Mark Ricketts is an American comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 writer, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 and cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

. He has worked for a variety of publishers including McGraw Hill, Caliber Comics

Caliber Comics

Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, in the next decade Caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the America's leading independent publishers...

, Chaos Comics, Mojo Press

Mojo Press

Mojo Press is a now-defunct small press which primarily published science fiction, horror, and western books and graphic novels between 1994-1999.-History:...

, Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

, Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

, Moonstone (comics)

Moonstone (comics)

Moonstone is a fictional character, both a supervillain and superheroine in Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe.-Publication history:...

 and Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

. He won the 2000 Klasky Csupo

Klasky Csupo

Klasky Csupo, Inc. is a multimedia entertainment production company located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, founded by artist/producer, Arlene Klasky and animator, Gábor Csupó.- History :...

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

Currently, Ricketts writes and illustrates a monthly feature in Bangor Metro Magazine called "The Unverifiable Tales of Earl Hornswaggle, the oldest man in Bangor" and creates a webcomic based on Maine's Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park is a National Park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast...

 called "Moose Mountain."

Biography

Mark Ricketts was born in 1955 in Stuttgart, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. He attended Arkansas State University

Arkansas State University

Arkansas State University is a public university and is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System, the state's second largest college system and third largest university by enrollment. It is located atop on Crowley's Ridge at Jonesboro, Arkansas, USA...

 in Jonesboro, Arkansas where he met musician and songwriting partner Almis Zdanius. In 1982, Ricketts moved to Chicago, Illinois 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

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

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

Skip Williamson

Skip Williamson is an American underground cartoonist and central figure in the underground comix movement.Williamson is known for being the most political and satirical cartoonist of the underground comix movement.- Childhood :...

 who encouraged him to pursue a career in comics.

Personal life

Ricketts was married at the Graceland Wedding Chapel

Graceland Wedding Chapel

Graceland Wedding Chapel is a wedding chapel located in Las Vegas, Nevada that been the site of many celebrity weddings. Opened in the 1950s, it is one of the oldest wedding chapels in Las Vegas, and is known for weddings performed by Elvis Presley impersonators.Presley himself gave the owners of...

 in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

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

Elvis impersonator

An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies famed American musician Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators can work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts are in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis...

 sang a slow version of "Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas is a 1964 American romantic musical movie starring music icon Elvis Presley and actress/dancer Ann-Margret. This movie is regarded by many fans of these actors and by film critics as one of Presley's best movies, and it is noted for the apparent on-screen chemistry between Presley...

."

Ricketts and his wife moved from Illinois to Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

 in 2007.

Comics

Ricketts got his break in 1990, when Gary Reed of Caliber Comics

Caliber Comics

Caliber Comics or Caliber Press was an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, in the next decade Caliber published over 1300 comics and ranked as one of the America's leading independent publishers...

 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

Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...

 encouraged Ricketts to continue making comics and showed his work to Jim Valentino

Jim Valentino

Jim Valentino is an American writer, penciler, editor and publisher of comic books.-1970s - 1992:Valentino began his career in the late 1970s creating small press and mostly autobiographical comics. The early-mid 1980s saw normalman which first appeared as a back-up story in Aardvark-Vanaheim's...

, then Image Comics

Image Comics

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...

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

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...

 that combines Beat Generation

Beat generation

The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...

 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

Lazarus Jack

Lazarus Jack is a graphic novel created by Mark Ricketts and Horacio Domingues and published in 2004 by Dark Horse Comics.-Synopsis:In 1926, magician Jackson "Lazarus Jack" Pierce accidentally causes his wife and three children to become trapped in an extradimensional void...

 and wrote four issues of The Invincible Iron Man

Iron Man

Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...

 for the Avengers Disassembled

Avengers Disassembled

"Avengers Disassembled", referred to in some participating series as "Disassembled", is a crossover event between several Marvel Comics series. The general idea is that the major heroes are assaulted, not just physically, but emotionally...

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

Mike Hawthorne

Mike Hawthorne is an American comic book artist.He is the creator of the comic book series Hysteria and has provided the artwork for various other comics, including The Un-men, Fear Agent, Umbra, G.I...

, Sean Phillips

Sean Phillips

Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist.He is best known in the American comic book industry for his work on DC Comics' Sleeper, WildC.A.T.s, Batman and Hellblazer.-Career:...

, Tony Harris

Tony Harris

Tony or Anthony Harris may refer to:*Anthony Harris , New Zealand cricketer*Anthony Harris , American football player...

, Scott Kolins

Scott Kolins

Scott Kolins is an American illustrator, writer and creator for 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 as a writer.-Biography:...

, Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis

Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...

, Eric Wight

Eric Wight

Eric Wight is a professional artist, illustrator and animator. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts and currently lives in Eastern Pennsylvania.-Overview:Wight is the author of the manga, My Dead Girlfriend...

, Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

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

Phil Hester

Phil Hester is the name of:*Phillip Doyce Hester , former chief technology officer of Advanced Micro Devices*Phil Hester , comic book artist and writer...

, Alex Ross

Alex Ross

Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...

, Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola

Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...

, David Mack

David Mack

David Mack may refer to:*David W. Mack, American comic book artist and writer*David Alan Mack, American television scriptwriter and novelist*David Mack , one of the central figures in the Los Angeles Police Department Rampart corruption scandal*David S. Mack, American businessman...

, Michael Lark

Michael Lark

Michael Lark is an American comics artist.Lark has provided pencils for DC Comics' Batman, Terminal City, Gotham Central and Legend of the Hawkman. His work for Marvel Comics includes The Pulse and Captain America...

, Terry LaBan

Terry LaBan

Terry LaBan is an alternative/underground cartoonist and newspaper comic strip artist. He is probably best known for his comic book series Cud, and his syndicated strip Edge City....

, Guy Davis, Jim Calafiore

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....

, Jay Geldhof, Jill Thompson

Jill Thompson

Jill Thompson is an American comic book writer and illustrator. Probably better known for her work on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has also worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman.-Career:Jill Thompson illustrated The Sandman story...

, Galen Showman, Andrew Robinson and Tim Bradstreet

Tim Bradstreet

Timothy "Tim" Bradstreet , is an artist and illustrator, best known for his work on comic books , book covers, movie posters, roleplaying games and trading cards.-Career:...

.

Caliber Comics

Deadworld

Deadworld

Deadworld is an ongoing American comic book currently published by Desperado Publishing in association with IDW Publishing.The series follows survivors in a post-apocalyptic scenario brought on by zombie attacks...

 Vol. 2 #2 (writer/artist "Oliver Twisted")

Warpwalking #1-5 (writer/artist)

Negative Burn

Negative Burn

Negative Burn is a black-and-white anthology comic book published beginning in 1993 by Caliber Press, and subsequently by Image Comics and Desperado Publishing...

 #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

Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...

 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 ?")

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

Fear Agent is a science fiction comic book series by Rick Remender with art by Tony Moore and Jerome Opena, who alternate on story arcs. The series is published by Dark Horse Comics and previously by Image Comics....

 Vol 1 (writer "To Serve Man")

The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft (writer "Golden Calf Blues")