While they’re not currently popular, anthology comics hold an important place in comics.
Short stories offer a way to explore subjects, storytelling and drawing techniques that you might not be able to do in a longer work. But more importantly, anthologies allowed a lot of young freelancers their entry into the business in a way that exposed them to professional demands without the full responsibility of a monthly book. With the low pay at entry level, doing short stories was possible while taking other assignments (or keeping that day job) and not burning yourself out. It allowed editors to see if the person produced publishable work and kept their deadline.
Download the Love is Not an Alien Thing PDF. You’ll enjoy it more if you read the blog post first.
Malibu Graphics offered that through their various books, and after a visit to San Diego in 1990, Tom Mason gave me work on that basis.
It wasn’t the first time I worked for Malibu. Back in 1987 I had done the logos for Blood Wing and Empire. As soon as I saw the Blood Wing logo in print I saw “Blood Wino” and it’s stuck with me ever since.
I had tried out for the art duties on Scimidar during that period, but I was slow getting the samples in and the drawing was pretty poor from what I recall. I drew her as short and probably a little butch looking. She was meant to be more of a hot chick with pointy sticks. I had also been given a cover to colour for some science fiction book, but I overworked it and Scott Bieser was given the assignment instead.
This was a fun story to draw. With the short page count and being able to envision it more easily from start to finish, it was manageable to give it the energy and detail it required. The unfortunate truth I learned from The Eradicators was that if the pay was going to be low I still needed to keep a job, and making large, sustained commitments just wasn’t possible for me physically. I just didn’t draw fast enough for it, and even full books didn’t pay enough to live on.
My inks were coming along and the backgrounds were fully realised. The blacks could have been better spotted to aid panel design, and a colour job could also have sorted that out. I think my spaceships suck from a lack of getting in there and making them something special, but the last page reveal still amuses me, and is in the best tradition of twist endings from books like EC produced. Scans from the original art.
The story appeared in Seduction #1, April 1991, with a cover by Paul Daly. Released under the Eternity Comics imprint.
Up next : “Bloodlust,” a short story for Malibu Graphics. NSFW.
