Mark Schultz (comics)
Encyclopedia
Mark Schultz is an American
writer and illustrator of books and comics
. His most widely-recognized work is his self-created and owned comic book
series, Xenozoic Tales
, about a post-apocalyptic
world where dinosaur
s and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. He is also the current writer of the Prince Valiant
comic strip
.
but raised near Pittsburgh. At the age of six he discovered both comics
and classic adventure films, his early favorites including Tarzan
and King Kong
. As a teenager he was further inspired by such fantasy
authors as Edgar Rice Burroughs
and Robert E. Howard
and the artists who had illustrated their work, including Frank Frazetta
, Roy Krenkel, and Al Williamson
.
He enrolled in Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
in 1973 and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
degree in painting
. From there, he embarked upon a career in advertising illustration, bolstered by such odd jobs as working as a security guard, but he found this work unsatisfying.
in the 1950s. At one point, he took the few boxes of 1960s and early 1970s Marvel
and DC
comic books he owned to a local comic book store and traded them for a large collection of EC Comics. From then on, he began to hone his illustration style to emulate that of classic EC artists.
Schultz's first published comics work was on a story called "The Sea King," featuring Robert E. Howard's character King Kull, which appeared in Savage Sword of Conan
#132, published by Marvel Comics
. Schultz inked
over pencils by Val Semeiks
. Schultz did not actively pursue further work from Marvel, however, as he was more interested in developing and publishing comics based on his own concepts.
. The characters and stories he created were set in a future time period he dubbed the "Xenozoic Age," in which an unspecified cataclysm had all but wiped out modern human society. The survivors emerged from their underground bunkers to find a world transformed, where prehistoric creatures had once again become the dominant life forms on Earth.
The first story set in the Xenozoic Age that Schultz completed was "Mammoth Pitfall," but it would not see publication until Xenozoic Tales #2. The first to be published was "Xenozoic!", which ran in the anthology
title Death Rattle #8, published in December 1986 by Kitchen Sink Press
.
and DC
. Typically these are stories based on company-owned or licensed characters, rather than his own original work.
Schultz created the underwater adventure comics series SubHuman, published by Dark Horse comics
.
In 2002, Schultz contributed a number of illustrations to Conan the Cimmerian: Volume 1, a new reprinting of the Conan
stories of Robert E. Howard
, published by Wandering Star Press. The book has since been reprinted in paperback by Del Rey
as The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. He was also interviewed by Durwin Talon
for Panel Discussions
, a nonfiction book about the developing movement in sequential art
and narrative literature, along with, Will Eisner
, Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola
.
Since November 1, 2004, he has been the writer for the long-running comic strip
, Prince Valiant
, originally created by Hal Foster. He also wrote the two-issue intercompany crossover
Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator.
In 2009, he was announced by Dan Didio as the writer of the up-coming The Spirit
series, spinning-off of the First Wave
limited series, that is intended to create a new universe of non-superpowered characters like Doc Savage
, Batman
, Black Canary
, the Blackhawks
, Wildcat
, The Avenger, Rima the Jungle Girl and others. Schultz will only write the first two issues of The Spirit.
and Joseph Clement Coll
.
, two Eisners
, an Inkpot
, a Spectrum
, and three Haxturs
(from the Salon Del Internacional Comic del Principado de Austurias).
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
writer and illustrator of books and comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
. His most widely-recognized work is his self-created and owned comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series, Xenozoic Tales
Xenozoic Tales
Xenozoic Tales is an alternative comic book by Mark Schultz set in a post-apocalyptic future. Publication began in 1986 with the story "Xenozoic!" included in the comic anthology Death Rattle. This was shortly followed by Xenozoic Tales #1 in February 1987...
, about a post-apocalyptic
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
world where dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s and other prehistoric creatures coexist with humans. He is also the current writer of the Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
.
Early life and career
Schultz was born on June 7, 1955 just outside Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
but raised near Pittsburgh. At the age of six he discovered both comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
and classic adventure films, his early favorites including Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
and King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
. As a teenager he was further inspired by such fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
authors as Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
and Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
and the artists who had illustrated their work, including Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Roy Krenkel, and Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
.
He enrolled in Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania , is an American public university located in rural Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania and is one of fourteen schools that comprise the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary...
in 1973 and graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
degree in painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. From there, he embarked upon a career in advertising illustration, bolstered by such odd jobs as working as a security guard, but he found this work unsatisfying.
First comics work
In the early 1980s, Schultz became interested in the burgeoning underground comics scene, which allowed independent artists to publish stories outside the traditional assembly-line approach of the mainstream comics industry. He also became attracted to the art of the classic stories published by EC ComicsEC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
in the 1950s. At one point, he took the few boxes of 1960s and early 1970s Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
comic books he owned to a local comic book store and traded them for a large collection of EC Comics. From then on, he began to hone his illustration style to emulate that of classic EC artists.
Schultz's first published comics work was on a story called "The Sea King," featuring Robert E. Howard's character King Kull, which appeared in Savage Sword of Conan
Conan (comics)
Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard was first adapted into comics published Marvel Comics beginning with the series Conan the Barbarian in 1970...
#132, published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. Schultz inked
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
over pencils by Val Semeiks
Val Semeiks
Valdis "Val" Semeiks is an American comic book artist who has mostly worked for DC Comics and Marvel Comics.-Biography:Val Semeiks was born in the USA on February 5, 1955 to Latvian parents....
. Schultz did not actively pursue further work from Marvel, however, as he was more interested in developing and publishing comics based on his own concepts.
Xenozoic Tales
Throughout the early 1980s, Schultz would germinate the ideas which would eventually bear fruit as Xenozoic TalesXenozoic Tales
Xenozoic Tales is an alternative comic book by Mark Schultz set in a post-apocalyptic future. Publication began in 1986 with the story "Xenozoic!" included in the comic anthology Death Rattle. This was shortly followed by Xenozoic Tales #1 in February 1987...
. The characters and stories he created were set in a future time period he dubbed the "Xenozoic Age," in which an unspecified cataclysm had all but wiped out modern human society. The survivors emerged from their underground bunkers to find a world transformed, where prehistoric creatures had once again become the dominant life forms on Earth.
The first story set in the Xenozoic Age that Schultz completed was "Mammoth Pitfall," but it would not see publication until Xenozoic Tales #2. The first to be published was "Xenozoic!", which ran in the anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
title Death Rattle #8, published in December 1986 by Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
.
Later work
Since Xenozoic Tales, Schultz has written comics series for a number of publishers, including Dark HorseDark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
and DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Typically these are stories based on company-owned or licensed characters, rather than his own original work.
Schultz created the underwater adventure comics series SubHuman, published by Dark Horse comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
.
In 2002, Schultz contributed a number of illustrations to Conan the Cimmerian: Volume 1, a new reprinting of the Conan
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
stories of Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, published by Wandering Star Press. The book has since been reprinted in paperback by Del Rey
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
as The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. He was also interviewed by Durwin Talon
Durwin Talon
Durwin Talon is a comics artist, illustrator, author and professor of new media.- Education & Employment :Talon developed an interest in art at an early age. He received his Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design , then received his ISDP Master’s Degree from...
for Panel Discussions
Panel Discussions
Panel Discussions: Design in Sequential Art Storytelling is a book by Durwin Talon. It was originally published in 2002 and was reprinted in July 2007.-Overview:...
, a nonfiction book about the developing movement in sequential art
Sequential art
Sequential art refers to the art form of using a train of images deployed in sequence to graphic storytelling or convey information. The best-known example of sequential art is comics, which are a printed arrangement of art and balloons, especially comic books and comic strips.The term is rarely...
and narrative literature, along with, Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
, Walter Simonson and Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
.
Since November 1, 2004, he has been the writer for the long-running comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
, originally created by Hal Foster. He also wrote the two-issue intercompany crossover
Intercompany crossover
In comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters published by one company meet those published by another...
Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator.
In 2009, he was announced by Dan Didio as the writer of the up-coming The Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
series, spinning-off of the First Wave
First Wave (comics)
First Wave is a 2010 six-issue comic book limited series written by Brian Azzarello drawn by Rags Morales and published by DC Comics.It is also the name of a separate DC Comics fictional universe, crossing pulp fiction characters over with versions of established DC heroes.-Publication history:The...
limited series, that is intended to create a new universe of non-superpowered characters like Doc Savage
Doc Savage
Doc Savage is a fictional character originally published in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. He was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L...
, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, Black Canary
Black Canary
Black Canary is the name of two fictional characters, DC Comics superheroines created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino. The first Black Canary debuted appeared in Flash Comics #86 . The first Black Canary was the alter-ego of Dinah Drake, who took part in Golden Age adventures...
, the Blackhawks
Blackhawk (comics)
Blackhawk, a long-running comic book series, was also a film serial, a radio series and a novel. The comic book was published first by Quality Comics and later by DC Comics. The series was created by Will Eisner, Chuck Cuidera, and Bob Powell, but the artist most associated with the feature is Reed...
, Wildcat
Wildcat (comics)
Wildcat is the name of several fictional characters, all DC Comics superheroes. The first and most famous of these is Ted Grant, a long-time member of the Justice Society of America...
, The Avenger, Rima the Jungle Girl and others. Schultz will only write the first two issues of The Spirit.
Influences
Schultz is influenced by commercial illustrators of the early 20th Century, including Howard PyleHoward Pyle
Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.__FORCETOC__...
and Joseph Clement Coll
Joseph Clement Coll
Joseph Clement Coll was an American book and newspaper illustrator. He was known for his pen and ink story illustrations that were used to illustrate adventure stories such as Arthur Conan Doyle's The White Company.-Illustration career:...
.
Awards
Schultz has been awarded five Harvey AwardsHarvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
, two Eisners
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
, an Inkpot
Inkpot Award
The Inkpot Award, bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International, is given to some of the professionals in comic book, comic strip, animation, science fiction, and related pop-culture fields, who are guests of that organization's yearly multigenre fan convention, commonly known as...
, a Spectrum
Spectrum Award
The Spectrum Awards are given annually to the best works of contemporary fantastic art. The winners of every year are compiled in a book. The editors are Cathy and Arnie Fenner.-External links:* * , Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America...
, and three Haxturs
Haxtur Award
The Haxtur Award is a Spanish award for comics published in Spain. It is awarded annually at the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias ....
(from the Salon Del Internacional Comic del Principado de Austurias).