Here’s a Little Known Fact: Gorr’s bone helmet in his original visit to the Center of the Earth (you can begin reading that storyline here) was inspired by Mike Grell’s Warlord, one of my fave characters. I tried to match the Warlord’s eagle wing sides with bones. The Warlord really electrified my teen imagination with a mix of high adventure and fantasy. Also Mike Grell’s art was a true inspiration!
When Mat Washburn asked me to write the foreword to his Evan Yeti graphic novel, you may have heard a dull thud – my jaw dropping to the floor. Mat has been a true inspiration for me since I first encountered his work online at Evan Yeti. The idea of a young abominable snow monster is intriguing enough, but Mat kicks it up the the Nth with a compelling storyline to match his powerful graphics. I’ll have to say, having talented friends around like Mat make this whole online comics biz that much sweeter for me. Thanks for the scorching art, Mat!
Copies of the Evan Yeti graphic novel are available here.
I’ve always been fascinated by androids. Some of my favorite superheroes from my earliest days of comic book reading were the Vision, Robotman (Doom Patrol), the Red Tornado and the original Human Torch (it made sense to me that a robot could withstand all that heat without melting). So mechanical men were on my fourteen year old mind when I created Andrex, a synthetic man constructed to be sent to Mars on a rescue mission for a lost astronaut. Using markers and colored pencils on writing paper, I drew and colored a few pages of this tale, my first comic book work, which I’m posting here. You can see a lot of Red Tornado influence, down to the arrow on his forehead. Drawing comic books was the ultimate dream back in those days!
Recently the talented creator, cartoonist and filmmaker, Clay Sisk came by the studio and interviewed me for his documentary on Texas cartoonists – Pages, Panels and BEYOND! 2. You can watch the first documentary of this series here. It was a blast speaking with Clay and talking about origins, inspirations and future plans. Clay produces his own daily comic strip, Professor Herbert and G.E.O., an all-ages science fantasy series featuring the absent-minded Professor Herbert, his genetically engineered pal, G.E.O., and his robot buddy, Blurb. You can also see Clay’s amazing portfolio at Studio Siskart. It was an all-around great experience, and I’m excited to see the finished doc!
I came across a cache of some of my earliest drawings and I thought I would share them with you. It’s fun to reconnect with early work, it gives you a perspective of how far you’ve come. This is the first book I ever created – I spruced up some grade school assignment with a cover and drawings. The book featured different breeds of dogs including the Greyhound, the Great Dane, Pekingese, Collie, Poodle and Chow. It was made with color marker on poster board and the interior drawings were pencil on typewriter paper. The whole book was stapled along the left edge. And it’s full of dogs, too. Gorr would approve!
