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Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) Thomas F. Sutton at the Social Security Death Index. Retrieved on September 20, 2012. 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.
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 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 the Tokyo office of Stars and Stripes, he drew the comic strip Johnny Craig, a character name inspired by the EC Comics 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 Johnny Hazard, I think it was".
On his return to civilian life in 1959, Sutton lived and worked in San Francisco, where, he said, "There were some publications ... that I sold or gave artwork to." After six months he moved to Jacksonville, Vermont, where his parents were at the time. In about 1960 he began attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on either a scholarship or the G.I. Bill – Sutton was unclear on this in a 2001 interview – and studied there for two-and-a-half years while freelancing in commercial art for the likes of small ad agencies. Sutton became an art director at a company called AVP, and was the animation director for Transradio Productions, among many other jobs that included graphics work on a Radio Shack catalog.
He married his first wife, Beverly, in the early 1960s and his two sons were born soon thereafter; the marriage lasted approximately five years.Sutton interview, The Comics Journal, p. 3 of online version. After the divorce his wife remarried and Sutton lost contact with his sons; he later reconnected with one of them, Todd.Sutton interview, The Comics Journal, p. 4 of online version. During the late 1960s, Sutton was living in Boston's North End. He married second wife Donna and in 1970 they moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts. Later Sutton lived in Newburyport with his third wife, Charlotte, who ran a Montessori school for Dwarfism in the first floor of their Victorian house.Sutton interview, The Comics Journal, p. 8 of online version. In the 1990s, he moved to Amesbury, Massachusetts.
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 Echh, on which he appeared in nearly every issue with parodies of Marvel's own characters. He was not especially equipped to do , either by art style or temperament, once calling them "fascist".Sutton interview, The Comics Journal, p. 7 of online version. While he lent a hand very occasionally, Sutton stayed mostly on Marvel's supernatural heroes: Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, and 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,Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 154: "In Amazing Adventures #11, by scripter Gerry Conway and artist Tom Sutton, Hank McCoy, the Beast's alter ego,...mutated, growing grey fur all over this body." who starred in a superhero 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.Arndt, Richard J. The Complete Skywald Checklist (2007). Archived from the original on April 11, 2016.
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.
Late in life, Sutton did commercial art for New England advertising 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 six H. P. Lovecraft-inspired fantasy prints, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, was produced in 1978 and reprinted in the 2002 book Graphic Classics: H. P. Lovecraft.
Police found Sutton dead of an apparent heart attack 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; the Social Security Death Index confirms his death as May 1, 2002. Eros' Dementia's Dirty Girls #1 (May 2002) included a tribute by Bill Pearson.
Warren and Marvel
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 comics 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).
Later life and career
Living in Mystic, 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. He drew Marvel Premiere #50 (Oct. 1979) which featured rock musician Alice Cooper as a comics character.Sanderson "1970s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 190: "Writers Jim Salicrup, Roger Stern, and Ed Hannigan and artists Tom Sutton and Terry Austin collaborated with musician Alice Cooper on Marvel Premiere #50." In the mid-1980s, Sutton drew suspense stories for DC Comics' House of Secrets and House of Mystery which included the "I…Vampire" feature with writer J. M. DeMatteis. DeMatteis stated in a 2017 interview that he "thought Sutton was perfect for the series. His work dripped with mood and mystery. And he was a rock–solid storyteller." Sutton was one of the artists on Batman #400 (Oct. 1986) and he penciled virtually all 56 issues of DC's Brand licensing series Star Trek (1984–1988), a period in which, he said, "I know I was becoming an alcoholic."Sutton interview, The Comics Journal, p. 9 of online version. The desire to continue drawing, he said, overcame the urge to drink:
Bibliography
Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Charlton Comics
DC Comics
Paradox Press
First Comics
Marvel Comics
Skywald Publications
Warren Publishing
External links
Further reading
Categories: 1937 Births, 2002 Deaths, 20th-century American Artists, 21st-century American Artists, American Advertising Artists And Illustrators, American Comic Strip Cartoonists, American Horror Artists, American Parodists, Artists From Connecticut, Artists From Massachusetts, Dc Comics People, Marvel Comics People, People From Mystic, Connecticut, People From North Adams, Massachusetts, Pseudonymous Comics Artists, Silver Age Comics Creators, United States Air Force Airmen
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