The best thing to come out of Bulgaria since... uh, ... since Hristo Stoichkov!

Alex Maleev is a damned fine comicbook artist, who I've seen getting stick on messageboards by idiots who don't know their arse from their elbows due to his illustrative style. And he's got a new website, full of great examples of his work, his landscape photography, and tutorials of how he takes a loose sketch through to a photorealistic painting.

Once upon a time, back when I thought the HELLBOY: WEIRD TALES series was perhaps Mignola's try-out book to see who could take over the art on the character's regular book, I thought that Maleev was head and soulders above the other contestants. Of course, since then, two other artists have been given the gig, and Maleev has proven to be a favourite with the powers that be over at Marvel (i.e. Quesada's golden child Bendis). But check out the sketchbook section to see what a good fit Maleev might have been. And someday, if we're all very good, the guy might get the chance to go back and do another run at Batman, now that he's fully matured as a great cartoonist.