Phaeton Group’s Dr. Michael Ryan with Albertaceratops nesmoi skull.

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My good friend, Dr. Michael Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Southern Alberta Dinosaur Research Group, and Phaeton Group, has described a new type of dinosaur, Albertaceratops nesmoi. The fossilized remains of the ancient Ceratopsian was discovered near Manyberries, Alberta about six years ago. I was fortunate enough to be able to witness some of the research that went into the discovery and was asked to photograph (above) Dr. Ryan and the fossilized skull for the press release and public relations use.

Michael has informed me that the photo has been featured in a press release and, beginning this weekend, has spread to newspapers and websites around the world courtesy of Associated Press.

Along with a front-page blurb and large article spread on A3 of the March 5 edition of the Calgary Herald, it has shown up on Yahoo! News, CNN, USAToday, CBS News, Science Daily, the International Business Times, and many more. You can find the articles by doing a search on ‘alberta dinosaur‘ in Google News.

If any of you wonderful DDM blog readers find the photo in your local paper, please send me a copy of the article. I can provide a mailing address when you contact me.

Though this isn’t the first time I have had something published internationally, I believe it may be the first photo of one of Michael’s discoveries I have had displayed in international newspapers and some major websites.

For more information on Albertaceratops nesmoi be sure to check out the Southern Alberta Dinosaur Research Group website.

Congratulations to Dr. Ryan and his palaeontological teammates and thanks to him for the photo recognition.

Enjoy!

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Mark, thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions. We discussed your early career in Part 1 (at this link) and moved on to past/current projects, so let’s continue there.

Q: Are there any projects that you’d change if you could or do you consider past experiences as learning and move on?

Schultz: I look at everything I’ve done as a learning experience. There are some projects I’ve done that I’m not particularly proud of, but I learned, and I think improved, from all of them.

Q: Because we can’t be working all the time, what do you do to unwind when you’re not creating heroes and monsters?

Schultz: Hike—for exercise as well as to refocus my mind and eyes. Read. Watch movies—preferably B&W classics that are generally ignored today.

Howard Hawks’ 1951 sci-fi masterpiece. A fave of both Mark and myself. © Turner Home Entertainment.

Q: Is there something you do to refresh your creative spirit and get back into drawing or writing mode again?

Schultz: Hike. Travel. Visit the ocean.

Q: You recently took a trip to Spain where some of your work was exhibited. How was your trip and did you find European’s reactions to your work to be different from North Americans?

Schultz: Generally speaking, Europeans don’t seem to draw as definitive a line between the fine arts and the commercial arts as we do in North America. They are much more open to the notion that comics can be a legitimate form of expression. The Spanish people, at least, seemed to me to be much more knowledgeable about art in general—they consider an appreciation of the arts to be part of their every day existence.

Let’s move on to future projects.

Q: Do you plan on returning to Xenozoic Tales? Are there any plans for another animated series or feature film? How about a DVD box set of the animated series?

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. © 1993 Mark Schultz and Nelvana Limited. Images from here.

Schultz: There is nothing I want more then to get back to producing new issues of Xenozoic Tales. It is just a matter of finding a way of financing the process of getting it started again. My glacial slowness makes things difficult. I’m hoping to build a savings reservoir that could give me the time to devote to getting the series up and running again. Specifically, I have a four issue arc in mind that would complete the storyline I left hanging, but would also stand on its own, and would be collected as a trade paperback. At this time there are no current plans for XT projects in other media.

Q: In addition to Xenozoic Tales, what property that you’ve been involved with in the past, would you like to return to and in what capacity?

Cover art for SubHuman Issue #1 © Mark Schultz.

Schultz: I’d love to see SubHuman up and running. We really didn’t get a chance to get our sea legs under us with the initial Dark Horse mini-series. Both Michael and I have lots of stories Krill Stromer Family stories we’d like to tell, and hopefully someday we’ll have the chance. Beyond that, I have tons of other projects percolating away that are just waiting for the right opportunity to come to a boil.

Q: Who would you most like to work with that you haven’t yet had a chance to and who would you like to work with again?

Schultz: I’m pretty happy working mostly by myself, or with my already established cohorts.

Mark Schultz’s studio. Note the otherworldly visitors! Photos courtesy of Dr. Michael Ryan.

Q: What properties would you like to work on that you haven’t yet?

Schultz: I’d love a chance to illustrate Edgar Rice Burroughs, and more Robert E. Howard. Right now, a couple of years after I stopped writing Superman, I’m finally getting a chance to illustrate a Superman cover! I’m psyched!

Action Comics #836. Artwork by Mark Schultz. © DC Comics.

Q: What are you working on now and what projects have you got in the pipeline?

Schultz: I continue to write the Sunday comic strip Prince Valiant, which is beautifully illustrated by Gary Gianni. I’m working on Vol. 2 of my Various Drawings art book series, doing lots of commissions in connection with generating work for that, and picking up comic cover and illustration work here and there. It all continues to go well, I will be generating a series of books for Flesk Publications, the publisher of Various Drawings.

Mark Schultz: Various Drawings Volumes 1 and 2. © Mark Schultz and Flesk Publications.

Q: Since Xenozoic Tales features dinosaurs, I can’t forget to ask if you have a favorite one?

Schultz: Of course, Tyrannosaurus rex is an icon that would probably be my all-time number one, but the coelacanth, with its great survivor’s story, is a sentimental favorite. I love drawing both of them.

Thanks again Mark for your time and letting all of us take a peak inside your creative mind. Please keep us up to date on your new projects and we wish you the best of luck with all of them!

Schultz: My pleasure. And thanks to all the readers for the support!

Stay tuned for a possible update from Mark on even more recent projects and topics we might have forgot in our first 2 parts!

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund art for sky*dog comics. © Mark Schultz and the CBLDF.

The first of these interviews is with the multiple award-winning (Eisner, Harvey, Spectrum, Inkpot, and Haxtur) author/illustrator Mark Schultz.

Schultz, who has been described by many to be “one of the nice guys in Comics,” has managed to tackle nearly every character we comic book and movie fans only dream of working with: Aliens, Conan, The Flash, The Terminator, King Kong, Luke Skywalker, Prince Valiant, Superman, Tarzan, and Tyrannosaurus rex to name just a few. However, he’s best known for the lavishly-illustrated Xenozoic Tales, an action-adventure series featuring old world mechanic Jack “Cadillac” Tenrec and the bold, beautiful Hannah Dundee. Of course, there’s more than a few classic cars and dinosaurs thrown in for fun.

Mark Schultz and myself at the 2001 San Diego Comic-Con.

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DDM: First of all, thanks for taking the time to chat. I know a lot of people are anxious to hear what you’ve been up to and what exciting projects you have on the horizon but let’s start with your own creation, Xenozoic Tales. I know it means a great deal to you, and readers are anxious to find out what’s going on with the series.

Q: As the creator of Xenozoic Tales, (later re-branded as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for Epic Comics and the animated television show from Nelvana), you’ve not only written but illustrated most of the series yourself. How did the idea come about?

Schultz: Through long hours of career dissatisfaction while I was executing advertising illustrations and working as a security guard. I’d long dreamed of becoming a cartoonist and spent a good deal of time imagining what my ideal comic book would be, based on my love for Edgar Rice Burroughs, EC Comics, King Kong, and other adventure movies and stories. Those influences, mixed with my interest in man’s relationship with the natural environment gelled into what became Xenozoic Tales. Essentially, I was creating the type of comic adventure I wanted to read, but wasn’t available in the contemporary market.

Q: In reading Xenozoic Tales, we seem to discover a slyly disguised ‘message’ at its core about the Earth and the symbiotic relationships of the planet’s systems. Not many comics or graphic novels can get away with this, yet you seem to have pulled it off effortlessly. The time period inhabited by your characters is a direct result of their ancestors’ effects on the Earth. Did you start with that message and find a story or was it the reverse?

Schultz: These concerns are very important to me, but even more important is telling a good story. If I feel that I am being preached to while I am reading a story, well, the storyteller has lost me. I trust that’s the same for my readers. The message, if there is one, must be integrated and buried within the dramatic telling of the story or it will alienate any reader who isn’t already on board with the point of view being promoted. In the case of Xenozoic Tales, the environmental angle was actually one of the last ingredients that got mixed into what started as pure SF adventure, but it was the necessary element that, I think, elevated the series, and, at the very least, keeps me interested in creating new stories.

Xenozoic Tales Volume One: After the End. © Mark Schultz. Published by Dark Horse Comics.

Q: Because you are the creator of the series, you have control of what happens, and therefore no major production studio to second-guess your decisions. With the exception of the marketing and distribution help from Kitchen Sink, Marvel, Nelvana, and Dark Horse, you’ve been able to shepherd Xenozoic Tales through its different incarnations the way you want. Were there any drawbacks to overseeing everything and not just writing the story or illustrating the books?

Schultz: Actually, I always had marketing and promotional help with Xenozoic Tales, first with my publisher, Denis Kitchen, filling that role, and then with the agency of Kitchen and Hansen. I have very limited knowledge when it comes to promotion and marketing, as well as distribution, so I have always relied on others for the “business” side of the business. I’ve also been very appreciative of editorial suggestions as well—even though I’ve never had to work with an editor on XT, I feel it helps to have a sounding board—another perspective with different experiences—available. I could never do XT on my own—I’m just the guy who makes the final decisions.

Q: One of the opportunities that I’ve truly enjoyed in life, is participating in palaeontological excavations. One certainly gains deeper respect for the scientists and volunteers that work under challenging field conditions with awkward equipment (ranging from heavy-but-powerful jackhammers to light-but-exacting dental picks) all in the name of research. Have you ever had a chance to join a palaeo/archeological dig and has it helped you with your Xenozoic Tales work?

Schultz: Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to fulfill that life-long dream. Someday, I hope. I have been lucky enough to visit some fossil-rich sites, such as the Red Deer River Valley, but I’ve yet to find the time to participate. So, in the meantime, I pick the brains of cooperative sorts like our friend Dr. Michael Ryan.

Q: What other kinds of research do you conduct for projects like Xenozoic Tales?

Schultz: Lots of reading–mostly laymen’s scientific magazines and books–visual material of any appropriate kind, travel. Asking questions of the experts. I’m not shy about asking questions.

Your early training must have helped with Xenozoic Tales, so let’s talk a bit about the beginning of your career.

Q: What career training have you received? Was it formal, informal, self-taught, or a little bit of everything?

Schultz: I graduated college with a BFA in Painting from Kutztown State University in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the fundamentals of draftsmanship were not stressed like I now believe they should be, and as a result, much of my drawing ability, as it is now, formed through comic book on-the-job training. What I DID learn in college, and what I consider indispensable, was the ability to teach myself—to research and develop on my own accord.

Q: Do you recommend one method over the other for those hoping to follow in your footsteps?

Schultz: I don’t think there is any one right way. The unifying necessity is that you be passionate about what you are doing, immensely self-critical and unafraid to change as needed to become professional, and willing to push yourself harder than everyone else vying for the career you want. Success in the arts does not come to the faint of heart.

Q: Who were your creative influences growing up and why?

Top: Art by Winslow Homer. Bottom left: Art by Howard Pyle. Bottom right: Art by NC Wyeth.

Schultz: Visually, my work is strongly influenced by a love for classic American illustration. Winslow Homer, Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, Daniel Smith, Dean Cornwell, Herbert Morton Stoops, and Frank Hoban are among the illustrators I’ve closely studied. My principal influences from within the comics field include Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Roy Crane, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, and Al Williamson.

For visuals, as well as storytelling elements, the films of Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Val Lewton, and many other greats who worked primarily in black and white have had a strong effect on my work. Of course, Cooper and Schoedsack’s King Kong—there will never be a more complex, more visually and thematically rich film. Film and comics are two very different mediums, but if you look past the technical divides, they do share some important storytelling properties.

King Kong cover art by Mark Schultz. Issue 2 of 6. © 1990 Mark Schultz and Monster Comics.

For pure storytelling, the writings of Edgar Rice Burrroughs, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft and John Steinbeck have meant a lot to me.

Q: Are there any current creative influences you’re learning from or just admire for the work they’re doing?

Left: Styracosaur art by William Stout. Right: Hellboy art by Mike Mignola.

Schultz: While I don’t think there are any contemporaries who I’d call influences—Bill Stout being the exception—I admire the work of Gary Gianni, Mike Mignola, Dan Clowes—there are many others…

Left: Art by Gary Gianni. Right: Art by Daniel Clowes.

Q: Did you have any ‘big goals’ when you started into your career and do you feel you’ve been successful at achieving them?

Schultz: I had no expectations when I started my comic career. I didn’t even want to get my hopes up that I would be able to make a basic living. Everything that’s come surprises me to certain degree. What success I’ve had amazes me.

Q: You’ve spent a good part of your early career as an illustrator, yet lately you’ve built up quite the writing resume. Why the shift?

Schultz: Actually, I’m shifting back towards illustration now. I like diversity—I like to be able to go back and forth between drawing and writing. Plus, I take advantage of what the marketplace is offering me at the time. I think it’s very important, and I keep telling this to students, to become adept with as many different skills as possible—to both take advantage of the marketplace and to maintain as much control over your own properties as possible.

Q: Which do you find easier: illustrating or writing?

Schultz: Nothing’s easy. But I can write faster than I can illustrate.

Q: What artwork/story/project are you most proud of and why?

Schultz: Xenozoic Tales—because it’s my own, start to finish.

Mark recently completed the above Centrosaurus brinkmani depiction and another illustration for palaeontologist Dr. Michael Ryan.
Art © Mark Schultz from the collection of Dr. Michael Ryan.

– Continue to Part 2 of the interview! –

Photo of Dracorex hogwartsia © The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

The nearly complete skull was discovered by three friends from Sioux City, Iowa during a fossil collecting trip to South Dakota. More information can be found at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Dinosphere website.

Be sure to check out the video interview with the donors of the fossil, the Museum President, and world-renowned paleontologist Dr. Robert Bakker.

Thanks to Atomic Surgery for the link.

Stay friendly.

A new dinosaur species discovered by my good friend, Dr. Michael J. Ryan, was officially announced recently.

From the press release:

“The new species of dinosaur, named Centrosaurus brinkmani, belongs to the group of dinosaurs related to the well-known Triceratops, but lived about 10 million years earlier. Remains of the dinosaur were discovered in bone beds in southern Alberta, the largest of which is in Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ceratopsian (horned) dinosaurs can be distinguished from one another by the ornamentation on their frills that extend shield-like from the back of their skulls.

Distinctive hooks and “spikelets” on the frill of Centrosaurus brinkmani allowed scientists to identify this dinosaur as a new species.“

Read more about the new dinosaur, who it’s named after, and feast your eyes on other beautiful illustrations of the species at Palaeoblog.

When you’re done, head over to CBC’s ‘Quirks & Quarks‘ website and listen to Dr. Ryan describe the new species.

Thanks to Dean for the CBC link!

In the marine archaeology field, researchers recently raised a cannon from an underwater site near North Carolina, hoping the artifact will prove the sunken wreckage it came from was once the flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard.

CNN.com features this report on a new planet found in the Milky Way.

Australian palaeontologists have discovered the fossils of what they believe to be a new species of long-necked dinosaur near Queensland.

Meanwhile at the American Museum of Natural History, the first ever fossil of a sleeping non-avian dinosaur has been described by Drs. Mark Norrel and Xu Xing.

Over in East Africa, a new species of Monkey has been discovered. Known as the Highland Mangabey, it was identified by two independent research teams working in separate locations in southern Tanzania.

Keep on learning about the wonderful world in which we live!

Blackbeard’s flag image from Wikipedia.

You can find Part 7 here, Part 8 here, and the conclusion, Part 9, at this link.

Michael also plans to expand on the history by featuring an upcoming interview with Steve Bissette himself and a look at his own Dinosaur book, Tyrant. Other fascinating creators and creations to be discussed over the next several weeks include Mark Schultz and a look at his Xenozoic Tales series (among his other works), and writer/illustrator Pete Von Sholly.

The adventure continues folks so head over to Palaeoblog and refresh your ‘prehistoric’ memory!

Note: If you haven’t picked up any of the hard-to-find past issues of Schultz’s Xenozoic Tales series and still want to get your hands on these beautifully crafted tales, Dark Horse Comics recently reprinted the first 14 issues in two softcover volumes. I was given a copy of each from Mark himself and in addition to containing his great artwork, they come in a comic-friendly size for easy portability. One of my highest recommendations. I’ve provided the purchase links below.
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Amazon.com purchase links:

Age of Reptiles: The Hunt artwork © 1996 Dark Horse Comics, Inc. and Ricardo Delgado

Sadly, Free Comic Book Day is not a day where you can venture into a comic book shop, pick out any book, and walk out without paying, but rather a great way to introduce new readers (and remind previous ones) to the world of comic books and graphic novels. Publishers produce special editions to give away at local comic shops to support the endeavor and there are often some great little gems distributed.

You can read more about it on the official website.

You can also use the Store Locator to find a shop near you.