I don't exactly remember how I got involved in this particular arena, but it lasted a good long time and I've got a LOT to show for it. The arena was computer hardware. The job was cartooning. The client was a company named DISC Distributing. It went to some silly places.
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This was my fourth Star Wars comic written and drawn for a fanzine in April 1982, when I was 16. It was published in Crossed Sabers (Vol. 2, issue 3) in 1983. At the time I drew it, Return of the Jedi was a little over away, so in my head the rebel alliance was still in a Battlestar Galactica scenario, creeping through space toward whatever was to come. And space is always full of weird hazards.
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Independence Colony is a smoking ruin after a surprise attack from planetary orbit. Two survivors run into what appears to be a platoon of alien soldiers who easily overpower and imprison them. Against all hope, a heavily-armed team arrives from Earth. But what seems to be a rescue looks more like a second invasion!
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The universal gaming system developed by Steve Jackson worked for martial arts scenarios, and this book contained three of them. Each of the three was illustrated by a different artist, and I was assigned one titled Dark Arena. Imagine a Kung Fu movie in which fighters are abducted and forced to face each other in the ring and you won't be far off.
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The studio was Wildbrain and the client was actor/fitness guru Jake Steinfeld, better known under the brand name "Body by Jake." After a successful career of training adults, he made the commendable decision to turn his breezy, positive, and encouraging style toward children's health. And there are few better ways to reach children than through cartoons. I heartily endorse EVERYTHING Jake has to say in these cartoons. Well done, sir.
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It's a grab bag inside a grab bag! Here are a whole bunch of projects I did over a stretch of about thirty years. The only thing they all have in common is that they came out of my head and helped someone else achieve their goals.
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Luke Skywalker and an Imperial pilot crash-land on an uncharted planet, where mutual survival forces them into a temporary truce. They are forced into much more when they find a city of persecuted droids massing to retaliate against the entire galaxy! This was my third Star Wars story created for fanzine publication, written and drawn from January to March, 1982 (at age 16).
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In the future, everyday life on an Earth colony planet is quiet and routine...until the day an unexpected and devastating attack from space disrupts it forever. Suddenly, people who lived normal, predictable lives are caught between two brutal forces intent on mutual destruction. One of those forces is from Earth. But which of them is the enemy?
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It's always nice for an artist, especially one with a long resume, to surprise themselves on an assignment. This project did that for me. It was my second time illustrating a TORG sourcebook for West End Games, and the job was HUGE. Over 40 illustrations from a genre-bending scenario of Earth beset by inter-dimensional invaders. The setting was future Tokyo, and though it would be another 14 years before I started visiting Tokyo in person, my head was already there via the worlds of anime and manga.
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I've been an anime fan since 1980, so you can imagine what a thrill it was to actually get to work on an anime series, drawing storyboards that would be animated in Japan. This series took a long, winding road to my door and was in heaps of trouble when it finally arrived. What was it like to help rescue a medium that I'd always revered? Find out in this article!
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Super people? Aliens? Sonic the Hedgehog? Buckaroo Banzai? Here's another round of projects that went nowhere, at least in terms of them panning out into real gigs. They were certainly not dead ends in terms of creativity.
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Few "live-action anime" movies succeed in doing justice to their source material. Speed Racer (2008), Space Battleship Yamato (2010) and Battle Angel (2019) are rare exceptions that capture both tone and spirit. But if you want one that embodies the flavor and texture of 80s mecha anime, Gunhed is where it's at.
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From the exploits of Han Solo: Han and Chewie are stalked through a big city by the toughest, meanest bounty hunter this side of Boba Fett! This was one of the earliest Star Wars comics I drew for a fanzine, and it predated a lot of later Bossk appearances that seemed to be cut from the same cloth.
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The story of how fate landed me with the plum assignment of drawing Captain Harlock comics, starting with issue #12. How can drawing a comic book change your life? Usually in unexpected ways you never saw coming.
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Arsenal was a sourcebook for Shatterzone dedicated to "guns, goods, and gadgets." It included a playable mini-adventure that put some of them to immediate use. I was one of five illustrators who contributed, so I didn't do a lot. But any time I glance back at these drawings, I'm surprised by how much I still like how them.
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Avengers Assemble was simultaneously the hardest and most rewarding series I've yet worked on. I directed all the even-numbered episodes in this season of 26, which set me up to do the grand finale. After seasons 1 and 2, I knew I was in for something big, and I was not wrong.
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Robots, fascists, Mandalorians, puppets, and who knows what else come springing forth when the dead-end art archive is opened up for a fourth time. See all of these and find out why you didn't see them before now.
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This was one of my first comics to be published in a fanzine, a comedic story set in an open-source world created by my first friend in SF fandom, Cathy Ford. The stakes were low and no heavy lifting was required. All it had to be was entertaining.
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Most days, I forget that I spent months of my life drawing a 4-issue Alien Nation miniseries for Adventure Comics, an imprint of Malibu (which also published Eternity comics). I also tend to forget the Alien Nation movie and TV series that I watched back then. But every project you undertake has something new to teach you, whether you remember them or not.
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Supers was a game published by Steve Jackson Games in 1989, and it was a catchall term for characters with super powers. Supers Adventures was a spinoff involving space heroes (my favorite kind). The book contained four scenarios, and I was hired to illustrate the first one, titled Jupiter Blues.
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