I had the great honor of meeting Mike Debalfo at Drawn to Comics two years ago. Since that time I have admired his growth in the comic book world. His covers have graced over 95+ comics during his very short career. Since his beginning with Zenescope he has become one of the most recognized Girl Cover creators in the industry. His work has been seen in Big Dog Ink, Moon Stone and also Brian Pulido's Lady Death. On April 1st of this year he came to agreement to take over and relaunch the Aspen series Soulfire. He will be doing interiors and teaming up with Nei Ruffino on what's just another step for the Debalfo family and a very bright future.
Debalfo took some time to sit down with me to talk about both his beginning and his future in the comic book industry.
What part of the country are you from?
I'm originally from New Jersey and moved to Arizona in 2003.
At what Age did you realize you wanted to be an artist?
As early as I could remember I was always career oriented, and I always flip flopped from paleontologist to cartoonist, but I estimate that it was around age eleven or twelve when I set my sights on a comic book oriented path. There were a few hick-ups along the way when I wanted to be a S.W.A.T team guy after seeing the movie “Speed”, then I wanted to be in a thrash metal band and I dipped my toes in computer animation but my heart always belonged to cartooning. That and those other career goal required nerves of steel, musical talent or a beer gut and I had none of those so comics was a good path for my gift of social awkwardness.
Did you have any early mentors in your career or was there a style that you worked hard to get to?
In my career directly? No. But I spent a couple of years at the Joe Kubert School before I started working professionally and that was such a strong learning curve. I remember going in for my applicant interview with a portfolio on paper ripped from a Walmart sketchbook and some doodles that I had scanned onto a CD. The instructors in the computer animation class I was involved in at the time beat it into our heads that people wanted portfolios on a digital format, and I can still see Mike Chen, the gentleman who interviewed me at Kubert, sort of rolling his eyes and looking fairly annoyed when I handed him a CD to load up after he'd seen my makeshift portfolio. [laughs] I still don't know how I got accepte
Impact on yourself with the success as a cover artist? Are you working harder or smarter?
I'm more protective of my surroundings. As it is with any level of success in any career you find people who just want to latch on or try to ride your coat tails. That's a very strange thing for me because I've never been the “popular kid” or someone who people just want to talk to. I'm very friendly and courteous to everyone I meet but I have learned that I can't wear my heart on my sleeve how I want to. On the flip side, the irony is that I find that some of the people who I want to take with me seem to think that I'm trying to use them which I can understand so I never act like a leech. Definitely working harder, probably not smarter. …ever. Grew a monstrous ego, became a douche and I eat a lot more Top Ramen because I'm still poor.
Tell us about your new gig?
Soulfire! I got the script and have been working on pages that I can't wait to show people. It was a little choppy at first but I'm getting a good rhythm going now and a better feel for laying out interior pages. Vince and the guys at Aspen have been great moral support, but I can't talk too much about what we're doing yet. I did a series of Aspen covers to start, all of which will hit shelves in August surrounding the Soulfire Vol. 4 release, and rest assured that I am chucking away at the pages and people are going to freak when they read this arc. J.T Krul has really outdone himself with the script so even if you hate my art Soulfire fans will love the story it's so good. You've seen the promo poster of “Dark Grace” so that should be a clue to how different things are going to be in the Soulfire universe. We goin' tear it up!
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