Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007190482
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He got his chance. And though he didn't get a job with either of them, at least he got a start - with Dying Breed Publishing, a fledgling outfit that was looking for a five-page story to complete its maiden edition, titled "Green Girls and Lonely Monsters."
Mark Bowers of Dying Breed was standing next to Slattery as he made his pitch to the big companies.
"I saw him trying to sell his stuff and I said, `Jack, you need to come with us.' "
Slattery, 25, just happened to have an episode of his serial, "Scream Queen," with him. It became the lead story in the first issue of "Green Girls," and, Bowers says, the most popular.
Slattery is on his way, he hopes. True, "Green Girls" is a little-known black-and-white independent comic book that could sink in a flash. And the pay is so low that Slattery has kept his day job, selling paint for Glidden.
But it's a start.
Slattery is polishing a second, 10-page episode for the series, "Monsters and Gore," and anticipating its publication in August.
Bowers is distributing the books at stores in the Carolinas and Virginia, using an old-fashioned approach - driving his car from shop to shop and dropping them off.
Reaction to Slattery's tale has been positive, he says. "The art is very good and the story is kind of what's in right now - the monsters and the `Tales from the Crypt'-type material."
Reaction to the book as whole has been mixed. "Green Girls" is billed for mature audiences, but one of the episodes by another artist depicts a rape and apparent murder from the viewpoint of the victim. People have complained about it.
It's the kind of misjudgment you'd expect to find in a new, alternative publication. Bowers, 32, says material of that kind won't appear in the future.
"I think the reason I published it is the idea behind it," he says. "It's the opposite of the gore movies, which show horrible things happening from the killer's point of view. It shows how horrible and nasty it is. There are no cheap thrills to get from it."
Slattery's material mines the vein favored by horror films. His voluptuous female protagonist, Kristina, teams with Father Sean O'Brady to outwit the Dark Baron as he searches for a ruby skull that would give him the power to rule the world.
The comics enthusiast has been a busy man lately, working at the paint store, studying commercial art at Virginia Western Community College and and staying up late to work on his comics when he gets home. He is providing art work for an independent comic called "Rigormortis," headquartered in Utica, N.Y., and he is inking - that is, finishing drawings - for King Jeff Comics in Louisiana.
Vijay Mistry of Roanoke serves as his inker on "Scream Queen."
Slattery lived in Falls Church until he was 15, when he moved to Marion, where he finished high school.
He and his wife, Dee, live in an apartment off Williamson Road. Dee, a nursing student, views her husband's avocation with apparent good humor, smiling as he describes his affinity for horror movies and his habit of spending up to $50 a month on new comic books.
He prefers black-and-white independents that specialize in gore.
Eventually, Slattery would like to join Mistry in a commercial art business, while continuing to produce comics.
After four years of trying to get published, he feels things are starting to go his way.
"I want to do artwork for a living," he says, "and the way it's picking up it looks like it's going to be possible."
by CNB