VALIANT YEARS Pt.1

A few months after graduating from the Kubert school in 1991 I started working at VALIANT COMICS. They'd only been around for a year or so, just starting to produce super-hero comics after doing comics featuring Nintendo characters and WWF wrestlers. I started out as a colorist, working with talented people like Jorge Gonzalez, Maria Beccari, Jade Moede, Mark Csaszar and Mike Cavallero. This was before computer coloring, so we did it all by hand (using Doc Martin dyes) and the pages were produced from the original color artwork. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun. The deadlines were insane and we lived at the office, often sleeping there to get the books out on time. We also had a lot of laughs (Anything is funny when it's 4am and you're sleep deprived.) We were all just young kids who loved comics and were excited to be working in the business. We all got along very well and there was a sense of camaraderie that I've never felt anywhere since. Anyway, here's some Valiant covers colored by me. This first batch of Archer & Armstrong covers were illustrated by the great artist (and great guy) Barry Windsor-Smith.