By Billy Tucci \u2013 North Baby\u00adlon, Long Island, was a great place to grow up. I spent the summers of my boyhood playing with my friends, making movies with my brothers, and romping through playgrounds and backyard barbecues. A few years later I was bombing down Deer Park Avenue with my 1966 Mustang Fastback piled with maniacs looking for girls and mischief. I played hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer, and basketball any time of the year. The only thing missing was fantasy and adventure in the worlds of the imagination. That I found in books.<\/p>\n
Sidney Lanier\u2019s The Boy\u2019s King Arthur<\/em>, with incredible illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, made a powerful impression on me. I fell in love with Guinevere, I admired Arthur, and I wanted to be all the knights, especially Lancelot and Galahad. Wyeth\u2019s art introduced me to the Brandywine School, the awesome group of early 20th-century American illustrators that also included Howard Pyle and Max\ufb01eld Parrish. This was the stuff dreams were made of, and I sought it all out. I knew I wanted to create stories like this, and I wanted to be both the writer and the artist.<\/p>\n Books answered questions for me; they fulfilled my hunger for knowledge. And I was ravenous. From junior high school to my senior year I consumed The World Book Encyclopedia<\/em>, 1967 edition, reading every volume cover to cover. I remember updating it as I went, \ufb01lling in the dates for the deaths of Ro\u00adbert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. And, of course, the encyclopedia only \ufb01red my fascination with a host of subjects: dinosaurs, war, medieval Eur\u00adope, feudal Japan\u2014you name it. I wanted to know everything. There was that big book about World War II that I borrowed from the public library over and over again. There was another volume I read repeatedly on the lives of the saints. I read Greek mythology by way of Bul\ufb01nch and Hamilton. And, of course, I read the typical smattering of Bur\u00adroughs and How\u00adard, Lon\u00addon, and Steven\u00adson\u2014Treasure Island<\/em> was a particular favor\u00adite. I guess one strand ran through everything I read, and that was my fascination with heroism. I believed in great deeds done by larger-than-life heroes. I still do\u2014that\u2019s where Crusade Comics got its name.<\/p>\n But in all of this reading, one thing was missing, and that was comics themselves. Somehow they never caught me until I was well into adulthood, when an Army buddy turned me on to them. I had missed it all, and I\u2019ve been playing catch-up for the past half-decade. The great creators of the Golden and Silver Ages were unknown to me until very recently. Even Jack Kirby was a relatively recent discovery. Here was a universe of creations that appealed to everything that sparked my joy and wonder, all new to me!<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been learning as I go. Even as I\u2019ve created Shi<\/em>, I\u2019ve discovered new in\ufb02uences: Frank Miller\u2019s Elektra Lives Again<\/em>; Dave Stevens\u2019 The Rocketeer<\/em>; Koike and Kojima\u2019s Lone Wolf and Cub<\/em>; and anything by Bernie Wrightson. I am constantly renewed, challenged, and inspired by other creators publishing their work today: Terry Moore\u2019s Strangers in Paradise<\/em>; Jeff Smith\u2019s Bone<\/em>; Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Ques\u00adada\u2019s Ash<\/em>; and Steve Bis\u00adsette\u2019s Tyrant<\/em>; Don Simp\u00adson\u2019s Bizarre Heroes<\/em>; and Dave Sim\u2019s Cerebus<\/em>\u2014a model for us all. I\u2019m trying to make up for lost time by devouring as much as I can of the work of my peers and my predecessors.<\/p>\n What books am I reading now? A couple of biographies: Edmund Morris\u2019 The Rise of Theo\u00addore Roose\u00advelt<\/em>\u2014loaned to me by Shi<\/em> Editor Gary Cohn\u2014and Mu\u00adsashi<\/em>, by Eiji Yoshikawa. William Stout and William Ser\u00advice\u2019s incredible The Dino\u00adsaurs<\/em>. Ano\u00adther Cohn suggestion, Japan Prepares for Total War<\/em>, by Mich\u00adael Barnhart, Gary\u2019s doctoral dissertation advisor in the His\u00adtory Depart\u00adment at SUNY Stony\u00ad Brook. I don\u2019t know if these qualify as light summer reading, but they\u2019ve caught my attention.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still drawn to heroism, adventure, dynamic action, and drama, and I still \ufb01nd it all in books. Reading is how I\u2019ve learned to understand the world around me, and it\u2019s still where I \ufb01nd hope, inspiration, and faith. My greatest source for these things is the Bible, which I try to read from at least several times a week before I go to sleep at night. The Bible contains the best stories ever told, as well as the greatest story ever told, and the deepest meaning I\u2019ve ever found\u2014it\u2019s what drives me to continue my crusade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Billy Tucci \u2013 North Baby\u00adlon, Long Island, was a great place to grow up. I spent the summers of my boyhood playing with my friends, making movies with my brothers, and romping through playgrounds and backyard barbecues. A few years later I was bombing down Deer Park Avenue with my 1966 Mustang Fastback piled with maniacs looking for girls and mischief. I played hockey in the winter, baseball in the summer, and basketball any time of the year. The only thing missing was fantasy and adventure in the worlds of the imagination. That I found in books. Sidney Lanier\u2019s The Boy\u2019s King Arthur, with incredible illustrations by N.C. Wyeth, made a powerful impression on me. I fell in love with Guinevere, I admired Arthur, and I wanted to be all the knights, especially Lancelot and Galahad. Wyeth\u2019s art introduced me to the Brandywine School, the awesome group of early 20th-century American illustrators that also included Howard Pyle and Max\ufb01eld Parrish. This was the stuff dreams were made of, and I sought it all out. I knew I wanted to create stories like this, and I wanted to be both the writer and the artist. Books answered questions for me; they fulfilled my hunger for knowledge. And I was ravenous. From junior high school to my senior year I consumed The World Book Encyclopedia, 1967 edition, reading every volume cover to cover. I remember updating it as I went, \ufb01lling in the dates for the deaths of Ro\u00adbert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. And, of course, the encyclopedia only \ufb01red my fascination with a host of subjects: dinosaurs, war, medieval Eur\u00adope, feudal Japan\u2014you name it. I wanted to know everything. There was that big book about World War II that I borrowed from the public library over and over again. There was another volume I read repeatedly on the lives of the saints. I read Greek mythology by way of Bul\ufb01nch and Hamilton. And, of course, I read the typical smattering of Bur\u00adroughs and How\u00adard, Lon\u00addon, and Steven\u00adson\u2014Treasure Island was a particular favor\u00adite. I guess one strand ran through everything I read, and that was my fascination with heroism. I believed in great deeds done by larger-than-life heroes. I still do\u2014that\u2019s where Crusade Comics got its name. But in all of this reading, one thing was missing, and that was comics themselves. Somehow they never caught me until I was well into adulthood, when an Army buddy turned me on to them. I had missed it all, and I\u2019ve been playing catch-up for the past half-decade. The great creators of the Golden and Silver Ages were unknown to me until very recently. Even Jack Kirby was a relatively recent discovery. Here was a universe of creations that appealed to everything that sparked my joy and wonder, all new to me! I\u2019ve been learning as I go. Even as I\u2019ve created Shi, I\u2019ve discovered new in\ufb02uences: Frank Miller\u2019s Elektra Lives Again; Dave Stevens\u2019 The Rocketeer; Koike and Kojima\u2019s Lone Wolf and Cub; and anything by Bernie Wrightson. I am constantly renewed, challenged, and inspired by other creators publishing their work today: Terry Moore\u2019s Strangers in Paradise; Jeff Smith\u2019s Bone; Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Ques\u00adada\u2019s Ash; and Steve Bis\u00adsette\u2019s Tyrant; Don Simp\u00adson\u2019s Bizarre Heroes; and Dave Sim\u2019s Cerebus\u2014a model for us all. I\u2019m trying to make up for lost time by devouring as much as I can of the work of my peers and my predecessors. What books am I reading now? A couple of biographies: Edmund Morris\u2019 The Rise of Theo\u00addore Roose\u00advelt\u2014loaned to me by Shi Editor Gary Cohn\u2014and Mu\u00adsashi, by Eiji Yoshikawa. William Stout and William Ser\u00advice\u2019s incredible The Dino\u00adsaurs. Ano\u00adther Cohn suggestion, Japan Prepares for Total War, by Mich\u00adael Barnhart, Gary\u2019s doctoral dissertation advisor in the His\u00adtory Depart\u00adment at SUNY Stony\u00ad Brook. I don\u2019t know if these qualify as light summer reading, but they\u2019ve caught my attention. I\u2019m still drawn to heroism, adventure, dynamic action, and drama, and I still \ufb01nd it all in books. Reading is how I\u2019ve learned to understand the world around me, and it\u2019s still where I \ufb01nd hope, inspiration, and faith. My greatest source for these things is the Bible, which I try to read from at least several times a week before I go to sleep at night. The Bible contains the best stories ever told, as well as the greatest story ever told, and the deepest meaning I\u2019ve ever found\u2014it\u2019s what drives me to continue my crusade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23,53,52],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recommended-reading","tag-billy-tucci","tag-issue-9","tag-october-1995"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/eacottdesign.com\/combo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}