Raider: About the Creator, Thom Zahler

About Thom Zahler...

The origins of the man who would become Thom Zahler are shrouded in mystery. Historians currently believe that he was part of the top-secret government super soldier breeding project code-named: “The Zahler Family.”

After twelve years of Catholic school, he was sent to the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art by a military court for a crime he didn’t commit. Zahler promptly escaped the maximum security art education facility to the Northeast Ohio Underground. Today, still wanted by the New Jersey goverment and several desperate women, he survives as a freelance cartoonist and graphic artist. If you have a job, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire…Thom Zahler Art Studios. Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam!

Thom Zahler is many things to many people, including: cartoonist, penciller, inker, letterer, caricaturist, illustrator, web designer, writer, producer, director, game show contestant, prize in a bachelor raffle, and right-handed relief pitcher. One of his favorite roles, however, is Godfather to his lovely Goddaughter Erin, in which he tries to teach the precocious two-year old that Superman really is cooler than Batman, and that, despite what she may hear on the street, Greedo never, repeat never, shot first.

Zahler’s work has been seen nationwide. He designed the bus seen in the Prilosec advertising campaign, worked in many capacities for various comic book companies including Marvel and Claypool Comics, and has done cartooning for both the Cleveland Indians and the Colorado Rockies. He is the designer and webmaster of “Angel” star Andy Hallett’s website, and has designed logos for companies large and small.

“Raider: Dead Men’s Tales” is the third in his series of graphic novels featuring the mysterious and complicated man known as Raider. The first “Raider: From the Shadows” was released in 2002 to good reviews and better sales, and the second book, “Raider: A Cold Day in Heaven” followed in that tradition. He appreciates the support of all the loyal Oakland Raiders fans who accidentally bought his book.

He currently lives at his palatial estate, Zahlerdu, in Northeast Ohio. Okay, he really doesn’t call it “Zahlerdu,” but if he did, it would be because of “Citizen Kane” and not that Olivia Newton-John disco movie. It’s not really a palatial estate, either, but it is a pretty nice place.