An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 8/14/2021
(Free Comic Book Day 2021, moved from its traditional first-Saturday-in-May slot)
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Today I'm celebrating the achievements of a fellow comic book writer and illustrator, (though of course in terms of relative scale, he rates as a god among us mere mortals). On this, Free Comic Book Day 2021, expect little-to-no objectivity in my biography of Brian Stelfreeze. Born into a military family that tended to move around, Stelfreeze was exposed to the so-called "lowcountry" coastal South and its Gullah communities (Mount Pleasant, McClellanville, Georgetown, etc.), that managed to preserve more of their African cultural origins than most American Black populations. A comic book fan from a very early age, Stelfreeze didn't seriously consider the idea of one day making a career of such a thing --for a while it seemed as though he would follow his father into Army life, who had become an instructor at West Point.
During his high school years Stelfreeze took a job as an editorial cartoonist for a local paper, which in turn prompted a (necessary) interest in politics and current events. For two summers he worked as an airbrush artist in Myrtle Beach (yes everyone, that dude who would airbrush your favorite thrash metal band's logo onto the back of your denim jacket in five minutes). Having mastered the essential zen of quick turnaround time, and with the money earned from this gig, he enrolled at The Art Institute of Atlanta. During his second year, on a whim he presented a portfolio at the prominent Whole Hog Studios. Quite unexpectedly he was offered a starting salary, and at the advice of his own art instructor, left school and took the job.
Stelfreeze's first foray into the comic book world was a short series titled CyCops in 1988. While working on some commercial assignments for a comic book shop in Charlotte, N. Carolina, Stelfreeze knocked off a quick Batman illustration on the premises, which happened to catch the attention of Pat Bastienne, a DC Comics executive. Recommendations followed, and in short order Stelfreeze found himself working on a Batman series with editor Denny O'Neil. Stelfreeze's painted cover art eventually landed him a long run as the principal cover artist on Batman: Shadow of the Bat. Other long-running titles included Marvel's Domino, and Matador for DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint.
Stelfreeze was one of the founding members of Gaijin Studios in 1991. He won the coveted Inkpot Award in 2014, and his lush sequential illustrations for Ta-Nehisi Coates's 2016 Black Panther series, "A Nation Under Our Feet," not only won the 2017 Glyph Comics Award for Best Artist, but also directly influenced the style and design of Marvel Studios' 2018 Black Panther movie. His current project for 12-Gauge Comics is Thomas River, a crowdfunded political/spy thriller.
Permit me to enthusiastically recommend The Signature Art of Brian Stelfreeze:
https://www.amazon.com/Signature-Art-Brian-Stelfreeze/dp/1608864960/
"When you do a single piece of art, you're really trying to make a statement. But with comics, the thing that keeps me here is actually taking you through a story and knowing that, 'OK, over here, I want you to feel this way. And then here, I want you to feel this way.' And it's just this little symphony that you're conducting... ...I want you to understand I'm manipulating you. That's what a storyteller is supposed to do. They're supposed to manipulate you. They're supposed to manipulate your feelings."
Next page - Lesson 104: Stacey Yvonne Abrams