Mort Todd

Mort Todd

Todd in April 2016
Born (1961-11-09) November 9, 1961
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker, Editor, Publisher, Animator, Filmmaker, Music producer, Actor
Pseudonym(s) E. O'Brain, Eel O'Brian, Eel O'Brian[1]
Notable works
 Cracked
Comicfix
Charlton Neo
Official website

Mort Todd[1] (born Michael Delle-Femine, November 9, 1961)[2] is an American writer and media entrepreneur, best known as an editor-in-chief of Cracked magazine, and later, Marvel Music. He is owner of Comicfix, a media company that has developed licensed properties.

As a writer, artist or editor, Todd has worked at several comic book companies, contributing to characters including Superman and Spider-Man, and to licensed properties such as Barbie and Looney Tunes. His illustrations appear on CD covers, magazines, newspapers, and print advertisements.

Career

Early work

With Daniel Clowes, Pete Friedrich and Rick Altergott, Mort Todd contributed stories and art to Psycho Comics. He sold his first screenplay for a TV pilot called The Ultimates to a German production company while still a teenager. The pilot was produced, but never distributed, and stars a young Clowes as a teen rock 'n' roll superhero. Mort also wrote and penciled some stories for Clowes' Lloyd Llewellyn series from Fantagraphics. Around then he started freelancing for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Kitchen Sink, Myron Fass, and many other smaller publishers.

Since 1984, he illustrated all eight volumes of Back From The Grave (Crypt Records), a compilation series of obscure proto-punk rock from the 1960s. The original art to the cover of Volume One is on permanent display at the Cornell University Punk Archive Collection.[3]

In 1985, Todd became editor-in-chief of Cracked magazine. There he signed artist Don Martin after a 32-year career at Mad Magazine.[4] Todd also published some of the earliest mainstream work of Altergott, Clowes, and Peter Bagge.

For Globe Communications, Todd created the comics magazine Monsters Attack!,[5] which featured horror comics and articles about movies. It ran five issues (Sept. 1989 - Dec. 1990), with Todd involved with the first four.[6]

Todd launched the imprint AAA, which published the first authorized collection of Bill Ward's pin-ups in W.O.W. (World of Ward). AAA also published a bilingual humor comic called Pepito with stories by writer George Gladir.

Marvel Comics

In 1994, Todd launched a line of music comics called Marvel Music at Marvel Comics, working with such artists as Kiss, Rob Zombie, The Rolling Stones, KRS-One, and the estates of Elvis Presley and Bob Marley. Some of the talent working on these books included Neil Gaiman, Kyle Baker, Dan Barry, Severin, Colan, and Morrow.[7]

While at Marvel, Todd also edited a series of pre-Comics Code horror and giant monster reprints (Curse of the Weird and Monster Menace),[5] and developed the oversized Comic Book by Ren & Stimpy-creator John Kricfalusi.

In 2005, Todd rejoined Cracked magazine, this time as a contributing editor, but left after several months.[8]

Todd has written and illustrated for the new Tales from the Crypt comic series, and completed new comic books featuring "Lucy Hell, Devilgirl", "The Secret Society", and the French/English language "Mr. Krime", the last written by Martyrs of Pop's Jean-Emmanuel Dubois. With his longtime collaborator Cliff Mott, Todd has created and directed three animated cartoons for Playboy.[9]

Film and TV

Todd has storyboarded commercials and produced animation for Walt Disney, Sesame Street, CBS, MTV, and Comcast, including an animated TV pilot featuring Christopher Walken.[10]

Todd was assistant director on the live-action film Distraction,[11] and directed his first live-action short, a gangster comedy called A Change of Heart. He is producer of The Diabolikal Super-Kriminal documentary, which had its world premiere in Italy at the Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival in November 2007,[12] and its U.S. premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con in July, 2009. The film was awarded a Special Mention at the convention and in November, 2011, won the "Golden Lobster" Director's Award at the Portland Maine Film Festival.[13] He has directed music videos for cartoonist Peter Bagge's Seattle band Can You Imagine?,[14] the psychobilly band Psycho Charger,[15] the Spanish Help Me Devil[16][17] as well as an animated tease for his animated Sadistik: Strip & Kill web series.[18] He also provided some animation for the documentary Arias with a Twist, directed by Bobby Sheehan.

Comicfix and Station A

The first work from Todd’s media company, Comicfix, was a trio of comic strips appearing in the New York Post, starting in 2000: Speed Racer, written and drawn by Mort; Celebrity Biografix by Mort and John Severin; and an interactive soap opera comic, Molly the Model by Mort, Cliff Mott and Pat Redding.[19] His illustrations appear on CD covers, magazines, newspapers and print advertisements.

Other work includes a comic booklet in the Wilmer Valderrama DVD, The Dead One (a.k.a. El Muerto); a CD cover for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the European tour poster and videos for his band with Matt Verta-Ray, Heavy Trash.[20] Comicfix also published the three issue run of Holy Terror by Jason Caskey & Phil Hester that was started at Image Comics but was never completed there.

In late 2011, Mort started Station A, a media company in Portland, Maine, that creates print advertising and comics,[21] as well as a live action TV commercial he directed for Nosh Kitchen Bar that stirred a local controversy for its depiction of vegans.[22] as did an animated commercial for Taco Escobarr.[21][23]

In July 2012, Tood launched a weekly humor magazine, Vex.[24]

On April 1, 2013, Todd perpetrated a hoax with the supposed discovery of a trove of 1950s horror comics from the fictitious Zeus Comics.[25][26] The following day he announced it as a hoax to promote a publishing project.[27]

Beginning in 2014, Comixflix also publishes The Charlton Arrow.[28] The comic was devised as a fanzine by Fester Faceplant, spinning off from his Charlton Arrow Facebook page.[29] As more and more creators got involved, including some original Charlton Comics veterans, the publication became a color comic. Mort became publisher and editor-in-chief.[30]

ACE Comics

In 2013, Mort Todd relaunched ACE Comics with publisher Ron Frantz, who had published the line in the 1980s.[31] Todd had contributed to ACE in 1987, collaborating on the comic Return of the Skyman with legendary illustrator Steve Ditko.[32]

The first new ACE Comics release was The Return of the Original Skyman Pencil Portfolio, advertised as a 25th Anniversary Collectors’ Edition. It is unique in that the original pencil pages of artist Steve Ditko are printed next to the finished ink pages embellished by Rick Altergott.[33]

The second title was Kill the Face!, reprinting the revival of the Golden Age of Comic Books character The Face, which Frantz released in the 1980s, with story by Joe Gill and art by Ditko with a cover by Alex Toth. As well as editing the book, Todd colored the collected issues, having been originally published in black and white.[34]

Another series being released by ACE is Classic Hot Rods and Racing Car Comics, a reprint series collecting the original Charlton Comics series, written and drawn by Jack Keller.[35]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames, eds. "Delle-Femine, Michael". Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide (1485). Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  3. ↑ The library that never sleeps: 24/7 access, on campus and around the world
  4. ↑ "MAD cartoonist Don Martin dies. The humor artist known for wacky words and sick jokes succumbs to cancer at age 68," Salon.com (January 7, 2000). Archived September 5, 2001, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. 1 2 Mort Todd at the Grand Comics Database.
  6. ↑ Monsters Attack (cover logo: Monsters Attack!) at the Grand Comics Database.
  7. ↑ Considine, J.D. "Comics That Rock -- It's Not The New Music Video - Yet - But The Comic Book Has Become A Hot Marketing Tool For Top Names In Rock," The Baltimore Sun (July 10, 1994).
  8. ↑ Arnold, Mark. If You're Cracked, You're Happy.
  9. ↑ Bunni Power - Sexy Superhero aniboom.com
  10. ↑ Christopher Walken Lost Cartoon - Sings & Dances youtube.com
  11. ↑ Distraction Full Cast & Crew imdb.com
  12. ↑ "Ravenna Nightmare Film Fest" press release, Stradanove.net (October 25, 2007).
  13. ↑ Portland Maine Film Festival announces festival winners mainetoday.com
  14. ↑ DRIVE by Can You Imagine? with Peter Bagge, Directed by Mort Todd youtube.com
  15. ↑ They Call Him SADISTIK! - Psycho Charger youtube.com
  16. ↑ Girls Today Don't Like to Sleep Alone - Help Me Devil youtube.com
  17. ↑ Free of Your Spell - Help Me Devil directed by Mort Todd youtube.com
  18. ↑ SADISTIK! Strip & Kill Animation Teaser 2011 youtube.com
  19. ↑ "New York Pulse: Golly It's Molly & You Can Meet Her". 'New York Post. January 29, 2001.
  20. ↑ Heavy Trash "Way Out" Redux youtube.com
  21. 1 2 station-a.com
  22. ↑ Sneaky burger: Nosh tricks vegetarians into eating meat...in a new commercial pressherald.com
  23. ↑ Tex-Mex flavors come alive, and kick you right in the pants, at Taco Escobarr themainemag.com
  24. ↑ Comics Man Reveals His Edge
  25. ↑ Long Lost Controversial Zeus Comics to be Displayed
  26. ↑ Zeus Comics On Display
  27. ↑ Comic Relief? Todd says Hoax Served Serious Purpose
  28. ↑ Comicfix (publisher)} at the Grand Comics Database.
  29. ↑ Charlton Arrow Facebook page
  30. ↑ Charlton Neo Home Page
  31. ↑ ACE Comics home page
  32. ↑ Return of the Skyman
  33. ↑ The Return of the Original Skyman Pencil Portfolio
  34. ↑ Kill the Face!
  35. ↑ ACE Comics Classic Hot Rods and Racing Car Comics
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