At last month’s Wizard World Reno Comic Con, PopCultHQ had the pleasure in meeting a phenomenal artist, Jonboy Meyers. An artist with a degree in forensic science, the college grad wound up becoming a marketing director, in which he didn’t have any training or experience. His friend decided to start up his own comic company, working on He-Man, and asked Jonboy to work for him, which kicked off his career in the industry.
Jonboy has covered a plethora of well-know titles, such as Spider-Man, League of Legends, Hulk, She-Hulk, World of Warcraft, GeNext, Supergirl, The Flash, and his amazing work on Spawn.
At the 45-minute panel, Jonboy did everything from giving his background, drawing a sketch live while being interviewed, and fielding questions from those in attendance. A gracious and humble man, Meyers’ personality stands out and is easy to notice among the crowd at the convention center.
Mr. Meyers really gave some insight to those in attendance on what the comic industry is like. He stated,” That’s the things about an artist. Comics is, um, it gets busy when it’s busy, and when it’s not, you want to… branch out and do other things. That’s how I got into animation, video games, some stuff in movies, and things like that.”
He also detailed some advice for those interested in getting into the profession,“If you’re thinking of a career in comics, whether you are a writer or a artist, or both which makes you more marketable, you have to have a plan on what you really want to do. Where you want to end up, where you want to see yourself in five or ten years. Comics publishing is very much a machine. It’s either the machine will work you or you work the machine. So you really have to think about where you want to go and what you want to do.” He went on to say,“You need to carve out your own identity as a creator. The best thing you can do is to, not only work in comics, but also kind of spread out your neck, you know. Do your own independent stories, work in animation, work in video games. Try to wear as many hats as you can.”
PopCultHQ Interview with Jonboy Meyers
After his panel ended, PopCultHQ got the opportunity to sit down with Jonboy. Actually, I’m assuming for being seated at the recent panel, he decided he wanted to stand for our interview.
PopCultHQ: Thanks for taking to time to meet with me. A lot of great stuff was brought up in your panel. Some great background on you. I hope you don’t mind me quoting some of that. For the article.
Jonboy Meyers: “Oh sure. Not a problem. Okay.”
PopCultHQ: I thought of a couple of things while you were talking in there. Is there a character that you would love the opportunity to draw?
Jonboy Meyers: “The character I would love to draw? Probably Batman. Batman and Captain America. Growing up as a kid, Captain America was my first comic book superhero, aside for Unknown Soldier. I grew up on war comics. My dad brought home a Captain America bicentennial annual drawn by Jack Kirby and is fighting Magneto, and I think the mutants or something like that. And I’m like, “Oh my God, Captain America!” My second was a Bernie Wrightson Swamp Thing/Batman giant-sized thing my grandma had given me and that was, those two characters cemented for me that idealize what comics are all about. Captain America and Batman, those two characters I have really yet to work on.”
PopCultHQ: What upcoming projects do you have lined up?
Jonboy Meyers: “I can’t talk about what I am working on just yet; I’ll make the publisher make those when they are ready to announce. I am hard at work on projects right now. I am doing some video game stuff now too. Doing covers and stuff like that.”
PopCultHQ: My boss, Manny, was curious… how do you feel having your last issue of Spawn cut and switched like that? I know business is business, but…
Jonboy Meyers: “No, no, no. It wasn’t that. I had already told Todd (McFarlane) I was moving on for another project. Said that’s fine. So I just finished that half an issue and he got Szymon (Kudranski), who was the previous Spawn artist before me to finish up.”
PopCultHQ: Will you be back on Spawn when (Erik) Larsen leaves?
Jonboy Meyers: “I think if Todd would ask me, maybe, depends if my schedule’s freed up. I don’t know how long these things will last. ‘Cause comics, things change all the time. I’d go back to Spawn, sure. I really enjoyed working on the character. It was a lot of fun, so yeah.”
The Art of Jonboy Meyers Gallery
Be sure to visit Jonboy’s website. You can view his work, learn about his background, and even purchase commission pieces.
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