I grew up in the era of Batmania, and I still have a nostalgic fondness for pretty much all things Batman. I collect comic books in general, but mostly golden age and silver age comics from all genres; super hero, horror, science fiction, humor, war...
I'm also into old cars and my wife and I recently bought a 1948 Buick Special Sedanet that I plan to restore to it's showroom glory (or close to it).
Basically, I'm into old things, mostly from the period of the 1940's and 1950's. I like toys, vintage clothes, advertising memorabilia, architecture, movies, music, anything from that period gets me excited. Style and design in general has never been better than it was mid-century, in my opinion.
Music
Rock - Lady Robotika! Todd Rundgren, David Bowie, Jane Wiedlin, Genesis, Alice Cooper, Kansas, Garbage, Ok Go, No Doubt, The Beatles, ELO, Mott The Hoople, Queen, Blondie, XTC, The Ramones, Elvis Costello, Yes, The Pretenders, The Go-Go's, Adam Ant, Roxy Music, Ian Hunter, Utopia, The Nazz, The Cars (New and old), Kasim Sulton, Kiss, Crowded House, The Shins, Tin Machine, Frank Black, Pixies, Squeeze, Sparks, The Pursuit of Happiness
Jazz/Swing - Mora's Modern Rhythmists, Benny Goodman, The Andrews Sisters, Artie Shaw, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Harry James, Keely Smith, Louis Prima, Gene Krupa, Anita O'Day, Helen Forrest, Helen Ward, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Freddy Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kenton, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Jimmie Lunceford, Spud Murphy
Movies
My all-time favorite is "It's A Wonderful Life". The short list also includes: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Winchester '73 (okay, pretty much any Jimmy Stewart movie), Gilda, Cover Girl, The Lady from Shanghai (just about any Rita Hayworth movie) Star Wars (all of the first three), Back to the Future (the trilogy), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Batman Begins, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Spiderman (I liked all three, except for that dorky scene in #3 where Peter Parker is dancing down the street and then the scene in the jazz club), A League of their Own, Office Space, That Thing You Do, The Right Stuff, The Longest Day, My Favorite Year, The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis version), Any Martin and Lewis movie, any early Jerry Lewis movie, the classic Universal horror movies (Frankensein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc.) Hammer horror films, School of Rock, Lost in America, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Pinoccio, Peter Pan, Hot Fuzz, Shawn of the Dead, Baby Mama, Iron Man
Click to see my Star Wars Personality!!
Television
24, 30 Rock, The Office, My Name is Earl, Lost, Monk, South Park, The Simpsons (of course!) Futurama, Eureka, Reno 911, Spaced, Extras, Battlestar Galactica
Books
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Most Stephen King books, Dean & Me by Jerry Lewis
Heroes
My Mom and Dad, Jimmy Stewart, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, Every American soldier (except the very few who abuse their power and disgrace the country)
Artistically, Dan DeCarlo, Dick Sprang, Bob Oksner, Dave Stevens, Jim Steranko, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, John Romita, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Al Capp, Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, Matt Baker, Will Elder, Jack Davis,
About me: BILL'S FUN FACTS! Collect 'em all!
1. I'm a cartoonist, working mostly in the field of comic books. My main gig is as Creative Dirctor of Bongo Entertainment where we produce comics, books and calendars based on Matt Groening's TV shows "The Simpsons" and "Futurama". I also do occasional art jobs for other companies when time permits.
2. I attended the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit Michigan (where I grew up) and graduated with a Certificate in Illustration (I tried to go for the degree, but I couldn't hack the academic classes on top of all my art assignments. Now I'm editing books and comics. Could've really used that English class!
3. I began my professional career drawing automobile parts for owners manuals and repair guides.
4. In 1983, I landed a job at B.D. Fox Advertising in Hollywood, California. I spent the next four years working on movie advertising campaigns and painted several movie posters, most for films you've never heard of. I also worked on many big name projects, but usually providing only concept sketches and comps (preliminary art).
5. From there I moved on to Willardson & Associates where I became one of the associates in the aforementioned studio name. Dave Willardson is a master illustrator and I learned a lot there. I honed my skills on a variety of advertising projects, but mostly I painted movie posters for Disney films.
6. In 1990, I began to get freelance assignments for "The Simpsons" merchandise from my old friend and colleague from B.D.Fox, Mili Smythe. Mili had moved on as well and was now Matt Groening's liason for Fox Licensing and Merchandising (a different Fox).
7. I was soon hired by Fox and drew The Simpsons (and other animated characters) for them during the day. Nights and weekends were spent working directly for Matt Groening on various Simpsons book and calendar projects.
8. In 1993, I helped Matt and Steve & Cindy Vance start Bongo Comics, where I've been ever since.
9. In 1996, I created my own comic book, "Roswell, Little Green Man".
10. "Roswell" made it to six issues before I put it down to help Matt Groening design characters for his new show, "Futurama". When the show was put into production, I became the "Art Director". (Mostly, I just designed characters and vehicles, but I did do some actual art direction when producer Mili Smythe went on maternity leave.
11. Somewhere in there I co-created another comic book called "Heroes Anonymous" with my former assistant Scott M. Gimple. H.A. is bout a support group for super heroes. We had it in developement at the Sci-Fi channel for a few years, but things went horribly wrong.
12. I'm married to my high school sweetheart, and we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last year. We also dated for five years before getting married, so that puts our time together at over 30 years! Yes, that's right, I'm old. Shut up!
13. I recently wrote a three-issue mini-series for DC Comics featuring Captain Carrot and the Zoo Crew! This was a popular funny animal/super hero series from the '80's created bt Roy Thomas and my buddy Scott Shaw! Scott is penciled this new series too.
14. I'm working on a mini-series with my wife for Dark Horse Comics called "Dead Vengeance". It's very different from anything I've done in comics, but reminds me of some of my old movie poster work.
15. I'm also working on a new comic book with (and starring) my new friend Jane Wiedlin! More on that as news develops!
Don't forget to come see Simi Valley's Awesome Haunted Tiki Island yard Haunt. 2009 is the last year!!! Animated displays, a giant volcano, candy, and glow bracelets while they last!!!
Yea!!! I'm finally coming out to Cali again: ) I'm going to trailer my scooter out there for a rally in San Diego then drive up to LA and head north up the PCH. I should be in LA on the 15th and 16th of June. U and Auntie gonna be around? I would love to see you guys and buy y'all a drink or something.
Thanks for joining the Wolf Pack! It’s great to have you. Come check out our comic galleries and tell us what you think. Look out for our manga “Altered State” coming FEB 08.
