paradanmellow). Click thumbnail to view larger image in artist's gallery. Finally, a quality Hiro portrait that actually respects the author's character description. ;-) (Snow Crash is a cyperpunk novel by Neal Stephenson. The protagonist is of African American and Korean descent.)

Has anyone noticed that most of the official Snow Crash covers with Hiro on them show either a silhouette or back view? And the few covers that have Hiro in profile or three-quarter view portray him with Caucasian features. One Hiro illustration, which made it into Spectrum some years ago,  didn't even get the hair right. (That particular illustrator portrayed Hiro as someone with white skin, European features and lank hair.)

This isn't an issue unique to Snow Crash covers. Another example is the treatment of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books. As the author herself describes in Slate article A Whitewashed Earthsea, publishers seem to go out of their way to avoid showing non-white faces on book covers, out of fear that doing so might hurt sales.

Occult Crimes Taskforce graphic novel

In Occult Crimes Taskforce (O.C.T.), New York policewoman Sophia Ortiz (modeled after co-writer Rosario Dawson) and her teammates fight supernatural criminals with their own magical arts. Artwork by Tony Shasteen. Co-written by Rosario Dawson and David Atchinson.