In the summer of 1990 I attended the annual Chicago Comicon. I brought along Xeroxed copies of two finished stories to hand out to publishers. I ran into the Caliber Press table and met Gary Reed (publisher), and handed him the samples. One year later I received a call in Lubbock, TX that Caliber would like to do a one-shot comic of my creation. I had total creative-control. That was how Tad Martin was born. The first issue sold well enough that Gary offered me a five-issue contract. Over the next 4 issues my style clarified and I learned by doing.
I will be posting the others within the week.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=28995&id=1704336336&fbid=1224646992019
Thanks for the link, Al. I’m pretty sure I have an issue of Tad Martin somewhere. I have boxes I haven’t opened since I packed them in Jacktown, no kidding. I wonder if anyone bothered to archive Planet Weekly (the now-defunct Jackson, MS, alt-weekly Al and I used to write for) … Your column was great. I’ll see you in Austin, sir.