Former Connellsville men enjoy life as comic book artists
Herald-Standard Two former Connellsville men, who are living their dream as comic book artists, will be signing autographs this weekend in Pittsburgh.
Jim Rugg of Pittsburgh and D.J. Coffman of Scottdale, both formerly of the Connellsville area, have “made it big” in the comic book business with high profile projects, according to Todd McDevitt, New Dimensions Comics owner.
McDevitt said Rugg is the artist chosen to launch Minx, a new imprint from DC Comics aimed at young adult readers with “The Plain Janes” and Coffman, who is the winner of the 2006 Comic Book Challenge, a contest hosted by publisher Platinum Studios, was chosen out of 50 finalists to be published for his comic book series “Hero By Night.”
Both men will appear in Cranberry Township Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Piazza Plaza, 20550 Route 19, where they will sign autographs and do free sketches and on May 26 from 3-5 p.m. at Century III Mall.
McDevitt said during the autograph signing events, both artists have agreed to do an original free sketch for each copy purchased at New Dimension Comics. He additionally said that “The Plain Janes” went on sale Wednesday while “Hero By Night #1” has been out since March. Both books will be available at the book signings.
Coffman, originally from Vanderbilt, said he and Rugg both grew up in the Connellsville area where they drew comics and now they are both working in the field.
Coffman said prior to entering the contest last summer he had been drawing comics for quite a while.
“The contest that I won was kind of like an ‘American Idol’ for comic books and I won it and flew out west to California,” he said. “I’m happy that it has turned into a full-time gig for me.”
Coffman, the father of three sons, said “Hero By Night” is a monthly premier graphic novel geared towards a new young adult audience. He additionally said that he has added some local flare to his comics such as a monster in a river called the Yough.
“DC Comics’ gave me the opportunity to create my own super hero,” he continued. “I thought that a lot of the comics out there now were getting a little too mature so this was my chance to create something reminiscence of the 1960s and 70s.”
Coffman said his hero is a new guy who finds a secret lair of a hero from the1950s.
“He finds all of this stuff from the former hero and decides that he’s going to put it on eBay,” said Coffman. “Instead of becoming a hero himself he just wants to become rich off of it but that brings all of the old bad guys back from the past thinking that the hero has returned.”
Coffman said now the new guy has a modern-day moral dilemma of whether he should take the money and run or use the hero’s power ring to save his friends and be the new hero of the Steel City (named after Pittsburgh).
Coffman said he has no formal art or writing training but has simply picked up his craft on his own. He additionally said that he has the support of his wife, Calista VanSickle, formerly of Vanderbilt, and of his three sons ages 10, 9 and 6.
Coffman, 31, said the second Comic Book Challenge, sponsored by NBC and Platinum Studios, is happening right now.
“People can submit to Comicbookchallenge.com until May 31,” he said. “People with ideas should really enter this contest because that’s how I go my contract and if someday Platinum Studios, producers of “Men in Black” should decide to take the comic to a higher level such as television or a movie I would also see royalties from that.”
Rugg, a 1995 Connellsville Area High School graduate and a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been creating comics since 2000. He said he started out doing his own stuff and then began working with a bigger publisher.
“I had a day job and was contacted by a publisher after they saw my stuff,” he said. “I think if I were trying to make a living at it in 2000 it might have been very difficult.”
Rugg, 30, who worked a day job as a graphic designer, said his most recent book is also targeted towards young adult audiences.
Rugg’s book, “The Plain Janes” is about a girl who is trying to adjust to the suburbs after moving from a big city following a terrorist attack. Rugg said the main character was “kind of the popular girl” in the city but after going through the terrorist experience and moving away she re-evaluates her values and looks for a different set of friends.
Rugg said the main character, Jane, befriends a number of other girls who are also named Jane. He said that although he does all of the artwork he does not write the series.
“This is something that I always wanted to do,” he said. “It think everyone who loves comics always wants to do their own. It’s kind of an unusual field and that’s how D.J. and I met when I was in high school.”
Rugg said he and Coffman spent most of their time creating comics. Rugg said Coffman’s dad had a comic book store in Connellsville at the time and that’s where they met.
“I’m really looking forward to the book signing because it’s something that we can do together,” said Rugg. “It will be nice to see him again.”
Rugg said the best part of doing his job is not working in a cubical anymore.
“It’s just great getting up in the morning and taking a break in the middle of the day and going out for a run,” he continued. “That’s just something that I couldn’t have done with my previous job.”
Rugg said he worked in graphic design for seven years before he got his break. Rugg said he’s not sure if “The Plain Janes” will become a series because DC Comics hasn’t said if that’s the way they want to go.
“This is the start of a whole new line for them called Minx, which is a full line of graphic novels aimed at young adults,” he said, “and this is the first book in that line. Hopefully it is successful and we will do more books.”
Rugg is working on another graphic novel with Minx right now but that hasn’t been announced yet so he didn’t want to say too much about it. He is also working on a small Marvel Comics story, he started a job with VH1 and he inks a monthly book called “American Virgin,” aimed at a more mature audience.
Rugg, who also has the full support from his wife Natalie, said his book “The Plain Janes” is available through Amazon.com, Borders.com or any bookstore.
Rugg said he got “The Plain Janes” job through his first book, “Street Angel,” which he co wrote with Brian Maruca through Slave Labor Graphics. He said he was doing mini comics, sent them around to a few publishers when Slave Labor notified him that they were interested in printing them.
“I did a series for them and they collected them into one big thick book,” said Rugg. “After that I did a historical fiction comic for a text book publisher in 2005 and shortly after that I hooked up with Shelly Bond on the Minx book.”
For more information on Coffman’s series, produced by Platinum Studios or Image Comics visit Herobynight.com, where you can read the comic for free. Rugg can be reached at jimrugg@hotmail.com.