Moby was very fortunate again recently, hearing back from another artist who worked for Silverwolf, Mr. Phil Hester (@philhester).
When one reads the wikipedia for the artists who got their start at Silverwolf his name is conspicuously absent, though I doubt he minds this. It is a bit unfair though, if the truth be told. Of all the artists that got their start at Silverwolf, Phil has without a doubt had one of the best careers of the bunch. He writes, draws, and has about 300 published issues to his credit.
He went on to truly ‘break-in’ on Marvel’s Swamp Thing, and is also known for his revival of DC’s The Green Arrow (with none other than Kevin Smith writing). He also won the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 1997 for The Wretch, published by Caliber Comics.
As usual, I asked about six questions (five actually), and they were the usual ones, too. Mr. Hester was very kind in sharing his thoughts on the company and his experience there.
He also kindly accepted a commission for a new illustration, with Port and Grips, which you can see [HERE].
A huge thank you to Mr. Hester for his time, and his insights.
How did you come to work for Silverwolf?
It was a time, I think my sophomore year in college, when a lot of little publishers like Silverwolf were starting up. I was very eager to work in comics, so I would go into the comic shop every new comics day and select all the debuting publishers to get their mailing addresses from the indicia– this was back when people mailed things. I worked up new samples every few months and would send photocopies off to all the publishers on my list. Thankfully, Silverwolf really needed new talent and Kris gave me a shot.
What did you think of the characters, and the company?
I was so enthusiastic to be working there I saw almost nothing but the upside to every concept. Of course, in retrospect, a lot of those books might seem a bit amateurish, but there’s no doubt they had a kind of energy that more professional, polished books lacked. I was excited to be working at all, so everything looked fun to me. I especially liked Grips, Thieves and the book I got to design and draw– ‘Port.
Oh, man. If you had a credit card in 1987 you could be a comics publisher… and make decent money. Everyone was chasing the TMNT dream, but as I said earlier, I was just eager to work. It didn’t really matter to me who called, as long as someone called at all. It was an exciting time, but a lot of awful stuff flooded the stands.
Any thoughts on the black and white boom and bust of the late ’80s/early 90s and how Silverwolf fit into it?
Phil Hester via wikipedia
I remember going to San Diego in 1987– my first con– and hearing a panel of comix intelligentsia deride all the crude, amateurish cartooning coming out of the black and white explosion. It was a real dogpile on people like me and Ron Lim and Tim Vigil who were all starting out with Silverwolf. I guess they didn’t know or care that a lot of us were in the audience listening to our work get trashed.
Anyway, Will Eisner took the mic and starting admonishing the panel. He said he didn’t envy this new crop of cartoonists because we were the first generation to have our work being seen in its most formative stages since the golden age generation. We were going through comics puberty in print, so to speak. Will also told everyone tut-tutting us that we would all probably be working together someday and that was no way to talk about collaborators. It was awesome… and true!
From your perspective, how did it all end?
I have no idea. The checks stopped coming and/or clearing and the phone calls from Kris got fewer and farther between. It was okay with me because I had started the long climb up the comics ladder, and was ready to leave Silverwolf for the marginally greener pastures of Eternity and the like.
Any good tales, tidbits, or trivia you can add?
Port and Grips by Phil Hester
I guess the funniest story is, by the time ‘Port #1 had come out, I was deeply ashamed of it. It was my first work, and had a lot of rough patches. I think I grew as an artist a great deal between drawing #1 and the time of its publication, so I cringed a bit when I saw the actual book. But God bless my local comic shop. They ordered something like 400 copies of the book– 4x what they ordered of X-Men!
Years later, when Kris finally gave up the ghost he owed me a little money, but had no way to pay. He offered to send me as many comps as I wanted, so I asked for every issue of ‘Port he could send me. I kept a few aside then recycled the rest to get them off the back issue market. However, to this day, when you walk in my father’s house you will see a framed copy of the book’s opening double page splash hanging on the wall. There’s no escape!
Indeed, no escape. Here’s that double page splash:
I wonder what ‘The Egg’ was? It was a plot point for a few issues, even jumping titles….I should have asked…
Well, It could have been worse. According to an interview Moby found online, Mr. Hester completed “Several issues of ‘Port…an issue of Thieves, some gaming comic, and an issue of Grips that thankfully never saw the light of day.” An interview in Draw! magazine suggests ‘about 6 issues’ of ‘Port were pencilled. That would have been a lot of recycling.
Again, many thanks to Mr. Hester. Be sure to check out his commission piece, featuring Grips and Port!
