Jan 212014
 

McVigilSiggyLast summer I was fortunate to meet and interview former Silverwolf Comics artist Dane McCart. He was very nice, and had a lot of insight into the history of the company and what it was like to work for Kris Silver way back around 1986 or so.

He also had something I was looking for desperately: Original Silverwolf Art. Two published covers (Eradicators #3 and #4) and one unpublished cover. It was a very good day.

So while showing me these covers and telling me about working with Tim Vigil on the cover for The Eradicators #3, he mentions another piece they did together and pulls out one more, oversized piece…’Vampire’.

You can click on the picture below to see a much larger version:

VampMcCartVigil

Continue reading »

Jul 082013
 

For the Summer of 1987, Silverwolf had plans to release 10 new color titles, one of which was to be called ‘Silver Wolf Tails‘. During my interview with Dane McCart he was showing me some of the art that he had from those days, covers to The Eradicators 3 and 4, a ‘Vampires’ piece he collaborated on with Tim Vigil, and some other odds and ends…then he casually mentions that he has this cover for what would have been a Silverwolf color book…and would I be interested in it?

I should have asked him “Is a Frog’s Ass Watertight?” but instead I just said something stupid like “Yeah, wow, that’s great!”, or something. Continue reading »

Jun 022013
 

Erad4The first part of my interview with Dane McCart went into detail about how he managed to keep some original art from Silverwolf Comics, and how his employment eventually came to an end. While discussing these things, I ask what kind of work he is doing nowadays.

“For the first time in my life I am working color, for the last couple of years. All my life I’ve always worked for reproduction…” he tells me as we look through a portfolio of some older work.

He describes his main influence, Frank Brunner, and how influences will show up in an artists work no matter how much an artist tries to not let it show.

This leads our discussion back to… Continue reading »

May 202013
 

Erad3The reason why Dane still had the original covers to The Eradicators #3 and #4 is because he tricked publisher Kris Silver, plain and simple.

Dane told me how it was standard practice at Silverwolf for the artists to make their own arrangements to have their cover art colored. What Dane did was to make a photocopy of the piece and have that colored instead of the original. When he turned in his pages, Silver just looked through the stack and saw that the cover was colored, and that was that.

“Dyes on a photocopy basically, which is what I gave to Silver. I had the art…he didn’t know any better, most of the covers from (Silverwolf) you won’t find in the condition they should be in, which is black and white, because he had the artists paint over their originals because Silver did not know any different. So he got mine and thought he had gotten the originals. But these are the originals.”

“The cover was the first thing I did because he needed it to advertise on the back of issue 2. I had finished the penciling it and had left it on my drawing board at the studio. When I came back a couple of days later, and it was inked with a note saying ‘Dane, this was fun we should work together again’. That was my initial meeting with Tim Vigil.”

I asked about Tim Vigil, “He was fast, precise…Vigil had reached the level, but all of us we were just kind of breaking in…Vigil was accomplished, he was the reason why Silver, I believe, if he had any credibility…he gave Silver some credibility.”

Which led to another great story… Continue reading »

May 182013
 

SWTitleAlong with some rare original art, Silverwolf artist Dane McCart shared with me a typed transcript of an interview he had done with none other than fellow Silverwolf artist Tim Foster (The Dungeoneers).

Dane gives us a really good, honest, refreshing insight into the uncertainty that artists working for Silverwolf faced; a recurring theme in the conversations I have had with other former Silverwolf artists.

I have made a couple typographical corrections for clarity, as the transcript was a rough copy.  The interview was conducted on May 27, 1986, and is shared here with permission.


I don’t think Silverwolf will be a lasting company. – Dane McCart – May 27, 1986


Erad3Tim Foster- So. Dane, how does it feel to be working on Silverwolf Comics’ #1 book, The Eradicators?

Dane McCart- Next Question. (Laughter) Well, considering I’m only 3 pages into it, I don’t really have much of a feel for it yet. But the fact that I’m working, as opposed to not working, is definitely a positive feeling. The idea that I’ve got my own 30 page book is exciting.

T- How did you become interested in comic books, and superheroes in particular?

DM- It started with being bored with television. I liked the character Spider-Man. He started in television when I was about 8 years old, and from the time I was 13 I discovered that I could draw the human figure with some semblance of accuracy and decided that I would pursue that. I never had any idea that I’d get so far…not that I’m far…
Continue reading »

Subscribe to the Moby’s! Media Newsletter

We have several comic book projects in the works, and this newsletter will be the best way to keep up with all of them.