February 20, 2024
In late ’94 a group of local comic creators came together to break into the business and publish a comic book known as “Rough Cut”. It was an amazing collection of stories and storytellers whose talents strove to be a part of the industry landscape. Combining their creativeness and finances they were able to publish a professional comic to sell alongside such greats as X-Men, Batman, and Spawn. But as is the case when too many “cooks are in the kitchen” the comic line floundered after only two issues and the creatives all went their separate ways.
Four of those artists; Dirk, Robert, Scott, and Shawn, came together that following year. Like-minded in the pursuit of their dreams of working in the comics industry these four young men became close friends and saw the potential in each other as well as a whole. They agreed that their strength lay in combining their talents and unifying in a common singular studio as opposed to several independent projects. Together they formed Rain King Studios, the masthead for their future publications.
The first unifying project was a pin-up style comic called “Bad Girls”. Each member took on the duty of producing pencils and inks for eight illustrations to be published utilizing various characters of their own creations. These would range in genre and convey the creativity and ambition of these four artists. With a deadline established work was underway and the four pulled ideas from each other on layout and character. Soon after they were including each other in their pieces to further cement the studio’s philosophy of banding together for the common goal. With the completed book sent to the printer and a release date scheduled the team began to schedule their live appearances to promote the book and sell enough copies to finance further projects.
Unfortunately, their rise to fame would be stunted as the release of their book was mired by a controversial sting operation at their local comic shop. Their book would be seized with several others and their big day would fall flat. Though they continued to work on projects together they would not find the unity that they had once held. Life would slowly pull them in different directions and the “studio” would drift into history.
Now, twenty-five years later a resurgence in the drive has blossomed and these four young men are striking out again to make their mark on the comic and entertainment industry. With more experience and knowledge under their belt and a few new tools at their disposal, they seek to stake their claim as comic book illustrators and succeed where others had failed.