Legendary artist Joe St. Pierre is working alongside ZOOP to release his latest project: the Joe St.Pierre Sketchbook 2025. The crowdfunding campaign is live and fully funded in just 4 hours. Featuring over 50 pages of sketches, iconic covers, and more from Joe’s 20+ year career in comics, the sketchbook includes his legendary Marvel work (Venom, Amazing Spider-Man) and his co-creation of Valiant’s Secret Weapons.

The Beat caught up with Pierre over Zoom to discuss this brand-new project and what Pierre has in store for the future!


DIEGO HIGUERA: We definitely need people who can tell a story—that’s for sure. My first question right off the bat: You’ve had a long and successful career in comics, from marquee projects like Secret Weapons to Rebellion. What are some of the most memorable moments or projects that have shaped your career?

JOE ST. PIERRE: Well, ever since I was a kid—probably around 10 years old—I always wanted to draw Spider-Man. It felt like a mission from God, you know? I remember putting together some of my best drawings, folding them up, and sending them off to Marvel Comics. I was just 10, and they were polite enough to send me a rejection letter. That letter kind of threw my career path off for a few decades, but I still have it. I don’t have anything after that first rejection, but I kept that one—it meant a lot. So, I’d say my first work at Marvel, actually getting to draw Spider-Man or Spider-Man characters, was probably the highlight of my career in non-creator-owned comics. It was truly a life’s goal achieved.

HIGUERA: How do you approach designing a new cover or key moment for such a well known character?

PIERRE: Yeah, I don’t know. Probably the same way I’d approach any project—you know, try to make it the best, the most exciting, or the most appropriate cover for the story. I guess I really like doing covers, so I’ll very often do somewhere between 10 and 20 different layouts just to mess around a little bit. I like that kind of process. I spend a lot of time trying out ideas and refining the ones I like.

HIGUERA: Great, that’s really interesting insight into your process—it sounds like you enjoy experimenting with different ideas before refining them. That actually leads nicely into my next question: Can you tell us a bit about what inspired the creation of your upcoming sketchbook, and what fans can look forward to in this new collection?

PIERRE: Yeah, so we have a sketchbook campaign running on Zoop, and it’s a collection of a lot of the commissions I’ve done over the last year and a half or so. I joined Whatnot—have you heard of that app? Yeah? Okay. So I have an account there, and I’m on Whatnot every Thursday at noon. That’s kind of my little escape from the day job, where I just hang out, sketch, and see what’s up.

I’ve done a heck of a lot of sketches on there, so I thought it’d be cool to assemble them as a sort of memento of the recent commission and sketch work I’ve done. For the first draft, I pulled together 163 sketches, and now I’m in the process of narrowing that down since the format of the book is 52 pages total—48 pages inside with a cardstock cover. So I’m whittling it down, refining the collection to the best pieces, and cutting about 100 drawings in the process.

HIGUERA: I was going to ask, too—since you have so much work spanning over the years, and you’ve narrowed it down to this curated selection—I can’t imagine what it’s like to have all of that spread out in front of you and think, ‘What am I going to keep?’ What’s that process like for you?

PIERRE: Yeah, if we were to do some kind of career-spanning overview of all my work, I think I’d pass out. That’s just way too much—way too overwhelming to look through. So I like to keep it simple. This sketchbook focuses on recent sketches, something loose and spontaneous.

One of the things I really enjoy about doing commissions and sketch covers is how kinetic and spontaneous they are. With professional cover work, things can sometimes get a little too refined, a little too polished. But with sketches and commissions, there’s room to be looser, and I really like that quality in the drawings—it feels more alive, you know?

HIGUERA: What do you think was like the best part of that?

PIERRE: Well, I was kind of surprised by how many sketches there were—holy cow! A lot of people know me from my work as a full-time Marvel/DC guy back in the ’90s. Since then, I’ve moved into commercial art and publishing my own stuff full time.

For this sketchbook, I’m bringing back a bit of that behind-the-scenes feel. I still have copies of the pencils from some of my classic covers, so I thought it’d be fun to toss a handful of those in as well, just for fans to enjoy.

HIGUERA: The campaign for your sketchbook has been incredibly successful—it hit its funding goal in less than four hours! That’s amazing. What do you think it is about this campaign and the rewards you’re offering that really resonates with fans?

PIERRE: Well, I think a lot of it comes from my Whatnot followers—I have about 1,100 now. A lot of them want to see the sketches they bought included in the sketchbook, almost like a yearbook for their own work.

This is my second Zoop campaign, so I kept the goal manageable. I had a pretty solid idea of what I could get from my Whatnot followers, and now that we’ve met the goal, it’s all about seeing how far we can take it.

HIGUERA: How important is direct fan support to you?

PIERRE: For me, with indie stuff, it’s pretty much everything. I do get support from mainstream distributors like Diamond, and they’ve been great throughout my career. But it’s really the personal connection and the word of mouth that comes from that—those connections are everything. The more I can connect with fans, and the more they spread the word, that’s the most vital part of the process, especially with creator-owned stuff.

Speaking of which, can we talk about the new Zodiacs book a bit too? Yeah? Awesome. When I’m at shows, the Marvel and DC street cred definitely helps. Fans strolling by who may not be familiar with my name but recognize characters like Spider-Man, Venom, or Green Lantern will stop and take interest. That’s often how they end up checking out other projects I’ve worked on. So, we’ve got the sketchbook coming out next year, and also the Zodiacs book!

HIGUERA: Funny enough, what you just mentioned actually leads into my next question. How does working on a personal project like the sketchbook compare to working on large-scale comic book issues with teams?

PIERRE: Well, I’ve always been a comic book artist since I was a kid, and for me, being a comic book artist also includes having writing skills. I always wanted to write and draw my own stories, even when I was at Marvel working on Venom and Spider-Man. But shortly after that, I did a book with Image because I wanted to work on my own ideas and creations. We did a book called Megahertz in 1997, and it’s hard to believe we’re now celebrating the 25th anniversary of it. I even republished it with a metallic foil cover.

I’ve just always had that passion since I was a kid, and it’s a bug I haven’t been able to shake. I believe my characters are competitive with what’s out there today. Some people might be getting tired of the long-running storylines in legacy characters that have been around for 60, 70, 80 years. So I’d like to offer something new, with a bit of a fresh spin that still captures some of the same feel.

As for the quality, I think we could put an issue of New Zodiacs next to Amazing Spider-Man, and it would be just as compatible—production-wise, quality-wise, and price-wise. I think the work looks great on the shelf next to mainstream products.

HIGUERA: It’s funny, because a lot of projects get released and eventually make their way to comic book stores once they pick up traction or get attention from retailers. For example, there’s this series called Fox in the Woods, which is very American comic-styled but with a strong anime influence. It reminds me of those 90s and early 2000s comics that had an anime flair, like Gen 13 or Empowered. Those kinds of books still sell well.

I mention all of this because I see projects like New Zodiacs, and I can tell that they’re made really well. It seems to me that the success of a project has more to do with how it’s made and who’s in charge of it rather than where it comes from. I don’t know if you want to comment on that or share your thoughts on it?

PIERRE: I’m still a fan. I like to read and stay updated on what’s going on, but it’s tough when you’re hunkering down on a project. Right now, I’m still a one-man show. Everything in this book is pretty much done by me. I’ve had some help with coloring and other aspects, but I’m still the one making phone calls to the printers, dealing with the distributor, and reaching out to retailers to get them to order the book in my spare time. It’s a lot of work, so I don’t get to read as much as I’d like, but I do appreciate the Fox in the Woods reference.

HIGUERA: Any words you want to say to your readers, projects you’re working on currently?

PIERRE: In addition to the sketchbook on Zoop, I’ve also posted several of the creator-owned books I’ve worked on. One of them, New Zodiacs: Pisces, is currently being solicited through Diamond this month, with retailer orders due by December 27. You can also purchase it through the Zoop campaign.

New Zodiacs is like my own Marvel Universe, featuring 12 characters who channel the cosmic energies of the Zodiac. Each character represents a different sign and has their own celestial or supernatural abilities. The Pisces character is Cricket, who combines elements of Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones. She’s a high-level psychic with the unique ability to communicate with the dead who are trapped on Earth. The story follows her adventures with her clients, two of whom appear on the cover—one is a gentleman who’s unraveling, and the other is a bat-like creature in the top corner. The book features two stories centered around Cricket. It’s another 52-page, square-bound prestige format book, full of good stuff.

HIGUERA: Any last notes for readers or fans reading or moving this article?

PIERRE: Yeah, just stay tuned.  Check out this project and Zodiac, there are 12 signs in total, so this is only the second one. The more you support my projects—like the sketchbook—the more it helps. Any funds raised beyond the production costs will go towards keeping me at my desk, working on more material. So I really appreciate everyone’s support. Thank you!


If you do not want to miss out on Pierre’s newest projects make sure to check out the campaign for Joe St. Pierre here before its too late!