Mark Beachum is an American comic book artist, writer, painter, publisher, photographer and filmmaker known for renditions of the female figure. Having worked for

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, DC, and Continuity, among others, his most notable credits include work in '' Web of Spiderman'', ''Samuree'', ''

Vampirella Vampirella () is a vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of '' Creepy'' and ''E ...

'', ''

Penthouse Comix ''Penthouse Comix'' is an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International/General Media Communications from spring 1994 through July 1998 and 2024 to present. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne ...

'', ''Razmataz'', ''Alienzkin'' and ''Supergurlz''. Michael Bair summarizes Beachum: Beachum has often expressed that

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

es are an erotic idiom, and that he is not interested in writing/drawing for children. Beachum is known for depicting men or women in a more erotic fashion. In New Talent Showcase, Mark is said to be influenced by

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

Trevor Von Eeden Trevor Von Eeden (born July 24, 1959) is a Guyanese-American comics artist, actor and writer known for his work on such titles as ''Black Lightning'', ''Batman'', ''Green Arrow'', ''Power Man and Iron Fist'', and the biographical series ''The Orig ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...

, and

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (; June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera through ...

. He is also known in the industry for his unstructured work philosophy, as noted by Christopher Priest.

Early life

Mark Beachum was born in New York City. He dropped out of the High School of Art & Design and continued his artistic development as an

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

. He worked at the

Soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

jazz club as he was making his way into the comic industry.

Career

DC

In 1981 he came up to DC Comics and showed his portfolio to then-art director

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Ear ...

, a short time after he was commissioned to draw a

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. The character Bette Kane, Betty Kane was introduced into publica ...

story that was never published. However, in 1984 there was the Jenesis story on the

New Talent Showcase ''Showcase'' is a comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of the series was to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring untested characters i ...

, penciling a

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

story and the Huntress backup in Wonder Woman.

Marvel

Many covers for ''

The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'' and ''

Web of Spider-Man ''Web of Spider-Man'' is the name of two different monthly comic book series starring Spider-Man that have been published by Marvel Comics since 1985, the first volume of which ran for 129 issues between 1985 and 1995, and the second of which ran ...

'' from the late 80s were created by Beachum. Together with

Peter David Peter Allen David (September 23, 1956 – May 24, 2025), often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Grea ...

over at Marvel, he created Spider-Man's adversary Ace, a street character, which, contrary to various reports, was not based on the musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

nor

; Ace was, in fact, modeled after Beachum himself.

Continuity Comics

From the late 80s to early 90s Beachum is working with

Continuity Comics Continuity Publishing, also known as Continuity Comics, was an American independent comic book company formed by Neal Adams in 1984, publishing comics until 1994. History After years as a freelancer and comics art packager (with his company Co ...

where he was doing both comics and commercial advertising art work. He became most notable for drawing the Samuree story while there; at the same time he also worked on Michael Jackson

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

commercial storyboards and animatics. Mark warmly recounts and regards the time spent around Neal Adams at Continuity Publishing, as the place where all kinds of creativeness intersected and the place he wanted to be. Peter Stone, editor and writer at Continuity describes Beachum's dynamic in the studio:

Aja Blu

In 1990 Mark Beachum co-created an independent label Aja Blu Comix along with a comic world debutante Sandra Chang, who although a beginner, was among the first self-published Asian-American female indie comic creators and definitely one of the first women in the erotic comics field.The two of them did all that was required: wrote, edited, penciled, inked, produced, published... to

self-publish Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

the ''Achilles Storm/Razmataz'' books.

Penthouse

At the time of its existence

had the highest paying rate for comics and was priding itself on hand picking the best artists and in mid 90s Beachum painted the futuristic story Backlash written by Tom Thornton for them. Then he published his art portfolio ''FemmErotiSexiVision'' in the magazine as well as two stories ''Nightclaw'' and ''Latex Diva'', which appeared in later issues of Penthouse Comix. The stories were painted as well as written by Beachum.

Other

In the early 90s Beachum was friendly with Horatio Weisfeld and did cover art for his Bullet Comics publications ''Radrex'' and ''BIO 90''. In 1994 he illustrated the ''Syphons'' story written by Allen Curtis. Originally published in color as a three issue

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic bo ...

, a decade later in 2004 it was republished by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

as a black and white graphic novel. Around the time of working for Continuity and Penthouse, he began submitting fully painted art thus eliminating the need for either inker or colorist. The art would be produced using watercolors, acrylics, graphite, ink, markers or any mixture necessary to achieve the desired effect. In the early 2000s when the ''Alienzkin'' GN came out, there was a new look to Beachum's work, he started using CG to add yet another dimension to his art. Beachum created original characters for his ''Razmataz'' and ''Alienzkin'' books and shared his ideas about independent publishing with others. Hart D. Fisher cites Beachum as his inspiration to go independent and create his own company,

Boneyard Press Hart D. Fisher (born May 27, 1969) is an American horror crime author, comic book writer and publisher best known for creating a comic book about Jeffrey Dahmer and for founding Boneyard Press. Early life and education Fisher graduated in 1992 w ...

, after Beachum said to him: “Why do you want to spend all of your artistic energy on something someone else owns?”

Art Collectors

Mark Beachum created a logo for Sizzle magazine of

NBM Publishing Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc. (or NBM Publishing) is an American graphic novel publisher. Founded by Terry Nantier in 1976 as Flying Buttress Publications, NBM is one of the oldest graphic novel publishers in North America. The comp ...

. Sizzle was the first place where his ''Alienzkin'' story was published over the course of three issues in 1999 (originally it was supposed to be called ''Razor Burn''). NBM was in the process of moving to a new location, after the move they discovered that the original artwork for ''Alienzkin'' story was lost. Beachum's artworks are numerous on the collectors' market, but several of them have been sold off without his permission on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

. Fellow comic artist

Michael Bair Michael A. Hernandez is an Americans, American comics artist also known by the pen name Michael Bair, who is best known for his work as an inker. His work includes Marvel Comics' ''Alpha Flight (comic book), Alpha Flight'', and DC Comics' ''Hawkma ...

collects Beachum art and tells that he would get paid with Mark Beachum art by Anubis Press. Beachum and Bair have done much work together; while some animosity has been reported between them between them.

Vampirella

Beachum produced Vampirella work and covers during the Harris era, some of the art consisted of paintings and photography mixed media art. In 2019 he was approached to make a variant Vampirella cover for the upcoming

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

in which Vampirella would be portrayed as a black character, Christopher Priest and Matt Idelson were putting that idea together. Here is what Beachum had to say about his history with the character:

Photography and Filmmaking

Sometime in the 90s Beachum started holding photo shoots for art reference and to include in his

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

creations. He would shoot films and had models

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

ing as characters for him before it became mainstream. Over the years he created numerous album covers and promotional photo shoots for artists and bands, among them: Mark Wood, The kHz, Natasha Komis, Illuminated ft Zen, Soco Fa Sho. In 1996 together with artist Kristina Marie a.k.a. Glitterfist, Beachum puts out a portfolio of black and white erotic themed photos called ''FemmErotiSexiVision'' under his own label Elektrik Ladyland (play on

Electric Ladyland ''Electric Ladyland'' is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience with production solely credited to Hendrix. The band's most commercial ...

album by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

), Beachum autographed those as "Diamond". That same year, again with Kristina Marie, Beachum takes part in a music video shoot for the song "Boom N' Bust" by Japanese actor

Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor and singer. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's ''Cold Fever'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train (film), Mystery Train''. Nagase was described by Todd Brown of Twitch Film as "one of t ...

, who was working to promote his music career. The video was directed by

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. His films include '' The Unbelievable Truth'' (1989), ...

. In the video, Beachum sported blond hair, and Kristina Marie wore a fetish-wear PVC catsuit designed by Beachum, made by

Madonna's Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

designer. During the mid 2000s, Beachum began venturing into

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. He showcased some of his film work on his websites, which appear to be between

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

and

art-house An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...

that look inspired by

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (né Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''The New York Times, New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically ch ...

, Bob Carlos Clark,

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese filmmaker and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad, Tsukamoto is best known for his body horror/Japanese cyberpunk, cyberpunk film ''Tetsuo: The Iron Man'' (1989), which is considered the defining ...

. In 2011 Beachum was cited to direct a short film based on Heroic Publishing's superheroine Flare. Heroic Publishing held a successful

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods and services, goods or services—including ideas, Voting, votes, Microwork, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary ...

campaign to fund the film.

Bibliography

DC

* ''Wonder Woman'' #310, 314-318 (1983–84) * ''New Talent Showcase'' #8-10 (1984) * ''Thriller'' #7 (1984) * ''Elvira's House of Mystery'' #4-6 (1986) * ''The Outsiders'' #12 (Halo, Looker) (1986) * ''Who's Who: Update '87'' #3 (1987) * ''Young All-Stars'' #12 (1988) * ''Tales of the Teen Titans'' #90 (1988) * ''The Comet'' #7 (Impact Comics, 1992) * ''Jaguar'' #7-8, 10-11 (Impact Comics, 1992) * ''The Ray'' #1 (1992) * ''Green Lantern: Mosaic'' #9 (1993)

Marvel

* ''The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual'' #5-6 (1984-1985) * ''Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu'' #6 (1985) * ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' #106, 112, 115, 120-121 (1985-1986) * ''The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe'' #2, 7, 11 (1986) * ''The Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #20 (1986) * ''Web of Spider-Man'' #11-16, 22 (1986-1987) * ''Mark Hazzard: Merc'' #5 (1987) * ''Marvel Age'' #47 (1987) * ''Spider-Man / Dr. Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN'' (1991) * ''Hellstorm: Prince of Lies'' #1 (1993) * ''Beavis & Butt-Head'' #10 (1994) * ''Iron Man 2020'' (1994) * ''Spider-Man Saga vol.2'' #1 (2010) * ''Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven's Last Hunt'' (2017) * ''Moon Knight Omnibus Vol. 2'' (2022)

Continuity

* ''Samuree'' #1-7, 9 (1987-1991) * ''Ms. Mystic'' #5 (1990)

Aja Blu Comix

* ''Achilles Storm Featuring Razmataz'' #1-4 (1990-1991)

Penthouse comix

* ''Penthouse Comix'' #4-11 (Backlash) (1994-1996) * ''Penthouse Comix'' #12 (Cover, Nightclaw story) (1996) * ''Penthouse Comix #32'' (Latex Diva) (1998)

Hero Comics/Heroic Publishing

* ''Flare'' #1-7, 43-44, 47-48 (1988-2019) * ''Flare First Edition'' #1-4 (1991-1993) * ''Rose'' #1-3 (1992–93) * ''Flare Trade Paperback'' #1-2 (2007) * ''Liberty Comics'' #2 (2007) * ''Flare Annual'' #2 (2009) * ''Anthem'' #5 (2011) * ''Flare Adventures'' #8-9, 31 (2012) * ''Tigress'' #7 (2016) * ''Sensational G-Girl'' #2, 5, 7 (2017-2022)

Vampirella: Harris/Dynamite

* ''Vampirella of Drakulon'' #5 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Sad Wings of Destiny'' (1996) * ''Vampirella of Drakulon'' #5 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Death & Destruction LE'' #1 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Silver Anniversary Collection'' #1, 2B, 3B (1997) * ''Vampirella/Dracula: The Centennial'' (1997) * ''Vampirella Monthly Series Preview Edition'' #1 (1997) * ''Vampirella: Silver Anniversary Collection'' #1-4 (1997) * ''Vampirella Dracula and Pantha Showcase'' #1 (1997) * ''Vampirella Crossover Gallery'' #1 (1997) * ''The Best of Vampirella'' #1 – Lost Tales (Harris Comics, 2008) * ''Art of Vampirella HC'' (Dynamite, 2010) * ''Vampirella Masters Series Vol. 2: Warren Ellis'' (Dynamite, 2010) * ''Vampirella'' #8 1:75 (Dynamite, 2020) * ''Vampirella'' ''(Vol. 5)'' #8 (Dynamite, 2020)

Eros

* Razmataz GN (Eros Comix, 2001) * Alienzkin GN (Eros Comix, 2003)

Self Publishing

* ''Synthetik XS v1'' (2009) * ''Supergurlz: In Trouble v1'' (2011) * ''Razorgurlz'' (2014) * ''Syllabus Erotique'' odule 1(2017)

Other Publishers

* ''Black Diamond'' #1 (AC, 1983) * ''Ninja'' #1 Special (Eternity Comics, 1987) * ''Danse'' #1 (Blackthorne Publishing, 1987) * ''Delirium'' #1 (Metro Comics, 1987) * ''Halo Jones'' #8-9 (Quality Comics, 1987) * ''Ex-Mutants: The Shattered Earth Chronicles'' #8 (Eternity Comics, 1987) * ''The A1 True Life Bikini Confidential'' #1 (Atomeka Press, 1990) * ''Radrex'' #1-3 (Bullet Comics, 1990) * ''Green Hornet'' #24 (NOW Comics, 1991) * ''Raw Media Mags'' #1 (Rebel Studios, 1991) * ''BIO 90'' #1 (Bullet Comics, 1992) * ''The Choke'' #1 LE (Anubis Press, 1992) * ''Black Dominion'' #2 (Anubis Press, 1993) * ''WildC.A.T.s Trilogy'' #3 (Image Comics, 1993) * ''Syphons Preview Edition'' (NOW Comics, 1994) * ''Syphons'' #1-3 (NOW Comics, 1994) * ''Hustler Comix vol.2'' #1 (Web of the Black Tarantula story) (LFP Inc., 1998) * ''Stain'' #1 (Robot Print) (Fathom Press, 1998) * ''Forbidden Zone'' #1 (Galaxy Publishing, 1999) * ''Sizzle'' #3-5 (Alienzkin) (NBM Publishing, 1999) * ''Faust: Singha’s Talons'' #0.5, 1 (Avatar Press, 2000) * ''Alter Ego'' #9 (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001) * ''Syphons GN'' (Image Comics, 2004) * ''Agent Wild Union Fall'' #1 (Dork Empire, 2020)

Portfolios

* ''Strength of Man'' (BlackThorne Publishing, 1986) * ''Midnight Silk'' together with Rick Bryant (S.Q. Productions, 1987) * ''Femmerotisexivision'': the erotic art of Mark Beachum(Elektrik Ladyland, 1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beachum, Mark Marvel Comics people DC Comics people Pin-up artists Fetish artists American erotic artists Painters from New York (state) American comics artists American comics writers 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists African-American comics artists African-American comics writers African-American photographers Film directors from New York City African-American film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people