When I was in elementary and junior high school I was obsessed with comic books. I lived and breathed the Justice League, the Avengers, the Hulk and the Flash. When I wasn't reading new comic books I was rereading old ones, and when I wasn't rereading old comic books I was thinking up ways to scam my parents out of their pocket change. Back then you really could buy comic books for pocket change. In 2021 it's a different story.
As I grew older my love for comic books diminished. Puberty and the worries of adulthood took center stage. I still read comic books from time to time, but with nowhere near the frequency or fervency I once did. Comic books were once my life; now they're just a small part of it.
A lot of my heroes growing up were the guys (and they were almost always guys) who wrote or drew my favorite comic books. These were creators more prominent in the mid to late 80s, though I also admired a few of the "newer" guys who popped up in the early 90s. For a long time I thought that being a comic book artist was the best job anyone could have, and after high school I even considered art school as a way of preparing for that career.
Alas, it was not to be. Not that I despair overmuch. A lot of good things have happened in my life, and I'm happy with the way things have turned out. And of course there's also the fact that being a comic book artist isn't without its own set of challenges, many of which are corporate in nature and not fun to think about. Point to any famous comic book creator and you'll find a series of compromises.
With all of this in mind, I got to wondering what the heroes of my childhood are up to these days. I did a little online snooping, and what you see below is what I discovered.
1. Frank Miller
Why I Worshiped Him: His run on Daredevil most of all, but also later projects like The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Ronin, Elektra: Assassin and to a lesser extent Sin City. Say what you will about his more recent output or public persona, he was a big deal in the 80s.
What He's Up to Now: He's a co-creator and co-producer of the Netflix series Cursed, which is based on one of his comics. He's also being sued for "defamation and economic interference" by someone he worked with on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. While sometimes accused of having right wing (or even fascist) beliefs, he describes himself as a Libertarian.
2. Alan Moore
Why I Worshiped Him: Swamp Thing. Mostly Swamp Thing. I liked Watchmen, and at the time I recognized that it was something truly original, but it didn't grab me the way it grabbed other people. There were also the endless delays between issues. Those delays dampened a lot of people's enthusiasm.
What He's Up to Now: He's been up to a lot of random stuff. He "retired from regularly writing comics" in 2016 after writing the last League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book. His other projects have included an app for making digital comics, a book on magic and a few essays. He considers himself a magician, and espouses various counter-cultural beliefs.
3. Carmine Infantino
Why I Worshiped Him: His pencils on The Flash. For the longest time nobody could draw objects in motion like that guy. He had such a distinctive style, and it really added a lot to the character he was drawing.
What He's Up to Now: He is, sadly, no longer with us. He died in 2013. In the early 2000s he sued DC Comics over several Flash-related characters he'd created, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
4. Todd McFarlane
Why I Worshiped Him: By the time Spawn happened I was already a little tired of McFarlane, but his earlier stuff at DC and Marvel was great. He pretty much reinvented Spider-Man - at least in a visual sense - and I was also a big fan of how he drew the Hulk.
What He's Up to Now: He's still trying to make that Spawn reboot happen. As of August 2021 studio hand Brian Tucker was rewriting McFarlane's screenplay, with Jamie Foxx (supposedly) still attached to star as Spawn. King Spawn recently proved that Spawn can still be a hit at comic book shops.
5. John Byrne
Why I Worshiped Him: If you grew up in the 80s Byrne was pretty much The Guy, and his art was all over several prominent Marvel and DC projects. My favorite of his many projects was definitely his run on Fantastic Four, which I think best suited his drawing style and his way of telling a story. His time on X-men alongside writer Chris Claremont is of course iconic, but the Fantastic Four is what really did it for me.
What He's Up to Now: Not much, as far as I can tell. He's good at shooting his mouth off in the press, and I've watched a couple of recent interviews with him on YouTube, but he hasn't worked on any comic books since 2013.
6. Walt Simonson
Why I Worshiped Him: His work on Thor was amazing. I can remember him doing other stuff: X-Factor, Manhunter, a few other things, but Thor was like this wonderful, special thing that only a few of us knew about. He struck the perfect balance between fantasy and science fiction in that book, and it remains influential years later.
What He's Up to Now: In 2014 he published the creator-owned Ragnarok, which is a retelling of the Norse myth outside of Marvel canon. He has a page on Facebook and still does interviews on occasion.
7. Jim Lee
Why I Worshiped Him: I didn't actually. I always thought his art was kind of soulless. BUT he was a big deal in the late 80s/early 90s, and the guy knew how to draw hot women. He definitely has a strong work ethic, but I guess I like my artists a little less... polished?
What He's Up to Now: He's the SOLE PUBLISHER of DC Comics. He's also been the Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. The "Image guy" is now, indisputably, the comic book Establishment. Funny how things turn out.
Dude also has NINE children, whose ages span two decades.
8. Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill
Why I Worshiped Them: At some point in the 80s I started reading British comics. Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and (more than anything) Nemesis the Warlock. Nemesis was a very distinctive comic for the time, and my admiration for Mills and O'Neill only increased with the release of Marshal Law under Marvel's Epic Comics imprint.
What They're Up to Now: In 2017 Mills co-wrote a novel with O'Neill, and in 2018 the movie Accident Man was adapted from one of Mills' comics. O'Neill, whose entire art style was found objectionable by the Comics Code Authority, continues to work alongside Alan Moore on several projects.
9. George Perez
Why I Worshiped Him: Crisis on Infinite Earths blew people's minds back in the day. Those sprawling gatefold covers, the cosmic mindfuckery, the extreme pathos - a lot of that was down to George Perez and his distinctive way of drawing. Sure, Marv Wolfman was in there somewhere, but Perez was the one who nailed it. Compare Crisis to Marvel crossover spectaculars of the time, and in Crisis you'll find a lot more consistency from one panel to the next. George Perez never, ever phoned it in... at least back then.
What He's Up to Now: Despite his early work at DC, he gained a reputation for inconsistency. He bounced around between several comic book publishers until 2019, when he formally announced his retirement.
10. Keith Giffen
Why I Worshiped Him: That weirdass Doctor Fate series. Giffen might have been the weirdest penciller working in the 80s, and Doctor Fate suited him to a tee. Terrifying finger mouths. Horrible looking monsters. In the presence of Dr. Fate's ridiculous costume he made it all work. His run (as writer) on Justice League International was also really funny.
What He's Up to Now: His work on Doctor Fate might have been too similar to work done by an Argentinian artist, Jose Antonio Munoz. Critics claimed that Giffen had been copying from Munoz's work, while Giffen claimed that he was only unconsciously reproduced the Munoz's art style. He's still working in comics, primarily as a writer.
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