WHO KNEW PICKING UP ONE COMIC BOOK COULD ACTUALLY CHANGE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE

Believe it or not, thats exactly what happened to me. Was it my escape or had I found my home… so where do I begin?

So when did the comic bug hit you? I was asked that once. Well here's a little back story, showcased with a gallery's worth of art, for the most part, the art has never before been seen anywhere else. Of note, many of the pieces I've showcased here, were done for portfolio purposes and helped me get into both High School and College.

It was 1964, the comic book was DareDevil # 7, the first time I ever actually spent money to buy one. The newly turned all red DD, as redesigned by the great Wally Wood, was fighting what turned out to be my favorite comic book character ever, Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner, created by one of my favorite comic artists Bill Everett and I was hooked. All it took was seeing that cover and my life was forever altered.

Not that DareDevil # 7 was the first comic book I had read, or held in my hands, or frankly just looked at the pictures, since I was 'reading' them before I could even read. That began at a much earlier age, but in 1964 I was just turning 5, and well it was love at first sight. And after forking over my 12¢ I spent many an hour staring at the cover and the interior pages.

And for the first time, I began to draw super-heroes. Until then my drawing was of anything and everything, mostly people mind you, portraits of my family or people I saw on TV or in real life. But the costumed heroes of Marvel and DC hadn't taken over as my primary subject matter. Until my eyes feasted on Wally Wood's brilliance. 

Mind you, Jack Kirby, was and will always be to me comic books, I could list a ton of artists who I grew up admiring and swiping and learning from. Artists who are as important to me as any that have hung at the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The artists of the comics world that I grew up being a fan of, and who helped shape me into the artist I would become probably had more of an influence on me then any other art form.

Beginning with the likes of John Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska, Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Nick Cardy, John Romita Sr, Gene Colan, Bernie Wrightson and many others,  I just fell in love with the medium, the art form. The color, the power and fun that I witnessed every time I picked up a new comic book. But Jack Kirby to me is the medium itself. And he was the artist that I wanted to try to aspire to be as a child.  

So I spent my childhood drawing and drawing and drawing some more, creating characters with my brothers and friends. And eventually applied and was accepted to The High School of Art and Design. Where I majored in cartooning. How ever I soon discovered that what I wanted to do as a cartoonist wasn't what our instructors wanted us to do.

They wanted us to do funny, cute characters. Which I loved, but honestly, what I wasn't really into. I wanted to do Super-heroes not Mother Goose. And realized that I should instead focus on illustration at least while attending high school, where at least I could do serious art and not have to try to come up with punchlines. 

Of course the person in charge, refused to allow me too transfer so I spent the next year and a half drawing and animating funny animals. Well I survived High School, learned a lot and decided I was gonna attend The School of Visual Arts, Where I could further learn my chosen profession and somehow get myself into the world of comics and illustration. 

Attending The School of Visual Arts is something I fully endorse to anyone thinking about choosing a college. I loved going there, in fact I still wish I could be going there now.  What could be bad, 4 years spent discovering all types of art, experimenting in as many mediums as possible. And spending your days with other like minded souls, all wanting to discover where this art thing might lead us.

For me it was eye-opening, for I discovered to my amazement that I could paint, that I wasn't just a wanna be comic book penciller, but maybe I could grow up and become a full fledged illustrator, like my idol, Norman Rockwell or the genius named Frank Frazetta.

And while attending classes there, my eyes were opened to all manner of styles and well life. Making my once innocent view of the world, well open up. You see, just what college is supposed to do. And along with that I got the chance to learn from one of the masters of the medium itself, the legendary Will Eisner. While attending SVA I was lucky enough to score one of the few seats available to his classes. And boy did I relish learning from one of the people that actually helped make sequential art into the medium it is today.

YOU ASKED FOR IT! Was one of the assignments that Will Eisner gave us. The assignment, a one page sequential story. With art and story by yourself. Well I was stumped, since the writing part, hadn't been what I had devoted my life to. So I decided to re-use a very old, very bad joke as my inspiration and well… Uncle Will, as some of us called the great man, seemed to love it.

A DESCENT IN THE MAELSTROM! Another assignment from Uncle Will, was to take a pre-existing story, mine was from the great Edgar Allan Poe, and adapt it into a 3 page sequential story. Dig that crazy zip-a-tone. And as you can see, my hand-lettering wasn't something I was really focusing on. I just figured, if I actually made it into Marvel, they could hire one of their letterers to do it. I must say, the headline for the story itself, I'm kind of proud of. Have to be honest. Oh, I just noticed some of the words balloons have been lost. Sorry.

After I graduated, I focused on illustration, thinking to myself that it was easier painting one image, one illustration then drawing an entire book. Mapping out the story. Story boarding the plot. I figured finding one iconic image in the entire story would be easier. And then I received a call from a friend from High School. She informed me that she was gonna self-publish her own comic book and that she wanted me to do an 8 page story in it. I also was gonna be doing the back cover. 

The comic was eventually entitled Panorama. I actually came up with the magazine's name and logo design, and was thrilled to see it on the cover when it was published a few months later.  

I decided that instead of drawing and inking Those who Watch! my little tale of Joseph Mann, who well watched our planet, protecting it from evil, in this case Mystique (yes I came up with the same, years before Marvel did)…well,  I was gonna paint it. At this time, I was fantazing that Marvel might call me up and hand me my dream assignment, a Sub-Mariner graphic novel. I had decided that pen and ink was so old school. And after a little debate, I talked Debbie David, our publisher into allowing me to indeed paint my story. The final art as showcased here was done the same size as real comic book pages are done, and painted in oil paint on double weight illustration board.

Well I haven't received the call from Marvel yet, but once the comic book came out, I started attending comic book conventions, and at my very first appearance, I was approached by the art director of Personality Comics, and happily was hired to do the my first assignment for them, a portrait of Gloria Estefan,which turned out to be the first of of 25 covers I eventually did for them. 

It was while I was making the appearances at the conventions, that the idea of publishing my own magazine really started to percolate. I mean if I wasn't getting hired by the powers that be, perhaps I could persuade them if I showed them I could do it myself. Then one day, I came up with Advanced Warning! which eventually became OffWorld, thanks to my friend, Tony Williams. who came up with the new title.

The great thing about self-publishing is that for once you get to have final say in what you want to do. And you get to  call the shots. The main reason I launched the magazine, was it was supposed to be a showcase for my talents as an illustrator. And happily here is one example of the art I created especially for the magazine.

Even though, as of now, I haven't spent my career working for the major comic book companies, I did spend a few fun days coloring pages at Valiant Comics when they published the GAME BOY comics. However, I have spent much of it, creating art showcasing the characters from the major companies. Two favorites of mine have always been Marvel's Spider-Man and DC's Super-Man.

In addition to my more traditional oil paintings featuring heroic imagery, I've also been experimenting with prismacolor color pencils, and you can still see my love for the medium in most anything I create.

So you see, this is what happened after an almost 5 year boy picked up one 12¢ comic book. I can only imagine if instead of that comic, I had been attracted to something else, who knows where my life would have led me.

If you interesting in seeing more of my art, please check out:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/neilfeigeles

Until next time,

Neil