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I love comic books. I have since I was a kid. My dad bought me my first comic book when I was 5 years old. The Incredible Hulk #222. It was a scary one. The Hulk had to fight some monster who lived in a cave and ate people. It really freaked me out. I couldn't always get to the end of the book without closing it and hiding it under a pillow. (You know, because then the monster couldn't get out of the book and get me through the unbreakable barrier of my trusty pillow.) For some reason, though. I kept wanting to read the comic book. No matter how much it scared me. I eventually got through it and was sure glad when then Hulk showed up and saved the day. I just couldn't get enough. I wanted more comic books. Even the scary ones. I was hooked. In my teen years, my uncle bought me a copy of the "Marvel Comics- Try Out Book", which was created as a talent search type of book, but served, for me, as an instructional book on how comics were made. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and began to dabble in pencilling, inking and lettering. Soon, the casual hobby became a passion. Inspired by the works of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, I decided that I wanted to become a professional comic book creator. I started taking my art to conventions as early as 16 years old and would fill up spiral bound notebooks with my own comic book stories. I eventually started making my own handmade comic books down at the local Kinko's to pass out in school and even had an article written about me in the school newspaper. Two weeks after graduating high school I went to work at an animation studio in San Diego working the graveyard shift as a Final Line Animator (clean-up artist) and occasionally doing coloring. I worked on a few projects for the company, working my way up to Assistant Animator and even doing some Lead Animation when some of the actual "Leads" would sneak me the work. However as an animator I just felt like a cog in a machine. My first love was comics and I had to get back on track writing and creating my own stories rather than working on small snippets of other people's ideas. So, at age 19, my two best friends and I started our own company and were self-publishing a comic book anthology called "Three" under our imprint, "Invincible Studios". Comics is and always has been my one true passion. It's all I've ever wanted to do, but the self-publishing route proved hard and ultimately just too costly. I had paid for everything out of my own pocket (with a few loans from my parents) and had yet to make anything close to a profit, let alone breaking even. I had to take a break away from comics, so I tried to venture into the real world, of 9-5 office hours and chatting by the water cooler. I still worked a little within the comic book industry behind-the-scenes doing graphic design for my pal Roman Dirge and working on his "Spookyland". Still, the call of the comic book industry was strong. Now I'm back, and proud to be a member of the SLG ranks with my comic book series, "The Ghouly Boys" and contributing to their "Haunted Mansion" series. My art is heavily influenced by the works of Will Eisner, my personal hero, and is respectfully intended as an homage to his work while still trying to add my own vision and style. "The Ghouly Boys" is aimed at adults but intended to be accessable for all ages. "The Ghouly Boys" has been optioned to be made into a feature film to be produced by Benderspink and Mandate Pictures (now Lionsgate). I can honestly say that right now I am living my dream. It's been a long road, and there's still plenty to come. I am invincible. And so are you. |
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