Mario Gully

About me:

What it do!? My name is Mario Gully. I'm a comic book creator/writer/artist. I created a book entitled "ANT". I did a 4 issue run through a comic company called Arcana Studios and later did 11 issues through Image comics. Now, ANT:UNLEASHED is published monthly by Big City studios and the series is doing very well. I've also penciled various titles for Marvel. Pretty cool.. living the American Dream. it's a hard gig being an Artist for a living and I thank God that he has blessed me with a talent that I can entertain people with. Ant is about a heroin (Hannah Washington) that woke up in a mental institution and discovered that she was once one of the greatest hero's this world has ever known. Now, she spends the rest of her life trying to find out what happened to her and is on a quest to find her father. I invented "ANT" in 1996 when I was convicted of armed robbery. One day while I was looking out the bared window and an tiny ant crawled in from the outside. At that moment, I wanted to trade my life for the tiny insect. I wanted to live outside of myself. The remorse of the crime I did was unbearable. That tiny ant was my inspiration to live my dreams and to do what most around me said I couldn't do---be a comic book creator. Well, with hard work and ambition my dream came true. If you pass ANT by at the comic shop, pick it up. They say it's pretty good! Here is some encouragement for all you folk out there with a passion. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM! No, I really mean it. When I first did my Ant pitch, Every company turned it down flat. Every one-- Image, Dreamwave, Crossgen--you name it. I sent Ant to any publisher with a address! I even had a publisher tell me " I don't believe I can get an retailer to order a book called Ant." It was very hard to hear that from a major publisher and it was really hard to feel like my character couldn't have a place in this world. Well-- Later a Independant publisher(ARCANA STUDIOS) picked it up. I really thought our success would be slim because of how small at the time the publisher was and how unknown I was as an artist.I never ever drew a 22 page comic at the time. Well--When Ant issue 1 came out it was a smash it. ANT#1 SOLD OUT in 9 days and was even selling on ebay for over $100 bucks a book! It was evident that comic fans were responding greatly to this new urban hero. LATER, I took Ant to Image comics. It was even harder getting in that door and I had already been turned down by them more then a few times. Well-- Ant issue#1 came out and sold well over 14,000 copies! That's a rare thing if you guys know anything about the sales of indy comics.The first 2 issues SOLD OUT! I eventually produced 11 books through Image. I had great guest appearances in Ant like The Savage Dragon and Spawn! IT was really cool but later I decided to move on. I was told by various sources that Ant couldn't survive with out a major publishing house and my orders would suffer for it. I was invited to BIG CITY COMICS by my friend and partner Jeff Kaufman. I wanted to do a new version of Ant that was a bit more on the edge. ANT:UNLEASHED. Well, guess what. ANT:UNLEASHED#1 SOLD OUT and Diamond Distributer even asked us for 200 more copies! The book is actually selling better then the Image run we did in spite of it being a dollar more in price! There you go guys and gals. Don't ever let somebody tell you what you can't do. Keep believing in yourself and remember, God can make anything possible.Oh, one more thing. That publisher that said " I don't believe that I can get a retailer to order a book called Ant." Well, that guy was later removed as the publisher of that company and his book was eventually selling so few copies that he had to cancel it. I'm not saying that all that happened because of me. I'm just saying that sometimes people can be wrong. Funny huh! Now I'm doing freelance work for MARVEL COMICS. I've had the wonderful opportunity to pencil Marvel Illustrated: Treasure Island, Marvel Adventures Hulk and some Exiles. What the future holds for me I dunnno. I just work hard and I'm sure I'll be alright.

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