Back in my waning days of high school, I worked on a national magazine for comics called "Comics Feature." Now, when I say "national," it didn't have the biggest circulation in the world, even then.
"Comics Feature" was like "Comic Collector," and other earlier comics news and article magazines. It was published in black and white, had regular features on Silver-Age and Modern-Age comics, and industry news items.
I was hired after submitting samples to Jim Keegan and Ruth Kennedy, the then-new art directors, and my illustrations started accompanying Mike Benton's "For Fun & Profit" columns from about #52 until #58, or so when the publication ceased being published (Geez, did I kill it?
).
I also illustrated a few other things for Hal Shuster's publications, including covers for "G.I. Joe Files," and "Superheroes," both of which were pretty horrid jobs from me, I'm ashamed to say.
I did get to supply artwork for "X-MEN Files" #1 and #2. Hal Shuster never paid me well at all. He knew I was just a kid and I got about 5 bucks for an interior spot illustration, and, I believe it was $20 for a cover, and a couple of double-page spreads that I did. Even in 1986-1987, that was pretty pathetic, but I was happy to be published at all.
Funny thing: I remember being told that one of the reasons that Hal Shuster ceased publishing was that he was being sued by Marvel because he had been told not to use original artwork for a X-Men book that Shuster was publishing. Since I never received a copy of "X-MEN Files" #2 from Shuster, I wondered if it was my project that was the object of the lawsuit. I assumed it never got published. (I usually did get comp copies of the books I worked on.)
Flash forward over 10 years...
I attended a convention and spotted a copy of "X-Men Files" with a JB cover. It was the shot from "The Art of John Byrne" with Professor Xavier surrounded by the then-new X-Men. I wondered, would this magazine have my art inside? It did! I quickly bought it to take home.
Annnnnyway,...
What I am curious about is this: Did any of you guys or gals ever read this magazine? Ron Goulart and James Van Hise, and even Stan Lee contributed articles to it from time to time.
If you have one of my "Superheroes" covers, I apologise for the horrible art. :)I did that cover way late at night, after drawing all the art for the first "X-Men Files." "Comics Feature" usually didn't give me too much time before a deadline, and this was really before fax machines (Not that I would've owned one at that age and time, anyway).
Like I said, just curious...
(Edited for spelling.)
