
DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010068

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL RUEHLMANN, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK 

                                            LENGTH:  153 lines

GIANTS & DEMONSCOMIC STRIP ARTIST IS TURNING HIS TALENTS TO ILLUSTRATING CHARACTERS FROM THE BIBLE'S OLD TESTAMENT

SATAN FAIRLY flies off the page.

As drawn by comic book artist Jerry DeCaire, the fallen angel is a rising star, bulked up like a winged weight lifter, smoke-wrapped and fire-imbued.

And the artist's Goliath, sword aloft, could be King Kong with an attitude.

``I'm into power,'' DeCaire explains. ``I think this is my life project. It's what I was born for.''

That project is ``The Action Bible,'' a 90-page illustrated treatment of the Old Testament that will visually bring alive characters like Adam and Eve, Samson the Israelite and King David.

They will crawl, sprawl and brawl in the stops-out, up-to-date style of secular titles like ``Wolverine'' and ``Uncanny X-Men,'' for which DeCaire, 39, has drawn professionally.

``It's a Cecil B. DeMille sort of thing,'' reports the artist with the epic eye.

He talks in a classroom at Michaels, the arts and crafts store at Regency Hilltop shopping center in Virginia Beach. There he will be teaching kids and adults how to draw superheroes this summer. Before him on the table stand Satan, Goliath and a rampant rendition of Wolverine, the wild fighter with the fork-lift fingernails.

``Notice the cleft in the chin,'' points out Bobbie Morris, the woman who, as event and class coordinator for Michaels, hired DeCaire to teach and acquired his autograph for her comic-collector son.

The big guys all have the cleft. So does DeCaire. Frugal artists employ themselves as models.

But DeCaire - who shaves often, bares his teeth seldom and neither drinks nor smokes - is a considerably kinder, gentler version of his bristling graphic creations. Tieless and casual in jeans, he sports a wide grin and windblown brown hair. The eyes glint; the hands describe sudden shapes in the air.

Boyish, he embodies the quick incandescent enthusiasm of a game show host, and that energy goes way back.

``I remember when I was little, staring at a drawing of a dog in our living room,'' says DeCaire of his childhood home near Saginaw, Mich. ``I ran into my bedroom and got down on my knees. I prayed to God to give me that artistic gift.

``And, at 6 or 7, I was doing shading before I did line work. From then on, it just clicked. Today I believe that to develop aptitude, you need to get a person very, very young.''

His father was a truck driver; his mother dabbled in paint.

He did, too.

``It gets addictive,'' DeCaire says. ``We're social creatures, and we want to be accepted by our fellow beings. When I would draw something, the oohs and aahs made me feel like a magician.

``Art brought a lot of joy to me.''

He still treasures the encouragement of Miss Casseda, his devoted art teacher at Hemlock High School. And he still recalls the quiet rapture of time spent in the back of the family car on vacations, folded into the pages of ``Silver Surfer,'' ``The Mighty Thor'' and ``Fantastic Four.'' Comic books?

They were wide-screen dreams.

``It's like music,'' says DeCaire. ``Disney would be the bubble gum. I was into rock 'n' roll.''

The artist is equally passionate about his faith.

``I'm very experienced in the Christian walk,'' he says. ``Catholic, Assembly of God; I'm partial to the Methodists. Baptist, did that.

``Simply, I'm Christian - I've tried it all.''

That motivating force stayed with him for two years as an Army medic with the 3rd Armored Cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas, and three more majoring in biology at Saginaw Valley State University. The biology helped DeCaire understand human anatomy. But his first effort at getting the attention of industry megaforce Marvel Comics fell flat.

An editor fired his drawings back with a snarl of an assessment: ``Your stuff ain't up to snuff.''

Back to the drawing board.

DeCaire painted signs in Houston and Fort Worth, designed T-shirts, struggled.

He was at the point of getting out of art when he sent Marvel a second submission, this time a six-page action sequence demonstrating complex continuity skills instead of simple one-shot poses.

Marvel bit, and DeCaire drew. On assignment: Wolverine, X-Men, Nick Fury. He drew the Secret Defenders; he drew the Green Hornet and Kato.

But the success that ensued had been a long time coming and saw the dissolution of DeCaire's short marriage to a claims adjuster.

Between assignments, he would ``chew up the cash'' achieving refinements at the drafting table.

``It's feast or famine with art,'' DeCaire says.

``It's like acting - you can make a lot of money, but it's not very secure. How much are you willing to give up to be an artist?

``If you would give up all, you may not get all - but you're probably going to be one.

``It's tough.''

Then, a couple of years back, came the comics crunch.

``Marvel dropped 60 of 120 titles,'' DeCaire says. ``Editors were let go in droves. There's a lot less work now because of downsizing.

``Everybody's suffering.''

The cost of paper went up; production levels went down.

``Marvel overextended themselves big time,'' says Gerald Hogan, owner of the Trilogy comics stores in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. ``There was a huge surge in the market in '92 and '93, and it grew too fast. It's dropped off quite a bit from two years ago.''

Jim Destromp, owner of Atomic Comics Emporium Inc. in Hampton, Yorktown, Newport News and Norfolk, notes that ``low end'' mainstream comic prices are up to $1.99. The DC ``Batman & Robin'' movie comic goes for $4.95. And young people are purchasing Segas with dollars that don't go as far as they once did.

Enter Jerry DeCaire with an idea that he expects to sell millions.

Richard Ashford, former ``Conan the Barbarian'' editor before downsizing, called DeCaire to do an adaptation of Universal's upcoming ``Kull the Conqueror.'' That fell through - ``too many attorneys.'' But the artist pitched his dream book, ``The Action Bible.''

``One big story through the genealogical and prophetic narrative - without getting boring!'' proposed DeCaire. ``No oratory and begats! The Bible in a nutshell!

``A roller-coaster ride from beginning to end!''

Call him Cecil B. DeCaire.

Ashford put the artist in touch with the legendary Roy Thomas, co-creator of ``Wolverine'' and longtime writer for ``Spider-Man,'' ``The Incredible Hulk'' and on and on. Thomas co-wrote the screenplay for the motion picture ``Conan the Destroyer.''

In the '70s, he had been editor-in-chief at Marvel.

Thomas now lives in South Carolina, where he just completed advising a live-action ``Conan'' TV show planned for fall syndication.

``Jerry and I worked together before, at Marvel on `Thor,' '' Thomas says by phone. ``I really like his work. He has a lot of enthusiasm and energy as well as talent.

``The idea of adapting the Bible to comics is very appealing to me, and Jerry's really suited to do it.''

Adds DeCaire, arms out and waving: ``It will be action-oriented! It's going to have presence! It's going to suck the reader in!

``We want to show, even to the secular world, how exciting and thrilling the Bible can be.'' MEMO: For further information on Jerry DeCaire's superhero drawing

classes, call Bobbie Morris of Michaels at 422-0600. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Courtesy of Gerard deCaire

Above: A pencil sketch of Goliath by illustrator Jerry DeCaire.

Below: His ink drawing of Lucifer.

Color photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Jerry DeCaire says, ``I think this is my life project. It's what I

was born for.''

Photo

Cartoonist Jerry DeCaire has illustrated ``The Action Bible.'' KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY ARTIST

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