Sean C. Jackson's Blog

Author Copies: Disney Parks Mazes!

Author copies are here!! They look so good! Release day March 4 !!!!

First Peek!

Proud papa of book 4!

Warren: Picture Time?

Warren: Slinky Dog Dash is my favorite!

Available March 4, but can be pre-ordered right now!

Bookshop.org - support indie bookshops!
Barnes and Noble - pre-orders let them know how many books to stock!
Amazon - have it on release day!
Chronicle Books - straight from the publisher!

Are you a retailer who needs this book in your shop? You are! Contact Chronicle Retail Accounts to get set up!

Potion Craft Fan Art Maze

The herbalist has invited us over for tea! Can you find all the missing potions on the way?

I adore the alchemist simulator game Potion Craft. I played through at least five times on the Steam version. Fans of the game will also find plenty of easter eggs!

Potion Craft Homepage —>
Potion Craft on Steam —>

The design of Potion Craft is extraordinary and the game-play delightful.

Werewolf By Night

I loved the Marvel Special Feature, Michael Giacchino film, Werewolf by Night. And when the camera rises to show the garden maze? It’s like he pulled it from my brain.

Especially cool? Giacchino Retweeted!!

So this image is scaled to print across 2 pages, have fun!

Marvel Stories

Many of the mazes in Marvel Mazes are based on specific comics. This breakdown of my Table of Contents acknowledges some of the inspirations as well as the writers and artists. I highly recommend all the comics on this list.

•Shuri Lab.
Shuri 1-10, 2018. Nnedi Okorafor, Leonardo Romero
Okorafor is an amazing writer and these books are really fun.
The novella Binti is a great introduction to her other work. My personal favorite is Remote Control.

•Avengers - SHIELD Helicarrier

•Hawkeye - Brooklyn.
Hawkeye 1-22, 2012. Matt Fraction, David Aja
The Fraction/Aja books are exceptional and heavily reflected in the MCU series. Aja’s artwork is truly special. This was my introduction to Kate Bishop.💜

•Avengers - Skrull Flagship.
Avengers 96, 1972. Roy Thomas, Neal Adams
The Kree-Skrull War story line ran issues 89-97. Classic Avengers happening here.

•Iron Man - Cave Origins

•Ego Planet - I love drawing planet-mazes and the Ego character is bonkers. My maze premise? What if… after years of mining and research on an anesthetized Ego, he begins to wake?

•Thor and Frost Giants - Jotunheim

•Captain America - Eastern Front 1942.
Captain America 5, 2005. Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark
I definitely wanted to do WWII era Captain America. This flashback from the “Out of Time” story arc is perfect in every way.

•Dr. Doom - Castle Doom

•Spider-Man, Sinister Six.
Spider-man Anual 1, 1964. Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
My inner 6-year-old was, “I get to draw Sandman - yeesssss”

•Doctor Strange - Sanctum Sanctorum.
Doctor Strange 1-12, 2015. Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo
This run of Dr. Strange is top notch. Bachalo’s art is insanely good. Zelma the librarian is introduced.

•Eternals - Dreaming Celestial.
Eternals 1-7, 2006. Neil Gaiman, John Romita Jr
Exactly what you’d expect from Neil Gaiman: mythical, relatable, brilliant.

•XMen - Dr Xaviers school.
circa X-men 171, 1983. Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson
This is my era of X-men. Rogue is possibly one of my favorite characters.

•Daredevil - San Francisco.
Daredevil 1-9, 2014. Mark Waid. Chris Samnee
My editors felt most Daredevil would be too dark and stabby for our younger audience. The Waid/Samnee run, however, is much lighter and super-fun. Also, San Francisco!

•Shang-Chi - House of the Deadly Dagger.
Shang-Chi 1-5, 2020. Gene Yang, Philip Tan, Dike Ruan
Great refresh of the Shang-Chi character in this 5 issue run. And there are Chinese zombies, jiangshi, which are totally a thing.

•Iron Man - The Godkiller.
Iron Man 15, 2012. Kieron Gillen, Carlo Pagulayan, Greg Land
I was looking for an “all-the-suits” story. Tony Stark kidnapped by and insane android aboard a planet-destroying robot spaceship racing towards Earth? Yeah, that’s cool.

•Marvel Zombies.
Marvel Zombies 1-5, 2005. Robert Kirkman, Sean Phillips
Like every great zombie story, the series is exciting, gross, funny and poignant. Really quite good.

•Gaurdians of the Galaxy - Knowhere.
Gaudians of the Galaxy 1-6, 2008. Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning
I love Guardians, but I really just wanted to make a Knowhere maze.

•Black Widow - Romania
”The Name of the Rose” storyline is excellent, but I couldn’t pull a maze from it. So I imagined Black Widow in a tourist-filled medieval Eastern European town, hunting down Hydra agents and warheads, which seemed like the right vibe. Based on Sighisoara, Romania

•Black Panther - Wakanda.
Black Panther 1-13, 2016. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze
Exciting, philosophical and inspiring. Perfect.

•Ms Marvel - Jersey City.
Ms. Marvel 1-11, 2014. G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona
Kamala Khan is a fantastic hero with a great origin story. Smart and funny. Alphona’s artwork is lovely and whimsical. Great to see some of his work in the end credits of the TV show.

•Fantastic Four - Galactus.
Fantastic Four 48-50, 1966. Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
The introduction of Galactus is also a top-tier Fantastic Four story. His world-consuming machine became a base for a multi-surface cylindrical puzzle. If there is a second book, I will certainly do Galactus’s spaceship.

•Hulk - Sakaar.
Hulk 92-104, 2006. Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan
Prisoner> gladiator> rebel leader> king. Planet Hulk is a traditional story arc of protagonist Hulk on an extremely hostile world. Amazing stuff.

•Fantastic Four - Baxter Tower.
Fantastic Four 249, 1982. John Byrne
This issue has a superb cross-section floor plan of the Byrne era Baxter Tower.

•XMen - Days of Future Past.
Uncanny X-men 141,142, 1981. Chris Claremont, John Byrne
Two issues central to everything X-men. Smashed up NYC and Sentinels.

•Ant-Man - Inside Vision.
Avengers 93, 1971. Roy Thomas, Neal Adams
A one-issue subplot that inspired the Ant-Man maze

•Captain Marvel - Maniaciano Outpost.
Captain Marvel, 1-8, 2014. Kelly Sue Deconnick, David Lopez, Marcio Takara
This Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers series shows how to write an invincible, super-powered hero. Most problems can’t be solved with punching, and are especially challenging when punching is what you are best at. Includes great side characters, Rocket Raccoon, the flerken and plenty of space-hopping. The outpost world central to the story has a real Star Wars feel, which I love to draw.

•Thor - Asgard
See my previous post all about Asgard

•Spider-Man - Spider Verse.
Amazing Spider-man 9-14, 2014. Dan Slott, Olivier Coipel
My previous Spider-Verse knowledge was limited to the absolutely perfect Miles Morales movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Reading the actual series, along with most of the tie-ins, was a blast. Spider Noir, Spider Gwen, Spider-Ham. I had no idea all of this was canon. I am now enlightened and a better person for it.
This also became the template to make a portal maze. I hope you like it! I plan on making more.

Asgard from Marvel Mazes

I had a ton of freedom when creating the book, Marvel Mazes. The only guideline was that the mazes be based on the Marvel comics, not the films, not the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Asgard was a maze I definitely wanted to include, but it could not be based on the “pipe organ” style of the films. Instead, I went to the source Jack Kirby comics.

The original pencil sketch on the left continues to the final maze on the right. The maze in the book also includes characters and seek and find elements.

1) Pencils 2) Black line work is done in the computer. The isometric grid keeps things straight, but the lines are freehand. 3) Final “ink” lines 4) Final color. All my colors are flat, never gradients.

MCU Asgard from Loki on left, Jack Kirby Asgard on right.

Lots of Marvel comics Asgard references!

The full pencil scan. This was drawn 8”x16”. The out of focus bit in the center is because my scanner is to small to fit the whole piece.

All the mazes are filled with characters and seek and find items. The heroes have to be simplified, since they are printed quite small in the book. For Asgard, I wanted to stick with the classic outfits. Here are my references, sketches and finals.

Thor shows up in a lot of the book!

This is a recolored version of the “Map of Asgard" from Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 (1965) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Many of the buildings here also show up in my maze!
The original published colors can be seen here-->

Marvel Mazes will be out October 4. You can pre-order now:

Bookshop.org
Barnes + Noble
Amazon

Or, best, order from your local bookseller!

JIGSAW HINTS

For The Big Apple New York City and City By The Bay San Francisco puzzles from Galison

I enjoy jigsaw puzzles immensely, though I only build occasionally, maybe 4 or 6 a year. I had a blast assembling the NYC puzzle when I got my copy. It is surprisingly challenging, so I thought I would share some hints.

After assembling the edges, focus on the water boundaries and bridges. While working on these, you will probably discover many of the landmark buildings as well. But at this point, all the remaining pieces look the same!

Edges and water assembled. Now things get tricky!

Since we are in a city, all the pieces have an obvious orientation! All the pieces in the puzzle are “opposing tabs” and are either tall/vertical or squat/horizontal. Separate the remaining pieces into these two groups. This will help position any remaining water pieces.

Galison puzzle pieces are all “opposite tabs” style. But orientation is super easy!

Notice about 2/3 of the remaining pieces will have at least some part of a bright magenta bridge on them. Find where these attach into the existing puzzle. I found this easiest by locating the partial bridges in the assembled puzzle and finding the piece that matched.

The bridge color is unique, and often crosses an edge

You should have only a handful of pieces left! Hope this helps!
Sean

Marvel Mazes- New Book October 4

My third book, Marvel Mazes will be out October 4, 2022!

Marvel Mazes, a new book by Sean C. Jackson, arriving October 2022

I had a tremendous amount of freedom making this book, able to draw from the greatest storylines from the past 50 years of Marvel comics. All the fan favorite heroes are included, a little something for everyone.

Pre-order Bookshop.org Pre-order amazon

Pre-orders are great because it gives booksellers an idea of the interest in a book. They can be sure to have enough copies available when the book is available in October. Last year, my books were sold out and on back order by mid-November! Don’t get caught having a mazeless holiday! Pre-order today!

Jigsaws!

Check out these two jigsaw puzzles I made in collaboration with Galison for the spring 2022 collection!

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My largest mazes yet, with tons of details to explore. Great fun for tourists or residents, there are plenty of landmarks to find and dozens of locations to discover. Available soon, I will post links here.

Mistake In Book

There seems to be mistake in the first printing of the book! One of the finadables on pp 22-23 (Naboo) is missing! I am so sorry if this caused frustration. ug. This will be fixed for the next printing. Thank you for your patience!

Advance Copies Are Here!

The advance copies look fantastic! I am so happy how the book turned out. Each theatrical Star Wars film gets at least 2 mazes, plus one Mandalorian and Black Spire Outpost on the inside cover.
This detail is from the Naboo maze, based fairly closely on the capital city.