Tom Sutton
Encyclopedia
Tom Sutton was an American
comic book
artist
who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia. He is best known for his contributions to Marvel Comics
and Warren Publishing
's line of black-and-white horror-comics
magazines, particularly as the first story-artist of the popular character Vampirella
.
, Massachusetts
, where father Harry was a plumbing
, heating and air conditioning
shopkeeper, and a machinist and gunsmith
for General Electric
and others. He had a half-sister "seven or eight years older than I am" from his widower father's first marriage. Influenced by EC Comics
and the comic strip
art of Milton Caniff
, Alex Raymond
and Hal Foster, Sutton drew nude art for paying schoolyard classmates.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school
in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming
. Later, stationed at Itami base in northern Japan
, Sutton created the Caniff-style adventure strip F.E.A.F Dragon for a base publication. Sutton's first professional comics work, it led to a long-hoped-for placement on the military's Stars and Stripes
newspaper.
At its Tokyo
office of Stars and Stripes, he drew the comic strip Johnny Craig, a character name inspired by the EC
artist Johnny Craig. Sutton recalled that he worked on this strip "for two years and some odd months. I did it seven days a week, I think. It was all stupid. It was a kind of cheap version of[ Frank Robbins'
] Johnny Hazard, I think it was".
On his return to civilian life in 1959, Sutton attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
on a scholarship, and began working as a freelance commercial artist. At one point, living and working in San Francisco, he became acquainted with the work of Robert Crumb
and later expressed a desire for the kind of creative freedom he saw in underground comics.
Sutton became an art director
at AVP, a company that produced film strips for marketing
, and he was a director of animation
for Transradio Productions. By the mid-1960s, he was married with two sons; his first marriage lasted five years, and he remarried in the 1970s. During the late 1960s, he was living in Boston's North End, and in 1970 he moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts
. In the 1990s, he moved to Amesbury, Massachusetts
.
Sutton's first two comic-book stories appeared the same month. His first sale, "The Monster from One Billion B.C.", was published in Warren Publishing
's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Eerie
#11 (Sept. 1967), though it was originally commissioned for Famous Monsters of Filmland
(where it was reprinted four months later). He also illustrated the five-page anthological Western
story "The Wild Ones", written by Sol Brodsky
, in Marvel's Kid Colt, Outlaw
#137 (Sept. 1967). It was one of many Westerns he drew for the company, including the introduction of the short-lived feature "Renegades"—The Fugitive
times four, in the Old West—in Western Gunfighters
#1 (Aug. 1970).
As Sutton recalled his breaking into Marvel, editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Sutton soon developed a trademark frantic, cartoony style that, when juxtaposed on dramatic narratives, gave his work a vibrant, quirky dynamism. That distinctive style helped establish the popular supernatural character Vampirella from her first story, "Vampirella of Draculona", written by Forrest J. Ackerman, with costume design by artist Trina Robbins
, in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969). Later, with writer Archie Goodwin
, Sutton helped transition Vampi from cheeky horror hostess to serious dramatic character in the 21-page story "Who Serves the Cause of Chaos?" in issue #8 (Nov. 1970, reprinted in color in Harris Comics
' 1995 Vampirella Classics series).
Though well-suited to horror stories, Sutton was also admired for his work on such science fiction
series as Marvel's Planet of the Apes
magazine and First Comics
' GrimJack
and Squalor, and for the humor title Not Brand Ecch, on which he appeared in nearly every issue with parodies of Marvel's own characters. He was not especially equipped to do superhero
es, either by art style or temperament, once calling them "fascist". While he lent a hand very occasionally, Sutton stayed mostly on Marvel's supernatural heroes: Werewolf by Night
, Ghost Rider
, Doctor Strange
(in the 1970s series, plus Baron Mordo
backup stories in the 1980s Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme). With writer Steve Englehart
, penciler Sutton introduced the new furrily transformed X-Men
character the Beast
, who starred in a superhero/horror feature in Amazing Adventures
#11-15 (March-Sept. 1972).
A series in the 1970s black-and-white comics magazine Planet of the Apes, a licensed spin-off of the movie series
, done with writer Doug Moench
, was "recognized by many as Sutton's best", said comics historian and columnist Tom Spurgeon
:
For the horror-oriented Warren, Sutton drew dozens of stories early in his career. He moonlighted for Warren competitor Skywald Publications
, drawing the Frankenstein
-novel sequel "Frankenstein, Book II" (serialized in Psycho magazine #3-6, May, 1971 - May, 1972)—using the pseudonym "Sean Todd" (writer
-penciler Sutton and inkers Dan Adkins
, Jack Abel
and Sutton himself), to avoid the wrath of publisher James Warren. A separate story in Psycho #4, written by Sutton and drawn by him and Syd Shores
, was credited as "Larry Todd" (writer) and "David Cook" (art). This was the result of someone having inadvertently inserted the name of real-life writer Larry Todd rather than usual pseudonym Sean Todd.
For Skywald's short-lived line of color comics, Sutton wrote and drew stories for the Western
title Butch Cassidy and the horror title The Heap (no relation to the 1940s-50s Hillman Periodicals
character later revived by Eclipse Comics
). He drew Marvel's similar muck-monster Man-Thing
as eight-page installments in the omnibus series Marvel Comics Presents
during the late 1980s.
, Connecticut
, at some point, Sutton in the mid-1970s to early 1980s wrote and drew horror stories for the Derby, Connecticut
-based Charlton Comics
, including for such titles as Ghost Manor, Midnight Tales, Monster Hunters and The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
, also painting covers for some of these titles. In the mid-1980s, Sutton drew suspense stories for DC Comics
' House of Mystery
and House of Secrets, and he penciled virtually all 56 issues of DC's licensed series Star Trek
. He penciled the Harlan Ellison
-scripted "Croatoan" in Heavy Metal
vol. 2, #5 (September 1978).
Late in life, Sutton did commercial art for New England
ad agencies, and under his "Dementia" pseudonym, which he adopted in 1994, he drew for Fantagraphics' Eros Comix
line of adult comics. He was also a painter
who had gallery showings of his bar-scene canvases. A limited edition portfolio of fantasy prints, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, was produced by Another World, Ltd., in 1978.
Police found Sutton dead in his Amesbury apartment on May 3, 2002; it is unclear whether a medical examiner's determination of time or date of death was reported. News accounts reported he had died of a heart attack
at his drawing board during production of Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft, a book the publisher posthumously dedicated to him. Eros' Dementia's Dirty Girls #1 (May 2002) included a tribute by Bill Pearson.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia. He is best known for his contributions to 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...
and 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-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...
magazines, particularly as the first story-artist of the popular character 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...
.
Early life and career
Sutton was born and raised in North AdamsNorth Adams, Massachusetts
North Adams is a city in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 13,708 as of the 2010 census, making it the least populous city in the state...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where father Harry was a plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...
, heating and air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
shopkeeper, and a machinist and gunsmith
Gunsmith
A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...
for General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and others. He had a half-sister "seven or eight years older than I am" from his widower father's first marriage. Influenced by EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
and the 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....
art of Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
, Alex Raymond
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934...
and Hal Foster, Sutton drew nude art for paying schoolyard classmates.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
. Later, stationed at Itami base in northern Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Sutton created the Caniff-style adventure strip F.E.A.F Dragon for a base publication. Sutton's first professional comics work, it led to a long-hoped-for placement on the military's Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
newspaper.
At its Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
office of Stars and Stripes, he drew the comic strip Johnny Craig, a character name inspired by the EC
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
artist Johnny Craig. Sutton recalled that he worked on this strip "for two years and some odd months. I did it seven days a week, I think. It was all stupid. It was a kind of cheap version of
Frank Robbins
Franklin "Frank" Robbins was a notable American comic book and comic strip artist and writer, as well as a prominent painter whose work appeared in museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, where one of his paintings was featured in the 1955 Whitney Annual Exhibition of American...
On his return to civilian life in 1959, Sutton attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is an undergraduate and graduate college located in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to the visual arts. It is affiliated with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in partnership with Tufts University...
on a scholarship, and began working as a freelance commercial artist. At one point, living and working in San Francisco, he became acquainted with the work of Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
and later expressed a desire for the kind of creative freedom he saw in underground comics.
Sutton became an art director
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....
at AVP, a company that produced film strips for marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, and he was a director of animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
for Transradio Productions. By the mid-1960s, he was married with two sons; his first marriage lasted five years, and he remarried in the 1970s. During the late 1960s, he was living in Boston's North End, and in 1970 he moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
. In the 1990s, he moved to Amesbury, Massachusetts
Amesbury, Massachusetts
Amesbury is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Though it officially became a city in 1996, its formal name remains "The Town of Amesbury." In 1890, 9798 people lived in Amesbury; in 1900, 9473; in 1910, 9894; in 1920, 10,036; and in 1940, 10,862. The population was 16,283 at...
.
Warren and Marvel
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 black-and-white horror-comics magazine 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...
#11 (Sept. 1967), though it was originally commissioned for Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.-Magazine history :...
(where it was reprinted four months later). He also illustrated the five-page anthological Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
story "The Wild Ones", written by Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate. He later rose to vice president, operations and vice president, special projects...
, in Marvel's Kid Colt, Outlaw
Kid Colt
Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous western themed comic book series published by Marvel...
#137 (Sept. 1967). It was one of many Westerns he drew for the company, including the introduction of the short-lived feature "Renegades"—The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
times four, in the Old West—in Western Gunfighters
Western Gunfighters
Western Gunfighters is the name of two American Western omnibus comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics....
#1 (Aug. 1970).
As Sutton recalled his breaking into Marvel, editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
Sutton soon developed a trademark frantic, cartoony style that, when juxtaposed on dramatic narratives, gave his work a vibrant, quirky dynamism. That distinctive style helped establish the popular supernatural character Vampirella from her first story, "Vampirella of Draculona", written by Forrest J. Ackerman, with costume design by artist Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969). Later, with writer Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
, Sutton helped transition Vampi from cheeky horror hostess to serious dramatic character in the 21-page story "Who Serves the Cause of Chaos?" in issue #8 (Nov. 1970, reprinted in color in Harris Comics
Harris Publications
Harris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, XXL, King, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Men's Workout, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and...
' 1995 Vampirella Classics series).
Though well-suited to horror stories, Sutton was also admired for his work on such science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series as Marvel's Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes (comic book)
Planet of the Apes comics are tie-ins to the Planet of the Apes universe. They have been released by several publishers over the years and include tie-ins and spin-offs.-Japanese comics :...
magazine and First Comics
First Comics
First Comics was an American comic-book publisher that was active from 1983–1991, known for titles like American Flagg!, Grimjack, Nexus, Badger, Dreadstar, and Jon Sable...
' GrimJack
GrimJack
Grimjack is the main character of a comic book originally published by First Comics. John Ostrander and Timothy Truman are credited as co-creators of the character, although Ostrander had been developing Grimjack with artist Lenin Delsol before Truman's arrival on the project...
and Squalor, and for the humor title Not Brand Ecch, on which he appeared in nearly every issue with parodies of Marvel's own characters. He was not especially equipped to do superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es, either by art style or temperament, once calling them "fascist". While he lent a hand very occasionally, Sutton stayed mostly on Marvel's supernatural heroes: Werewolf by Night
Werewolf by Night
Werewolf by Night is a fictional character, an antiheroic werewolf in the Marvel Comics universe. The Werewolf by Night first appeared in Marvel Spotlight vol...
, Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider (comics)
Ghost Rider is the name of several fictional supernatural antiheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Night Rider and subsequently to Phantom Rider.The first supernatural Ghost Rider is...
, Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 ....
(in the 1970s series, plus Baron Mordo
Baron Mordo
Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by Marvel Comics and appearing as an enemy of Doctor Strange...
backup stories in the 1980s Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme). With writer Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart
Steve Englehart is an American novelist. In his earlier career he was a comic book writer best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics, particularly in the 1970s...
, penciler Sutton introduced the new furrily transformed X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
character the Beast
Beast (comics)
Beast , Dr. Henry Philip "Hank" McCoy, is a comic book character, a Marvel Comics superhero and a member of the mutant team of superheroes known as the X-Men...
, who starred in a superhero/horror feature in Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
#11-15 (March-Sept. 1972).
A series in the 1970s black-and-white comics magazine Planet of the Apes, a licensed spin-off of the movie series
Planet of the Apes
La Planète des singes, known in English as Monkey Planet or Planet of the Apes, is a French 1963 science fiction novel by Pierre Boulle...
, done with writer Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...
, was "recognized by many as Sutton's best", said comics historian and columnist Tom Spurgeon
Tom Spurgeon
Tom Spurgeon is an American writer, historian and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of The Comics Journal and his blog The Comics Reporter, which he launched in 2004 with site designer Jordan Raphael.-Books:...
:
Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications is a 1970s publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. It also published a small line of comic books and other magazines....
, drawing the Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
-novel sequel "Frankenstein, Book II" (serialized in Psycho magazine #3-6, May, 1971 - May, 1972)—using the pseudonym "Sean Todd" (writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
-penciler Sutton and inkers Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins is an American illustrator who worked mainly for comic books and science-fiction magazines.-Early life and career:...
, Jack Abel
Jack Abel
Jack Abel a.k.a. Gary Michaels was an American comic book artist best known as an inker for leading publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was DC's primary inker on the Superman titles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and inked penciler Herb Trimpe's introduction of the popular superhero...
and Sutton himself), to avoid the wrath of publisher James Warren. A separate story in Psycho #4, written by Sutton and drawn by him and Syd Shores
Syd Shores
Sydney Shores was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
, was credited as "Larry Todd" (writer) and "David Cook" (art). This was the result of someone having inadvertently inserted the name of real-life writer Larry Todd rather than usual pseudonym Sean Todd.
For Skywald's short-lived line of color comics, Sutton wrote and drew stories for the Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
title Butch Cassidy and the horror title The Heap (no relation to the 1940s-50s Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals
Hillman Periodicals, Inc. was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher...
character later revived by Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics
Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market...
). He drew Marvel's similar muck-monster Man-Thing
Man-Thing
The Man-Thing is a fictional character, a monster in publications from Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in Savage Tales #1 , and went on to be featured in various titles and in his own series, including...
as eight-page installments in the omnibus series Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents
Marvel Comics Presents was an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics originally from 1988 to 1995; it returned for a second volume in 2007-2008.-Volume 1:The first volume was released on a biweekly basis and lasted for 175 issues...
during the late 1980s.
Charlton Comics
Living in MysticMystic, Connecticut
Mystic is a village and census-designated place in New London County, Connecticut, in the United States. The population was 4,001 at the 2000 census. A historic locality, Mystic has no independent government because it is not a legally recognized municipality in the state of Connecticut...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, at some point, Sutton in the mid-1970s to early 1980s wrote and drew horror stories for the Derby, Connecticut
Derby, Connecticut
Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 12,391 at the 2000 census. With of land area, Derby is Connecticut's smallest municipality.The city has a Metro-North railroad station called Derby – Shelton.-History:...
-based Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
, including for such titles as Ghost Manor, Midnight Tales, Monster Hunters and The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves was an American supernatural-anthology comic book published by Charlton Comics and best known as a showcase for the popular writer-artist Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man. The eponymous Dr. M. T...
, also painting covers for some of these titles. In the mid-1980s, Sutton drew suspense stories for 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...
' House of Mystery
House of Mystery
The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...
and House of Secrets, and he penciled virtually all 56 issues of DC's licensed series Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
. He penciled the Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
-scripted "Croatoan" in Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
vol. 2, #5 (September 1978).
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
ad agencies, and under his "Dementia" pseudonym, which he adopted in 1994, he drew for Fantagraphics' Eros Comix
Eros Comix
Eros Comix is an adult-oriented imprint of Fantagraphics Books, established in 1990 to publish pornographic comic books. Eros Comix sells anime videos, DVDs, adult comic books, and books of erotic art and photography...
line of adult comics. He was also a painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
who had gallery showings of his bar-scene canvases. A limited edition portfolio of fantasy prints, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, was produced by Another World, Ltd., in 1978.
Police found Sutton dead in his Amesbury apartment on May 3, 2002; it is unclear whether a medical examiner's determination of time or date of death was reported. News accounts reported he had died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at his drawing board during production of Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft, a book the publisher posthumously dedicated to him. Eros' Dementia's Dirty Girls #1 (May 2002) included a tribute by Bill Pearson.
External links
- Comic Book ArtistComic Book ArtistComic 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...
#12 (March 2001): Tom Sutton interview, pp. 62–69 - The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
- Arndt, Richard J. "The Warren Magazines" (includes annotated checklist), EnjolrasWorld.com, July 3, 2005. WebCitation archive.
- Amash, Jim. "Tom Sutton Tribute", Charlton SpotlightCharlton spotlightCharlton Spotlight is a magazine dedicated to "Exploring the history of the Charlton Comics Group". It is published by Argo Press. It's publisher/editor is Michael Ambrose...
#3 - Archive of "Tom Sutton (1937-2002)", "SF/F & Publishing News", Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of AmericaScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, or SFWA is a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. It was founded in 1965 by Damon Knight under the name Science Fiction Writers of America, Inc. and it retains the acronym SFWA after a very brief use of the SFFWA...
, n.d. Original page. - "Tom Sutton (1937-2002)", Alter Ego vol. 3, #16, July 2002
- Schenk, Ramon, ed. Charlton Comics checklist: Tom Sutton WebCitation archive
- Archive of "Tom Sutton (1937-2002), Wacky Packages Artist", Lost Wackys