Mike Royer (comics)
Encyclopedia
Michael "Mike" W. Royer (born 1941, Lebanon
, Oregon
;The Mike Royer entry at the Lambiek Comiclopedia erroneously lists Canada
as his birthplace. Royer specifies "his birth state, Oregon" in his official site's biography. is an comic book artist
and inker
, best known for his work with pencilers Russ Manning
and Jack Kirby
. In later life Royer became a freelance product designer and character artist for The Walt Disney Company
.
in spring 1965 to pursue a career in comics
art, although his first confirmed credit, inking
penciler Tony Strobl
on the two-page story "Pluto
Helps Babysitting" in publisher Gold Key Comics
' Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
#282 (March 1964), appeared a year earlier. He became an assistant to artist Russ Manning
on Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter
comic book
, beginning with issue #12 (Jan. 1966), and Tarzan
, beginning with issue #158
(June 1966). By the following year, he was also working with artists Warren Tufts
and Alberto Giolitti
on the company's Korak, Son of Tarzan comic. He fully drew two 10-page stories, featuring the Three Musketeers and a group called the Arabian Knights, in Gold Key children's comic Hi-Adventure Heroes #2 (Aug. 1969). He also worked, uncredited, writing and drawing the Gold Key comics Speed Buggy
and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
, and drew cover for the publisher's licensed Hanna-Barbera
property TV Adventure Heroes.
While continuing to work primarily for Gold Key, Royer began freelancing for Warren Publishing
's line of black-and-white horror
-comics magazines, drawing writer James Haggenmiller's eight-page "Space Age Vampire" in Eerie
#23 (Sept. 1969), and later drawing a handful of stories in Creepy
and Vampirella
as well.
's the Forever People
#2 and #5 (May and Nov. 1971), and The New Gods
#5 (Nov. 1971) early works in comic maestro Kirby's "Fourth World" narrative at DC Comics
, where Kirby had recently ensconced himself following a storied decade at Marvel Comics
. He became Kirby's primary inker at DC, working on those titles and fellow Fourth World series Mister Miracle
, as well as on the preexisting sister series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He additionally inked Kirby's next two DC series, The Demon and Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth
, and, among other Kirby projects, inked the extant war comics
feature "The Losers" in several issues of Our Fighting Forces
in 1975.
Royer also lettered
and inked the last six months of Russ Manning
's Tarzan Sunday-newspaper comic strip
and, in the late 1970s, the first four months of Manning's daily and Sunday Star Wars
comic strips.
, doing art and design for books, comic books and comic strips, and theme park and licensed merchandise for its Consumer Product/Licensing division. His comics work there included designing and art directing
the movie tie-in Dick Tracy
and 3-D Rocketeer comic books, and helped launch a Winnie the Pooh licensing program in late 1993; for the latter, he was featured in a 43-minute video, How To Draw Pooh, sent to licensees. Royer had left his staff position in June 1993 to freelance full-time for Disney, primarily on Winnie the Pooh projects.
Beginning spring 2000, Royer has produced freelance art and design, including work on Digimon
products, screen icons for the Fox Family
cable television
channel environment and its Fox Kids
programming bloc, "floor plans" for computer game animators, Reader Rabbit
workbooks, and Rescue Heroes
toy packaging. Since spring 2001, Royer and his wife and concept collaborator, Laurie, have lived in Medford, Oregon
.
Lebanon, Oregon
Lebanon is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. Lebanon is located in northwest Oregon, southeast of Salem. The population was 12,950 at the 2000 census and the 2008 census data shows the population at 15,397.-Geography:...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
;The Mike Royer entry at the Lambiek Comiclopedia erroneously lists Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as his birthplace. Royer specifies "his birth state, Oregon" in his official site's biography. is an comic book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
and inker
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
, best known for his work with pencilers Russ Manning
Russ Manning
Russell Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars...
and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
. In later life Royer became a freelance product designer and character artist for The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
.
Early life and career
Mike Royer came to southern CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in spring 1965 to pursue a career in comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
art, although his first confirmed credit, inking
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
penciler Tony Strobl
Tony Strobl
Anthony Joseph Strobl was an American comics artist and animator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Cleveland School of Art from 1933–37, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who actually got some help from Strobl creating Superman...
on the two-page story "Pluto
Pluto (Disney)
Pluto, also called Pluto the Pup, is a cartoon character created in 1930 by Walt Disney Productions. He is a light brown , medium-sized, short-haired dog. Unlike Goofy, Pluto is not anthropomorphic beyond some characteristics such as facial expression...
Helps Babysitting" in publisher Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
' Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and...
#282 (March 1964), appeared a year earlier. He became an assistant to artist Russ Manning
Russ Manning
Russell Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars...
on Gold Key's Magnus, Robot Fighter
Magnus, Robot Fighter
Magnus, Robot Fighter is a fictional comic book superhero created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963, based primarily on Tarzan. Magnus first appeared in Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. #1, published by Gold Key Comics in February 1963...
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...
, beginning with issue #12 (Jan. 1966), and Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
, beginning with issue #158
(June 1966). By the following year, he was also working with artists Warren Tufts
Warren Tufts
Warren Tufts , born Chester Tufts, was an American comic strip and comic book artist-writer best known for his syndicated Western adventure strip Casey Ruggles which ran from 1949 to 1954....
and Alberto Giolitti
Alberto Giolitti
Alberto Giolitti was an Italian-American comic book artist.He was born in Rome, where his family held one of the most famous café, Giolitti, where he also worked for a while. He debuted as artist for Il Vittorioso in the late 1940s...
on the company's Korak, Son of Tarzan comic. He fully drew two 10-page stories, featuring the Three Musketeers and a group called the Arabian Knights, in Gold Key children's comic Hi-Adventure Heroes #2 (Aug. 1969). He also worked, uncredited, writing and drawing the Gold Key comics Speed Buggy
Speed Buggy
Speed Buggy is a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 8, 1973 to August 30, 1975.-Production:...
and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids was a Saturday morning cartoon produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1973 for NBC...
, and drew cover for the publisher's licensed Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
property TV Adventure Heroes.
While continuing to work primarily for Gold Key, Royer began freelancing for Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...
's line of black-and-white horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
-comics magazines, drawing writer James Haggenmiller's eight-page "Space Age Vampire" in Eerie
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...
#23 (Sept. 1969), and later drawing a handful of stories in Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
and Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
as well.
1970s and Jack Kirby
Royer inked the covers of writer-penciler Jack KirbyJack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
's the Forever People
Forever People
The Forever People are a fictional group of extraterrestrial superheroes published by DC Comics. They first appeared in Forever People #1 , and were created by Jack Kirby as part of his "Fourth World" epic.-Fictional history:...
#2 and #5 (May and Nov. 1971), and The New Gods
New Gods
The New Gods are a fictional race appearing in publications by DC Comics, as well as the title for four series of comic books about those characters. They first appeared in New Gods #1 , and were created and designed by Jack Kirby....
#5 (Nov. 1971) early works in comic maestro Kirby's "Fourth World" narrative at DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, where Kirby had recently ensconced himself following a storied decade at 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...
. He became Kirby's primary inker at DC, working on those titles and fellow Fourth World series Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Mister Miracle #1 and was created by Jack Kirby.-Publication history:...
, as well as on the preexisting sister series, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He additionally inked Kirby's next two DC series, The Demon and Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth
Kamandi
Kamandi is an American comic book character, created by artist Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics. The bulk of Kamandi's appearances occurred in the comic series Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, which ran from 1972 to 1978....
, and, among other Kirby projects, inked the extant war comics
War comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.-American war comics:Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre...
feature "The Losers" in several issues of Our Fighting Forces
Our Fighting Forces
Our Fighting Forces is a DC Comics war-anthology comic book series that ran for 181 issues from 1954-1978.Writer-editor Robert Kanigher and writer-artist Jack Kirby were among the comics creators whose work appeared in the title...
in 1975.
Royer also lettered
Letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic. The letterer crafts the comic's "display lettering": the story title lettering and...
and inked the last six months of Russ Manning
Russ Manning
Russell Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars...
's Tarzan Sunday-newspaper comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
and, in the late 1970s, the first four months of Manning's daily and Sunday Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
comic strips.
Later career
Beginning spring 1979, Royer spent 14 years on staff with The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, doing art and design for books, comic books and comic strips, and theme park and licensed merchandise for its Consumer Product/Licensing division. His comics work there included designing and art directing
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
the movie tie-in Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
and 3-D Rocketeer comic books, and helped launch a Winnie the Pooh licensing program in late 1993; for the latter, he was featured in a 43-minute video, How To Draw Pooh, sent to licensees. Royer had left his staff position in June 1993 to freelance full-time for Disney, primarily on Winnie the Pooh projects.
Beginning spring 2000, Royer has produced freelance art and design, including work on Digimon
Digimon
, short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
products, screen icons for the Fox Family
Fox Family
Fox Family may refer to:* The Fox Family, a 2006 South Korean film* Fox Family, a former name of American television cable network ABC Family...
cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel environment and its Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
programming bloc, "floor plans" for computer game animators, Reader Rabbit
Reader Rabbit
Reader Rabbit is an edutainment software franchise created in 1986 by The Learning Company. This series currently makes up the greater part of a franchise of grade-based and subject-based titles, where the games for infancy through second grade feature Reader Rabbit...
workbooks, and Rescue Heroes
Rescue Heroes
Rescue Heroes is a line of toys from Fisher-Price that was introduced in 1997. Rescue Heroes depicts various rescue personnel and their equipment. In 1999, an animated television series titled Rescue Heroes was released and was based on the figurines...
toy packaging. Since spring 2001, Royer and his wife and concept collaborator, Laurie, have lived in Medford, Oregon
Medford, Oregon
Medford is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 US Census, the city had a total population of 74,907 and a metropolitan area population of 207,010, making the Medford MSA the 4th largest metro area in Oregon...
.