Mark Spears Made His Own Opportunity: An Interview about Monsters, Todd McFarlane, and Tenacity - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 462

00:01
in this episode of The Short Box.

00:29
Marvel in DC and show them like, know, can do this.  That's what I thought would happen. But no, all my samples, I would get them sent back with, with marker all over them and say, this, this is horrible.  And Marvel  actually even called me up on the phone to tell me how bad I was.  And turned out it was the submissions answer. And he just said, Hey, Mark, I just want to tell you, man,  I'm getting tired of all these packages you're sending me.  And he said, how old are you? And I said, I think at that time I was like 20, 21.

00:56
He goes, Mark, I got 16, 15 year olds that can draw so much better than me. Give it up.

00:59
intro music plays

01:28
Yo, Short Box Nation! Hello again, welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're new, well, welcome to the show. My name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with the creators that put their blood, sweat and tears into making them. And today we're joined by superstar and award-winning comic artist, Mark Spears, who is currently writing, drawing and doing the covers of the very popular and pretty much sold out horror comic series,

01:56
Monsters, it's published by KeenSpot publishing.  Good luck finding any copies of those if you can, especially the earlier issues, I've tried. But I can't stress enough the one man collecting  frenzy  that has been around Mark Spears in the last couple years, I'd say like two, three years. But Mark stepped on the scene and started out by working on covers for Spawn and DC as early as 2023.  And since then, his career in popularity has been on a meteoric  rise.

02:22
He's done covers for almost every publisher that you can think of at this point, from Image to DC to Dynamite and Dark Horse,  on titles like Superman, Vampirella, Transformers,  and a whole lot more.  He's also amassed an insane following among collectors thanks to his monsters collecting cards in comics.  He's on the podcast today to talk about his career, the success he's enjoyed, the opportunities he's had,  and the new projects he's working on right now. But before we get started on that, I want to give a big shout out to my sponsor, Gotham City Limit.

02:50
It's Jacksonville's premier shop for comics, collectibles, toys, and more. If you want to check out the shop for yourself, visit them here in Jacksonville on Southside Boulevard or visit their online store at GothamCityLimit.com. And I want to give one more shout out to my Patreon subscribers who help me keep the show going every week. If you like what I do, if this show has ever given you any entertainment or joy, even just a little bit.

03:11
consider returning the favor and supporting the show by becoming an official Patroni of the show at patreon.com slash the short box for a measly five bucks a month, which is not a lot. If you think about it, it's like a dollar a week, you'll get access to commercial free episodes, early access to videos and shows, access to bonus episodes like me and Drew's spin-off podcasts, save it for the pod, AKA the short box after our show, or you can show you support with the free route, right? Like the free option is

03:36
You give this show a five star rating review on whatever podcast that you're listening to. It's a small thing for you, but would mean the world to me. So thank you in advance. Now without further ado, Short Box Nation, let's welcome comic artist Mark Spears to the show. What up Mark, how you doing? Doing good guys. How's going? Doing well man. Mark, I told you before we hit record, I've had so many people hit me up about you and getting you on the podcast. Specifically,

04:02
My comic shop guy, the guy that runs the shop here in town that sponsors the show, Gotham City Limit. He's actually the one that put you on my radar. And it feels like from there, I cannot escape your name. It's Mark Spears this, Mark Spears that. How are you doing?  I'm doing fabulous, man. It's a, I love the whole intro.  I could, I could listen to you talk about me all day long. Whatever,  whatever you want to say. And let me,  and I'll let my wife hear it later when you Superstar. I want her to hear that.

04:32
So she's like, you know, get up and fold laundry. Nah, I don't. Yeah, baby. That's not superstar activities right there. Exactly, man. But now, yeah, in the house, I'm just Mark Spears. At a comback store, I might be superstar Mark Spears, but at home, it's Mark Spears. Mark, can I ask, with all of your success and, you know, acclaim so far and all of this attention on you,

04:57
How is it walking into a comic shop now? Like when's the last time you've been to a shop?  Do you get recognized? I mean right now, by the way, I love that you have a Mark Spears Monsters hat in the matching shirt as well. got to represent man. Damn right. Brand new. Let's see.  Well, that's funny.  Okay. So the last shop I have been into, I want to say, because a lot has changed since  Monsters came out in September. That's what changed everything.

05:26
But in December,  me and my family were up near Cerveraville, Tennessee, Pigeon Forge area, right? So not far from my house, maybe four or five hours.  And my family's with me and I said, hey, let's talk into a convict store. Let's visit one up here. Cause it was up there for Christmas.  And so he walked in and you know, I'm thinking, wow, I'm going to show my kids that I'm, I'm popular right now. Right.

05:57
I think it was a Thundercats Apex had just come out. Right. So that was the first week of December or so. And that book actually, right when it came out was, you know, getting, I don't know, 20, $40 for it. The week of release. So I walk in there and I was going to go buy a copy and I asked the guys that were there. said, Hey, you don't have the Thundercats Apex. Oh yeah, we have some, but they didn't have my cover. And I was like, Oh, you didn't, you didn't get the Spears cover.

06:27
didn't really care for it. Okay. And then, uh, then I started looking at other things on the wall, like, cause December, had a big month. had a lot of, uh, had two DC connecting covers, right? The Green Lantern connected covers and the action comics connected covers. So I go looking for those and I'm like, y'all got those connected covers? Nah, we didn't cover A. We didn't, we didn't get it. No. Okay.

06:52
So  I look everywhere for just something of mine in this whole store. I asked them, I said, what about that monster's title? You get that? No,  we might get the second issue or I think the second one already came out. So they were like, they might get, they might get the third issue or something in January or so. So I look around and I finally, I find a spawn that I did in their back issues and I go to check out. then I'm like,  by the way, I'm  Mark Spears.

07:22
Okay. So we get the car and I'm like, I'm telling my kids, I was like, Hey, that's not how I thought this was going to go. I really thought they would be like, Oh my gosh. So that was interesting. But of course that was the story and it was that, comic store. But since then, um, I did my first con since, uh, monsters came out here in Huntsville in April and.

07:50
That's when I got to show off to my kids. There was like a three hour wait. Yeah. heard my line and it was huge. And it was, it was great.  Uh, very emotional because you don't, you don't really see it. Like a lot of people would ask me last year, do you, do you see any change? And I was like, no, I'm working at home.  All I know is I have enough work to where as a freelancer, you're always worried about your next job. And I didn't have to worry about that. Like in December already had everything lined up. So I was like, that's the only thing different.

08:20
that I noticed  until the expo, then  the love and the fans.  Wow. It was overwhelming. And  to get to be able to show my kids that, my wife, that and stuff, that was, that was amazing. But  I haven't been in a comic store  recently, I don't think  to see, but  here locally, I'm still just  Mark, you know, they, cause I actually owned a comic store here 20 years ago where I live. So that.

08:48
I had worked there for years,  then became the manager, then bought it from the guy, kept it for about two years, and then I wanted to concentrate on  drawing and stuff, so got rid of it.  So they all know me here. Anyways, they've known me for years. The guys who have the comic stores here in Huntsville and Madison  area,  they had them back then 20 years ago, so I already knew the owners and all that kind of stuff. So  again, around here, it's not that different.

09:17
Yeah. If you go somewhere else though, I went for free comic book day to Knoxville. Wow. Again, it was, there were people lined up six o'clock that morning. Just, just amazing. It's the, you know, something you, you just don't think would happen like that. It was so fun. I went out there and threw hats at the crowd. That was, that was neat. Rockstar. like it. Yeah. I love it. I'm enjoying every bit of it because you know, it's a, it's a very isolated job, right?

09:47
my computer all day, my  tablet's over here.  And you're just doing the stuff  in the wee hours of the morning, hoping people will like it. And you do get some sense off of social media, you know, when people really like something, you you can tell, wow, that got a lot of comments and stuff like that. But you just don't really know.  But being out there,  Monsters has just, it's been amazing that people loved it and accepted it like they have.

10:16
to be on a publisher where I didn't even know who Kingspot was a year ago  when they reached out. And again, everybody passed on this.  So everybody from Image to Mad Cave to Boom to Dark Horse to,  mean, anybody who was actually a distributor through Diamond at the time, I went and talked to and no one wanted it.

10:44
Yeah, I wasn't even doing it as a free comic. In that regard, what I'm saying is, because a lot of people ask, what do mean? I already had it done. I had eight issues finished. So they weren't going to have to pay me to do the eight issues, right? So that's normally how it works. Like Dark Horse will commission you if it's green lit to produce this series. So the series was already ready. And all I wanted was a revenue split, know, 50-50. That's what the standard is.

11:13
And no one thought it was worth taking a chance on it at that level, which you're saying, well, what would the publisher's commitment be at that? They would just basically be paying for the printing, right?  They were worried that, I it  just, I don't know, it makes me,  it just  makes me go, what? Because  the problem there is it's all pre-orders too. You got to think about it. They're not.

11:41
saying, let's make 10,000 copies and hope they sell. No, there's pre-orders. There was really not much risk involved  from a publisher standpoint, in my opinion.  Again, they all passed, but I'm thankful. Love Keen Spot. I'm glad where I landed, it all worked out. I think it all happened for a reason. I imagine that all of them are probably kicking themselves because when I went  on the Keen Spot website, and to your point, no disrespect, I was not familiar with Keen Spot prior to this.

12:10
They've been around since 2000. think they specialize in web. It's their 25th anniversary and they've had some, they had some hits to where I don't really know hits and comics, but what their properties that was a comic got turned into a Jennifer Lopez movie on Netflix. One of their, Marry Me. That was like their biggest standout hit because you know, it got translated into other media.

12:38
So other than that, I know  when I had looked them up, they were doing parodies at that time, like last April. That was what they were kind of known for. Now they've actually  reached out and got more like horror people coming over.  So this is great. I'm glad for them.  But again,  they treat me so well over there to where if I have an idea that might not be a great idea, but they say, let's do it. Let's run with it.

13:08
And I love that.  So again, never had heard of them. And I was, I was like, Oh, I don't know if this will work or not  at first, but that was my concern was this was already done. I might as well get it out in some form of fashion.  And I didn't have the distribution through diamond at that time.  I didn't want to go do all that work. So  even though I was already doing Kickstarter stuff where I could print my own and do all that kind of stuff.

13:37
I just didn't want to have to handle that side of the business.  So I was looking for a publisher  and then  I think I've made some Instagram posts about it. And then that's, that's when they reached out about it. But, it's, uh, again, it, it's,  it's amazing  that the other ones passed and they didn't. And then the success we've had, they spent zero in advertising for it, which is another thing. They were small. They weren't going to, you know, that was the agreement upfront is, Hey, we'll do this, but we can't.

14:07
know, spend money on this. And I totally understood. So we were hoping the numbers,  I didn't really know what to expect because I didn't really understand comic book numbers at that time.  but I knew I had some good books coming out over the summer that would get my name out to comic book store owners.  We had the Lobo cover of Action Comics that kind of blew up and that was at the end of June. It got on, that was the first time I ever got on a top 10 list.

14:36
And then  after that spawn 355, 356 came out back to back. King spawn came out like a month later. And all that was coincidence. I finished those issues like a year ago before they came out. When you do spawn stuff, you don't know when they're going to come out. So all that was coincidence and it led right up to monsters coming out. And we got around 10,000 orders for issue one, which is considered a big hit.  yeah.

15:05
Mark, let me jump in here real quick  on the topic of numbers in Keen Spot. I'm holding this up to the camera, but  for the audio listeners, this is the free comic book day Mark Spears Monsters issue,  issue zero that  Keen Spot put out for free comic book day. I don't know if it was a rumor or something I read online, but  I seem to vaguely recall something about the order number for this being in the six figures. Is that true? Oh yeah. A hundred and it was a hundred and.

15:33
It either 160, 180,000 copies were ordered. So yeah, that's the most ordered of any of my stuff so far. But number four, just came out about a week ago, first week of May or so, we were in, we almost hit 80,000 with issue four. So we're climbing. The fifth printing, a number one, which came out yesterday on Wednesday.

16:01
this, the cover a had 20,000 copies of it. So it's a, yeah, it's just climbing. It's a, it's a beast right now. And it's, it's amazing to see with even with all the hiccups with the diamond stuff, which, know, that, that kind of, that was our main distribution. Luckily we, got other distribution too now, but with, with all that and to still be climbing like we are is just amazing. No, it's very impressive. And I'll say, you know, I was on the Kingspout website the last couple of days.

16:31
And you know what KeenSpot's favorite word on that website when it comes to you is? What is it? Sold out. Because every single copy of anything I could find was sold out. There's a few needs to be my new nickname. I need to have Mark Spears sold out. That's good. Mark, let's take a step back because I want to hear about the origin. Well, I want to hear about the early days. You mentioned that you you owned a shop for 10 years, which interesting about that is that there is

16:58
A lot of positive comments about you.  found a few comments online where, like two of them specifically, where folks are like, man, I knew Mark from, you know, his shop days. It's awesome to see him doing this. And another one was like, yeah, me too. I knew him in the shop days and he was drawing and it's awesome to see this. From an outsider's perspective looking at it, I that's very humbling. You know, like it feels like, hey, one of us, you know, like a fan, dude that, you know, was in the trenches of a shop. I guess like, can you speak about your comic shop days and...

17:26
Did  that play any role in the success you have now and maybe how you approach making comics? Oh yeah. Yeah, I hear that a lot.  They've  got that slogan, Mark is one of us, which I love because... the People's Champ. Yeah.  I look at it like that. I was telling people, I'm like the rock in the old days, the People's Champ.  It's interesting. Okay, so when I got out of high school, that's all I wanted to be was comic artists.

17:55
You know, set my samples in. did the Tom McFarlane thing. I'd watched all these videos, which back then were VHSs. was no YouTube. Really quick, did you grow up with comics in the house? Was comics something that whether your parents, siblings or anything were into? Oh yeah. I think I got my first one when I was sick and I had to stay home from school. My mom went to the drug store to get my medicine and grabbed some off of the spinner act. And it was a Batman and a Superman.

18:24
And that was probably when I was around eight. But of course, before that, I still love superheroes because I was watching the Incredible Hulk TV show with Luke Farrigno and Bill Bixby, super friends, Spider-Man and his amazing friends.  So I knew who these characters were. And  of course, you know, all the cartoons in the eighties were awesome. So I had, know,  G.I. Transformers and all that watching it. So that was really interesting because it was like, wow. So these characters.

18:54
go from pen on a panel and you read it. It was just amazing to me and the artwork and all that. So  I would get them anytime I would go to any kind of store that had a spinner rack, go into the mall, they had spinner racks in there, book land.  And we was on vacation there in the summer, we would always take two weeks in the summer going on vacation. And we had a camper, but every campground we stayed at would have a little store,  like a general store, and they would have comments in there. So the whole summer,

19:23
I would buy the whole rack in  about two weeks. I would go in there every day buying another comic.  So that was amazing to me to have that access.  But it changed a little bit for me. At that time, was just great entertainment. I loved it. But when Rob Liefeld and Tom McFarlane and Jim Lee came around, of course, that's when I started  entering my teen years.  And that was huge.

19:53
Let's see, Spawn I think came out in 92 and I graduated in 93. So that was around  my time being a senior and junior. Dude, that was amazing.  So, and that was just a different feel, right? Because it was,  you would go to comic book stores and wait for that Youngblood number one or Spawn number one, or when they went, even when there was the amazing Spider-Man or Todd's Spider-Man series, all those things were just events.

20:20
I would put it toward,  you know how like when Game of Thrones was at its peak on HBO and it was a Vietn, it was Sunday, man, I gotta go watch Game It was the Viet when those things came out.  It just, your next Spider-Man issue of Tom McFarlane was an event. You're like, oh man, I gotta go get it. You gotta get it today. So that's when I was like, okay, this is what I want to do for a living. This is, this is what, this is my, cause I always liked art and was always drawing and stuff in school.

20:50
Um, so that, uh, right after high school, I started trying to do that. Uh, went into retail to work as I was trying to break into comics.  Uh, did that for a few years ended up,  uh, getting hired at a comic book store. Cause they knew I had retail experience and I loved comics and was drawing and stuff. So they hired me,  uh, which was interesting because I was around comics. Basically I had everything I ever needed then.

21:17
So all the references I wanted, I could read them. I could look at them all day. So that was an amazing thing. So that, that lasted a few years. Then I progressed to become, like I said, the manager, then the owner. And you know, I, what's, what's weird was, okay, around 99 eBay was a thing at that time. It started to become a popular.

21:44
And someone saw a drawing I was selling on eBay and reached out to me and said, Hey,  I, was Gary Carlson from, um, image comics. He was producing big bang,  uh, at that time. It was kind of like a, um, an homage to the old Kurt Swan stuff. It was ultimate big bang comics, Ulti man,  uh, super special. Number one, that was my first printed work. He reached out to me on eBay and said, Hey, I saw this.

22:14
Could you do a Kurt Swann style? And I was like, sure. So we talked through email, showed him some samples I could do. And I did like a six to 10 pages for him. That didn't come out though for like a year and a half. It just took so long before it came out. So I want to say it came out in 2001. So I thought, oh, this is it. That's my big break because now I could actually send the comic book into Marvel and DC and show them like, oh, I, you know, I can do this.

22:44
Well, that, you know, that's what I thought would happen, but now it's just, uh, all my samples were, I would get them sit back with, with marker all over them and say, this, this is horrible. And Marvel  actually even called me up on the phone to tell me how bad I was, which is very rare. Yeah. Uh, DC, was some apps at DC that didn't like me, but a lot of them were amazing. Like Chris Duffy, he's, he's moved on to other things. He would write me like pages, Mark work on this.

23:13
He would even send me people like Tom Grummet, who was doing Superboy at that time, sending sketches by him, real sketches, showing me like, hey, here's his thumbnails, Mark. See how he's flowing here to here? Which was so invaluable. I mean, was so valuable. Can you put a price on it? But that was great. But Marvel, on the other hand, it was different. You didn't talk to the editors at Marvel. You talked to the submissions editor. He was over everything. So.

23:41
DC, I got access to the editors, but over there it was different. So their submissions editor, I want to say he might've wrote me a couple of times back saying, work on this, buy a Hogarth's Anatomy book and buy this and this. But then finally I sent some in, I'm working at Service Merchandise, which is a retail store at that time. I come in after working and my dad goes, hey, there was a call for you on the phone, on the Lancer machine.

24:10
So I listened to it and it says, this is Marvel Comics calling,  call back tomorrow, blah, blah. And I'm like, oh man. So I figured they were closed. So I was just going to go ahead and call them to see whose office it was. Find out it was Bobby Chase who was editing Hulk at that time. So I'm just  going nuts. Hulk's one of my favorite characters. Can't sleep all night. I just stay up. I'm waiting till...

24:36
Cause we were, I'm on central time. So I was waiting till it was, they would be in their offices in the morning. So went for about nine o'clock Eastern. And then I call them up  and turned out it was the submissions editor calling from Bobby Chase's office.  Uh, and he just said, Hey, Mark, I just want to tell you, man,  I'm getting tired of all these packages you're sending  me. And I'm like, wow. And he's like, it's just, you're not getting better. And he said, how old are you? And I said, I think at that time I was like 20, 21.

25:05
He goes, Mark, I got 16, 15 year olds that can draw so much better than me. Give it up. You're  just not going to be able to do it. I'm like, wow.  And he could tell it kind of crushed me. I couldn't even hardly put my words together anymore. And then finally he was like, look, don't send me anything for like a year, work on stuff and then  try it again. But he says, I think you're in the wrong  field here.

25:31
To shoot him some bail, I imagine it had to be rough to just let it out, right? To like deliver that kind of news. Oh yeah. You know, and you think about maybe how many, you know, how many other aspiring artists were sending in packages and samples and you got to think like in today's day and age, we shoot an email, it's a lot easier, but to actually have to write a response back, mail it out, you know, give it to people. was a lot. And for him to call, I think it was because he realized, cause he did, they had a file on him back then, which they still do that, but he could see,

26:01
that I had turned in like 10 things in six months. And he's like, you gotta quit. gets, because it was too much. Now what the reason I did that was that's what Tom McFarland, he said, get him to, all you gotta get is one guy to agree to like, are you? All you need is one chance, right? All you need is one yes. You can take a thousand no's, but that one yes is the one that'll put you in jail. Exactly. So, so that was, that was devastating, but it didn't stop me. It just made me work harder. So.

26:31
I went and did more stuff.  The bad thing was about a year from there, I'm still sending stuff in, but I think they got tired of looking at my stuff because then  the responses became less and less to filing when I would send out something, which at that time it cost me a lot to send things out. I would send out 30, 40 packages, you so I'm having to copy them all at the probably at the library to make photocopies by the envelopes and all that kind of stuff.  And in the postage,

27:00
And then it was getting to where I got zero back. I got nothing back from it. And then I was like, OK, I burned some bridges here to where they saw my stuff so much. They're like, it's useless to look at it. But you also have to think at those times  when I'm around my  20s, my stuff was changing very quickly. Real quick, what did your samples look like? Were you drawing, I guess, like Marvel characters in certain sequences? they give you any pitches or practice scripts? They had given me.

27:29
One time Marvel gave me  a  sample story.  was during the clone saga of Spider-Man.  So was Scarlet Spider and Doctor Octopus, but it was the female. I think that's his daughter or something, can't remember. But it was a female Doctor Octopus. I remember drawing her.  So I remember those. That actually might've been when I got the call after that.  But sometimes what I would do is just make up my own little story.

27:59
I knew storytelling was very important. So I would study how to tell stories. The best storytellers sometimes weren't the best artists. So I would study those storytellers because a lot of times I would say it's the flashiness gets attention, not the storytelling. So I would try to find artists who could tell a story without words, right? you know, anytime that somebody, you know, of course, Eisner was great with spirit, stuff like that, I studied those.

28:27
study like  Scott McCloud's book  about  comics, the gutter. comics. Yes, understanding comics. And,  you know, how to use a gutter  to make, to show passage of time and stuff. So I ate up all that stuff. I was like, oh, this is great. Now I know how to tell a story better. So when I would send in those things, I would have like a Superman story or a Spider-Man story that I would just come up with on my own because

28:53
The reason I wanted to do that, the only time I think I did it at all from their script was the clone saga one, was because I figured they're looking at that and they're seeing, of course, the professional who actually did that one, and then all the other guys they gave that story to. So it just blends in too much.  It's just like if you were on American Idol and all the contestants had to sing the exact same song,  it doesn't stand out as much. So I was thinking, okay, if I do my own story and they can see

29:23
you know, the expressions in the faces and the emotions,  uh, and then how I'm moving this person from A to B and all that stuff, I thought would work better. So  I did those.  and again, it was,  uh, my, my stuff did change rapidly, uh, from one year to the next.  It,  because when you're doing it more and more, and also when you're getting that at that age range, I think you get a little bit better too. You're just, your eye and coordination and stuff.

29:53
So yeah, my stuff from when I first started sending stuff in to like three years in, it was pretty good. And I've released some of that on Instagram, some of my samples. Yeah, I mean, really, even looking back on it, I probably should have been given a job at that time because you also have to look at it like, okay, this guy's going to be better in a year. He's good now, he'll be better. See the potential. Yeah, but I didn't have anybody see the potential in it.

30:22
And  it was sad because I did that for years. And then finally it was like, okay, I have to go up. I'm going to have to be at a certain level that I knocked their socks off because they're not going to allow me  in  at a  lower level. Like they let Tidy and Rob Liefeld in at a certain level. If you look at their early stuff, it's nothing like their stuff later on. Right.  And that's going to be with any artist. So I realized I wasn't going to have that path.

30:51
I was going to have to be somebody who was just out of the gate. go, whoa, we've got to get this guy. So then I stopped sending submissions in and just working day and night on making, you know, how can I improve, you know, anatomy,  dynamics,  making  gesture drawings and then storytelling and stuff.  as I figured those, you know, the combination of those things, then I would, I would have it. So,

31:18
I started doing those things well then and  I would say, let's see, 2006. So as the internet grew, my stuff was on the internet. It was on a fan, a site called Comic Art Fans, which is still around today.  And I just draw on the picture of, think it was Green Goblin, just to draw it. And I put it up there. I got an email from Corgi,  this company who was, he made

31:46
uh, like matchbox cars, Hot Wheels cars. That's what they made.  Um, but they, they're, they were afford like a UK company, but they were coming to the U S and they had the marble license and the DC license. And they were going to do,  um, or already had started doing batmobiles, but they wanted to do figurines with it. And then they had a line of marble statues that they did like two or three of them. And they didn't really care for them. They wanted new concept artists.

32:16
Marvel gave them a whole list of all their artists and they turned down every one of them But they saw my stuff online and said we want to hire you to be our concept artists with more I was like  this is a dream come true. So  For the next two years I got to draw Spider-man venom everybody you could think of what do you think they saw in your art at the time? Like that separated you like if you had to just take a wild guess like what do you think it was?  It was

32:46
Again, it was dynamics. was, I'm a pretty good pizzeria. The thing that they saw was intercolored. And it's all that study. But again, from that time in 2006 to the last time someone saw my stuff was probably 2001 from a comic book publisher, right? I stopped sending in. So I'm just working and I'm selling things on eBay just to keep going.

33:15
time I was, I think I was working at home, I'd already given up the comic shop. So  I think though, it was very dynamic. I'm going to post that, that you remind me that Green Goblin. I'll probably post that here later tonight to show people. It was just a neat drawing. It wasn't  great, but I was getting my anatomy down good.  I was really studying at that time. I love John Buscema because  an artist will take, you know, little journeys throughout their career.

33:45
You can see when like Rob Liefeld started looking at art atoms, right? And  same thing with Tom McFarland looking at art atoms. They started blending in a little art atoms to their stuff.  Same thing with me, where I was looking at John Byrne a lot, but when I started studying  Basima, it was, wow, this  is a different level because of the dynamics and the shading and everything that he could do.

34:13
So that's when that  stood out, is when I was adding a little bit of musima to my pot and stirring it up.  and those statues did really well.  I'm still proud of those.  The concept still hold  up. Back then they were sculpting everything by hand. So they lost a little bit, you know, from the sculptor, from my concept of the sculptor. But they was also making them all out of metal, which is an odd thing, but that's what their  thing was. They were gonna be...

34:43
All metal. Like diecasts. Yeah. Yeah. Diecasts. So you would, they're heavy. I still have some. I got to do Ghost Rider. I got to do all kinds of awesome characters and get them turned into statues. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe I own a couple of these diecasts. I think I might know what you're talking about. They came out around 2006 to 2008. Like Orgy. They were limited to only 500 being made at a time. So that was another cool thing.

35:10
So, but we had designed so many past that,  that didn't come out, that I had already got paid for the concepts. They even had them in prototype mode where they sculpted it. Daredevil, Electra, was a Venom, Spider-Man,  a Hulk, all these great ones. But what happened was  Master Replicas, who at that time was a lightsaber maker,  the biggest  one, merged with Corgi.

35:39
and got all their license. So they shut down. So all the ideas that we had going forward, all that was scrap. The person that was, uh, that had hired me cause I worked there freelance, uh, they had used them. They had worked at Hasbro before that. They just decided to retire. They were like, well, I'm done. So that was all, you know, the industry is a lot about connections and that was like my connection, you know, so I had to work after that. Uh, but what's interesting that this relates to monsters is

36:08
They had told me a couple of months before that merger, they said, hey, in case we ever do not have the license, would you do some statues of like Robin Hood, Merlin, things like that, you know, for concepts so we can show the board meeting and all this stuff. I was like, sure. But then I did those and I said, but you know what you ought to do? You got to do monsters. That'll sell. So that's when it first was born. Even the logo.

36:35
that I used on my Kickstarter books was the logo I came up and said, Corgi Monsters.  And it was  Dracula, Frankenstein,  mummy and a wolf man. What is your relationship with  the Universal Monsters? Like, did you grow up just a huge fan? I mean, as I said, you're a huge fan since whatever, being a kid or? They were like,  growing up,  especially in the 80s, Monster Squad was a big movie for me. I loved it.

37:04
But you're also saying there's not a lot on TV, you know, that we didn't have cable. So if you had a, usually they would put horror movies on weekends, like, you know, it might be universal. It might be hammer, but there would be something scary. It might even be howling or something that came out in eighties. So it was always these monsters. And I looked at the monsters like they're like superheroes. It was, you know, they can be in the same universe. There was a werewolf TV show.

37:33
from Fox in the eighties that was based on kind of a Incredible Hulk TV show where the guy's always looking for a cure and everything. So I just love that.  Vampires, werewolves, zombies, all that stuff was just fascinating to me because again, it was like there's not a lot of superhero movies. Superman was the only one that  came out and then they had, what, Batman was 89. So.

38:00
to scratch that itch. was universal and hammer. And then it was any horror movies in general. I loved everything. could get horror. It was awesome. I feel like I could probably spend two hours easy with you going through the timeline, but I want to jump really quick to Monsters That We Know Now, the comic series. want to say like issue four or five is coming out.  I believe it's eight issues in total.  Give me the pitch.  guess give the new listener, someone that's listening right now that's like.

38:27
I've heard about monsters, but what is it about? Like what is the elevator pitch for your, the Mark Spears monster suit, which I think is cool as hell to say. Well, it's a, that was first it's a, it's actually going to be beyond eight issues. Eight issues were done, but we're going to keep going. I might go to 130 issues. Who knows? Cause I got a lot of the story to tell the problem with the pitch. I think that's one reason a lot of people didn't go with it to start with. It's a very hard pitch, right? Uh,

38:57
Cause basically it's everything that I love, I threw in a pot and mixed up and said, here it is. So Mark Spears gumbo. It is. It's got masters of the universe stuff in there. It's got GI Joe stuff. It's got goonies. It's got monster squad. It's got, you know, universal stuff. It's got hammer whore stuff. It's got everything. If I loved it as a kid, it's in there.

39:26
Um, but basically, uh, it revolves around a monster slayer, which is this kind of cool character. He's got a cape and red. love the design. Love the design. Uh, and he is come back out of retirement. You don't really know what happened, why he retired or anything, but because there's this big bad vampire that is come back that he, he stopped back in the 1800s and now he's back. Um,

39:56
And that's, that's basically the whole jest of it. There is a, there's some kids in it that get  entangled into the  plot a little bit.  And that's where I get my little Goonies monster squad  kind of thing going. But there's a, it's a lot of mystery in it, but I do know where I'm going with everything.  And so I like to play on these little things and I like to do twists and turns to where you think you know where the direction is going. But then I go, nope.

40:26
going, I'm going over here with it. And that's, that's the most funnest thing to do. It's like a roller coaster ride, but I don't want you to know,  oh, I've been down this road before. know what Mark's going to do. I hate going into a movie in 10 minutes in I go, I know exactly what's going to happen in this movie. So I may twist and turns, but I gave you breadcrumbs.  And because I hate it, I hate that's another thing where you go, wait, they changed this and there was  no evidence of this at all.

40:55
You know, I'll pay close attention. Now I'm giving you the evidence, but I'm just sprinkling it out there a little bit. uh, but it's, um, there's this, uh, there's this ring that he's trying to get the vampire is, uh, you don't really know what his motivation for that is, but he wants to open the vault of the dam and, he needs this. The ring is supposed to be hidden in the witch stone. So that's the, that's basically the plot for this. The issue is the chapter one, I call it.

41:25
I work in it like seasons of a TV show. So this is this season and then nine through 16 or whatever, that'll be the second season. So that, it's a great story because again, have things like robots are about to show up, but it's not robots like from today, it's robots from like the seventies and eighties where, know, Mascotron and stuff like that from $6 million man.

41:53
Cause again, it's any kind of a reference just from the old stuff. just, I love that kind of stuff. So, um, and then I have, uh, I have a prequel series too, that's coming out later this year. We did a Kickstarter for it. It'll be coming out in October for retail. And the reason I did it is monsters is really focused on the monster slayer and the vampire. It's their story. So I wanted to do a series called monster and the wolf to show you a little bit of the backstory.

42:23
Of the Frankenstein monster. Cause mine's totally different from any other one you've ever seen. And the werewolf.  so that, that's a three issues mini series that'll be coming out.  Um, it's already, we're, we're doing the proofreading of it now and we'll be going to print for the Kickstarter here. Probably by the end of, end of May. So now Mark, it's safe to say, obviously it's not, you know, there's cameos from every  monster that you could possibly think of  in the series.

42:51
I think what's fascinating is that not only do you do the artwork, do you do epic  covers, but you're also writing it. I think the only other person on the  creative team is  a letterer. You have someone else doing the lettering.  Where did you learn writing? Were you always also practicing writing stories and things like that? mean, you just talked about on the art side studying Todd McFarland, Scott McCloud, Will Eisner. Where did you fine tune  your writing?

43:19
always wanted to write as well when I was in  school.  That's where I excelled at was  in writing and everything.  That was always the way forward was if I break in as a penciler, that's what I figured I would do. Because back then it was just, you didn't really have painted art. It was a pencil or an anchor. And then I figured I would try to do like a John Byrne and become a writer as well.  I had great stories.  I love writing.

43:48
And  when you get the freedom to do your own thing, I think it makes it even better. So if I'm writing and drawing the same thing,  then I have the  100 % creative freedom. I enjoy doing other people's stuff, but  you're limited to it  on a lot of that. So, and even as a writer, I thought about  doing things because I only have so much time. I could write something and have another

44:17
series out there where someone else could do the art. you know, I think I don't think people would like it as much. So I think I'm going to stick with it to where it would always be me. If I'm writing something, I'm also doing the art on it. Which, Todd McFarland did that. He wrote Spawn for years and then drew it. It still writes it to this day. But yeah, I've always loved writing. studied.

44:44
You know, studied all kinds of movies. think if I was, uh, if I was in a different career, it would have been like a movie director or something, writing and directing my own movies. Cause that's what I love. I love overall it's telling stories. So if I'm telling the story with a cover, telling the story with the inside artwork or telling the story, writing it.  Um, so that's,  and there's nothing better. tell you, it's just, uh, I'm also doing  besides monsters, uh, spawn 77.

45:14
where I'm doing the  same thing. I'm doing the artwork, the cover, least one cover to it,  and  writing it with Todd McFarland. And I got to plot it by myself. So Todd's gonna help me write it, some of the dialogue and stuff. But basically it's just like monsters. We treated it the same way. I went in there and I'm doing it all. Then I turn it in and then we'll  write the dialogue and stuff like that together.

45:40
All right, Mark, I got to ask now because Todd McFarland has been brought up so many times in this interview. I think it is very, I mean, aside from you stating how big of an influence early Todd McFarland, early image days were to you. I think what is it, your real big break into the big scene was, you know, doing covers for Spawn. I think you said it was like three, issue 354? It was 320 on Spawn, think. it 320? It was a March of 23.

46:10
All four covers came out the same month. It was in the artist spotlight. Kingspawns worked.  And they did that.  The way that happened was,  I think they built that  around. They wanted to give me four covers, but couldn't figure out how to do it. So they come up with the artist spotlight and it only lasted six months.  you know, and I was in some good company. All the other guys that did it were like, been in the business for 20 years. So  I was like, wow.

46:38
Yeah, I'm actually looking at the cover now. is issue 340 for March. And it sounds like you were getting there, but how did you get on Todd McFarlane's radar and the opportunity to do Spawn? I  have to imagine, you know, that had to be an insane moment for you. Like, you know, this guy that you looked up to all these years. I mean, that's the ultimate, right? That guy brings you in to comics. Because again, I've given up on comics. I never thought I'd work in comics.  did. I did sketch cards and

47:07
regular trading cards and stuff. Then moved on from that. There was no money in it. I did sports art for a while.  And I had my monsters, but I was like, no one to really pay for the, if I did something with myself. So I had,  I was given up and I was going to do,  I was going to actually, I told my wife,  it was, what was it? March of 2020. I  told her, said, you know, we just can't keep going the way we're going,  financial and everything. And I said, let's,

47:37
I'm going to give it up. I'm going to finally take the law. because look, I had spent, let's see, I spent 20, maybe 25 years pursuing this dream. It didn't happen. I didn't want to be one of those guys that I'm 60 and I'm still sending in sample packets to DC Comics. I was like, it's a, I tried every avenue I could. I tried, I did magazine covers for a while for horror. But when I would do that, it's just, I had some bad luck.

48:07
When I would do that, I did like three of them. Then that company says, oh, we're not going to do print media anymore. We're going digital.  And then I even got nominated for awards for those covers, like  because they were so good. But it's just like I was, I kept doing the math saying there's just no way forward doing what I'm doing because  not enough people are buying the stuff that I'm producing and stuff. So like,

48:34
prints, if I did like a sports print and things like that. The only thing that I was actually selling for me at all was like a Santa Claus print.  And that just wouldn't make it enough money, you know, a couple thousand a year and that's not going to do it for you. So I told her,  we talked about it I was quitting.  I was going to hang it up and go  and do talk to my sister and she said, go into cybersecurity, you know, computers really well. They need some cyber security guys here.

49:03
where I live. So I had bought the book already from Amazon, big old thick book. I'm studying. I'm like,  I this.  Were you going for your security plus license? Yes.  I was going, that's what I was studying for. And I was, there was no other option. So,  um, and then what happened was COVID happened. So everything was shut down  and I was able to take time. So I was like, okay, instead of having to study this right now,

49:33
What if I win? And because my son was, was wanting to do a drawing contest with me. He was maybe about 15 at the time. So we do a little drawing contest for social media because I just want to make sure I can show him that I can beat him.  And, uh, so we did that and that kind of lit something where I was like, man, that was just fun. You know, he did it for fun. So then the, know, we're, locked down for months and I'm, I started drawing. Uh, I said, Hey, maybe it's time.

50:03
show people these monsters.  I can't do anything with them, but I'll do them. Because I already had all the concepts, been working on them for years. So I started releasing those, like one a day.  And then the person that worked with me at Corgi that used to work for Hasbro reached out and Mark, these are too good. You've got to be doing something with these. And I was like, I don't know what I could do. said, because, you know, because no one, no one wants these. So like a company. So I said, well, what if I did trading, my own trading?

50:33
I could do that with this crowdfunding thing I've heard about Kickstarter. So that was the goal. I come up with about 70 images  that during that year and we're going to do a Kickstarter  and I did the Kickstarter around October.  It makes about $20,000, which  was huge because no one knew who I was really, right? The few people in horror knew it.  Well, the next year I get

51:03
artist of the year for horror from a Rondo award, was me for the cards that I had done. And then, uh, so I started putting on the map a little bit, you know, slowly. And then the cards come out. They're huge hit. They're very limited though. You know, only like 800 boxes existed, but it, it, don't know how much money I really made on it, but I made a little bit of money, but it was just the, um, people seeing it and seeing that it was like,

51:31
It wasn't cheaply made. looked like something you would go into Target and buy.  It was like, here's some from, you know, it's, it's wrapped.  It looks legit. Oh, actually here's, here's the ones from the first series. So  yeah, I mean, this is one pack from the, the very first series.  And then they, came in boxes and everything and they even had 3d glasses  and some of the cards were 3d. If you, if you want to look at those. So people love that. horror community loved it.

52:00
And then I was like, okay, well, hold on now. Maybe there's a path forward where this is about my life now. I could release a card series every year and all this. The cards did so well,  uh, getting my name out there that spirit Halloween, the movie reached out,  uh, that was going to come out and said, uh, the director said, Hey, can we put these in the kids room? Like your cards and your posters,  uh, cause you know that they have to clear everything. You know, I like that would be amazing. that.

52:30
So they did that and then they wrote and said, Hey, would you mind doing the poster? You want to do a poster? It's Chris Floyd's in the movie. It's like amazing. You know, so that led to that opportunity. Well, then  I started getting all these,  um,  uh, follows from a lot of movie professionals, guys have won,  uh, Emmys in the stuff, uh, and Oscars for special makeup effects. And they would reach out and tell me like, man, we love your concept here and this and that.

53:00
So my confidence started getting better, right? Cause you got to think I'm being beat down for years of how horrible I am. And now it's, being built up. And  so  it's in 22, the, I'm doing a Halloween series of the cards for that October. Things are going pretty good.  And then I get the confidence enough where I said,  maybe I should try comics one more time.

53:28
Cause I never got to do cover and wouldn't it be awesome in my office to have a cover on the wall.  And I thought Marvel DC  wouldn't do it, but I'm known for horror. What if I could do spawn? So I made it a goal where I did a couple of spawn pictures, just randomly put them on social media. People started loving it. Well, then I said, okay, the  next one I'll do.

53:56
I'm going to tag the editor of Spawn.  And I did. Okay. Which I do not recommend doing this  for anybody trying to break in because  it doesn't turn out good all the time. But  I remember I tagged him in it. I woke up that morning and he had wrote me and said, Mark,  apparently  you're wanting to do a Spawn cover. And I've been getting all these messages today. Because dude,  that's when my

54:25
my fan base was growing, he might've had 50 messages saying, give Mark Spears a cover. And he goes, I looked at your work. I like it. We should talk. He was in San Diego at that time. So this is around July of 22. So I said, sure. So I'm just over the moon thinking, oh my goodness, I'm going to get to do a spawn cover. I can't wait. It took about two months  for him to finally get back with me and talk to me about it. And then he said, you know what though?  I've showed your stuff to Todd.

54:56
Todd doesn't know if your stuff will translate. Well, it doesn't, he's not sure, but he saw, he doesn't look at my spawn stuff. He doesn't, that's not what Todd really does. He likes to look at your other stuff. So he was looking at some of my portraits that I did of like Dracula and stuff. And he said, if you'll do the portrait style for spawn, we think it'll work and we're going to get you not just one cover, four covers out in one month. I started doing them. And I think that's when.

55:25
Everything started changing because then they were very impressed when they got done.  and Todd loved it. His favorite was the sin cover with  the guy, the bald head of the three 40 spawn.  And, uh, and that just, that led me to actually get in an interview by Todd. That's on, you can see on YouTube. Uh,  and after that, that's the first time I actually got to talk to him ever, because before that it was emails with the, with the editor. After that.

55:54
The camera turned off. He talked to me for an hour and 40 minutes afterwards, talking, giving me tips, looking at my page. I was showing him. said, Hey, would you mind looking at some of my storytelling? I had about 10 pages of monsters that I did for, you know, just as samples because I wanted to get interior work. I just thought maybe that would actually pay enough. So I showed him that he loved the pages. He's like, man, I really didn't think you would be able to do this.

56:22
this well, said, because painted style sometimes looks  so stoic. Stoic is a good word. Yeah. So he was,  he was, he really,  he was really impressed with it. He liked it.  After that, the next day I got an email from the editor saying, Hey, let's jump on a phone call.  And he said that Todd had said, give Mark whatever he wants. If he wants to do some more covers, let them do it. So that was amazing. And then he also said,

56:52
we're going to do that spawn 77. Cause I had pitched him an idea on the phone one day. said, Hey, that old concept of spawn, someone should do that and put it in the seventies. And that's all it took. And now I've actually just turned in issue number two the other day. So about start number three.  And that's just almost like a dream. I really need to sit one day when I have nothing to do and just rethink about all what has happened. Tom McFarland got me into comic books and now I'm getting to work with him on a

57:22
mini series for six issues. It's crazy. The universe is awesome in that regard. This might be one of the easiest interviews I've ever done because I'm just listening. You're a great storyteller. obviously, which makes sense, right? Like, you know, the time you spent learning, crafting, storytelling in comic form, it's coming across. This story is awesome and it's awesome how full circle it is. I wanted to ask about your relationship with Dynamite because it seems that you've become like their go-to cover artist.

57:49
And someone that has interviewed a lot of the writers and artists for upcoming Dynamite. Matter of fact, I just had Greg Wiseman on the show a few weeks ago to talk about Demona, which you did the cover A for. mean, you've done the cover A for a lot of their series.  How did you get involved with Dynamite?  Is it safe to assume they saw your work on Spawn and they reached out? Or how did the relationship with Dynamite come about? OK, well, after Monsters came out. So  when Monsters came out,  I was on like...

58:16
a lot of top 10 lists for a long period of time, which even to this day, I think there's only a  few weeks that I'm not on one, because there's so many covers coming out. So Nick,  who's Nick Marucci over Dynamite, he had saw my stuff.  So this was late October. This was during a New York Comic Con. He writes me and said, he got my email from someone and said,  hey,

58:43
you be interested in doing some covers for Dynamite?" And I said, I like your titles over there, but I would only do certain ones. So he writes back, he says, how about Vampirilla? And I said, nope.  And  he waits about a week, he writes back and says, hey, Mark,  can you want to get on the phone call? So I got on the phone call with him. goes, yeah, you hurt me a little bit when you said no to Vampirilla. And I said, I like the character.

59:14
But in my mind, was like me going over there to do Vampirilla right then would just be like a cash grab, right? For someone, you know, like, Hey, Mark's hot right now. Put them on Vampirilla number one coming out. And I didn't want to do that.  And  he said, Oh, I totally get you. And he says, but  I have heard you wanted on Thundercats because dude, I had wrote dynamite a year earlier asking for a cover. No. Silverhawks I heard coming out.

59:43
I talked to everybody I knew. Nope. He goes, I'll give you Silverhawks as many covers you want on Silverhawks and Thundercats. How about that? And  you do a Vampirilla. And I said, you got it. I'll do  that Vampirilla then.  And  so we worked out and I'm so glad I got to do that one because it was for a number one, which that was actually, I believe the first number one issue I ever did was Vampirilla because

01:00:12
As an artist, you want those number ones because they're evergreen. lot of eyeballs are going to be on it. So I want to say that was probably the first number one issue.  But Apex was a  standalone issue. that  wouldn't count. I think that might have came out before that. So  Silverhawks, number one, but that came out like in January.  so that was awesome. So I got to do Thundercats. I got to do Silverhawks. And then they would approach me about

01:00:42
Well, do you like Johnny Quest Space Ghost? I was like, yeah, I love them. I did those. did Gargoyles. They knew I was a Gargoyles fan. So they said, how about Demona? I did a cover A for that one. You have become, like I said, synonymous in my mind, in my head, Canon with Dynamite. mean, your style, I think fits it really well. What's your personal favorite cover or maybe covers? It doesn't have to be just one, but like when you think about

01:01:09
ones that mean maybe something a little more to you or you're like, you know what, that one would, I'd put a little more sauce in and I love the way it turned out. Oh man, it's tough. Okay. So on that, uh, like Cygore is about to come out, uh, through Spawn like, you know, a couple of weeks, right? I did that cover in May of 23. It's just now coming out. Somebody was showing me that the other day said, Mark, I think this is one of my favorite covers you did. And I said, that's neat. I like it, but it's, saddens me because

01:01:37
Back then I could spend three weeks on the cover. Right. And I could, I could make it look great because the more time it's, it's almost like special effects and movies got to have more time. Right.  Um, so a lot of times lately, I just don't have the time. They don't give it to me. Like the absolute stuff that we were talking about earlier. I was told to do, I started that last Friday. I had to turn it in Monday, three covers.  Insane. That was crazy.

01:02:06
A lot of times they'll do that because they know I'm fast, but  there's a thing with being faster good. You know, if you're not, if you can't be both be fast.  That's what they say. But it's, um, the thing is I love it when, and I want to try to get to that point, uh, down the road where I can say, look guys, I can't be rush jobs anymore.  You got to give me at least two weeks because I think a cover can look great when you're doing that. That Lobo cover for action comics is one of my favorites.

01:02:36
I spent probably two and a half weeks on that.  Some of the Monster covers,  I did that like  the 1A with the guys, the Monsters are looking down. That probably took me two to three weeks. But then there's some that you just have to go, man,  they need this in two days. I did an Atom cover  for Justice League, something. was the Atom came out. I did it around Christmas. I it came out in February, March or something like that.

01:03:06
And it's just the Adam and he's got his hands like this and he's growing or shrinking. I  I didn't really know which one he'll be doing. They wrote me, I want to say it was the 23rd or the 24th, like Christmas Eve. Can you get this in one day? And I was like, what does he look like? Cause if the costume's easy enough, right? It's just not too complicated. And I could just fake the background by making, you know, uh, blurs and stuff. And I was like, okay, I got it. So I did it in one day.

01:03:35
The Silverhawks  number one cover was done in one day because that was again, Christmas week. I told everybody, hey, do not contact me two weeks before Christmas. I'm not working. And they still contact you and say, oh, but you're not busy, right? Because you turned down all the other work.  Oh my God. Nick was like, can you get this? We have to have it done by Christmas Eve. And  I was like, okay.

01:04:04
But I have to make it easy. you can tell when they're easier, they're either like from the chest up or it's a pose I've done before where I can easily do it. I know how I'm going to do that. So I'm looking at the Silverhawks cover right now and hearing that it took what we said, like a day is insane considering that, uh, it is one of the characters crouched over. You got to remember that Silverhawks all have like that metallic kind of liquid metallic suit.

01:04:31
And you've got a bunch of fire in the back. I imagine the planning for the reflections had to be in. Here's here's the, does not look easy is what I'm saying. It's an exclusive just for your show. If you Google a Mark Spears, silver surfer, you're going to see, did the same kind of image four months before just, just to do it. And wow, it went for a cover. was doing it actually for samples from Marvel.

01:05:00
So when I did that, said, you know what? And I told, I told Donovan, I'm going to, I'm just going to use this pose because I already know how to do this. I know how to do the reflections and the fire and all that. So that's why that one's out there.  Wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry. I, I Googled it. Like you said, it took me to your Instagram posts from 59 weeks ago and the caption reads silver surfer. did the same post 17 years ago.  Insane. This is, mean, 17 years ago, Mark Spears is pretty fucking talented.

01:05:29
Well, that's when I was doing the statues and stuff. Honestly, I think I should have in comics at that time and it just didn't happen.  yeah, mean, all that  old stuff is not that bad at all. And I would love to get to a point where I'll even do that style again.  I might do it for Monsters where I'll do  pencil and ink. Because I was doing sketch cards for DC Comics  at one time back in 2008.

01:05:58
And they liked it so much. did 600 sketch cards for their set. And they even used me for all the advertising on the box and everything. So I went at that time and said, Hey guys, you like my stuff so much. Can you not show my stuff to the Batman editor over there? Oh, no, no, no, no, Totally different part, Mark. We're in licensing over here. You don't get comic. Oh, come on. Someone's got to know somebody. It was crazy. you know, that prepared me.

01:06:27
So much by doing all those cards, I was able to, you know, things quicker and  my use of color on those  really helped with what I do now. But, uh, yeah, I still want to  do that kind of style,  uh, where it's just your old, know, your, would love to do something where I pencil it and Tom McFarland inks it.  Uh, that would be awesome to do like for sponsor me seven. So, but, uh, yeah, I still, I still pencil stuff every now and then I'll do a sketch cover and stuff like that. So, uh, it's not, not everything's digital. Sure. All right.

01:06:57
Speaking about covers, Mark, we're recording this episode on Thursday, May 22nd. One of you, and speaking about Vampirella, kind of serendipitous, your cover for, I think Vampirella issue two came out this week, which I think is good timing because I have a voicemail from the owner of Gotham City Limit, Ben Kingsbury, my favorite comic shop here in Jacksonville, Florida. Also one of your biggest fans. I told Ben, hey, I got Mark on the show. You got to submit a voicemail. You got to chime in for the conversation.

01:07:24
And he sent maybe one of his longest voice messages he sent. So I want to play that for you.  And he's got a question about one of your covers. So let's hear from Ben. Hey, Mark. Ben K representing Gotham City Limit, a local comic shop here in sunny Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks so much for taking some time to be here today. Well, I thought you'd like to hear from a local comic shop owner's perspective. How amazing it has been in real time.

01:07:49
to watch the FOMO, Fear of Missing Out, over Mark Spears'  variant covers. It started with Monsters,  and it has continued to this day, all the way through Vampirella number two, that J. Scott Campbell homage you did for the second issue that just came out.

01:08:05
a hot seller here at the limit. So congratulations on that. The artwork you make is as popular as any comic book artists in the industry. And it's amazing to see and really helps a local comic shop like ours grow and continue to stay in business. So thanks for that. I'm sure Botter has done an amazing job breaking down your entire comic history and it's an extensive one. So here's my question for you. I recently saw the lines at a local con in

01:08:34
Alabama and it was hours long. People were waiting to see Mark Spears.  So is there a memory that sticks out for you of any specific con or what's the craziest thing that's ever happened to you at any of those events? I'll let you answer here. Thanks so much for making amazing comics. We couldn't do it without you. And remember Short Box Nation, always take it to the limit. Big shout out to Ben. As you can tell, he had a lot to say and I'm very excited to you on the show.

01:09:02
And you kind of talked a little bit about that, um,  that, Alabama convention, which was, guess, your first, uh, guess,  the first one that  the very first one I ever did. I,  I never wanted to go and be an artist alley and not have a comic book  out. So I'd never went to one at all, even as a,  um, attendee or something until 23 when spawn came out. So I went.

01:09:27
to the, and that was here in Huntsville. It was the Huntsville Expo. had me as a guest because I had the four covers coming out. Pretty, pretty decent crowd, but nothing like this year. And then last year in 24, I went back and I was in Artist Alley and I bought a table, you know, a few people saw me and I was sitting there doing sketches, handing them to people because no one was coming around. And then this year, totally, you know, totally different, right? There's huge lines, but.

01:09:57
It was, it's something it's,  it's, to see the, the, progress,  uh, of the fans and all that coming out. It did. was, I was in the back in the green room  and,  uh, with my,  my youngest son and my wife, and I just broke down in tears because it's just something you just, you, you hope for those moments. Right.  And, uh, you just, never think that, uh, you're going to be appreciated like that. It's just,  um, still to this day, it gets to me, but, it's.

01:10:27
Dude, it's a,  my story, you know, was talking earlier about it.  It reminds me of Rocky in the Rocky movie. He just wanted a shot and I never got my shot. And I think that's why people identify with me a little bit is,  know, you might be great at something, but no one will ever give you the opportunity to do it. And luckily the, my childhood idol gave me the shot. And, uh, when, when Todd did that and it, you know, again, I didn't know things were going.

01:10:57
how things would turn out in comics. remember in 23, I couldn't get any work. In 24, I'm doing a few things for DC, but we're still struggling. We're like, you know, but when Monsters came out, it changed  my life, my family's life. And it's just, it's amazing. It's  just,  I'm so thankful. I  love hearing from a comic store guy, cause it's, that's really awesome that.

01:11:24
what I do can affect a comic book store. I've had a couple of them reach out and say, hey, Mark, we were struggling,  but you're bringing more people into the comic book store or something. And that's just amazing to hear. that, I remember having a comic book store, you want those people coming in and buying those covers. So  it's just awesome. Awesome. Do you have any upcoming  appearances or conventions?  I'm not doing San Diego Comic Con. I know I haven't really, this is breaking news. No one knows.

01:11:54
Because  it's interfering with the family vacation that we're doing. we're, we've earned some time off, so we're going to be here in July.  So the next con that I've agreed to be at is Memphis in September,  Memphis Expo.  And then  I don't know if I'm doing any store appearances. I might try to sprinkle in a one or two  before the end of the year, because got a lot coming out, man. A lot of, a lot of books. I just did a, I haven't mentioned this yet.

01:12:24
I did a whole DC comic cover  Silver  Age  series that no one has seen yet. That'll be,  then I want to say it's like eight people,  villains and some heroes. So it's going to be awesome. Got old Sinestro with the old costume,  the old Lex Luthor with the big X on his chest. they were great to let me do whatever I wanted to over there. And those will be coming out later this year.

01:12:53
On that topic, has Marvel smartened up yet?  Is  any Marvel work in the near future for you? Let's see.  Okay, I think I can say I've talked to Marvel  and Marvel has offered me some things.  Good on you. we'll see.  No, I haven't done any work for Marvel yet. So we'll see in the future.  Yeah, there's characters I love, Hulk, Spider-Man.  I would love to do those eventually.

01:13:23
But  yeah, down the road though, there's a lot of things you do in this industry that won't be out to later on. I did a great Cobra Commander with the bats cover. It be out to November.  So a lot of cool things to look forward to later this year. And again, Spawn 77 probably will hit this year too.  And Monster and the Wolf number one. So. Now that's great to hear. And Mark, normally I would ask, I like to ask artists that come on the show.

01:13:52
you know, if they have any advice for aspiring creators and artists. But I feel like this past, almost going on in an hour and a half is the advice. And it feels like we can almost condense the whole thing down to consistency and persistence and dedication to your craft and your vision. would you, would you add anything else to it? know, one of my mottos that I came up with about a year or two ago was if there is no way, make your own way because no one was going to make my cards for

01:14:21
my trading cards and that kind of started all this. And I went, you know what? I'll do it myself. I didn't have any money to do it. I went to Kickstarter to do it. That led into another card series that led into getting in the comic industry and then finally doing my own comic book. So a lot of people will be upset saying, but no, they're not giving me my opportunity. You sometimes have to just make your own opportunity. And you know, I would have still been just as happy.

01:14:49
having a career doing  the Monster cards and doing that for the next 20 years. That  was fun. And I'm still doing them. got a Kickstarter that's about to end in about a week and it's bigger than any of the Kickstarters I've done with cards. So  I love doing those things.  And if you love doing it, keep at it.  I  was just close to stopping and man, I'm so glad I didn't because I was destined for something else.

01:15:18
and not cyber security, even though it's great thing. It wasn't my thing, man. So, you know what? I'm going have some shirts printed up, Mark Spears, cyber security. I'm going have to do something like that and hand them out to my friend. Dang, that's great. Mark, think this is where we should end it, even though I feel like you've still got more stories in you to tell, but I think this is a good spot to wrap it up. I'm feeling extremely energized and motivated and I'm really happy for your success. Thank you

01:15:48
So fun for the last 24 hours to just dive into your work. really,  you know, it's,  guess prior to us chatting, it did feel like, man, where did this guy come from? Like, why am I, you know, it's one of those things when someone puts it on your radar, that's all you can see, right? Like when Ben told me, B, you gotta hop on the Smart Experience guy, he's selling like hotcakes. I don't think he said hotcakes exactly, but that's what I heard. And I feel like ever since then, it's like,  oh shit, I'm noticing, okay, he's doing all the dynamite covers. Oh.

01:16:16
He's done all these DC covers. Okay,  the monsters thing is huge. He's got a free comic book day. But it's nice to get the full story. Because that's what they say, right? Like, you know, even when we look at celebrities, athletes,  anyone of a certain fame, all we see is the fame and where they're at now. We don't get to see, you know, like you just explained,  the years of grind, of...

01:16:39
of the nose, of the doors being shut in your face.  We don't get to see that. And I think that's an important part to highlight. So thank you truly for sharing your Thank you for allowing me to share this, man. It's been amazing.  I love it.  It's been a great experience. I would love to come back whenever you need it. If you need some more story out there, we'll come back. My door is always open for you both. think with that being said, ladies and gents, this is the Short Bikes Podcast. And we just finished talking to Mark Spears.

01:17:09
About almost everything,  We heard about his life, his career, his upcoming projects.  You can check out  Monsters, Mark Spears Monsters on Keen Spot Publishing.  If you can find them, that is. But I think if you go to your local shop,  they would  almost be foolish not to order said book because they're selling like hotcakes, like I said. But he's got  new Monsters cards coming out. Check them out on Kickstarter  by the Monsters comic books. I'll have links to his Instagram as well as his website in the show notes.

01:17:38
Check all of that out mark any parting words or shameless plug before we wrap up. No, man I'm all good. I hope to meet some of you guys down the road at some kinds are Our store appearances and stuff man. Loved it. Loves to meet you guys. We'll be on the lookout for a mark Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you

01:17:59
There you have it short box nation. That's the end of the show.  Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here.  And a special shout out if you made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at the short box, jacks at gmail.com. And if you really liked this episode,  help us spread the word, share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify  or wherever you get your pod.

01:18:29
It takes two minutes tops and it would mean the world to us. Leave us a review. Now if you want more content like bonus episodes or perks like early access and commercial free episodes  and in some cases free comic books,  consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash the short box.  It's an easy and very affordable way to support the show and get rewarded for being a fan. Once again, sign up at patreon.com slash the short box.  Speaking of our Patreon community, I want to give a big shout out to our current members including

01:18:58
Adam Chaitani,  R.C. Gammett, BJ Kix, Blake Simone, Blythe Milligan,  Bo Evers,  Brian Brumley, Chad Landenberger, Chris Hacker, David Morales, Greg Lichtype,  Hershel,  Mac Jacobson,  issue number three, Brad,  Jay Sinner,  Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda,  Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson,  Matt Godwin, Amanda Maron, Melissa Byrne,  Nick Wagner,  Ryan Isaacson, Steven Gim.

01:19:28
T-Mix,  The Wait For It podcast, Tony AofB,  Trey Namo,  Walter Gant,  and last but not least,  Warren Evans. Big shout outs to the patrons.  And with that being said, that's it. That's what I got for you this time. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another episode. And most importantly, take care of yourselves. Read a good comic and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.