Artist Mike Scicluna has branched out from his work at Rockstar Games to create a series of beautiful posters celebrating both modern video games and classic comic books.
Mark Scicluna’s resume is filled with credits on classic games like Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption 2 and L.A. Noire, but a series of posters on the artist’s website prove Scicluna’s love for video games goes well beyond the Rockstar catalog. The illustrator has brilliantly mashed together scenes from modern games like Dead Space, God of War and Cuphead with a variety of vintage comic book aesthetics. The resulting art makes for some truly inspired “what-if” comic book covers from the 1950s, 60s and beyond.
Most of the imaginary covers are reminiscent of Silver Age comics, particularly Silver Age horror like Creepy Magazine, with big, bold titles in spooky fonts and the hero or heroes either about to be swarmed by monsters or in the act of dishing out some violence themselves. Scicluna’s images do more than recall the covers of a previous era, though. The artist has gone the extra mile to make every last detail of his images look like something that was printed decades ago and has weathered time to arrive on sale in 2022. For example, the Ghost of Tsushima cover looks like a comic that was lost in an attic for years, with large creases and age lines appearing in the “paper.” It has a title bar at the top that says “Action Game Heroes,” and above a cutout of the story’s star samurai is the comic’s publishing date (4 Feb) and its price (25¢).
Scicluna appears to be a particular fan of certain developers and franchises. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us and Uncharted franchises grace no less than six posters, while another five are dedicated to Capcom’s Resident Evil games. It seems Scicluna is not averse to injecting some wry humor into his art as well. One The Last of Us Part 2 image features protagonist Joel Miller being held down while a figure hovers over him with a golf club in their hand. The frantic text bubble over Joel’s shoulder reads, “Can Ellie make it in time to save Joel??!!” Another inside joke for fans is the single word in Kratos’ chat bubble on The God of War cover. “Boy!!!” the demigod screams as he prepares to swing his ice-imbued axe. In the background, his son Atreus appears unimpressed.
The artist appears to be a fan of classic Naughty Dog games as well, since iconic character Crash Bandicoot stars in no less than 12 posters in the gallery. Scicluna drops the Silver Age aesthetic in these posters and goes for something far more inspired by Warner Bros. and Looney Tunes. The illustrator shows off his impressive grasp of a range of styles here, as these glossy, poppy, colorful and silly posters would fit perfectly in a kid’s room.
Scicluna has illustrated 25 children’s books and won three Illustrator of the Year Awards at the Malta National Book Awards. He currently works as a senior illustrator at Rockstar Games. Scicluna’s posters can be printed on a variety of materials, including paper, canvas and metal, with a glossy or matte finish. The posters are available for sale at Redbubble.
Source: Mark Scicluna, Redbubble
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