Pepperjane Gingersnap lives!

Pepperjane Gingersnap is alive, thanks to the incomparable Jill Thompson!

Check out Jill's absolutely stunning first painting of Pepperjane Gingersnap:


It would not be an exaggeration to say this illustration was created by the "World Famous Jill Thompson." Or "World Famous multiple-Eisner Award-winning Jill Thompson." Here are just a few highlights from her extensive and impressive artistic resumé: creator of Scary Godmother, creator of Magic Trixie, illustrator of countless comics (check out this upcoming Archie cover, for "Occupy Riverdale"). She's worked with Neil Gaiman on Sandman, then created her own successful Endless characters and stories. Last year, the National Cartoonists Society honored her with its prestigious Reuben Award for Beasts of Burden. Jill is the first woman to win a Reuben in the Comic Book category in the Society's 75 year history (that's a mind-blowing statistic right there). The list of her accomplishments goes on and on.

I'm lucky enough to know her (and her also World Famous multiple-Eisner Award-winning husband, Brian Azzarello) from a long-running dinner club where we take turns hosting and cooking 4-course meals. Yes, there appears to be a correlation between creative artists and excellent cooks. That's a different story though.


Jill has really nailed the character here, including many important quirky details. While I'm not sure Jill intended this particular illustration to make it into the book, it's so good that I'm already thinking we can use it somewhere, possibly on the back cover of the printed version. (And of course Jill gave me permission to post this here. Thanks, Jill!)

Needless to say this is all big, big news for Pepperjane Gingersnap.

"Who is Pepperjane Gingersnap?" some of you might be asking. Short answer: A capable adventurer and star of my (and now my and Jill's!) upcoming chapter book. Stay tuned for more details.

(You can follow Jill on Twitter.)