More… Why Not.

So in my newfound desire to tell stores with my artwork (Comic Books), I found some useful information from a new magazine at the local convenience store “Comic Scene International”. This was the first insight I had into the world of Comic Books. I now had some interviews with the creators, information about the various companies and comics coming out. There was very little on how to make comics, but it was a start. It wasn’t until the early 90’s and a magazine called “Wizard” that I really learned about the behind the scenes and how to stuff. But “Comic Scene International” was a good start. I still have the first issue and the few that I had of them, granted they are not in great shape.

My first issue of “Wizard” was number 11, right around the launch of Image Comics. There was an interview with Todd McFarlane and more information than I had previously had access to. So….yep, that was an important step for me.


Comic Scene #1


Wizard # 11 (1st one for me)

It begins…..again and anew.

It was sometime in March 1987, I was 14 years old. There was a snow storm and school had been canceled for the next day. My neighbor wanted to walk to the local convenience store and stock up on supplies (chips, snacks and junk) for the next day, of course I was down for this so I got some money from my mom bundled up and walked to the store. We ran into some of our fellow classmates (2 girls who lived down the road) that were doing the same thing. We had a snowball fight and general fun in the snow on the way, that’s not the point of this story. When we were at the store I decided to buy some comic books for the duration of our snow day(s). Now I of course already had several comic books and was not new to this medium. I noticed two issues of a comic called “Zero Patrol” so I got them and a couple of others. When I got home (probably around 9 pm) I went in my room sat at my desk and started reading them. I lost myself in the story and artwork of the first issue. When I finished I had the thought “What an amazing way to tell a story.” It was at that moment I thought I wanted to tell stories with art. I had always enjoyed drawing various things, even some comic book characters (Superman, Batman, etc.). But never before did I stop to think that some people made a living doing this as their career. Even before opening the 2nd issue of “Zero Patrol” I had some paper and pencil in hand sketching images from the 1st issue. It was like something just clicked in myself and I was inspired. Then I hear a knock on my window, knowing it was my neighbor, I opened the curtains and window. He wanted me to sneak out and go with him to the girls’ house to watch some movies. I then realized I lost myself in drawing, I had gone through several sheets of paper and it was two hours later. So the point of the story is that I actually found something that inspired me and I Loved it…drawing, telling stories with images. From that moment on, I have wanted to tell stories with my artwork, so this is where I consider that my artistic journey actually began. And yes, I went to Lisa’s house with him. No I didn’t actually have to sneak out, my mother was cool and let me, since she knew where I was going. But when we got there, they were already asleep, so it was a bust. I went home and read the 2nd issue of “Zero Patrol” and began drawing until I was ready to pass out for the night. Zero Patrol # 1 Zero Patrol # 2