issue 408, but it didn’t bring in any other jobs from Marvel or DC—
or anyone, for that matter. I was part of a Charlton Comics reboot in
1986, but the book never saw the light of day. I hear it may be published this year, but my contributions will not be included, as I was
a colorist and my work was lost. No harm, No foul. I’m still friends
with the guy who got it going, even though it didn’t work out for
me. The last decent shot at mainstream comics I had was thanks
to Archie Goodwin. I met him around 1988 or ‘89 and he was interested in seeing some of my work for his Epic Comics line, but he
left Marvel and Epic about 12 seconds after he saw my work. I was
in touch with him afterwards, but he couldn’t offer me anything.
It was what it was.
for me. I stopped reading and collecting comics in 1992. I barely
paid attention to them between 1987 and the early 2000s. It wasn’t
until the early 2000s, until I noticed different trade paperbacks and
graphic novels in the local Barnes and Noble that caught my interest. I liked the Alex Maleev stuff on Daredevil and Brian Bendis’s
work. I really enjoyed his Torso graphic novel. I started to see more
indy comics, thanks to the internet. The fact that you can use social
media and POD and the web to produce comics made my decision
to revisit that much easier.
I was impressed with the better paper quality and the full color
work I saw. I read about how some artists were using Adobe prod-
SP!: SO, WOULD YOU SAY THAT GRAPHIC DESIGN WORK PROVIDES
YOU WITH ENOUGH OF A CREATIVE OUTLET?
Steven: Creative is as creative does in the commercial art world.
Years ago, I designed a Marvel Comic t-shirt and the hang tags for
a company. The shirts were advertised in Marvel Comics in the 80s. I
was pretty much told how many webs to put on Spider-Man’s head. I
had to follow the Marvel House style. Funny thing about that whole
situation is that the manufacturer ended up using my initial Marker
comp as final artwork, not the version done with India ink and brush
on Bristol board. So much for creativity, but at least I can die saying I
drew Spider-Man and got paid for it. Yay! Some kid wore my shirt and
stuck the hang tag on his wall, next to his Heather Locklear poster.
Graphic design turned out to be a decent career. I’ve done a lot of
agency and in-house work for various and sundry corporations.
The majority of my career was spent as an in-house designer for
financial services companies. I also worked for computer consultants, created litigation graphics and storyboards, and I worked for
many small design agencies. I even had a brief stint with a popular
soft drink company. I got to sit next to life-size cut outs of Britney
Spears and Sammy Sosa (when he was juiced). There was an actual
full-size Yoda figure from Lucasfilm LTD in the room next to the
designer’s bullpen.
Today, I work for a private consulting firm. I do presentations, infographics, audio and video editing, and some web work. I manage
our image library, produce presentation templates, and I create
info/commercial comics for our clients. As far as creativity, it’s up
to the buyer or client to decide what is “good” or creative. I’m providing a service. It’s no different than going into Marvel or Archie
and following the house style. I will say that my employer is topnotch and allows me to try new things.
ucts to make their comics. I know my way around Adobe, as well as
other vector and bitmap programs, and I know about print and web
production. I figured there was a possibility to use what I learned
as a graphic designer and produce a graphic novel someday.
Without boring everyone, let’s flash forward to 2010. The Kubert
SP!: AFTER THE INITIAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE COMICS WORLD, School had an open house, which I attended. While I was at the
WHAT BROUGHT YOU BACK?
open house I saw a lot of artwork from past and current students
and I got the bug to start drawing comic-style art again. I hadn’t
Steven: I’m just visiting during my off-hours. I never lost the bug done much, if any, drawing between 1987 and 2010, unless it was
to draw one, but I knew the big publishers weren’t a viable option for a design gig, but I wasn’t intimidated by the work I saw. I knew I
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