"Warrior Falls" Black Panther vs. Killmonger by Sal Velluto & Bob Almond: Blueline Commission

Sal Velluto is my longtime art partner since 1997 and he's the artist I've inked the most commissions/unpublished art/recreations than anyone else with this piece being #69! And it's with Black Panther, the character we are most-recognized for and the one I have the most amount of commissions done, etc. at #55 with this job. But the client is a rare one in my commissions galleries, Stu Neft, this being only his third job for me. It's also only the 2nd Killmonger commission done, the first being the one with him and his lieutenants from Jungle Action by Val Semeiks.

Warrior Falls is an iconic setting because not only was it the location at the start and finish of Don McGregor's "Panther's Prey" arc in Jungle Action and in Priest and our run but it's also a key scene in the first Black panther film. Sal & I found the subject matter and the request simultaneously for another client (next entry for BP vs. Malice) motivating so we'd hoped to possibly do a series of Panther and his rogues pieces (Man-Ape, Klaw, White Wolf) to turn into prints. That plan ultimately didn't really play out but who knows what opportunities could come about from client requests later. I used my inventory of markers on this and for the water FX used an X-acto blade for scraping and white paint on my toothbrush for spatter and on my fingers for misty, smokey textures. I completed this 11"x17" blueline commission on 2-ply Kubert board by 10/28/2021. We had this one colored by Tom Chu which he finished 4/16/2022.