Richard: How did you end up being a comic book artist?

Rick: Well, technically I'm a storyboard artist who freelances for ad agencies who also creates comics. I've read and loved comics ever since the late '60's/early '70's when I got into Batman and the Fantastic four. Back in the '90's, I got the itch to create my own stuff so I started writing and drawing comics. Since I'm primarily an illustrator, I guess I'm an artist/writer. Over the years, I've made some contacts, met some folks, primarily writers, who have wanted to collaborate.

Richard: How did you and Chris Lynch get together?

Rick: Chris was one of the writers I met online and he proposed we team up on a ten page story called "The Escape Artist", a wonderfully romantic story revolving the title character and his love for his wife and the lengths he'd go for her. Excellent story and it's in the current issue of "Murky Depths" magazine, issue 9 from over in the UK. They've got a collection of prose stories as well as comics and they're very well done. Afterward, Chris asked if I'd be interested in teaming up on a new idea he wanted to pitch to Markosia comics, "The Dark".

Richard: What is the storyline of "The Dark"?

Rick: It deals with a scientist by the name of Daniel Abbott who invents a technology that encodes information and memories into a liquid form and allows anyone to actually drink in information. Afraid it will fall into the military's hands, he plans on destroying it but not before taking one more 'trip'....with disastrous results. Two years later, Memetech use is rampant and Abbott is forced to try and wage a one man war against the forces that would use his creation in horrific new ways by taking on the guise of the Dark. He's assisted by an A.I. nicknamed Howard Hughes and creates a coat made of Memetech called "the Baffler" that gives him the edge on his opponents, being able to fire information directly into his brain or shoot pure overloads of info directly into his opponent’s brains via Memetech coated fletchettes and blades. The Baffler is a weapon and a disguise as Daniel fights his war. It's a very cool and original concept Chris has come up with.

Richard: How would you describe your art style on "The Dark"?

Rick: "Attitude" is what comes to mind. The Dark himself is all attitude and Id. I just try to throw as much power and drama behind everything he does and try to visually get across everything that Chris gave me in the script. I guess it's a bit obvious as well but I'd also call the style "dark". The Dark's coat, The Baffler is a very interesting garment to draw--back in the day, Gene Colan was drawing Tomb of Dracula and Drac always had the cloak on and Gene would just do wonders with that fabric. Very seldom did you even see the vampires' body for all the cool stuff the cloak did. Sometimes I think I go that route with the Baffler. The Dracula cloak approach mixed with some Batman attitude. That's a fair approximation, I think.

Richard: What is Epoch?

Rick: Epoch is the imprint I've used for years when publishing my comics through Diamond in the past and now Comixpress via print on demand. It was originally the name I gave to a group of us storyboard illustrators who put together a comic anthology back in 2000 and since I liked the logo, I kept using it. I've done several titles, most of which are all available at Comixpress now, Like "The Door", "So, You Want to be a Super-villain?", "I was a Superhero Survivor!", "100 Covers", etc.

Richard: What is different about "100 Covers"?

Rick: It's a huge comic’s story told in nothing but covers. I created a team called The Battalion and proceeded to show the members' lives and adventures ONLY through what would have been the first 100 covers of the books' "run". You can create a very interesting story in just one cover--the old "a picture paints a thousand words" is very true---so you see the different character arcs of all the team members as they go through these adventures throughout the 100 visuals. There are some spotlight, single issues, some multi-parters, a couple big 8 parters in fact. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun and very exciting and rewarding. It's something that's never been done before and in the world of comics these days, that's rare. Some folks have a tough time wrapping their head around a cover with no chunk of 22 pages to back it up but those that get it have been happy and really excited about the project and how it's turned out.

Richard: What was your contribution to "Iconic"?

Rick: I did the artwork for "First in flight: The Gustave Whitehead story", which was written by Bob Sodaro. It was very informative as well as interesting!

Richard: What is "Monkey and the Moon Patrol"?

Rick: MMP is Earth's first line of defense against cosmic threats. Based on our moon, it is staffed by several different aliens, a human intermediary and a silent monkey who leads them by the name of "M". To date, there's been only the one issue, available at comixpress as well but also as a free app for your iPhone via Smashout comics online along with a few other Epoch books. You can also see more at my main epoch site, www.epochkblamm.net .

Richard: Why did you want to work on "The Escape Artist"?

Rick: I'd been interested in doing different things, different kinds of stories. I did a Wulfgirlz story with Bob Sodaro, an adult comic with Carmenica Diaz under the pen name "Emil"---yes, the secret's out!---and when Chris came along with this supernatural love story, his script hooked me and there you go.

Richard: Which comic book would you most like to draw that you haven't?

Rick: Probably the Fantastic Four. The Thing is one of my top two characters along with Batman. I'm pretty mainstream but those guys really imprinted themselves on my very young brain back in the day. Of course the artwork of John Buscema and Neal Adams helped a bit too! Since I'm channeling a little bit of Batman into the Dark, The FF would probably be the pinnacle of the childhood dream

Richard: Which comics did you read as a child and do you read now?

Rick: There are really no sure things anymore. As much of a fan as I am of a lot of the big characters like the FF, if there's a creative team in there that I don't like or a direction that doesn't excite me, I won't bother but when a team gets in there that knows their stuff regarding these characters, I'm in. That pretty much goes for all the characters I like.

Richard: What is the most important thing in your life?

Rick: Making sure my family is healthy, happy and safe.

Richard: How can someone contact you?

Rick: Probably the best way is email: epochkblamm@ameritech.net or hit the contact info over at my epoch site.

Richard: Any final words of wisdom?

Rick: If I had any, I'd try to take advantage of them myself! I'm sure something really witty will come to me shortly after this is finished, though...