Odds and Ends: McCloud Timeline

1960 - 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
P

R

O.

 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 P

O

S

T

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U.

C.

 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 P

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R.

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 2000 2001
Born 1960, Boston.

Whole childhood spent in Lexington Massachusetts, part of the Route 128 Hi-Tech area.

Dad was a blind genius rocket-scientist inventor (no joke). Mom was a Mom (good one). I was the youngest of four siblings.

Childhood a long series of surreal creative activities with friends. Obsessed with astronomy at age 8, minerology at age 9, microbiology and radio drama at ages 10-11, politics at age 12, chess at ages 12-14 and comics at ages 15-?

I'll toss in various personal notes in that bottom row, but don't expect too much detail!

 Primary
Work		 High School! Syracuse University. Four Years B.F.A. Illustration, Graduated College and started work at DC Comics Production Department. Created, sold and began writing and drawing Zot! for Eclipse Comics in November.

(Left DC Comics)

 Zot! #1-10 (published) Destroy!! Zot! #11-36 Transition from Zot!
to U.C. -->		 Understanding
Comics		 Promoting U.C. & Public Speaking.

Huge travel and promo schedule throughout this period ate up time and money (I was too dumb to get paid for it in those days, so we were frequently broke and living off royalties.)

 Superman Adventures #2-13
Finished in '98 -->		 Launch of ScottMcCloud.com

The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln.

Starting R.C. -->

 Working on R.C. --> Reinventing Comics

Zot! Online & I Can't Stop Thinking! #1-?

Tons of new Speaking Engagements
Other
Work		 Decided to become a comics artist (thanks, in part, to friend Kurt Busiek who kept telling me comics were better than I thought).

Began drawing very first comic, The Battle of Lexington, a pointless superhero comic co-plotted and scripted by Kurt.

Made various single-page Quanto-Comics with Legendary Dewan Brothers.

 Did Layouts for Pow! Biff! Pops!, a weird amateurish black-and-white comic written by Kurt Busiek, drawn by our friend Chris Bing and lettered by Richard Howell which was sold and shown on a screen with narration during intermission at the Boston Pops Orchestra's opening night. The story featured both Marvel and DC Superheroes. DC Comics Publisher Sol Harrison joined us at our table. Collectors take note: all copies not sold... were burned!

Designed Three Superhero Murals which were exhibited in the entrance hall.

Yes, this all happened while Kurt and I were still in High School. I swear to God, this is not a joke. This actually happened. It was utterly bizarre!

 Finished Battle of Lexington. while at Syracuse. 60-pages of fully-rendered pencil drawings.

Various fanzine illos and illustrated features with Kurt in RBCC, Comics Feature, The Comics Journal etc.

 Drew Superhero team comic with Kurt called Vanguard for New Media Irjax. Two issues completed, a third laid out. Never published. (NMI went under).

Also Once More With Feeling, a 24 page not-quite-superheroes story.

Continued fanzine work.

 Intake full / Output zero!

Met Will Eisner and Art Spiegelman, sat in at a few of their classes at S.V.A.

 Zot!'s proposal ran over 100 pages. Covers for magazines like Comics Interview, Westfield Comics Catalog, Amazing Heroes etc.

Various art for Zot! Promo.

Drew a new weird face on an index card every morning for the better part of a year.

 Got obsessed with mini-comics.

Created Zot! in Dimension 10 1/2 mini-comic with Stick Figure King Matt Feazell for fun. (The Eclipse version wound up selling 20,000, which Matt and I found both gratifying and vaguely annoying.)

Created Five Card Nancy around this time.

 Started writing a column on mini-comics for Amazing Heroes around this time. Also did a shot of the Silver Ghost (!) for DC Comics Who's Who title.

Various minis around this period include:

Began an Amater Press Association (a handmade collaborative xeroxed zine) called The Frying Pan designed for critical exchanges between independent comics artists. Lasted ten "issues," some of them over 100 pages, some pathetically short. Later ressurected under Larry Marder. Ran several issues more (I think it ended around 1992).

 Wrote first draft of Creators' Bill of Rights adopted at Northampton Summit. Wrote and drew The First 24-hour Comic "A Day's Work" (there have been over 100 24-hour comics drawn so far and a slew of 24-hour plays, cartoons and websites as well, all traced back to this one insane invention!) (All non-Zot! comics time sucked up by my returning obsession with playing chess around this point.) Pin-up in Sandman #50

Begin MAJOR obsession with the possibilities for comics and computers.

Made 23 abstract little Portraits of comics pros I knew, using some of my new digital tools.

 5-Page comic in Publishers Weekly.

Surfed the Web and read about computers constantly. On an invitation from Voyager, began work on proposal for U.C. CD-Rom. No CD-Rom materialized, due to that industry's nose-dive but the process proved useful in working out ideas for digital comics generally.

Created The Story Machine.

Printed a Convention Ashcan called "All New Never Before Seen Artificially Manufactured Collector's Item Special Gold Edition" including a bunch of random drawings, digital stuff and some quanto-comics.

 3 Page Comics-form Interview in Mondo 2000.

5 Page comics-form essay Understanding Manga in Wizard.

Two-page feature for benefit ashcan, 17 Panels about Neil Gaiman (Eight of Which are True) published around this time.

 5 Page comics-form essay Comics and Computers in Wizard. Online Comics including: Completed Online Comic My Obsession with Chess 2-page comics-style article in Nickelodean Magazine about making comics. Still making Online Comics.

Still Travelling.

Getting ready for the Backlash...
"Real Life"
 Sitting and drawing. First real dating. (I was a nerd, whaddya want?) Met Ivy at Syracuse Sitting and drawing. Moved to Manhattan. Moved upstate. Re-united with Ivy and... ...moved in together in Boston area... ...and married her! First daughter Sky is born. Moved to California. Second daughter Winter is born. Turned 40. Uh-oh...