Fate all but decreed that JE Smith would end up working in comics: he grew up in the small Southern Illinois town where virtually all comic books were printed. "Sparta, Illinois," Smith comments. "World Color Press was the name of the printing plant, but everyone in town just called it 'The Comic Book Factory.' Once a week or so, the employees would be given a bundle of comics to take home --- a pretty cool perk, even in the '70s. My dad didn't work there, but we knew people who did, so there were all these free comics floating around. That was nice because it gave me an opportunity to read a lot of different books that I may not have bought if I were spending allowance money on them." Reared during the glory days of the Bronze Age, Smith absorbed a myriad of influences, including Neal Adams, Jack Kirby, and of course, Berni Wrightson. "SWAMP THING was the coolest comic ever published, when I was a kid. Me and my buddy John Canfield used to sit out on his front porch and read them over and over. I must have read SWAMP THING #1 about a hundred times. I still have that dog-eared copy."

     After a typical middle-class upbringing, Smith graduated college with a B.A. in fine art, and headed south, moving to Dallas, TX in the mid-'80s. "I did some non-fiction writing for magazines like FILMFAX, FILMS IN REVIEW, and IMAGI-MOVIES, but I never really had what you'd call a 'creative' day job," Smith comments, "and some people tell me that's good, because you don't get burned out on it. But I was always doing little graphic art gigs on the side, and I was always drawing comics of some kind, even if most of them are too atrocious to show anyone!"

    In the mid-'90s, Smith's interest was piqued by Bill Schelly's book THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMIC FANDOM. "I'd published an SF/horror film fanzine called WET PAINT for about fifteen years, but I really didn't know much about comic fandom. Bill's book opened up a whole new world for me, and through him, I was able to get in touch with a lot of the folks who created comic fandom in the '60s." It was through this contact that Smith hooked up with Ronn Foss, an Alley Award-winning artist and one of the former editors of the legendary fanzine ALTER EGO. "Ronn was producing a horror/fantasy strip called DESTINY: VAMPIRE MERMAID for SCARY MONSTERS magazine. He had seen some of my artwork, and asked if I wanted to pencil a four-page story." The result was "Lycanthrope" in SCARY MONSTERS , Smith's first published comics work. Over the next couple of years, Smith continued to work on DESTINY, in various capacities, including scripting, penciling, lettering, and inking. "Ronn likes my inks, and often had me ink other pencilers. It was a great learning experience. You find out what looks good in print, as opposed to on the actual artwork. You learn what works on a printed page, and what doesn't. I'm very grateful to Ronn for the opportunity, and I still do the occasional DESTINY job for him."

    It was around this time that Smith decide to take the plunge and fulfill a lifelong ambition to publish his own comic book. The result was three issues of BULLETPROOF, a superhero satire that met with rave reviews. "Again, BULLETPROOF was a tremendous learning experience," Smith says. "You figure out very quickly that self-publishing can never just be about the art and story. You have to be very savvy about the business side now. And it takes a lot of promotion -- it's very difficult to get an independent book noticed these days."

     Indeed, Smith is bringing all that he has learned to bear on the production of his newest project, COMPLEX CITY. "I'm totally jazzed about COMPLEX CITY," Smith adds with a grin. "It's set in the same basic 'universe' as BULLETPROOF, and BP is a supporting character, but the focus of the stories is much broader. BP was basically a spoof, a way to have a great deal of fun with time-honored superhero conventions. But CC is my attempt to create a more fully-rounded universe. It's not really a superhero book, even though it has a few super-types in the background, and in fact the main character is Bulldog Malone, the tough-talking cop who was a supporting player in the pages of BULLETPROOF. Things are a lot more, well, complex in this new one. Pretty much anything goes in this book, so sit back and enjoy the ride!

    Because, in the end, it's all about the comics. "You really have to love the medium," Smith says. "The comics business is a harsh mistress. It's not for the weak of heart. But I'm hoping that readers will get a bang out of CC. It's an oddball mix of science fiction, fantasy, superheroics, humor, monsters, you name it ... it's a little left of center, but I think it's a fun read, and I'm looking forward to a long run."

     JE Smith is a thirty-something guy with a few pro writing credits and a lifelong love of comics. He lives in Irving, TX (a suburb of Dallas), with his lovely wife Barbara, cats Max & Joshie, and several billion action figures. He wants everyone to know that he is thoroughly committed to the ideals of self-publishing, and that he will never, ever, ever sell out, no matter how much money they offer him.                                             

Terry Moore and JE Smith