Rich’s Marvel-lous voyage to Cotgrave
FORMER NEW YORK COMICS ACE NOW LIVES IN NOTTS
A NOTTINGHAMSHIRE-BASED former Marvel and DC Comics artist hopes to make his mark as creator of an independent comic series.
Having moved to Cotgrave from New York City only two weeks before the lockdown descended last year, Rich Perrotta has since undergone cancer treatment.
He previously inked characters like Iron Man, Wolverine and Batman.
He says: “When I was four years old, my father brought home a comic book for me that featured Firestorm and a colouring book. Out of nowhere I picked up a pencil and started drawing the images from the comic book, not tracing them.
“With the colouring book, I managed to put it in the right colours and even accounted for the shading. I remember drawing my first flipbook when I was about six too so I’ve always liked to draw.
“I then started doing my own comic strips and when I bought my first comic at 12, I knew I was ready.
“I started at Marvel as an intern for the X-men office which is where I wanted to be ultimately. That was just as I was finishing up at university.
“To be honest, I felt I was a little bit old to do it at first, but I went there and I was a kid again. X-men was the first comic I read, so it was great. I knew all the top artists.
“I was then asked if I wanted to go into editing or the art department and worked as a staff artist for Marvel for a year and a half. It was my first professional job ever. I felt really proud because there are art students I know who have never got opportunities like that.
“I was an inker at Marvel – the person who pens ink over the pencil art. Effectively, what you do is fortify a 2D drawing and make it 3D with a pop and polishing. I did that for 10 years and worked on titles like Avengers, Deadpool, Wolverine, and the old Captain Marvel.
“I didn’t really agree with the direction Marvel was moving towards, with a focus on the movies.”
Since moving to Nottingham, Rich has become a big fan of award-winning city comic shop Page 45 and was delighted to find that those running it are “staunch indie comic fans”.
After leaving Marvel, Perrotta switched over to DC Comics to work on comics including Batman Beyond and Justice League.
Then, around 2014, he decided he did not want to ink anymore and Rich, 53, added: “I started doing my own stuff for the indie circuit to get my pencilling up to scratch. I did really well for a number of years.
“About a year and a half ago I decided I wanted to publish my own comic book where I did the whole thing: the lettering, the drawing and the inking.
“I got it going through a kickstart fundraising campaign with some fans of my work and that’s what I’m predominately working on today. “I’m especially proud of my own graphic novel – Incantesi. “It’s about a ballet dancer who is extremely powerful and can wield cosmic forces. “The character is inspired by a friend of mine, Sofia Brocani, who is an actress from Italy. “She asked me to draw her as a sorceress and from there, the character came to me like a bolt of lightning.
“I was struggling with the characters before.
“I decided I would self-publish but as I was working on that, a few weeks into the pandemic, I found out I had cancer.
“They didn’t know what kind of cancer I had but managed to localise it to my head and neck area.
“I had my tonsils removed first, but the cancer wasn’t there and then had surgery on one of my lymphnodes.
“It was a really tough year, but the whole time I continued with my work.
“It all became personal to me to get my ideas out so I’m really happy with the reception it’s received.”
Rich will be at EMCON at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena on August 28 and 29 alongside Catherine Tate, Will Mellor, John Rhys-davies and former Doctor Whos Peter Davison, Paul Mcgann, Sylvester Mccoy and Colin Baker.
Tickets are available from nottingham.em-con.co.uk/. Copies of the first issue of Incantesi will be available at the event.
I didn’t really agree with the direction Marvel was moving towards, with a focus on the movies Rich Perrotta