NORM BREYFOGLE SPOTLIGHT

This month, the Acclaim Comics Spotlight features artist Norm Breyfogle, one of the premiere artists to have joined the Valiant Universe's spectacular new talent lineup.

Norm Breyfogle has made more than a name for himself with compelling pencils on DC's Batman, Malibu's Prime and numerous other projects. His ten-year career in comics has been one of growth and evolution. Many fans first became aware of his unusual skills on First Comics' Bob Violence, a backup feature in Howard Chaykin's American Flagg, but he was actually published much earlier at the age of seventeen, when he produced Techs Team, a comic created to promote Northern Michigan University. By the time of his "discovery" by Lee Marrs at the 1985 San Diego Comic Con, he had honed his skills as a penciller, inker and painter through four years of college and a lot of late-night hours as a drafter.

Working from influences such as Neal Adams and Frank Frazetta, he quickly developed a reputation as an easy-going artist, who enjoyed the collaborative medium, and rapidly established himself in the comics industry. This year, he sees two high points in his career, as he launches the Malibu/Bravura creator-owned series Metaphysique and lends his incredible style to Valiant's own Bloodshot.

"I think it's a natural evolution for me to move onto Bloodshot," said Breyfogle at the recent Acclaim Comics talent summit in New York City. "The character of Bloodshot is Batman and Prime crossed, bombastic, dark and gritty, but without the cape!" Since he lives over a half hour from the nearest comics store, Mr. Breyfogle had very little knowledge of Bloodshot until recently, having seen only a few ads and covers. His first impression, that Bloodshot was just an "Arnold Schwarzenegger clone" was quickly dispelled when he read a few issues, and became intrigued by the story's design elements and the science-fictional aspects of the series. "I didn't know about the nanites in his blood or understand the character until I read the book."

In addition to penciling and inking Bloodshot, Mr. Breyfogle is also at work on another, secret project for Acclaim Comics in collaboration with writer Jesse "Hurricane" Berdinka. Acclaim, and the Valiant Universe, is proud to welcome Mr. Breyfogle aboard and is pleased to present his work as Birthquake sends further aftershocks through the industry.