Mark Ricketts (born December 9, 1955) is an American

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

writer, illustrator and cartoonist. He has worked for a variety of publishers including

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

Caliber Comics Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of Americ ...

Chaos! Comics Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1993 until 2002, mostly focusing on horror comics. Their titles included ''Lady Death'', ''Purgatori'', '' Evil Ernie'', ''Chastity'', ''Jade'', '' Bad Kitty'', and ''Lady Demon''. Chaos! ...

Mojo Press Mojo Press was a small press which primarily published science fiction, horror fiction, horror, and Western (genre), western books and graphic novels between 1994 and 1999. History Mojo Press was founded in 1994 by publisher Ben Ostrander and man ...

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

Moonstone Books Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales. The company began publishing creator-owned com ...

and

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) ...

. He won the 2000

Klasky Csupo Klasky-Csupo, Inc. ( ) is an American animation studio located in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1982 by producer Arlene Klasky and her then-husband, Hungarian animator Gábor Csupó (hence the company's name) in a spare room of th ...

screenwriting award for his teleplay "Whiskey Dickel, Int'l Cowgirl."

Biography

Mark Ricketts was born in 1955 in

Stuttgart, Arkansas Stuttgart is a city in and the county seat of the northern district of Arkansas County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had a population of 9,326. Known as the "Rice and Duck Capital of the World", ...

to the propretior of a fast food restaurant called The Dairy Creme. He attended

Arkansas State University Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the st ...

in Jonesboro, Arkansas where he studies painting under Roger Calisle, a landscape artist. Here he met musician and songwriting partner Almis Zdanius. In 1982, Ricketts moved to Chicago to form a band. His collaboration with Zdanius was explored in a series of podcasts entitled "Songs From the Matted Shag". During his time in Chicago, Ricketts created illustrations for ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' magazine and various other publications. While providing spot illustrations for Playboy's music page, Ricketts befriended underground cartoonist

Skip Williamson Mervyn "Skip" Williamson (August 19, 1944 – March 16, 2017) was an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement. Williamson's art was published in the '' National Lampoon'', ''High Times'', ''the Realis ...

who encouraged him to pursue a career in comics. His big break came in 1990 when Caliber Comics published his first book, ''Warpwalking.''

Personal life

Ricketts was married at the Graceland Wedding Chapel on Valentine's Day in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in 1991. According to his website, his wife walked down the aisle wearing a red dress and carrying black flowers while an

Elvis impersonator An Elvis impersonator is an entertainer who impersonates or copies the look and sound of American musician and rock singer Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators, commonly known as Elvis tribute artists (ETAs), work all over the wor ...

sang a slow version of "

Viva Las Vegas ''Viva Las Vegas'' is a 1964 American rock and roll musical film directed by George Sidney, written by Sally Benson, choreographed by David Winters, and starring Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest and Nicky Blair ...

." Ricketts and his wife, Mary, moved from Illinois to

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

in 2006 after she saw some images of the state in a book.

Comics

Ricketts got his break in 1990, when Gary Reed of

agreed to publish his first book "Warpwalking". Ricketts created many original comics under the Caliber banner, but dropped out of the comics scene in 1996 to pursue other interests. In 1999, longtime friend

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an Americans, American comic book writer and artist. Starting with crime fiction, crime and hardboiled, noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero fiction, superhero work. While a ...

encouraged Ricketts to continue making comics and showed his work to

Jim Valentino Jim Valentino (born October 28, 1952) is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books, best known for his 1990–1992 work on '' Guardians of the Galaxy'' for Marvel Comics, and for co-founding Image Comics, a company publ ...

, then

publisher. In 2000, Image published the graphic novel Nowheresville– a mystery set in 1950s

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

that combines

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...

culture with hard-boiled pulp crime fiction. Ricketts created many original graphic novels at Image, including Dioramas which was optioned by Venture Studios. He also created a graphic novel for Dark Horse entitled '' Lazarus Jack'' and wrote four issues of ''The Invincible

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' for the

Avengers Disassembled "Avengers Disassembled" is a 2004 crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics involving the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Captain America, Spider-Man and Thor. The beginning of Brian Michael Bendis's ''Avengers'' run, it depicts the destruction o ...

event. Over the years, Ricketts has written stories illustrated by

Mike Hawthorne Mike Hawthorne is an American comic book artist and artist, known for his work on books such as Batman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, the Superior Spider-Man, and Deadpool. Career Mike Hawthorne began his career self publishing his comic series''H ...

Sean Phillips Sean Phillips (born 27 January 1965) is a British comic book artist, best known for his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on comics including '' Sleeper'', ''Incognito'', the ''Criminal'' series of comics, '' Fatale'', '' The Fade Out'', and '' ...

, Tony Harris,

Scott Kolins Scott Kolins (born 1968) is an American illustrator, writer, and creator of multiple different superhero and science fiction comic books. His main credits are as a penciler but he is an established inker as well as colorist and has some credits ...

, Eric Wight,

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

, Micah Farritor, Mitch O'Connell, Leanne Buckley, Andy Kuhn, Phil Hester,

Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book creator, comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which ...

Mike Mignola Michael Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a Hellboy Universe, shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', ''Abe Sapien'', ''Lobster Johns ...

, David Mack,

Michael Lark Michael Lark (born 1966) is an American Harvey and Eisner Award-winning comic book artist and colorist. Lark has provided pencils for DC Comics' ''Batman'', '' Terminal City'', '' Gotham Central, Batman: Nine lives'' and '' Legend of the Hawkm ...

Terry LaBan Terry LaBan (born July 19, 1961) is an alternative comics, alternative/underground cartoonist and newspaper comic strip artist. He is known for his comic book series ''Cud'', and his syndicated strip ''Edge City'', created with his wife, Patty La ...

, Guy Davis,

Jim Calafiore Jim Calafiore is an American comic book penciller and inker, known for his work on Marvel Comics ''Exiles'', and DC Comics' ''Aquaman''. His other work includes ''Faction Paradox'', and writing Marvel's ''Exiles'' and ''Millennium Visions''. Cala ...

, Jay Geldhof,

Jill Thompson Jill Thompson (born November 20, 1966) is an American comics artist, illustrator and writer who has worked for stage, film, and television. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's ''The Sandman (Vertigo), The Sandman'' characters and her own ''Sc ...

, Galen Showman, Andrew Robinson and

Tim Bradstreet Tim Bradstreet (born February 16, 1967) is an American artist and illustrator. Early life Tim Bradstreet was born February 16, 1967, in Cheverly, Maryland. He graduated high school in 1985. Career Bradstreet entered the comic book industry in ...

Bibliography

Caliber Comics

* Deadworld Vol. 2 #2 (writer/artist "Oliver Twisted") *Warpwalking #1-5 (writer/artist) *

Negative Burn ''Negative Burn'' is a black-and-white comics anthology, anthology comic book published beginning in 1993 by Caliber Press, and subsequently by Image Comics and Desperado Publishing. Edited by Joe Pruett, ''Negative Burn'' is noted for its eclecti ...

#9-13 (writer/artist "Twilight People") *Negative Burn #25 (writer "The Sad Case of Professor Woodbury") *Negative Burn - #33 (writer/artist "Nowheresville") *Negative Burn #37 (artist "

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

Songbook: City of Lights") *Book of Twilight GN (writer/artist) *Nowheresville #1 (writer/artist) *Nowheresville: Death By Starlight #1-4 (writer/artist) *Nowheresville: The History of Cool (writer/artist) *International Cowgirl #1 & 2 (writer/artist) *Thumbscrew (writer/artist "There Goes the Neighborhood") *The Lost #1-2 (writer/artist for the flashback sequences) *High Caliber GN (writer/artist) "Dead Eyes" *Sinergy GN (writer/artist "level ?") * Mister X vol. 3 #2-4 (cover artist)

Chaos! Comics

*The Lost #3 (pencils)

Mojo Press

*Occurrences: The Illustrated Ambrose Bierce (artist "An Imperfect Conflagration", "A Revolt of the Gods" )

Dark Horse Comics

*Urban Legends #1 (artist/co-writer "The Burn Man") *Tales of the

Fear Agent ''Fear Agent'' is an American science fiction comic book series written by Rick Remender with art by Tony Moore and Jerome Opena, who alternated on story arcs. The series was published by Dark Horse Comics from 2007 to 2018 and by Image Comics f ...

Vol 1 (writer "To Serve Man") * The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft (writer "Golden Calf Blues") * Hellboy: Weird Tales Vol. 2/ Hellboy: The Theater of the Dead and other stories ( writer "Curse of the Haunted Doily") * Lazarus Jack GN (writer)

Image Comics

*Nowheresville GN (writer/artist) *Whiskey Dickel, Int'l Cowgirl GN (Spot illustrations) *Dioramas GN (writer) *Night Trippers GN (writer) *Put The Book Back On The Shelf: A

Belle and Sebastian Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released twelve studio albums. They are often compared with acts such as the Smiths and Nick Drake. The band took their name from ...

Anthology (writer "Dear Catastrophe Waitress") * Four Letter Worlds (writer "Fear") *24/Seven Vol 2 Anthology (writer "Bugged") *The Wicked West II Anthology (writer "Whiskey Dream") *Brian Michael Bendis' Total Sell Out (writer "Whole Thing Wrong")

Moonstone

*Belle Starr #1-2 (writer)

Marvel Comics

*The Invincible Iron Man #86-89 (writer)

Islandport Press

*A Flatlander's Guide to Maine (writer/illustrator) *Adventures in Vacationland (writer/illustrator)

References

External links

Handbuzzer Studio

M. Scott Ricketts Illustration

Interviews

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearance of Lazarus Jack

Baker's Dozen

Fanboy Radio Interview

Going Into The Diorama With Mark RickettsIslandport Press Publishes Maine-based Children's Book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricketts, Mark Scott 1955 births Arkansas State University alumni American comics writers Living people People from Stuttgart, Arkansas