Platinum Studios Comics Creators

Art Baltazar
Check this out! Art is a super-cartoonist machine from the heart of Chicago. He's all about the peace, love, and joy and embraces cartoons and comics not only as an art style, but as a way of life. Art started his funky super-secret art studio in 1994 with his self-published comic book, The Cray-Baby Adventures. Since then, he’s created such comics as Gyro-Man, Captain Camel & the Space Chicken, Jimmy Dydo, Lunar Lizard, Meteor Mite, and the famous Patrick the Wolf Boy. This guy shows no signs of stopping!

Artie has also had a few gigs with Warner Bros. and has a monthly comic strip in Disney Adventures magazine called "GORILLA GORILLA"!  Art has some cool character design skills and has recently completed the Big Amoeba graphic novel for Platinum Studios Comics.

Art is living the dream! He stays home and draws comics and never has to leave the house! He lives with his lovely wife, Rose, big boy Sonny, little boy Gordon, and baby girl Audrey. Right on!

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Dennis Calero
Dennis Calero attended the prestigious New World School of the arts in Miami, Florida and went onto study architecture at the Pratt Institute before he wised up and studied illustration with notable artist George Pratt, among others.

After starting Atomic Paintbrush, one of the first "coloring houses" for the comics industry, he went on to computer-color hundreds of comics before illustrating a Sliders special for Acclaim comics, written by show star Jerry O'Connel. 

His work on X-Factor for Marvel Comics was nominated for a Harvey Award and he was recently featured in an issue of Time Out NY.
He currently resides with his wife and dog in Rockland County, New York.

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Stu Chaifetz
Stu Chaifetz is a professional color artist who has worked in the comic book and children's storybook industry for more than 13 years.
He started his career at DC Comics in the early 1990's, and colored a wide variety of books for both Vertigo (Scarab, Doom Patrol, Hellblazer, Arcanna) and the DC Universe (Steel, REBELS, Superboy and the Ravers, Demon ).

In 2000, he started freelancing for Nickelodeon's comics division, and worked on nearly all of their licensed material, including Rugrats, Rocket Power, Wild Thornberries, As Told By Ginger, Jimmy Neutron and Sponge Bob. He also has provided extensive color art for a number of children's story book properties such as a line of Spider-Man and Hulk books oriented for young children.

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D.J. Coffman
Winner of the 2006 "Comic Book Challenge" put on by Platinum Studios and NBC San Diego, D.J. brings his Hero By Night project to the web daily with an exclusive online comic, and an original comic book series available in early 2007.  Prior to winning the contest, D.J had worked on various independent comics for writers and small publishers, and has worked on several online comics which have been available at sites such as Kevin Smith's MoviePoopShoot.com and Cracked Magazine online.

D.J. Coffman lives with his wife, Calista, and three growing boys in beautiful Southwestern Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh. Visit D.J.'s online portfolio and blog at www.djcoffman.com

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Sean Pendergrass
Born October 15th, 1972 , Sean would begin a lifelong dream of not becoming a common laborer. Barely graduating high school did nothing in the way of fostering this dream.A native of San Diego, Sean was instilled with a natural sense of entitlement, so college, of course, was not an option. The absence of bad weather was somehow translated to a life of luxury and ease, but, in reality, the absence of cool weather translated to a life of boring landscaping and manual drudgery under a creamy southern California sun. Several years slipped away as Sean fell deeper into this hilarious predicament when, suddenly, he realized a change must be made. So, after several strong drinks, he set out on his friends rusty three-wheeler and biffed badly into a small copse of eucalyptus trees. The result was a job storyboarding at Klasky-Csupo, the creators of shows like "Rugrats and "the Wild Thornberry's". After three years of drawing babies and chimps, Sean was laid off by the very same uncle who secured him the job in the first place. he would then begin a fairly regular gig with the unemployment department who paid better than trader Joes. at this time "Bird and Worm" were created and rejected and stored and forgotten. then he got a job at Warner bros where he would once again be laid off.... then a job working on the critically acclaimed, animated series "BRATZ" where he would be fired for "not feeling the sexiness of the brand". then, his girlfriend said "GET A JOB!" and he said " I CAN'T!" and she said "GET OUT!" and he said "OK! OK!" and then he entered a contest, which he lost, but somehow managed to sell his comic anyway.

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James Devlin
Well known for his lurid tales of horror, suspense, science fiction and crime, James Devlin maintained that his “subversive” pulp magazines made him the target of sinister intelligence forces. Of particular concern to Devlin was his controversial claim that the US government was engaged in the building of a top secret Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, AKA The Atom Smasher, which when switched on, would trigger a cataclysmic Vacuum Metastability Disaster.
Dismissed as a paranoid lunatic, his claims of phone tapping, surveillance and even psychic coercion culminated in his disappearance on November 20th, 1954.

Presumed dead, he was never seen or heard of again...
Until, in 1999, he walked into a Glasgow hospital having no recollection of the past 45 years and, most baffling of all, having not aged a day. Upon ascertaining his identity, the authorities had him committed under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 where he is kept on a strict program of medication and Buckfast. Devlin continues to create comic books warning of the impending Vacuum Decay and insists on wearing protective tin foil covering over his head at all times in order to ward off the psychic interference.

James Devlin is 29 and lives in the city of Glasgow. His past projects include the four-issue mini-series Dark Ascension and contributing to the Scottish humor mag Northern Lightz. He’s drawn issues #1 and #2 of Blood Nation for Platinum Studios Comics and is currently coloring the biblical/cyber-punk epic Testament for Vertigo comics.

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Jason Embury
Jason Embury is a freelance illustrator and colorist.  He braves the ever-changing weather in Michigan with his wife and kids.
Jason Embury makes his way through life happy and content to help people bring their dreams to life.  His wife describes him as sweet, and his kids think he's cool, despite the fact that they readily refer to him as a hermit for his propensity to never leave the house.

With more than 15 years of experience in the print, advertising, illustration and comic industries, the one thing that he has learned is that you are never done learning.  Eager to expand his skill set and tackle new projects, he is always looking for a challenge, and for exciting properties to lend his talents to.  Whether it's comics, card art, concept art, digital painting, graphic design, or life coaching, he is sure to add an energetic approach to everything he does.

He enjoys hot coffee, loud electronic music, a good guitar riff, chai lattes, late mornings, and even later nights. With the aid of his trusty sidekicks Tricia, Alainey and Christion, he fights a never-ending battle against the dreaded villains White Paper, and the ever elusive Blank Screen.  Not to be thwarted, he revels in these daily battles, realizing that all true heroes need something to fight for.

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Andrew Foley
In addition to his work for Platinum Studios, Andrew Foley has written the critically-acclaimed graphic novel Parting Ways and the satirical vampire comic Done To Death. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta with his lovely and talented wife, graphic designer Tiina Andreakos, two cats, a dog, and a disturbing number of mice.

What can be said about Andrew Foley that hasn’t been said a million times before? Many, many things. For instance, at the age of seventeen Andrew killed a man in self-defense. That’s not true, but it hasn’t been said a million times before. Or: Andrew invented Kool-Aid but was swindled out of his rightful fortune because his business partner in 2017 took the formula in a time machine back to the 1930’s and patented it before Andrew could. Or: he spent three years as the benevolent dictator of a small third-world nation before being assassinated by covert CIA operatives. While these are also completely false, it must be noted that it, like the first one, they also haven’t been said about him before. And they have the added advantage of being mildly entertaining, which is more than can be said for the truth about Andrew Foley. 

But for those who just can’t get enough of reality, here are the salient points about Andrew Foley, in all their mundane glory:
He graduated with distinction from the Drawing Department of The Alberta College of Art. In a cape. He maintained a painting studio for two years after college, before the glamour of living in poverty lured him to the comics medium. His first published work, an eight-page story he wrote and drew entitled “Cal’s Trick,” appeared in The Combustible Muse anthology and then in Revolving Hammer, both published by independent comics company Cyberosia Publishing. His first paid comic work was as a submission editor for online comics company UnboundComics.com. There he edited four issues of the Remote Views anthology, working with creators such as Antony Johnston, Vatche Mavlian, Brett Weldele, and Scott Mooney.

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Andrew Hopkins
Andrew Hopkins is a freelance 3D animator and digital artist living in Glasgow, Scotland.  Andrew recently crash-landed into comics making his debut as a colorist on Platinum Studios Comics' graphic novel Age Of Kings by Andrew Foley and Russell Hossain.

Realizing an unshaken faith in music with angles is just not enough to bring the bread home, Andrew turned his hand to a diploma in computer animation and has since enjoyed various technical and artistic exploits with the National Theatre of Scotland, Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow and on his very own animated short “Adventures in Robot Hypnosis.”

When not working as a 3D artist on computer games, TV and film, Andrew continues to dabble with published comics whenever there's enough time or coffee available.  He also keeps time for legendary Glasgow indie math rock exponents, Eska and is currently working on productions for Axis Animation in Glasgow.

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Raffaele Ienco
Canadian writer/artist Raffaele Ienco is a fan of horror and supernatural narratives and has a passion for creating graphic novels such as Only Hope Remained and Devoid of Life that explore the fears and loves of human beings.

Born in Italy in 1969, Raff came to Canada at age 4 and found the wonderful world of comics. Their beautiful colors and art and the amazing stories captured his imagination. His love of comics is matched equally by his love of movies and he strives continuously to better understand both mediums to sharpen his storytelling craft.
It is a rare day when he is not jotting down an idea for a new story and you can sometimes catch him frantically writing on the back of an envelope, in the rain, as he hopes to capture inspiration before it quickly slips away.

Among his favorite works are Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Elektra: Assassin, Jaws, Carrie and The Matrix.

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Bob Keenan
Bob Keenan publishes art books, does graphic design, and is known to be a somewhat amusing public speaker. His writings are filled with the kind of American pop culture references that are sure to be the ruination of American pop culture. His motto: "Humans. They're no damned good!"

Bob Keenan's fondest childhood memories include the comedian Jonathan Winters, the classic Curt Swan-drawn "The Story of Superman-Red, Superman-Blue", and Julie Newmar as the Catwoman.  These diverse elements explain an ability to improvise quickly, an abiding desire for happy endings, and a deep appreciation for buxom women in catsuits and heels. 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York (heartland of America, in the fertile crescent of Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues), he spent far too many years in Catholic school, which may explain his aversion for both organized crime AND religion, as well as a deep-seeded fear of penguins!  In 1973, he and his friend and partner Sal Quartuccio began a company, SQP Inc.(www.sqpinc.com), specializing in publishing art books. For well over thirty years, Bob has been in charge of graphics, web-design, production, and copywriting for the company, as well as the lifting of several tons of books over the years (a retroactive hernia is surely in the offing!) He also spent some years in Manhattan as a stand-up comic and actor--give him a brick wall background and a followspot, and watch him go!

Currently, Bob is enjoying life in Los Angeles, where the weather is constantly delightful and the women wear skirts so short, they need two different hairstylists. He is working on several movie scripts, not because he wants to, but because in L.A., it's the law!

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David Morancho
Cartoonist David Morancho was born in 1972 in Barcelona, Spain. At age 17, he started work as a comic strip artist, which led to his eventual work on Mal Chance for Platinum Studios Comics.

He currently works as a comic book artist and colorist, and also does storyboards for TV commercials.

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Dean Motter
Designer/writer/illustrator Dean Motter is well-known for his award-winning book and album cover designs, but is perhaps most notorious as the creator of the ‘80s comic book sensation Mister X.  He wrote and illustrated The Prisoner graphic novel, Shattered Visage, for DC Comics, based on the ‘60s British television series. His acclaimed Vertigo comic book series, Terminal City and Terminal City: Aerial Graffiti were nominated for both Eisner and Harvey Awards. He authored the award-winning “film-noir” graphic novel, Batman: Nine Lives, and wrote and illustrated Electropolis for Image Comics.
His work has appeared in comics such as Batman, Grendel, Hellblazer, Superman Adventures and Star Wars Tales. In 2004, he compiled the two-volume Mister X: The Definitive Collection for iBooks. His collection of Alice in Wonderland illustrations, Through a Glass Darkly, was produced by lulu.com last year.

Between creating CD covers, animation backgrounds and concept illustration for Platinum Studios, Dean is hard at work on a new Mister X project for Dark Horse, a children’s book on architecture and his first novel without pictures, Dog Island. His upcoming graphic novel with Dennis Calero, Unique, from Platinum Studios Comics, has been optioned by Touchstone Pictures. Dean’s work can be viewed at http://home.earthlink.net/~dean.motter.

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Martin Pardo
Martin Pardo was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1973. Thanks to a wonderful comic collection belonging to his cousins, he quickly discovered what he wanted to be when grown up.

Martin wrote the script for the Platinum Studios comic Mal Chance, and he also works on drawing storyboards for advertising spots.

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Luis Henrique Ribeiro
Luis Henrique Ribeiro was born in Brazil in 1977. A writer, penciler, inker, and colorist, he studied at the University Belas Artes de São Paulo, and has been a drawing instructor at many institutions.  Luis Began working as an assistant to Luke Ross on projects for Chaos! Comics. He has also done covers for the Brazilian edition of Batman, and has worked on advertising campaigns for companies such as GM, AC/DELCO and Goodyear.

Now at Platinum Studios, Luis is providing pencils and inks for the four-issue mini series Ghosting.

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Ian Richardson
Ian Richardson was born and raised in Birmingham, England, and has been working on and off within the comics industry for the last 10 years. After spending far too much spare time as a kid drawing on anything and everything, Ian embarked on the rash idea of actually trying this as some kind of career!

Based on his early years as a trained graphic artist, Ian was lucky enough to produce his first professional comic book work for 2000AD (and still does to this day), working on fan-favorites such as Judge Dredd and Sinister Dexter. Then came Noble Causes from Image Comics and a few enjoyable years spent drawing super-heroes before finding himself working on various projects at Platinum Studios.

So, back in Birmingham, Ian's currently wondering why there aren't more hours in the day, playing far too much guitar, and, oh, yeah--drawing Final Orbit.

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Asa Shumskas-Tait
Asa Shumskas-Tait is a writer, director, illustrator, backpacker, pumpkin pie maker, and generally nice guy.  He has been making comics since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, and movies for a slightly shorter period.  Born and raised in central Pennsylvania, Asa lived an idyllic life jumping into hay mounds and reading comic books, until he packed up his hobo sack and took off for sunny California.  There he graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Cinema-Television Production, and barring short runs in London and Washington D.C., he has remained in L.A. ever since.  In 2004, after a brief stint as a storyboard artist, he co-founded the Los Angeles-based media production company Psychic Bunny, where things both lovely and hilarious are designed, produced, written, made interactive, and generally done right by.

Asa lives in Hollywood with two sassy roommates, and Donna J. Dog, who is a dog.

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Tom Smith
Tom Smith has been one of the top  comic book  color artists for the last 20 years and has  colored  many of comics’ best-selling titles, including X-Men 2099, Venom, Marvel Team-Up, Silver Surfer, Gambit, The Avengers, Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, Avengers /JLA, and the new Brave and the Bold to name only a few. He is now working on Blood Nation for Platinum Studios Comics.

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Fred Van Lente
Fred Van Lente’s comics-writing credits include Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, Super Villain Team-Up: Modok's Eleven, and Amazing Fantasy, all from Marvel.

He’s also written the Xeric-winning, Ignatz-nominated Action Philosophers! From Evil Twin publishing.

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