While Card\'s early science fiction stories and novels were earning attention (he won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer from the World Science Fiction Convention in 1978), he supported his family primarily by writing scripts for audiotapes produced by Living Scriptures of Ogden, Utah. Later, in the mid-1980s, he wrote the screenplays for animated children\'s videos from the New Testament and Book of Mormon, while the novel version of Ender\'s Game and its sequel Speaker For The Dead were winning the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Meanwhile, Card continues to ply his trade as a writer, including efforts to get good films made of some of his books. Ender\'s Game is in development at Warner Brothers, and other film projects are at various stages. Meanwhile, Card remains an avid watcher and critic of film and television, as well as books and music. His most recent novel, Magic Street, was published in June. Comic book fans are currently enjoying the Marvel Comics miniseries Ultimate Iron Man, written by Card and drawn by fan-favorite artist Andy Kubert. Card currently lives in Greensboro, NC, with his wife, Kristine Allen Card, and their youngest child, Zina Margaret.'; heroNames['case'] = 'Richard Case'; heroBio['case'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_case'; // heroText['case'] = ''; heroNames['chiarello'] = 'Mark Chiarello'; heroBio['chiarello'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Chiarello'; // heroText['chiarello'] = ''; // D heroNames['dorman'] = 'Dave Dorman'; heroWeb['dorman'] = 'www.davedorman.com'; heroText['dorman'] = 'Dave Dorman is an Eisner Award-winning illustrator who has been working as a professional artist since 1979. He is best known for his photorealistic renderings of action and fantasy subjects for comic, book, and game publishers, including Batman for DC and the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series for Dark Horse. In addition he has done a wide range of book and magazine covers as well as trading cards. Dave\'s work is also showcased in the Bram Stoker nominated, illustrated novel Dead Heat from Molo Press, and a book collection of his art, Star Wars: The Art Of Dave Dorman. Other works include Aliens: Tribes, an award-winning illustrated novel from Dark Horse. Dave\'s work is also now availale as a series of popular, limited edition Star Wars lithographs from Rolling Thunder Graphics. His many projects include the Young Jedi Knights and Han Solo series of paperbacks, toy design for the Alien 4: Resurrection movie, and his latest comic project, Rail, from Image. Dave has also produced covers for G.I. Joe: Frontline for Image.'; //E heroNames['edwards'] = 'Tommy Lee Edwards'; heroWeb['edwards'] = 'www.tommyleeedwards.com'; heroPortrait['edwards'] = '1'; heroText['edwards'] = 'Tommy Lee Edwards likes to jump around and have a hand in just about everything. He believes there is always something to learn at each place you visit — to take a piece of that place with you and carry it to the next. Different subjects, mediums, problems, and solutions. He has tackled a myriad of genres including sci-fi, western, historical, fantasy, and horror. Licensing work is a specialty as Tommy has attracted such clients as Lucasfilm Ltd., Paramount Pictures, Sony, and Warner Bros.
Storytelling has been Tommy\’s childhood passion realized as a writer and illustrator of comics, a feature animation story artist, and as a visual development and character designer. After studying film and illustration at the Art Center College of Design, Tommy moved from Los Angeles to Chapel Hill, NC with his two children and wife Melissa, a comic book colorist.
Recent works by Tommy include The Question miniseries with writer Rick Veitch, style guides for Batman Begins, licensing art for Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith, another Star Wars Young Readers book, Testament, pin-ups and covers for The Shield, Robotech, Thundercats, X-Men and much more. He has also provided licensing art for such properties as Men In Black and Harry Potter. Tommy is currently working on What If: Daredevil and has artwork in the BLVD. sketchbook, as well as licensing art for the upcoming Superman Returns movie.'; heroNames['eisner'] = 'Will Eisner'; heroWeb['eisner'] = 'www.willeisner.com'; // heroText['eisner'] = ''; heroNames['evans'] = 'George Evans'; heroBio['evans'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Evans_%28comics%29'; heroText['evans'] = 'George Evans started his career in Planet Comics for Fiction House in the late 1940s. He then found a home at EC Comics. There he worked on Tales Of The Crypt, Haunt Of Fear, Shock Suspenstories, Crime Suspenstories, and the highly respected aviation comic Aces High.
George also worked for Dell Four Color and Classics Illustrated. He is currently the artist on Secret Agent X-9.'; // F // G heroNames['goodwin'] = 'Archie Goodwin'; // heroText['goodwin'] = ''; heroNames['green'] = 'Randy Green'; heroWeb['green'] = 'www.tsunami-studios.com'; heroText['green'] = 'Randy Green has lived in the vicinity of Greensboro, NC most of his life. He started working in advertising as an illustrator in 1987, but still wanted to draw comics. Randy first did some pin-up and fill-in work for Comics\' Greatest World for Dark Horse Comics. After that, Randy did work on Justice League and Judge Dredd for DC Comics.
Various titles Randy has worked on include: Grifter and Sword of Damocles for Wildstorm; and Cable for Marvel Comics. Soon after, Randy was slated to be the regular penciller for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but instead got the call from Top Cow to pencil Witchblade. Since then, Randy has worked on Uncanny X-Men for Marvel; Star Wars for Dark Horse; and Tomb Raider for Top Cow.
Randy also published his own creation, Dollz, published by Image Comics, with inker (and fellow Tsunami Studios mate) Rick Ketcham, as well as the first story arc of Emma Frost for Marvel. He most recently launched the ongoing series New X-Men: Academy X, as well as drawing various covers and pin-ups. Randy lives in the Greensboro area with his wife Amy and two children.';
// H
heroNames['hampton_bo'] = 'Bo Hampton';
heroWeb['hampton'] = 'bohampton.com';
// heroText['hampton_bo'] = '';
heroNames['hampton_scott'] = 'Scott Hampton';
heroWeb['hampton'] = 'www.mothcomix.com/html/Artists/Hampton-Scott.asp';
heroText['hampton_scott'] = 'Scott Hampton\'s lifelong interest in comics was fostered by his older brother Bo, also a professional comics artist. Scott got his professional start in 1982 with the six-page \"Godfather Death\" for Epic Illustrated and work in Vampirella. Since then, he\'s worked for most of the large comic book houses on projects as varied as Pigeons From Hell, Tapping the Vein, Hellraiser, and Books of Magic (Book 2). In 1992, he painted Batman: Night Cries, a graphic album written by the late Archie Goodwin.
The Upturned Stone; Confessions of a Cereal Eater - originally a graphic novel, and turned into a series edited by Scott and illustrated by students of the Savannah College of Art and Design; Lucifer: The Morningstar Option; Black Widow: Breakdown; and Star Trek the Next Generation: Forgiveness and The Life Eaters, both written by sci-fi author David Brin. Scott also painted the graphic novel The Bible: Eden and has published two volumes of Spookhouse, a compilation of some of Scott\'s past ghost stories, with material as well. Most recently, Scott has produced the three-issue Batman: Gotham County Line with writer Steve Niles, and an issue of Solo (with a story by our own John Hitchcock), both for DC Comics. Currently, Scott is working on The Helmet of Fate: The Sorcerer for DC. He also just finished filming a live-action movie based on his Hellraiser short story, \"The Tontine\".';
heroNames['hitchcock'] = 'John Hitchcock';
heroText['hitchcock'] = 'Started collecting comic books in the fourth grade. Mike Pratt gave me a huge stack of books that I carried a mile home and I was hooked. Billy Cummings of Cherry Street fame was my comic mentor. Billy turned me toward collecting great artists instead of just superhero titles. Collecting comics became my obsession and I am still looking for books even now. Anyone got a Weird Tales of the Future #3? How about Power House Pepper #4? Cheap. Graduated from Greensboro College with a BFA in painting and graphics/ printing. Went back to GC five years alter and got my teaching credentials. After a year of substitute teaching I vowed never to go back to that hellhole and I haven\’t. Started working at Acme Comics in 1983 and quit to open Parts Unknown in 1989. I also collect original comic book art. Does any one know where the art to \"White Devil, Yellow Devil!\" by Alex Toth is? I didn\’t think so. I still draw every day and paint every once and awhile. I also am a huge Professional Wrestling fan. If you check out the link to the Mid-Atlantic site you will discover this other odd obsession since childhood. Also check out the TV Party site for The Wally Wood Letters and The Alex Toth Twenty Questions. The Al and Archie stuff is very cool too. Comic books are the best way I know to get kids reading. And as time goes by I am beginning to think people have forgotten this fact. Maybe with your help we can turn kids on reading again. Because that is what comic books are all about. Thanks for wasting ten minutes of your life reading this crap.';
// I
// J
heroNames['jones'] = 'Casey Jones';
heroWeb['jones'] = 'www.caseyjonesart.com';
heroText['jones'] = 'Casey Jones is a name that should be recognizable to quite a few comic fans. He got his start in his early teens by showing his portfolio to comic book professionals at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC. After doing some small press work, Dark Horse editor Bob Schreck gave him a break - a story serialized in Dark Horse Presents. Next, Casey got the chance to work on Excalibur with writer Warren Ellis. Soon after, he hooked up with Rob Haynes on Marvel\'s Quicksilver.
The Internet was the next artistic outlet for Jones, where he worked on Marvel\'s Cybercomics, where he got to draw Spider-Man and the X-Men full-time. Casey\'s name has been in the credits on some rather high-profile books, starting with Birds of Prey - which he penciled and inked - with writer Gilbert Hernandez for DC. This led to a stint with Mark Waid on Marvel\'s flagship title, Fantastic Four. Casey has also developed artwork for Disney theme parks, illustrated covers for the Jubilee series for Marvel. Also for Marvel, Casey is worked on Spider-Man Unlimited and a Fantastic Four special written by Dwayne McDuffie. Most recently Casey worked on Spider-Man Family: Amazing Friends for Marvel, and Blue Beetle for DC Comics.
Some of Casey\'s artistic influences include John Romita, Jr., P. Craig Russell, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Golden, Ronnie del Carmen, and even artists he\'s friends with including Rob Haynes, Andrew Robinson, and Adam Hughes. Casey lives in the mountains of Virginia with his wife and two daughters.';
// K
heroNames['ketcham'] = 'Rick Ketcham';
heroWeb['ketcham'] = 'www.tsunami-studios.com';
heroPortrait['ketcham'] = '1';
heroText['ketcham'] = 'Comic book inker Rick \"The Rick\" Ketcham is part of Greensboro, NC\'s Tsunami Studios, with fellow artists Randy Green, Kelly Yates, Steve Bird, and John \"Waki\" Wycough. His body of work includes various Buffy the Vampire Slayer projects for Dark Horse Comics; Cable, X-Men, Uncanny X-Men and Emma Frost for Marvel Comics; E.V.E. Protomecha for Top Cow; Dollz and Black Tide for Image; and 9-11: Artists Respond for Image/Dark Horse. Rick most recently worked on New X-Men: Academy X, DC\'s Venom, Son of Vulcan with penciler Keron Grant, as well as New Excalibur with penciler Michael Ryan, as well as various covers, pin-ups and Marvel & DC\'s Vs. gaming cards. Coming up, Rick will be working on Runaways (with writer Joss Whedon, once again teaming up with penciler Michael Ryan). Rick\'s hobbies include video games, music and movies, and is inspired by fellow comic book inkers including Karl Story, Tim Townsend, and Scott Hanna.';
heroNames['kaluta'] = 'Mike Kaluta';
heroWeb['kaluta'] = 'www.kaluta.com';
// L
// M
// N
heroNames['nelson'] = 'Mark Nelson';
// heroText['nelson'] = '';
// O
heroNames['orlando'] = 'Joe Orlando';
heroBio['orlando'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Orlando';
heroText['orlando'] = 'Joe Orlando first entered the comic field as an assistant to legendary Wally Wood in 1950. Joe worked for Avon Comics on titles like Space Detective, Captain Science, and Strange Worlds. Joe then found a home at EC, producing stories for Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Incredible Science Fiction. One story - \"Judgment Day\" in Weird Fantasy #18 - is considered one of the finest stories EC ever produced. Joe later worked for Classics Illustrated, Marvel, and Warren, working on Creepy and Eerie. Joe was Vice President of Special Projects at DC Comics, and was a guest star in Superman #400, as well at The Watchmen (he did the \"Black Freighter\" comics).';
// P
heroNames['pratt'] = 'George Pratt';
heroWeb['pratt'] = 'www.georgepratt.com';
heroText['pratt'] = 'Born in Texas, George Pratt moved to New York in 1980 to study Drawing and Painting at Pratt Institute, where he later taught. He also taught for two years at the Joe Kubert School in Dover, NJ. A successful painter, George\'s work is in private collections and has been exhibited all over the world.
His first graphic novel, Enemy Ace: War Idyll for DC Comics/Warner Books, has been nominated for and won several awards and was on the required reading list at West Point Military Academy. In 2003, George won an Eisner Award for Best Painter for his Wolverine: Netsuke miniseries for Marvel. Past projects include: Batman: Harvest Breed for DC, which was nominated for two Eisner Awards; See You in Hell, Blind Boy: A Tale of the Blues, a text novel written by George which also includes his photographs, illustrations, comics, and recordings made in the Mississippi Delta; Find Me A Voice includes paintings and prints of the Holocaust with poetry by Gabor Barabas. George\'s work can currently be seen in the graphic novel Testament. George is currently working on Solo, a 48-page anthology for DC, and during the summer, teaches at The Illustration Academy in Sarasota, Florida.
George currently resides in Chapel Hill, NC with his wife Meredith, a children\'s book designer and illustrator, and his son, George H. Pratt V.'; // Q // R heroNames['root'] = 'Budd Root'; heroWeb['root'] = 'www.basementcomics.com'; heroText['root'] = 'Budd Root was born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1958 (the same year Famous Monsters of Filmland was born); it was a good year for monsters. There were four major influences in his young life: the aforementioned magazine; a loving grandfather who was a master storyteller, specializing in the fantastic and heroic; The Beatles, who made a huge impact on the young Budd; and finally, comic books, an artform that - with a little imagination - could involve all other influences and much more. Budd is the creator of Cavewoman, the story of a young woman living among the dinosaurs, published by Basement Comics. Budd\'s writing and art have quickly made it one of the most popular new black-and-white comics. His other current project is writing Tigress with fantastic art by Mike Hoffman.'; // S heroNames['schultz'] = 'Mark Schultz'; heroBio['schultz'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Schultz'; heroText['schultz'] = 'Mark Schultz, at age six, discovered comics (notably Dell Comics\' Tarzan and DC Comics\' Superman, Metal Men, and Hawkman), and classic adventure films, in particular King Kong and the Tarzan series. He was later inspired by the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, and the illustrators associated with them, especially Al Williamson, Roy Krenkel, and Frank Frazetta. Mark\'s Xenozoic Tales premiered in February 1987 from Kitchen Sink Comics. Schultz\'s painstaking attention to detail and research translated often to a year between issues. Fourteen memorable comic books were published over a decade. In recent years, Mark has branched out, co-creating and co-writing SubHuman, an underwater adventure series for Dark Horse, and writing Superman: The Man Of Steel for DC. In addition, he continues to write and draw Xenozoic stories, and to produce scripts and cover art for various comic projects, including Star Wars, Aliens, and Predator. Mark has been awarded five Harvey Awards, two Eisners, an Inkpot, a Spectrum, and three Haxturs. He created seventy new illustrations and several paintings for Mythmaker, a deluxe collection of Robert E. Howard\'s original Conan stories, published by Wandering Star (2003). A novel based on DC\'s Flash will be published by Pocket Books. He is also developing Xenozoic Tales as a novel. Mark, his wife (and letterer) Denise, and their two cats live in the mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.'; heroNames['severin'] = 'Marie Severin'; heroBio['severin'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Severin'; heroText['severin'] = 'Marie started her career working at EC Comics doing coloring, and in a very short time she became one of the finest colorists in comics\' history. Production work is very time consuming, but Marie colored all the great Mad Comics, Tales Of The Crypt, Weird Science Fantasy, and many more. After a stint in advertising work, Marie joined Marvel in 1964 and was quick to pursue her job in coloring. A few years later she penciled Dr. Strange in Strange Tales and The Hulk in Tales To Astonish. (Oh, and she did The Hulk in his own book too!) One of her favorites was King Kull with her brother John, and the hilarious Not Brand Ecch!. Marie has worked on countless books throughout the years, including Alf, Muppet Babies, and Mighty Mouse.'; heroNames['smith'] = 'Andy Smith'; heroWeb['smith'] = 'www.andysmithart.com'; heroPortrait['smith'] = '1'; heroText['smith'] = 'Andy Smith has been working as a professional artist since 1991. Mostly working in the field of comic books for major publishers such as Marvel (Weapon X: Days of Future Now), DC (Green Lantern), Wildstorm (Wildcats: Nemesis), Image (Armor X), Acclaim (X-O Manowar) and CrossGen Entertainment (The First). Not content with just comic book projects, Andy has also done a variety of commercial jobs for clients such as Bally\'s Total Fitness, Real Song Records, and Fidelity Investments. Andy is also the best-selling author of \"Drawing Dynamic Comics\" published by Watson-Guptill in 2000, currently in its sixth printing. Andy is currently penciling Claw the Unconquered (with writer Chuck Dixon) for Wildstorm.'; heroNames['stevens'] = 'Dave Stevens'; heroWeb['stevens'] = 'www.davestevens.com'; // heroText['stevens'] = ''; heroNames['stout'] = 'William Stout'; heroWeb['stout'] = 'www.williamstout.com'; heroText['stout'] = 'William Stout was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on the way to Los Angeles in 1949. At seventeen he won a full California State Scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute (California Institute of the Arts) where he obtained his Bachelor\'s Degree. He began his professional career in 1968 with the cover for the first issue of Coven 13. In 1971, he began to assist Russ Manning on the Tarzan Of The Apes Sunday and daily newspaper comic strips and Eisner Award-winning graphic novels. Stout joined Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder on Playboy\'s Little Annie Fanny in 1972. From 1976 to 1977, Stout was art director for the rock magazine Bomp! 1977 also saw Stout\'s first movie poster, Wizards. Stout ultimately worked on the advertising for over 120 films. He also was one of the first American contributors to Heavy Metal magazine.
Buck Rogers and 1978 saw the beginning of Stout\'s film career. Stout worked on over 30 feature films including the Conan films, First Blood, The Hitcher, Invaders From Mars and Masters Of The Universe. Return Of The Living Dead made Stout the youngest production designer in film history. In 1995, William Stout became the key character designer for the Walt Disney full length computer animated feature Dinosaur (released in 2000). He was called on by ILM to design Edgar (the key alien in Men In Black) in 1996. He is currently the designer for The Muppets Wizard of Oz feature.
In 1981, Bantam Books published Stout\'s landmark masterwork The Dinosaurs – A Fantastic New View Of A Lost Era (recently updated and republished as The New Dinosaurs), followed by Ray Bradbury\'s Dinosaur Tales and The Little Blue Brontosaurus (the basis for The Land Before Time film). April of 1993 saw the release of William Stout\'s Lost Worlds, the first of three trading card sets by Comic Images. Michael Crichton acknowledged Stout\'s work as an inspiration for his book Jurassic Park.
In 1994, Stout illustrated a series of covers for the Cadillacs And Dinosaurs comic books. In 1997, Stout collaborated with \"Moebius\" Giraud on a new Arzach story for the 20th anniversary of Heavy Metal, and with Will Eisner on the Harvey Award winning Spirit series. For 2004, Stout has written and illustrated a new book, New Dinosaurs A To Z; it depicts the most spectacular dinosaur finds of the last ten years. He has also illustrated a new Oz book, The Winged Monkeys Of Oz. Stout resides in Pasadena, California with his wife and two sons.'; // T heroNames['torres'] = 'Anglelo Torres'; heroBio['torres'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Torres'; heroText['torres'] = 'Angelo Torres has an amazing talent for doing many things well. Angelo was a legendary inker with Al Williamson on Piracy, Valor, and Weird Science Fantasy for EC Comics, and was acclaimed as one of the finest inkers in the comic field. Just look at \"Sound Of Thunder\" in Weird Science Fantasy #25 for proof. Angelo worked at Atlas/Marvel for years and found a home later at Warren Publications doing work for Creepy, Eerie, and Blazing Combat magazines. That artwork inspired hundreds of young cartoonists to do comics... horror comics! Angelo then moved to Cracked and Mad magazines, where he became one of the finest caricature/satire artists in the world.'; heroNames['toth'] = 'Alex Toth'; heroWeb['toth'] = 'www.tothfans.com'; heroText['toth'] = 'It all started with one letter in 1981.
But that is not the best way to start this article.
I started collecting comic books when I was in the fourth grade in 1966. There were a few of my friends that collected so I decided it was time to give it a try. Comic books cover a lot of ground. Some people collect Marvel, some DC, some like Spider-Man, some like Batman and some collect the artists that draw them.
I grew into an artist guy.
My collecting fever began with Jack Kirby (Fantastic Four and Thor), Steve Ditko (Spiderman and Doctor Strange) and Wally Wood (Daredevil and Weird Science). These artists had very distinctive styles that I began to recognize at a glance. And everything these guys drew was always terrific.
In the middle sixties a comic book company named Warren Publishing put out a few black and white magazines that featured the best artists in the world. Those books were Creepy, Eerie and Blazing Combat. And every one of the early issues were visual feasts for the eye and your imagination. I was a fan of Reed Crandall and Al Williamson and poured over their stories with white-hot intensity. Both artists along with Gray Morrow and Angelo Torres were more from the illustrator school with beautiful flowing lines and amazing brushwork. Frank Frazetta did most of the painted covers of these books and all of us comic guys were in heaven.
There was another guy in those books that I just didn\'t like.
His name was Alex Toth and his style just turned me off completely. One day when I was walking home from Aycock Grade School with my friend and fellow collector, Mike Pratt, we were talking comics as usual. I stated that I really hated this Toth guy\'s Art. Mike turned to me and said that was very funny because he thought Alex Toth was one of the best. I began to laugh at the poor guy! I immediately went over to Billy Cummings\' house to tell him about Pratt being so stupid. Billy was four years older than me and was the keeper of all comic book knowledge. The mentor would agree with me because I was always right about everything. When you\'re ten years old and worldly, you were always right.
Billy listened to me and said that Pratt was right! I was stunned needless to say.
Billy asked me a very simple question, \"Have you ever read one of Toth\'s stories?\"
No, I hadn\'t bothered because it looked so strange to me.
So Billy sat me down and told me to read a Toth story called \"The Monument\" from Eerie #3, written by Archie Goodwin. After reading the story I was totally blown away. So I asked the question: how could this be?
How could this story be so good with this odd art?
Billy the funny book sage said and I quote, \"Because Alex Toth knows how to tell a story.\"
This information stood me on my head.
Comic Books are about the art of Storytelling. Pretty drawings that hinder a stories progress are not what Alex Toth is trying to do. Alex Toth goes to great lengths to tell a story clearly because that is what his job is. And the artwork is there for that reason.
From that point on I began collecting comic books with Alex Toth stories in them.
And I was never disappointed.
Alex Toth\'s stories had a real sophistication about them that totally set him apart from every one else in the comic book business. Alex attempted to simplify his style of drawing to support the story he was working on. And as any artist will tell you trying to do a drawing with five lines is so much harder than doing one with a hundred. A hundred lines can dazzle but it can also cover all your drawing mistakes. Five lines have to be right because you can\'t hide anything. It takes exceptional talent and knowledge to try to accomplish this. And his drawing style was constantly changing towards that goal. Alex Toth was a real artist that was always a student trying to discover a better way to see things clearly. Alex thought as a student but he was one of our finest teachers. He was a true inspiration to every one in the comic book and animation field.
About fifteen years later I found Alex Toth\'s address and I sent him a letter. It was a really crummy fan letter and I am now kind of ashamed of it. But the stars must have been lined up right that day because that one crummy letter started an avalanche of letters, cards, phone calls, drawings, sketches and visits that went on for the next twenty-five years. The phone calls got to be so expensive we decided it made more sense to just write letters. Writing letters seems so old fashioned to some people but I knew it would be the best way to document this great artist. And I was right on that count.
I once visited Alex at his Hollywood apartment and there was this wooden coffee table with a stack of National Geographics on it. Beside these magazines was a large magnifying glass. So I asked him about that. He said he was studying those wonderful black and white photos about the Mayan ruins. He used the magnifying glass to see more, to get as much information as he could out of those pictures.
Alex even agreed to be a guest at our comic book convention here in Greensboro in 1985. We were all surprised that so many people turned out to meet him. It was a very good time for everyone involved. Oddly, that was the last advertised convention appearance for Alex and he became more withdrawn as time passed on.
Most of you folks reading this article know Alex Toth\'s work if you ever watched Saturday morning cartoons. From 1964 to 1978 Alex worked at Hanna Barbera and was the creative force behind most of those cartoons. Alex did the character designs and story boards for the following cartoons: Space Ghost, Mightor, Moby Dick, The Fantastic Four, Sea Lab 2020, The Herculoids, Super Friends, Dino Boy, The Banana Splits, Danger Island, The Arabian Knights, Scooby Doo, Dyno Mutt, Space Angel, Birdman, Samson and Goliath, The Galaxy Trio, Thundarr the Barbarian, and two episodes of Jonny Quest.
And that is just off the top of my head, there were many more and they will last forever in reruns. You watched them and your children watch them, that\'s an interesting form of immortality. Those wonderful cartoons will always be admired and studied because of Alex Toth\'s beautiful character designs.
There was something very special about getting one of Alex\'s postcards in the mail. This little card would be hand lettered with as much information as it was humanly possible. These cards are real works of art in themselves and I cherished everyone. At last count I think I received hundreds cards and one hundred and thirty sketches. Most of them had a little sketch of an odd duck on them. That odd duck was Alex running, jumping, skipping along or even under an avalanche of rocks. There was a wonderful innocence about those drawings that I really admired.
And don\'t think for a second that I was the only one who wrote to him. I would venture to guess that at least twenty had a long-term correspondence with him. The last twenty years of his life he lived through those letters. It was a big part of his life, receiving mail and asking questions and getting into arguments. That was just the way he was.
About six months ago word was sent that Alex was in the hospital and would like to get some get well soon letters and cards. What happened next was Alex received twenty bags of mail from friends and perfect strangers wishing him well from all over the world. When he saw the first batch of letters he sat down and cried. I think he then knew that he was loved and his work would make him immortal.
What a wonderful thing to happen, we all should be so lucky.
Alex was a wonderful friend and the comic book and animation world really lost a giant on May 27th when he passed away. He was 78 years old.
I will miss him every day of my life.
- John Hitchcock, June 2006
'; // U // V heroNames['vanfleet'] = 'John Van Fleet'; heroWeb['vanfleet'] = 'www.johnvanfleet.com'; heroText['vanfleet'] = 'John Van Fleet\’s very distinctive work has been published in dozens of various works. John\’s work process goes something like this: a copy of the script arrives and he breaks down the text into panels, hires actors to model in poses that fit the script, and photographs them. Next he find suitable background pictures and fits the subjects into them. Then, it\’s a mix of good old fashion paint and digital voodoo to get the art to the finished page.
The terms \"mixed media\" or \"painted\" comics are sometimes used to describe his work, but John seems more comfortable not pigeonholing it. As a student at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Van Fleet lived with fellow artists Kent Williams, George Pratt, and Mark Chiarello. An aborted stint as a commercial artist brought him to the comics industry. John has worked on Hellraiser for Epic, Batman: Cast Shadows, Batman: The Chalice, with writer Chuck Dixon; Batman: The Ankh; covers for H-E-R-O, Smallville; X-Files and much more.
Recently, John has done a lot of work for Upper Deck and DC for the VS. card games, as well as work in the new game Hecatomb from Wizards of the Coast. He just finished working on the latest Star Wars book "The New Essential Chronology" with Tommy Lee Edwards and Mark Chiarello doing art as well, as well as covers for books 1 and 2 from the Last Jedi series of books from Scholastic.';
// W
heroNames['wieringo'] = 'Mike Wieringo';
heroWeb['wieringo'] = 'www.mikewieringo.com';
heroText['wieringo'] = 'After breaking into the comic book business on a two-issue Doc Savage miniseries, Mike Wieringo has done work for every major publisher including Marvel, DC and Image Comics. His first major work was on The Flash with writer Mark Waid. He established a look and feel for that title that has influenced other artists on that title for years
.Mike has worked on comics featuring most of the major characters in the comics industry including - but not limited to - Rogue, Robin, Spider-Man, Superman, X-Men and many others. He reunited with Waid to reinvigorate Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics to rave reviews and acclaim. He also is co-creator of the wildly popular Tellos comic series with writer Todd Dezago, which sprung from a deep love of such works as \"Alice in Wonderland\", \"The Wizard of Oz\", \"Grimm\'s Fairy Tales\" and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Mike has also done animation design, licensing illustration and package art for many major companies.
Mike most recently worked on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man with writer Peter David, two issues of Ms. Marvel and Stan Leets Meets The Silver Surfer and is the subject of Modern Masters Volume 9 from TwoMorrows Publishing. Mike is always drawing, as is evident from his blog postings on his Web site, where any given day, you might find Gorilla-style sketches of various comic-book characters, or characters from the Harry Potter or LOST properties.';
heroNames['williamson'] = 'Al Williamson';
heroBio['williamson'] = 'en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Williamson';
heroText['williamson'] = 'At EC Comics, Al made the thoughts of Ray Bradbury into a precise personal vision which is considered the standard for science fiction comics today... and he was only in his early 20s! There is an amazing shine of class associated with everything Al Williamson has done in his career; Secret Agent X-9 and Flash Gordon are but two examples of the rich body of work he has created. George Lucas asked Al to do the newspaper strip and two movie adaptation for his Star Wars franchise, which thrilled every art fan in the country. Al also worked for Marvel, inking New Mutants, and Daredevil, for which he won three straight Inker Of The Year Harvey Awards.';
heroNames['wrightson'] = 'Bernie Wrightson';
heroWeb['wrightson'] = 'www.wrightsonart.com';
heroText['wrightson'] = 'Bernie Wrightson is considered a horror legend. He has been bringing us some of the most detailed and horrific art for more than thirty years. Best known for his Swamp Thing and Frankenstein artwork, Bernie continues presenting his horrific and mystifying images through creator-owned comics and film production companies. But it\’s his horrific, flesh-dripping illustrations that attract thousands of fans — they just can\’t get enough of his detailed inks. And it\’s the style he likes most.
Wrightson was born October 27, 1948, in Baltimore, Maryland. At age 20, Bernie attended a Sci-Fi convention where he met Frank Frazetta, Hal Foster, Mike Kaluta, and Jeff Jones, among others. Here, he won the Best New Talent award. Within two years, his first professional work appeared in House of Mystery #179. Two years after that, Swamp Thing, which he co-created with writer Len Wein, appeared in issue #92 of House of Secrets. In 1972, Swamp Thing became a regular series, and he left the series after issue #10.
Bernie became popular working on the horror magazines Creepy and Eerie in the mid-1970s. In the late 70s, he published his amazing adaptation of Mary Shelley\’s Frankenstein, which showcased his mastery of pen and ink. He continued his meteoric rise with work on miniseries featuring Batman and The Punisher, and scores of other titles. Bernie has also illustrated some of Stephen King\’s novels including The Stand and Cycle of the Werewolf. Bernie\’s also done conceptual artwork for dozens of films, including Ghostbusters, The Faculty and Spider-Man. He continues to offer up creativity on various film projects.
Today, Bernie resides in Los Angeles, where he works both on film designs and his own "baby" projects, including comic books, prints, sketchbooks and licensing projects.';