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Go, Johnny, Go

ortiz I’ve been a big Juan ‘Johnny’ Ortiz fan since meeting him at a Philidelphia comic convention in 1992. Back then he was the driving force at Pigeon Press, working on comics like Captain Rescue and Major Rocket (good luck finding these now). His site is full of playful, bold, dynamic work, like Jack Kirby crossed with Chuck Jones and Harvey Kurtzman. The last ten years have seen him working on high profile gigs at Disney and Warner Brothers, but he’s back into comic books with something called Silver Comics, featuring stories, pencils and layouts by Johnny, and finished art by some of the biggest names from the Silver Age of superhero comics.

  • http://www.robotjohnny.com/ Johnny

    Wow, a lot of his work looks like it’s done by completely different artists…

  • http://www.robotjohnny.com Johnny

    Wow, a lot of his work looks like it’s done by completely different artists…

  • http://jaystephens.com/ Jay

    Which is why he isn’t better known, in my opinion. Paul Mavrides (Freak Brothers, Comic Book Confidential poster) once told me the same thing… the more demonstrably versatile your drawing skills are, the less fans you’ll have.

  • http://jaystephens.com Jay

    Which is why he isn’t better known, in my opinion. Paul Mavrides (Freak Brothers, Comic Book Confidential poster) once told me the same thing… the more demonstrably versatile your drawing skills are, the less fans you’ll have.

  • http://www.robotjohnny.com/ Johnny

    I totally agree… It’s a shame a lot of his Disney and Warner Bros. stuff is so blah and studio-looking, as if any hired illustrator did it. But his more stylized stuff kicks ass.

  • http://www.robotjohnny.com Johnny

    I totally agree… It’s a shame a lot of his Disney and Warner Bros. stuff is so blah and studio-looking, as if any hired illustrator did it. But his more stylized stuff kicks ass.

  • http://jaystephens.com/ Jay

    Exactly. Did you see his design for the superhero ‘The End’ on his Silver Comics bio page? Welcome back to comics, Johnny Ortiz!

  • http://jaystephens.com Jay

    Exactly. Did you see his design for the superhero ‘The End’ on his Silver Comics bio page? Welcome back to comics, Johnny Ortiz!

  • http://www.silvercomics.com/ Johnny Ortiz

    Thanks. Hopefully the comic will find more fans to the point where I wont have to do anymore work for Disney or Warner Bros. But right now it pays the bills, including the cost of printing Silver Comics. – Johnny Ortiz

  • http://www.silvercomics.com Johnny Ortiz

    Thanks. Hopefully the comic will find more fans to the point where I wont have to do anymore work for Disney or Warner Bros. But right now it pays the bills, including the cost of printing Silver Comics. – Johnny Ortiz