Some well known artists and writers did their early work at Caliber
Comics.
This is an incomplete list of them.
Mike Allred of Madman fame. Mike first introduced
the character of Frank Einstein in the pages of Creatures of the Id for Caliber and then
Frank appeared as a back up story in Grafix Muzik. Previously to coming to Caliber, Mike
did a graphic novel called Dead Air and the first incarnation of Grafix Muzik, Graphique
Musique, both for Slave Labor.
Brian Bendis was first published with his Parts of
Hole before moving onto a two issue series called Quivers. A one shot followed, Spunky
Todd, before Brian embarked on his spy series, Fire. Afterwards, he launched AKA Goldfish,
pencilled Flaxen, and then after Goldfish finished, did eight issues of Jinx.
John Bergin was a self publisher before
consolidating some of his previous work in addition to new material in the five issue
series for Caliber called Ashes. Moving over to Tundra, John embarked on an extensive
project called From Inside as well as teaming up with Jim O'Barr on Bone Saw. John also
did a soundtrack for the Crow series. John returned to Caliber with his current hit,
Golgothika.
Ed Brubaker first published Lowlife with Slave Labor
before gaining acclaim with Caliber. Editing the Monkey Wrench anthology, Ed then went
onto Dark Horse where he did some short stories for Dark Horse Presents.
Steven Butler had some success at Marvel where he
was primarily worked on Silver Sable. For Caliber, he did the first few issues of Krey
with writer Roland Mann.
Mitch Byrd was the co-creator of Cat and Mouse, a
series that eventually went to Malibu Comics. Teaming up with Roland Mann again, Mitch
provided the artwork for the one-shot, Heatseeker.
Jim Calafiore is probably best known for his lengthy
run at Acclaim on different titles plus his work on some of Marvel's characters. However,
Jim received his start at Caliber in Caliber's very first graphic novel, Progeny. Also for
Caliber, Jim did eight issues of Camelot Eternal with Wayne Reid, a three issue series
called God's Hammer, and the first issue of a proposed series called Mr.
Trianglehead.
Jana Christy, along with John Mitchell, brought out
the very first issue of Very Vicky under Caliber's Iconografix label before they ventured
into the world of self-publishing.
Brian Clopper, who is generating attention for his
series, Bombastic, had his first series published by Caliber called Partners in
Pandemonium.
Dave Cooper, before making quite a name for himself
as one of the new exciting talents for companies such as Fantagraphics had done a
considerable amount of work for Caliber including the mini-series of Big Someplace and
Chronic Idiocy. He also did a masterful adaptation of Browning's Pied Piper of Hamelin for
Tome Press.
Guy Davis actually got his start with Arrow Comics
with the Realm before Caliber took it over. Soon after, Guy teamed up with publisher Gary
Reed and released Baker Street. A frequent contributor to many Caliber projects such as
Sinergy, Book of the Tarot, Caliber Presents, Guy received critical acclaim and popularity
when he joined with Matt Wagner on Sandman Mystery Theatre. Serving as the primary artist
of the series, Guy continues to work on that series and is now into his sixth year. He is
currently doing the much anticipated, The Marquis for Caliber.
Andy Dimmit has appeared from many different
publishers and for Caliber, he did a one shot called G-men.
Dean Haspiel- Co-creator and artist of The Verdict which appeared in Caliber Presents and
later collected into the one shot, THE VERDICT: THE ACOLYTE. Caliber also released a
graphic novel that collected the original Verdict mini-series from Malibu. Dean has
received great critical acclaim for his semi-autobiographical work, Keyhole as well as his
Billy Dogma series.
Phil Hester, possibly the busiest man in comics, has
worked for virtually every publisher. He did a lengthy run of Swamp Thing for DC, Rust for
Now Comics, the Nameless for Image, the Crow for Kitchen Sink but his credits are too
lengthy to list. For Caliber, he was around in the early days, working on Deadworld,
A Modest Proposal for the Tome Press imprint, and one of our favorite all time series for
Caliber, Fringe.
Stuart Immomen has made quite a name for himself at
DC with the Legion and Superman plus other titles but a long time ago, he did a one shot
for Caliber called Playground.
Georges Jeanty became one of the main artists for
Jim Shooter's Broadway comics and he got his major start with Caliber on the superhero
title that tied into UN Force called Paradigm.
Michael Lark has proven himself to be one of the
most popular artists amongst his peers with his work on a story arc of Sandman Mystery
Theatre and the two series of Terminal City. Mike first appeared in comics with the
limited series from Caliber called Airwaves as well as the short stories from Caliber
Presents, Taken Under. Mike has also appeared in Sinergy and the Book of the Tarot for
Caliber.
Vincent Locke's first work was for Arrow's Deadworld
and when Caliber took over the series, Vincent continued in various capacities for most of
the first series. He gained quite a bit of attention for his year run on Sandman, his
American Freaks series, and a story arc for Sandman Mystery Theatre. For Paradox Press, he
did a nearly 300 page book called The History of Violence. Vincent has done numerous
covers for Caliber and worked on a variety of projects such as Plague (for Tome Press),
Sinergy, Book of the Tarot, etc. He is currently the artist of Saint Germaine for Caliber
and is also working for Vertigo on a new series of Witchcraft.
Jason Lutes, the creator behind the
acclaimed Jar of Fools started off with Caliber under the Iconografix banner with a one
shot called Catchpenny Comics.
David Mack, best known for his work on Kabuki originally did some work for Sky
comics before the Young Dracula series appeared from Caliber. Afterwards, he went on to do
more work for Caliber including two issues of Happy the Clown and the inking of
Flaxen.
Ron McCain, best known for his work on some of the
Batman books started off at Caliber with a back up series in Deadworld which introduced
the Dead-Killer. Teaming up with writer Gary Reed again, the two did a three issue series
featuring the same character called To Kill a King.
Dame Darcy Megan, who occasionally has her issues of
Meatcake appear from Fantagraphics, had her first issue of Meatcake come out from the
Iconografix label for Caliber.
John Mitchell along with Jana Christy,
brought out the very first issue of Very Vicky under Caliber's Iconografix label before
they ventured into the world of self-publishing.
Troy Nixey became known for his work in Dark Horse
Presents but prior to that, he was the penciller for the first four issues of the second
Deadworld series and did all of the art chores on the last two issue of the same
series.
James O'Barr was one of the original cast of
creators when Caliber launched. His Crow series started off slow but built an incredible
cult following which eventually catapulted it to a mainstream success. His other work for
Caliber includes various shorts under the non de plume of Johnny Zero in Caliber Presents,
some work on Deadworld including many covers, Caliber Christmas, and others.
Brandon Peterson, the creator behind Arcanum for
Image has built quite a name for himself in the last couple of years. One of his earliest
works (possibly his first) was penciling a back up story called Navarro which ran in the
Bounty mini-series.
Galen Showman, who is currently doing work with DC
(Big Books...) got his start at Caliber and is the best known for his work with publisher
Gary Reed on Renfield. Previous to that, he also teamed up with Reed as the continuity
artist for Sinergy and illustrated a short story for High Caliber.
Ted Slampyak didn't get his start with Caliber on
Jazz Age Chronicles as that was previously released from another company before Caliber
picked it up. Ted got quite a bit of attention for his work on Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero for
Teckno Comics.
Tom Sniegoski is the man who brought Vampierella
back to prominence but prior to that, he did two mini-series for Caliber featuring
Shar-Pei (Swords of...and Guns of....) before doing the first issue of Gutter-Rat. Tom is
currently working with his partner, Christopher Golden on the Terrorists Saga, now
appearing from Caliber comics.For more information check out Tom Sniegoski's
biography.
R.G. Taylor is best known for his work on Wordsmith
which originally came out from Renegade Press. Caliber, after selling out of the trade
paperbacks that collected Wordsmith, released them as individual issues. For Caliber,
Taylor also did many short stories for Caliber Presents, the Silencers mini-series, and a
variety of pin-up books showcasing his great artistic talents.
Susan Van Camp is one of fantasy's popular artist.
Having worked on some short stories for Arrow Comics, Susan was the creator of Varcel's
Vixens for Caliber in the early days.
Patrick Zircher is a familiar name for fans of
Marvel and DC but not too many people realize he was at Caliber in the early 90's doing
series such as Jason and the Argonauts for Tome Press and Seven Samurai for
Gauntlet.