Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: Declan Shalvey, from the ashes, mystique

Declan Shalvey On a Mystique Comic For X-Men: From The Ashes Relaunch?

Has Declan Shalvey been writing and drawing a Mystique comic book for the X-Men: From The Ashes relaunch? Bleeding Cool joins the dots...

In his Substack newsletter, Declan Shalvey has been talking about many projects, and using the Warren Ellis-innovated PROJECT CAPITAL LETTER CODENAME for talking about yet-to-be-announced projects. And that includes one called Project Raven. Bleeding Cool previously ran gossip that Declan Shalvey would be working on a Mystique comic book, a solo series starring shape-shifting parent of Nightcrawler and partner of Destiny, Raven Darkholme, for the upcoming X-Men: From The Ashes relaunch. As Declan says these are "thinly veiled codewords". Here is what he has said about that project in his newsletter since last year.

November: "Handed in a pitch for PROJECT RAVEN and got three Marvel covers done, as well as the next cover for a Boom series [more below]. After some feedback, I have to bump it up a bit. Looks like I'll be starting PROJECT RAVEN once I get back from the States next week"

December: "Sent in a new, more fleshed out outline for PROJECT RAVEN. Assuming it's approved, I'm going to have a lot of fun with this."

Mid January: "Handed in a new outline draft for PROJECT RAVEN, so waiting to see what happens there."

Late January: "Still waiting on news for PROJECT RAVEN. I'm told all of editorial have their last notes and it's been sent up the chain to the big wigs, so we'll see what happens"

Mid February: "PROJECT RAVEN is officially approved! I have to say, I was preparing myself for this to not happen, but I am happy to have mis-judged that outcome. The whole series is all outlined as part of the pitch process so I need to start writing soon"

Late February: "On the subject of thinly veiled codewords, I've started to get stuck-in on PROJECT RAVEN. Which, involves taking the approved series outline and breaking down the first issue. This is the tough part. I've been trying to clear other work first but mainly, wanted to get the latest THUNDERCATS issue done, to clear some mental headspace."

Mid March: "PROJECT RAVEN #1 is written. The first draft anyway, have gotten some notes to deal with. I'm working on some cover ideas before I head Stateside. I'll be writing on the road."

Late March: "I've been having some back-and-forth on notes for my first PROJECT RAVEN script. Getting notes back is always frustrating… you want the thing to be DONE. But, you also want it to be GOOD and notes can help you with that. In this case, I do think the notes are fair, they don't conflict with the elements I think are most important and I suspect will raise the quality of the issue. So I'm working on that today, incorporating the notes given and tightening up what I have to make it better."

Early April: "After some back and forth with editorial, the script for PROJECT RAVEN is nailed down and I have started drawing. Just finished up my layouts for the issue and am working on lightboxing and reference for this week. Been a good bit of setup to get this rolling, but very glad to get moving. Below is a [redacted] WIP of the first issue."

Early May: "I've half of PROJECT RAVEN Issue One pencilled! It's a 30 page issue so a bit chunkier than what I'm used to. Have started inking it as of yesterday, looking to get the first cover done in the next week or so… "

Late May: "At the moment, I'm trying my best to do all the linework on two pages of PROJECT RAVEN each day and make progress on something else on that day. Problem is, it can only be one other thing I can tackle on top of the RAVEN workload, so I might get to pencil a cover …maybe ink it the next day [or some of it, finish it the next day], do some colouring, do some writing, etc etc around the daily RAVEN workload. Last week I managed to keep up on my RAVEN targets while also… This week, I have to… Start pencilling the next half of PROJECT RAVEN…Pencil/ink/colour first PROJECT RAVEN cover"

Early June: "I'm deep in the weeds trying to wrap up Issue one of PROJECT RAVEN. I've finished the pencils for PROJECT RAVEN #1 and have started on inks. The cover is all done, it's had a lot of revisions [more than I'm used to on a cover] but this is a new series so I understand there's a bit more oversight. I expect the news for this book will break next month."

Mid June: "I've finished the inks for PROJECT RAVEN! Man, feels good to have that wrapped. I'm currently working on the script and cover for Issue Two. Also, a colourist has been attached to the project and I am over the moon with who is doing it. An absolute top-tier/best in-their-field Eisner Award winning colourist who I've known since before I became a professional and have never gotten to work with before. I am so excited to see what he does with my pages."

Then two days ago he tweeted, "Declarations/newsletter readers, I believe PROJECT RAVEN will be revealed this week". So, will we get a Mystique announcement? Unless, of course, Declan is doing Sentinels and not Alex Paknadel, as we presumed…

Declan Shalvey is a fantastic comic book creator who has emerged in the last couple of decades… through bloody hard work. He studied Fine Art Printmaking at Limerick School of Art and Design and started creating small-press comics with Hero Killers winning an Eagle Award in 2005, as well as Irish noir comic Freakshow, picked up by Judge Dredd Megazine, adaptations of Frankenstein, Sweeney Todd, and 28 Days Later.

He worked for Marvel, on comics such as Thunderbolts, Fear Itself, Dark Avengers, Venom, Winter Soldier, Deadpool and Moon Knight. For DC he drew Northlanders, American Vampire, All-Star Batman and Batman and the Signal. He also drew Conan the Barbarian, The Massive and Murder Book for Dark Horse.

His prominence increased co-creating Injection from Image Comics with Warren Ellis, with whom he also collaborated on Moon Knight. He has also written two crime graphic novels set in Ireland, Savage Town and Bog Bodies both published by Image, which increased his profile as a writer as well as an artist. And now… Mystique maybe?

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