After finding out that Priest was hired for this year's Black Panther 60th Anniversary One-shot Special but we weren't even considered, Sal & I decided to do some pieces to celebrate the event on our own. I already posted a sketch cover piece that Sal did withme for Inkwell fundraising. Sal then came up with 2 options. This one was all-new original art with Panther front & center surrounded by floating heads from our run like (clockwise) Achebe & Daki, Malice, M'Baku the Man-ape, Everett K. Ross & Queen Divine Justice, Erik Killmonger, Moon Knight, Mephisto, Nightmare and Ororo. There were some edits made along the way in ink on Ororo & T'Challa. I used my 8404 Kolinsky size 3 brush alongside various inking markers on this 2-ply 11x14 board. It was ultimately finished on May 12, 2026. From my unpublished work, this is my 64th Black Panther piece and 82nd inks over Sal.
This second option is a color print which utilizes the floating heads from the original art and sections of the unpublished, rejected cover art for Black Panther 41 that we were later commissioned privately to complete and that I later digitally colored and have sold as a print for several years now. This time the art was digitally colored by Sal friend and partner, color artist Ranjan Dutta. This will be for sale by both of us online and via conventions we're at separately or together.
