Meet Cover Artist Eric Shanower

We are delighted to introduce cover artist Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze), illustrator of the wonderful cover art for the Oz anthology Omniboz: Tales from the Land of Oz, edited by Jendia Gammon and Ernie Chiara! Eric is a longtime Oz illustrator and writer, and he has also contributed short stories to this anthology as well as the horror anthology, Of Dread, Decay, and Doom.

About Eric Shanower

Eric Shanower is the award-winning cartoonist of the graphic novel series Age of Bronze (Image Comics), retelling the story of the Trojan War. He’s written and drawn dozens of Oz projects, including writing New York Times best-selling graphic novel adaptations of six of L. Frank Baum’s Oz books (Marvel Comics). Shanower has illustrated for television, stage, magazines, and children’s books, two of which he wrote himself. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Jendia’s Note: I have been a fan of Eric’s Oz illustrations and stories for decades, and was lucky enough to meet him at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019! It is an absolute dream to have a cover designed by Eric. Here we are at SDCC:

Stars and Sabers Editor-in-Chief Jendia Gammon next to artist and writer Eric Shanower at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019. Jendia holds two of Eric’s Oz books.

Art Direction and Process – by Eric Shanower

I’ve drawn large groupings of Oz characters before, and it’s always a delight, but drawing the Omniboz cover included an additional aspect I enjoyed. The book features two types of Oz stories, those in a traditional Oz vein and those with a darker edge. So, to suggest that division, the cover has two sections, one depicting the “good guys,” such as Ozma, the Scarecrow, the Wizard, Dorothy, and Glinda, and a second section depicting Oz villains, such as the Nome King, Mombi, Gwig, and Coo-ee-oh. I don’t often draw some of those villains, so that was a blast.

The Final Cover

Front cover for Omniboz: Tales from the Land of Oz anthology edited by Jendia Gammon and Ernie Chiara. Art of several Oz book characters, illustrated by Eric Shanower.

This is the final, fabulous cover for Omniboz: Tales from the Land of Oz. Thank you, Eric, for a complete dream-come-true cover for our Oz anthology!

Learn more about Eric Shanower on his website.

We have begun our crowd-funding campaign for Omniboz: Tales from the Land of Oz on Indiegogo! Explore the rewards and help us meet our funding goals.