John Kovalic | |
|---|---|
 Kovalic at Lucca Comics & Games in 2014 | |
| Born | 24 November 1962 Manchester, England |
| Occupation(s) | Cartoonist, illustrator, and writer |
| Spouse | Judith Kovalic |
John Kovalic (born Robert John Kovalic, Jr. on 24 November 1962) is an American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer.
Born in Manchester, England, Kovalic is best known for his Dork Tower comic book, comic strip, and webcomic, and other humorous work set in and about the fantasy role-playing game genre, such as The Unspeakable Oaf. He has illustrated board and card games for several companies, including Steve Jackson Games (notably the Munchkin card game, [1] plus its many expansions and derivatives, and Chez Geek and its derivatives), Cumberland Games & Diversions ( Pokéthulhu ), and the third edition of Fantasy Flight Games's Mag Blast . He was also the sole illustrator for the "Super Deluxx" edition of Kobolds Ate My Baby! and has subsequently occasionally featured supplemental KAMB material in the Dork Tower comic book.
Kovalic is a co-founder and co-owner of Out of the Box Publishing. [2] He is also the company's art director and designer of the 2003 trivia party game Whad'Ya Know?, based on Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? , as well as the illustrator of Apples to Apples .
Kovalic is an editorial cartoonist for the Wisconsin State Journal . [2] His work has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post , and he continues to freelance for Milwaukee's The Daily Reporter . [2] He has also worked for CARtoons Magazine . He is also the writer of the comic Doctor Blink Superhero Shrink , which is penciled and inked by Christopher Jones and colored and lettered by Melissa Kaercher.
Kovalic's cartoons are multi–Origins Award–winners and have been nominated for two Harvies—for best cartoonist and the special award for humor in comics. [2] USA Today called Kovalic a "Hot Pick". [2] In 2003, Kovalic became the first cartoonist inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming's Hall of Fame. [2]
Kovalic has thrice been a guest of honor—in 2003, 2007, and 2008—at the science, science fiction, and fantasy convention CONvergence., [3] and on multiple occasions at Warpcon in Cork, Ireland.
Kovalic has provided illustrations for large number of games, including: [4]
Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.
Dork Tower is an online comic created, written and drawn by John Kovalic. It chronicles the lives of a group of geeks living in the fictional town of Mud Bay, Wisconsin. Mud Bay's design is strongly influenced by the author's home town of Madison, Wisconsin. Topics have included role-playing games (RPGs), comic books, video games, and fandom in general. The comic strip began in January 1997 and has made appearances in publications like Dragon magazine, Shadis, and Comic Shop News. Starting in 2000, the strip began web publication roughly three times a week and is featured in Pyramid. The bimonthly comic book made its first appearance in 1998 and features continuing storylines. It has recently gone to full color with issue #32, and it is collected in trade paperback.
Philip Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art.
Ninja Burger (忍者バーガー) is a parody website started in late 1999, purporting that a sect of noble ninja have taken to secretly delivering fast food meals, anywhere, anytime, within 30 minutes or less. Failure to deliver within the ascribed time limit results in seppuku. Some of Ninja Burger's rivals include Pirate Pizza, Otaku Bell, and Samurai Burger. The site riffs on many of the same points as Real Ultimate Power, another ninja parody website.
Shadis is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games.
Munchkin is a dedicated deck card game by Steve Jackson Games, written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic. It is a humorous take on role-playing games, based on the concept of munchkins.
Notable events of 1997 in comics.
Keith Baker is an American game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing. In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.
Chez Geek is a card game that parodies geek culture and cohabitation. It was created by Jon Darbro and developed by Alain H. Dawson, with additional development by Steve Jackson and Russell Godwin. The cards and rules were illustrated by John Kovalic. Upon its release, the game won the Origins Award.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2001. For video games, see 2001 in video gaming.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 1999. For video games, see 1999 in video gaming.
Frag is a first-person shooter-themed board game published by Steve Jackson Games in the summer of 2001. It was developed by Steve Jackson and Philip Reed, and illustrated by Alex Fernandez.
Kobolds Ate My Baby! is an independently published role-playing game from 9th Level Games, a small-press publisher and designer of humorous role-playing games (RPGs) based in Pennsylvania. The name is a derivative reference to the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and the famous misquote, "A dingo ate my baby!" The Super Deluxx Edition was still designed by 9th Level Games but is published by Dork Storm Press.
Lethargic Lad is a protagonist in the comic strip of the same name, created by Greg Hyland sometime in the late 1980s. The character is notable for being very slow and inactive. Lethargic Lad does not speak, though he sometimes mutters "Umm...".
Out of the Box Publishing was a Wisconsin-based publishing company specializing in family, card, and party games. As of October 2013, they had published over 45 titles.
Bosworth is a four-handed chess variant manufactured by Out of the Box Publishing company since 1998. It is played on 6x6 board and uses 4 sets of standard chess pieces.
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a fantasy role-playing game first published in 1974. As the popularity of the game grew throughout the late-1970s and 1980s, it became referenced in popular culture more frequently. The complement of games, films and cultural references based on Dungeons & Dragons or similar fantasies, characters, and adventures became ubiquitous after the end of the 1970s.
Mag Blast is a spaceship-themed strategy card game, produced by gaming company Fantasy Flight Games. The first edition was set in the universe of "Twilight Imperium", a board game made by the same company. The game is playable for 2-8 players, and is described as "a game of screaming space battles". The first edition was printed in 1998. A second edition was produced as well continuing the use of Twilight Imperium artwork. A Third Edition printed in 2006 moved away from the use of Twilight Imperium as the theme and instead uses artwork from comic artist John Kovalic. This change in artwork was highly criticised by old fans of the game.
Len Peralta is a Cleveland-area graphic artist, illustrator, cartoonist, and podcaster who is known for zombie-themed caricatures and collaborations with nerd celebrities.
Joseph Scrimshaw is an American comedian and writer for radio, television and theater, whom City Pages, a Twin Cities newspaper, describes as having an "irreverent and insightful wit." He is the author of a book of comic essays called Comedy of Doom and hosts a monthly podcast called Obsessed with Joseph Scrimshaw, where he and his guests discuss their obsessions. He performs across the country in a variety of venues, including comedy festivals like San Francisco's SketchFest and science fiction conventions such as Dragon Con and CONvergence, and his plays have been performed internationally. He has collaborated with performer Bill Corbett on a number of plays and written for RiffTrax, Corbett's joint comedy venture with Kevin Murphy and Michael J. Nelson. Scrimshaw has toured with musicians Molly Lewis and the Doubleclicks, and performed live for musician Jonathan Coulton's JoCo Cruise and the geek vaudeville w00tstock. Scrimshaw has been involved with writing and performing for American Public Media's radio variety show Wits, writing sketches and appearing as the character Theater Ghost. He has also written for the national sketch comedy television show M@dAbout.
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