I think I mentioned here, and definitely mentioned in my Twitter feed, that I'll be the subject of a News-Herald article coming this Friday. It's set to tie in with a book signing I'll be doing on this coming Sunday at Barnes and Noble in Mentor. The interview was fun to do, and it's very flattering to be the focus of such a thing. I have't seen the article, and I'm hoping that I didn't say anything stupid in it. I was able to recall exactly how many houses I had, as well as not pushing anything off as being "above my pay grade", so I think I did okay.
The reporter asked that I provide some artwork for the piece, so I had to dig through some old files. I found some fun stuff. I decided to try to dig up an old Schooltones strip from my tenure as the cartoonist for the Lake Catholic High School Lake Line newspaper. I couldn't find any. (I'm sure I have them, still. Probably upstairs in some bankers' box, I'd bet.) I was able to find some pieces from my "portfolio", circa 1983. By portfolio, I mean a red Trapper Keeper folder with several marker and crayon drawings that I brought to my very first convention, the Creation Comic Convention at the old Stouffer's Inn in Downtown Cleveland.
I remember being proud of it, and showing it to Bob Wiacek, who was generally complementary. I don't expect that Bob was geniunely impressed by a 12-year old's scribblings, but he was positive enough in a "keep at it kid, you're on a decent path" kind of way. That kind of support is priceless in a young artist's journey. Gil Kane was also there, whom I knew from his Star Hawks strip and other similar work. Gil's art didn't appeal to me then, and much like Kirby or even Simonson (whom at that show I mentioned disliking, since he made the grevious error of not being Paul Smith on the X-Men) I didn't start to appreciate and even like until later in my life. I kind of regret that. It would have been nice to talk to him a little more.
So, presented here are two drawings from that portfolio. One is of Laser Raider, a character I created for my grade school newspaper and was heaviy influenced by Dynamite Magazine's Dynamite Duo (later drawn by students of the Kubert School that I would even later attend myself). The other is Firestorm, proving my fascination with the character started at an early age. I remember being a young kid and drawing characters whose limbs looked like sausage links, since I didn't understand musculature, as well as not being able to draw noses or feet. With that in mind, I'm a little surprised at how inoffensive these drawings are. They aren't great, to be sure, but they hold up just a little better than I thought.
I also notice that I was using a signature different from my "family" signature. The now-familiar elongated ZAHLER with the united H and L and curved R going to the year was on all my Dad's and Aunt's paintings. I think I was somehow rebelling against it, although later I'd come to embrace it and I like the continuity that comes with having the family signature. I did change it a little, elimiating the vertical line in the E. Every generation adds something, I guess.
Shag over at the oh-so-fun Firestorm blog had me do a commission of Firestorm's sometimes lady love, Firehawk. This was a blast to do, being a Firestorm fan myself. Have I mentioned that before? I'm sure I have once or twice.