Karate Kid vs. Lady Shiva by Steve Bryant

I discovered Steve Bryant’s art through the Comic Twart blog, and really dug it. His work on Athena Voltaire is just fantastic and everyone should check it out. Anyway, he’s been on my “artists to commission” list for a while and when he started a commission drive to help pay for his dog’s surgery I knew that the time had come for him to draw Mr. Val Armorr. Since Steve is so good at drawing women in action, I chose a female opponent for him: the deadly Sandra Woosan aka Lady Shiva. And he did a bang-up job! Steve said that “the piece presented a really fun challenge: I didn't want either character to have their backs to us, and I wanted neither character in the foreground, overshadowing the other. My compositional instincts led me to "stacking" the characters, with Shiva leaping/kicking, while Karate Kid punches/ducks. Both characters are untouched, but thwarted—evenly matched. I added in the graphic of the Yin Yang symbol to drive home the concept of balance.” I love what he did here and also I have to point out how great Shiva’s hair and jacket look. Thanks again, Steve!

Lady Shiva is one of the best (and definitely the deadliest) martial artists in the modern day DCU. She would be honored to have the opportunity to fight Val Armorr, and if he’s not careful, she break his neck. Ultimately, Val outclasses her and will win, but I think he will be bloody when he does so.

If you like this piece then please do go buy some books featuring Steve’s work and/or commission him yourself.