Hellshock trading card (first appearance) by Jae Lee

Love the  Sienckiewickz effect. Also my favorite period of Lee's art. Even though I dislike the term}, this qualifies as a true 'birth' piece, since at birth a persom is not yet fully developed.

Congrats! Such a strong image for a 1st app.  

Jae Lee lets it all fly.  If he was going to make it big, it would have to be on his own terms.  Chances have to be taken, risks and stakes were high, and it would have to make a statement of who he is as an artist.  Hellshock may not have been the biggest thing to come from Image, but in terms of Jae, it was a monumental step.

When Jae hit the scene on Namor, I was blown away and immedaitely projected him to become a superstar. He then moved on to the style he emplyed on this piece, which was a far more refined Sienkiewicz approach, before finally moving on the the sillhouette and shadow heavy period from the Dark Tower onwards. Personally I feel he is still far better today than at any previous point in his career, but I will also admit that I can no longer look at that early Namor period without cringing. I like it only for nostalgic reasons, but not for aesthetic ones. The art from this Hellshock period is still easy to look at however.

I love the trading card, by the way. What a sign of the times. "One of ONLY TEN THOUSAND". Lol! So rare!

The inking on this is perfection. This piece must feel heavy with all the ink on it! Huge congrats!

This is the Swiped Right Piece, when he met the idea and fell in love. Heavy, inky love. I liked the energy of this period, too. It had that raw, emotional feel like Sienkiewicz, as you mentioned. And I don't think he could get much more ink on that piece. Very cool piece. Congrats!

I feel like colorists didn't always know what to do with Jae's work. Great to see the raw inks. 

It took me forever to get this trading card out of the set.  it was a "redemption" one.  so you had to get a redemption card in a pack and then mail it away with shipping and handling to actually get it.

Great piece.

Strong image from his early days ! Size of the art ?

Full bleed 11 by 17

awesome!

This is a really great piece of card art and a true "birth" piece for sure! Jae even scrapped the first attempt at issue #1 and redrew it so a lot changed between the card and the actual issue 1, but it was all an amazing time for his work. Huge congrats on the score, buddy! And if you ever decide to let it go, please keep me in mind. ;) 

Hellshock showed that Jae Lee not only could draw, but that he could write too. Nice catch !

Ridiculous intensity during this period. His art definitely got your attention as it was totally unlike anything else in the mainstream. Fantastic piece!