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We now join our regularly scheduled program already in-progress.
1979- INTERVIEWED FOR DC COMICS
I had sent DC Comics samples of my work for three years, and finally one day I called them after sending them some work and not hearing from them. The receptionist transferred me over to Dick Giordano, the Art Director, to which he said, and I quote. “Hey! We’ve been looking for you for years. Your work would come in and we’d lose it. We even lost the most recent work you sent a couple of weeks ago. Each piece was better than the last. But we couldn’t contact you since we lost the letter attached as well. Your work would come in and we would say, ‘wow, this guy’s work is good, but he needs just a little DC Training. But we have no where to put him’. So we started a whole new intern program all because of you. Come in next week and we’ll talk about it”.
That was the last week of December 1979. I brought new pages and he loved it. The pages were Batman VS Man Hunter. I did it on a lark. He then told me, “it was great, but it’s Christmas, and I don’t have any work for you now. Come in the first day after New Years and I’ll have a script for you, and talk to you about the program”. I came in on January 2nd and he gave me a script that day. From there I went to work for DC Comics and still work for them on and off. When I started with them they had me doing some horror stories; “House of Mystery”, and “Tales of the Unexpected”.
I also did one feature in particular called, “I Vampire”.
While turning in an assignment I met an artist named Ernest Colon.
I always liked his work. We were sitting in a production room together.
He was finishing up another comic book assignment from another company while waiting for his next assignment to be given. I recognized that the art was for Harvey Comics, “Richie rich” in particular. I told him what a big fan I was of his work and how much I liked his work on “Richie Rich” and hot stuff. He was taken aback because he thought his work was so innocuous, and that no one would recognize his work. I told him that I did. I told him in what stories in particular he did. He was very flattered, and even offered me a job doing some extra work for Harvey Comics. For several months I drew “Richie Rich” and “Hot Stuff”. And I was offered “Casper” but I didn’t like “Casper”, so I didn’t take that job.
During that time I had done other features that branched off more into the Super Hero direction. It went from the Green Lantern Corps, to The Justice League, to the Atari Game Books, and cartoon and toy designs for Mattel from DC. This somehow led to becoming their secondary cover artist. While I was doing a book called the blue devil, which as far as I am concerned is my only true claim to fame, I took over for George Perez and did the cover work for “Who’s Who”. From there they were so impressed with this, that the whole world changed.
After that, I was doing a little bit of everything. Even if my name wasn’t on the cover, that didn’t mean I didn’t design it. I designed almost all the covers for Dave Gibbons’ “Green Lantern”. “Wonder Woman”, sometimes “Captain Atom”, Sometimes “The Flash”, Sometimes “The Teen Titans”, “Batman Detective”, “Action Comics-Superman”, “Swamp Thing”, “Amethyst”, “Fire Storm”, and a host of other unnamed commercial vehicles that DC had done for other companies.
After that time I had branched off and started working for other companies myself. I had not yet working for Marvel except for once, but that work didn’t get published so I don’t count that. It’s a long story. I have worked for a comic company in Great Britain called, “The Thundra”. I did covers and art for books like, “Axle Press Button”, and “Stainless Steel Rat”. I worked for advertisement agencies, and did story boards for games and TV commercials, Activision in particular and full color story boards and designs for a game called “Terror in the Bermuda Triangle”. And though that kind of work was far more lucrative, I never left my first and only love, comic books.
After doing a few issues of miscellaneous books for DC, I’d been given the assignment to do “The Blue Beatle”, which was some strange kind of turning point in my professional career. It became more about my production and my earnings as apposed to my draftsmanship and the craft. So I had found ways to do several assignments at the same time. While doing “The Blue Beatle”, I was doing design work for “Swamp Thing Style Guide”, cover work, and whatever I could fit in, like work from Marvel and other little companies, like drawing the coloring books for Playhouse, Barbie, The Go-bots for Matel, and The Cabbage Patch Kids. This was truly quantity over quality. The extra money made for many a fond vacation, and it did teach me how to draw fast.
By this time it’s 1985. I had been given a choice between doing a run of Batman, or one of my life long dreams I being a Jack Kirby enthusiast, “The Forever People”. You can guess which one I took. That book changed my professional career as well. I drew it so well, I was getting offers from all over the place. I was getting offers from over seas, as well as Marvel, and from a guy named Neil Adams who had started a business named Continuity. I worked for several advertising companies, and I did work for a newspaper for the elderly called the Grey Panthers. I did work for small private firms but the work never saw fruition. Meanwhile at DC, I took a job in specialty projects and I did their DC super hero trading cards. I was the major designer artist for the first year, as well as their secondary illustrator for their batman animation licensing bible. This is the way it went for years.
Around 1993 I had my second child, and took a job at Marvel to work on an alternate comic book line, which was produced by “Hell Raiser” writer Clive Barker. I did a comic book for him called, “The Hyperkind”, designed other characters for comic books for him and cover art design work for other comic strips for his line, as well as advertisements.
Then came my biggest change. A man named George Carragone hired me to work for Penthouse Comix. The strangest job I ever had. I’m really not quite sure what I was really being hired to do, It started off with me just drawing some comic work for his own personal use, which then turned into designing characters for Penthouse Comix, which turned into my recruiting other artists to work at Penthouse, to me working on website pages, to my working for Omni Comix. From there he had bought the rights from the famous comic property called “The Thunder Agent”. I drew a great deal of art for a magazine that was never published. He made the comic but he didn’t own the rights.
During this time, I got the adult comic bug in my system, and started working for other adult magazines drawing adult comic art. I also took a job called Byron Press publishing house. I did the layout for a prestige comic called, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
Somewhere after this time George Carragone committed suicide. But before he died, he left me with a bit of wisdom I’ve been trying to live by, that is to, ’do it yourself’, and as much of it yourself as you can’.
So I am still working for DC, Marvel, and adult magazines, but in far less capacity than ever in the past.
Which brings me to my current occupation, “Publisher”.
Thanks
1979- INTERVIEWED FOR DC COMICS
I had sent DC Comics samples of my work for three years, and finally one day I called them after sending them some work and not hearing from them. The receptionist transferred me over to Dick Giordano, the Art Director, to which he said, and I quote. “Hey! We’ve been looking for you for years. Your work would come in and we’d lose it. We even lost the most recent work you sent a couple of weeks ago. Each piece was better than the last. But we couldn’t contact you since we lost the letter attached as well. Your work would come in and we would say, ‘wow, this guy’s work is good, but he needs just a little DC Training. But we have no where to put him’. So we started a whole new intern program all because of you. Come in next week and we’ll talk about it”.
That was the last week of December 1979. I brought new pages and he loved it. The pages were Batman VS Man Hunter. I did it on a lark. He then told me, “it was great, but it’s Christmas, and I don’t have any work for you now. Come in the first day after New Years and I’ll have a script for you, and talk to you about the program”. I came in on January 2nd and he gave me a script that day. From there I went to work for DC Comics and still work for them on and off. When I started with them they had me doing some horror stories; “House of Mystery”, and “Tales of the Unexpected”.
I also did one feature in particular called, “I Vampire”.
While turning in an assignment I met an artist named Ernest Colon.
I always liked his work. We were sitting in a production room together.
He was finishing up another comic book assignment from another company while waiting for his next assignment to be given. I recognized that the art was for Harvey Comics, “Richie rich” in particular. I told him what a big fan I was of his work and how much I liked his work on “Richie Rich” and hot stuff. He was taken aback because he thought his work was so innocuous, and that no one would recognize his work. I told him that I did. I told him in what stories in particular he did. He was very flattered, and even offered me a job doing some extra work for Harvey Comics. For several months I drew “Richie Rich” and “Hot Stuff”. And I was offered “Casper” but I didn’t like “Casper”, so I didn’t take that job.
During that time I had done other features that branched off more into the Super Hero direction. It went from the Green Lantern Corps, to The Justice League, to the Atari Game Books, and cartoon and toy designs for Mattel from DC. This somehow led to becoming their secondary cover artist. While I was doing a book called the blue devil, which as far as I am concerned is my only true claim to fame, I took over for George Perez and did the cover work for “Who’s Who”. From there they were so impressed with this, that the whole world changed.
After that, I was doing a little bit of everything. Even if my name wasn’t on the cover, that didn’t mean I didn’t design it. I designed almost all the covers for Dave Gibbons’ “Green Lantern”. “Wonder Woman”, sometimes “Captain Atom”, Sometimes “The Flash”, Sometimes “The Teen Titans”, “Batman Detective”, “Action Comics-Superman”, “Swamp Thing”, “Amethyst”, “Fire Storm”, and a host of other unnamed commercial vehicles that DC had done for other companies.
After that time I had branched off and started working for other companies myself. I had not yet working for Marvel except for once, but that work didn’t get published so I don’t count that. It’s a long story. I have worked for a comic company in Great Britain called, “The Thundra”. I did covers and art for books like, “Axle Press Button”, and “Stainless Steel Rat”. I worked for advertisement agencies, and did story boards for games and TV commercials, Activision in particular and full color story boards and designs for a game called “Terror in the Bermuda Triangle”. And though that kind of work was far more lucrative, I never left my first and only love, comic books.
After doing a few issues of miscellaneous books for DC, I’d been given the assignment to do “The Blue Beatle”, which was some strange kind of turning point in my professional career. It became more about my production and my earnings as apposed to my draftsmanship and the craft. So I had found ways to do several assignments at the same time. While doing “The Blue Beatle”, I was doing design work for “Swamp Thing Style Guide”, cover work, and whatever I could fit in, like work from Marvel and other little companies, like drawing the coloring books for Playhouse, Barbie, The Go-bots for Matel, and The Cabbage Patch Kids. This was truly quantity over quality. The extra money made for many a fond vacation, and it did teach me how to draw fast.
By this time it’s 1985. I had been given a choice between doing a run of Batman, or one of my life long dreams I being a Jack Kirby enthusiast, “The Forever People”. You can guess which one I took. That book changed my professional career as well. I drew it so well, I was getting offers from all over the place. I was getting offers from over seas, as well as Marvel, and from a guy named Neil Adams who had started a business named Continuity. I worked for several advertising companies, and I did work for a newspaper for the elderly called the Grey Panthers. I did work for small private firms but the work never saw fruition. Meanwhile at DC, I took a job in specialty projects and I did their DC super hero trading cards. I was the major designer artist for the first year, as well as their secondary illustrator for their batman animation licensing bible. This is the way it went for years.
Around 1993 I had my second child, and took a job at Marvel to work on an alternate comic book line, which was produced by “Hell Raiser” writer Clive Barker. I did a comic book for him called, “The Hyperkind”, designed other characters for comic books for him and cover art design work for other comic strips for his line, as well as advertisements.
Then came my biggest change. A man named George Carragone hired me to work for Penthouse Comix. The strangest job I ever had. I’m really not quite sure what I was really being hired to do, It started off with me just drawing some comic work for his own personal use, which then turned into designing characters for Penthouse Comix, which turned into my recruiting other artists to work at Penthouse, to me working on website pages, to my working for Omni Comix. From there he had bought the rights from the famous comic property called “The Thunder Agent”. I drew a great deal of art for a magazine that was never published. He made the comic but he didn’t own the rights.
During this time, I got the adult comic bug in my system, and started working for other adult magazines drawing adult comic art. I also took a job called Byron Press publishing house. I did the layout for a prestige comic called, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.
Somewhere after this time George Carragone committed suicide. But before he died, he left me with a bit of wisdom I’ve been trying to live by, that is to, ’do it yourself’, and as much of it yourself as you can’.
So I am still working for DC, Marvel, and adult magazines, but in far less capacity than ever in the past.
Which brings me to my current occupation, “Publisher”.
Thanks