Darick Robertson

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Darick Robertson bigraphy, stories - Artist

Darick Robertson : biography

Darick W. Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator. Highly prolific, Robertson has illustrated hundreds of comics in his twenty plus years in the industry. His body of work ranges from science fiction characters of his own creation to headlining on renowned classic characters from Marvel and DC Comics. Robertson is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of Transmetropolitan and The Boys.

Early life

Robertson was introduced to comics at an early age. He would read the Gold Key Comics he found at the local barbershop and before long his father began to drive to Palo Alto where young Robertson could buy weekly comics such as Flash and Spider-Man.Kallies, Christy. Sequential Tart; Volume II; Issue 1; January 1999; Accessed July 25, 2010 By 5th grade the young artist was already stapling together homemade comics to show to his friends.Lord Byron. Spiderfan; April 1, 2002 Darick Robertson cites Paul Smith, George Pérez, José Luis García-López, Neal Adams, Joe Kubert and Bernie Wrightson as early formative influences on his craft, and states it was Brian Bolland’s work on Camelot 3000 that defined for him what a comic artist could aspire to.Giaever, Ole Peder. giaever.com; Accessed July 25, 2010Roberts, Sidra. Coville’s Clubhouse’ February 2004 Robertson also cites Frank Miller as a hero, and hopes to eventually emulate Miller’s success as both an artist and a writer.; Two Headed Cat, September 16, 2002

Personal life

Robertson currently lives in Napa, California with his wife and two children. He enjoys custom action figures, writing music, singing and playing the guitar.

Career

Robertson created his first comic book at the age of 17 while still in school and also working as a bill collector. Many small press black and white books featuring anthropomorphic heroes were seeing sudden critical and commercial success in the wake of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Robertson had "always loved this idea of stuffed animals fighting [so] they bleed and stuff comes out of them when they die." As a result he created Space Beaver, “a cute little beaver…running around shooting people."

Robertson showed his new work, drawn on typing paper in ball-point pen, to Michio Okamura, an inker working as a security guard in the same building as the collection agency. Okamura inked Reggie Byers’s Shuriken for Victory Comics, DVD Vision Japan; Accessed July 25, 2010 and introduced Dairck to the use of Bristol Board, ink pens, and zip-a-tone. Okamura sent Robertson’s pages to Victory Comics, who agreed to publish Space Beaver, but not to compensate Robertson. Robertson then took the finished pages to Tibor Sardy, owner of Peninsula Comics in San Mateo California. After seeing Robertson’s work, the comic store owner agreed to pay Robertson and publish Space Beaver under the name Ten-Buck Comics. Robertson would now spend every day after work and school drawing the book, which would run for 11 issues. Years after the series ended people still ask Robertson to confirm he was the creator of Space Beaver. Perhaps most notable for the young artist, Robertson’s father carried a worn copy of Space Beaver #1 folded into his coat pocket to show his friends what his son had created.

In 2000 Larry Young acquired publication rights to Space Beaver and AiT/Planet Lar released two trades collecting the entire run.

DC and Marvel Comics

After Robertson launched his career with Space Beaver, he began to regularly attend comic conventions seeking advice and professional connections. As a result, by age 21,Contino, Jennifer. KAOS2000 Magazine 1999; Accessed July 25, 2010 Robertson landed his first work for a major publisher illustrating Justice League Quarterly #4 at DC Comics. He would then illustrate a run of Justice League Europe working alongside writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist/writer Keith Giffen.Piccone, Sebastian. , Project Fanboy; August 27, 2008 Over time Robertson would develop his craft finishing Giffen’s panel breakdowns while working, coincidentally, on the seminal JLE story entitled "Breakdowns". Robertson Robertson worked on JLE issues 26, and 30-35. Later in his career Robertson and would return to the Justice League to work with Mark Waid on Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare.