iFanboy Upstarts: Mike Del Mundo

You can be an excellent cover artist, and you can be an excellent comic artist — but sometimes you can’t be both. While in classic comics the artist drawing the interior of a book would often draw the cover, in the current day and age of comics the covers you see are oftentimes not by the interior artist but by someone who specializes in covers. Sometimes it’s A-list comics talent who moonlight doing covers in addition to drawing comics like Stuart Immonen and Jim Lee, while other times its former comic creators who only rarely do interiors anymore such as Alex Ross and John Cassaday. But there’s also a third group out there — artists who just do covers, like James Jean — who you only wish could do actual comics. Well, today’s iFanboy Upstart is one of comics’ most vibrant cover artists and he’s slowly entering into the world of interior art.

Filipino artist Mike Del Mundo is a Marvel Zombie thru-and-thru if you judge him by his bibliography. Ever since his comics debut doing the cover for the spring 2010 Heartbreakers #1 he’s been exclusive to the House of Ideas. Del Mundo has been doing covers for Marvel for the past three years but jumped to the front of the line, so to speak, with the standout covers to the recently revamped X-Men Legacy series. The series, which stars the son of Professor Xavier Legion (whom Del Mundo has playfully called “a mutant Kid ‘n Play”), gives the artist a wide birth to do some nontraditional comics cover art — shocking colors, symbolic hidden illustrations, and thoroughly not-your-classic-superhero- pin-up.

But in addition to his numerous covers for Marvel, he’s also done several short stories included in various series over the past few years. He made his proper comics debut with a story by Zeb Wells in 2010’s Amazing Spider-Man #647 featuring Norman Osborn, and followed that up doing a Ben McCool-written story featuring the return of the old Spider-Man villain Cardiac in the back of Fear Itself: The Home Front #3. In late 2012 he chipped in and assisted Daniel Acuna in finishing Uncanny X-Men #17, giving us a unique blend of the two cartoonist’s work. This past winter’s A+X #2 featured a unique story with Kitty Pryde and Iron Man squaring off, contining that series tendency to feature talent you wouldn’t see elsewhere. Del Mundo’s most recent work has his biggest, teaming up with Brian Michael Bendis (and taking over from Mike Oeming) drawing an issue of the Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comics #3 focused on Groot.

Outside of comics, Del Mundo has done several CD covers for hip-hop artists and recently collaborated with Wu Tang Clan alum Ghostface Killah on some limited edition skate decks. That particular project opens the door to a rarely known part of the Toronto-based artist’s life; as a b-boy. In the late 90s, Del Mundo was a prolific battle rapper that even traveled to the UK in pursuit of events.

In terms of future projects, Del Mundo is looking to continue his run of covers on X-Men Legacy and he’s also drawing a full 22 page story for Marvel’s upcoming Once Upon A Time comic series, which will be his longest yet. Much in the same way Bill Sienkiewicz forced comics readers and editors to rethink the possibility of mainstream comics and storytelling, Del Mundo is on target to challenge people just the same way.