Making Comics: Lucas Meyer's amazing - and unsettling - designs for Titans United: Bloodpact

I’ve just returned from a brilliant weekend at Portsmouth Comic Con, where there was a lot of love for both Titans United and Titans United: Bloodpact!

To celebrate, I thought I’d share some of the incredible concept work that Bloodpact’s Lucas Meyer produced for the series, another example of how much work our wonderful artists put into a book.

First up are Lucas’ initial studies of Nightwing, Superboy, Robin, Tempest, and Raven.

Then comes one of our antagonists, the classic Titans villain, Brother Blood.

Getting more into spoiler territory, here are just some of the designs that Lucas produced as the series continued, the Titans finding themselves in a world where Raven is worshipped as a god… a world with its very own Batman…

(I love that the batarangs look like little Batwings! We talked a lot about Batman ‘89 in all of this. Can you tell?)

As well as the Dark Knight, this new Ravenworld also had its own Lex Luthor, who, on the surface, looked the same as usual, but was anything but…

Back with the baddies, Brother Blood’s Church of the Raven has several enforcers, some of which could use dark magic to create Blood Hounds and warriors. Here’s Lucas’ first run at the Blood Hounds, which we decided were a little too dog-like…

I mean, you wouldn’t want any of that pack coming at you, but after throwing around some ideas, Lucas came up with something more monstrous and intimidating, referencing Ghostbuster’s Terror Dogs…

Ultimately, we opted for the second option, the lack of features making a far more disturbing monster.

This latter design also influenced the equally unsettling Blood Soldiers:

In the script, I’d hinted they resembled something out of a Guillermo del Toro film, and Lucas did not disappoint.

The gothic sensibilities continued with the Church’s chief executioner, complete with Kryptonite-infused axe…

…and Raven’s cathedral, standing where Titans Tower should be.

And I adore Lucas’ take on the Dark Daughter’s Blood Throne…

But to prove that not all is dark and grim in Raven’s brutal new world, Lucas came up with the brilliant idea of referencing Superboy’s Young Justice costume, a wonderful touch. He gave us three options, but we decided to opt for a more familiar hairstyle to make it clear we were dealing with the Boy of Steel!

The final design for the series was a new costume for Beast Boy, including a fantastic skull motif and little Raven symbols on his shoulders and belt.

I love his expression there (especially that tooth!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into the Bloodpact sketchbook. I loved working with Lucas and hope we can collaborate again in the future. He’s a real talent!

In the meantime, make sure you’re following him on Twitter and Instagram.

Titans United: Bloodpact is still available digitally, and the series will be collected in a trade paperback on October 24th!