Martin Wagner (artist)

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Martin Wagner
BornMartin Wagner
(1966-04-27) April 27, 1966 (age 57)
Area(s)Writer, Editor
Notable works
 Hepcats

Martin Wagner (born April 27, 1966) is an American artist, cartoonist, and filmmaker. [1]

Contents

Career

Comics

Hepcats #9 Hepcats9.jpg
Hepcats #9

While a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Wagner began Hepcats as a comic strip in the college newspaper The Daily Texan in 1987. [2] Starting in 1989, he self-published it as a black-and-white comic book series and it gained more exposure with the assistance of Dave Sim, who allowed Wagner to submit a page to his bi-weekly reprints of Cerebus . [2] To help support the comics financially, Wagner also offered sketches to fans who sent him cash in the mail. [3] Although the series received critical praise, [2] the combination of poor sales, Wagner's lack of business experience, and his divorce in 1991 contributed to financial difficulties. [4] Along with Jeff Smith (Bone), Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil), James Owen (Starchild), Larry Marder (Beanworld) and Sim, Wagner was one of the prominent self-publishers of the 1990s, but a hectic schedule eventually led him to cease publishing the series altogether following issue No. 12 in 1994. [5] In 1996 he made a deal with Antarctic Press to republish the existing material, to be followed by new issues, but the only new material published was a special "#0" color issue. Wagner also developed the Snowblind story-line as part of the Hepcats series which would be re-printed into a novel, but it never continued past part one. [6]

Film

Following his departure from the comics industry, Wagner illustrated children's books and began a new career working in Austin-area film and television commercial productions. In 1999, Wagner produced some early conceptual drawings for director Robert Rodriguez (who was also a cartoonist at the University of Texas at the same time as Wagner) for his film Spy Kids ,[ citation needed ] though he did not work on the film during production or any of its sequels.

In 2005, Wagner was slated to direct a 24p high-definition short film, Tremendous Risk for Mr. Ferdico, but when the producers failed to secure funding, he shifted his attentions to a documentary, Bloody Work, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter in the summer of 2013, [7] but was never released, with updates to the campaign ceasing in 2016.

Wagner was a rotating co-host on the webcast and public access show The Atheist Experience from 2000 to 2016. [8]

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References

  1. ↑ "Martin Wagner". Filmbug.com.
  2. 1 2 3 Palmer Jr., Tom (January 3, 2019). "Wizard #16: Martin Wagner". PalmersPicks.com. Wizard Magazine.
  3. ↑ Dallas, Keith; Sacks, Jason (December 5, 2018). American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1990s. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 31. ISBN   978-1605490847.
  4. ↑ "The Collegiate Hepcats by Martin Wagner". AbeBooks.com.
  5. ↑ S., Mark (April 9, 2010). "Hepcats by Martin Wagner". WhatMarkRead.com.
  6. ↑ Rytlewski, Evan; Zaleski, Annie; Modell, Josh; Murray, Noel; Hughes, William; Fortune, Drew; Vago, Mike; Robinson, Tasha (January 19, 2015). "We're still waiting: 15 pop culture part ones that never got a part 2". The A.V. Club.
  7. ↑ Riese, Monica (June 14, 2013). "Kickstart Your Weekend: 'Bloody Work'". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Atheist Experience #20.24: Thanking Martin Wagner". Spreaker.com. June 19, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
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