There’s a little piece on the Sif book up on Marvel.com that includes the Travel Foreman cover and FIVE PAGES OF PENCILS. Stegman really shines. Go check it out.

1) Ryan tweeted a little teaser image here; and

2) The first Sif-related interview is up.  It’s at Newsarama, right here.

Here’s an excerpt:

Nrama: I have but one simple question for you as a writer: What makes you dig Sif?

DeConnick: I think it’s the same thing explains my fondness for women-of-vengeance movies and the Japanese pinky violence films of the 1970s.  I think… I mean, I’m a five foot tall short-tempered woman of Sicilian heritage and when someone or something pisses me off—which happens, I’m somewhat ashamed to admit, on a regular basis—it’s neither socially nor ethically acceptable for me to pick up a baseball bat and crack heads.  But boy… I entertain the notion about once a day.  So there’s that fantasy element to Sif.

And then—stepping away from my own character defects for a moment—there’s the age-old mythic appeal of the Hero.

Nrama: And of course: What is it that compels us mortals to partake in the epic tales of Asgard?

DeConnick: What makes us read fiction at all?  What’s the appeal of parable or fable?  It’s the same thing that made me a nut for Greek mythology when I was a kid—these over-sized tales push our power-fantasy buttons, sure, but they also help us order our understanding of each other and our world.

I mean, we’re getting into Joseph Campbell stuff here, but this is marrow, you know?  I think imagination and myth are as hard-wired into us as our appetites for sustenance and love.

Spider-Man by Ryan Stegman

Interior artist for Sif announced today–Ryan Stegman!  [That's his Spider-Man up top.] I am absolutely delighted. Go see why:

Stegman’s blog
Stegman’s twitter stream
Ryan Stegman on deviantART
Comic Art Gallery of Ryan Stegman

SIF #1
Written by KELLY SUE DECONNICK
Pencils by TBD
Cover by Travel Foreman
Spinning out of the pages of THOR!
The Asgardian warrior Sif was no stranger to battle; the heft of steel, the pitch of combat, the spray of an enemy’s blood…she even craved it. But when Asgard and its people made their glorious return through the power of Thor, Sif’s body was stolen and possessed by crafty Loki. Cowed by such defilement, Sif hasn’t been her true self…until a former lover and mate in arms comes to her with a call to battle and blood-spattering adventure…Now Sif sets out with Beta Ray Bill to fight her way back to true warrior’s glory!
32 PGS./One-Shot/Rated T+ …$3.99

I’m excited to be working on a Thor-related book for several reasons, one of which is terribly obvious to folks who follow Marvel news.

It’s completely nerdy, but now that the word is out I have to share another: like, a gazillion years ago, I had lunch with Mr. and Mrs. Simonson in New York during a con (a friend of mine was a student of Mr. Simonson’s).  The four of us ended up talking about THE MIGHTY THOR #380 at length over our fries.  When we got back to the con floor, he — Mr. Simonson — found and purchased a copy of 380 and signed it for me.  Now at the time, for reasons far too embarrassing to go into here, I wore a necklace that said spelled out L-O-I-S.  So the copy of  that I have sitting right her on my desk right now?  It’s inscribed “For Lois.”  There was, of course, no way I was going to correct him.  I thanked him profusely and tucked it in my bag.