Antarctic Press Illustrations for “Gold Digger Swimsuit Specials” by Miguel Guerra

Here are some more oldies but goodies. If I go way back, the first illustrations I published was with Antartic Press. I was published in 3 different issues:

• Gold Digger Swimsuit Special #4 
• Gold Digger Swimsuit Special #5
• Gold Digger Swimsuit Special #7 

The Dark Side of Comics

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ When you’re young and finally get published, it should be a thrill! A HUGE accomplishment. So, you’d think someone would contact you to say, ‘Congratulations! We’re gonna publish your work.’ Right?

ヾ(｡>﹏<｡)ﾉﾞApparently that super low bar was too high. Not only did Antarctic Press NOT tell me that I was published, they didn’t bother to pay me! That’s right. I submitted my work, their editors selected my illustrations, published them and didn’t contact me at all. They didn’t even add my name to the credits on one of the issues! I guess they thought I’d never notice?

Well, I did notice. I went to my local comic shop, saw the issue on the shelves and flipped through it. I was super happy to see my work was included. Yeah, baby! I was a now published artist. But a moment later I realized they  didn’t even tell me!” How bad do you have to be as an editor to publish someone and NOT tell them. It’s absolutely ludicrous. 

I was proud, angry and embarrassed, all at the same time. It really sucked. I contacted the editors and they agreed to pay me (gee, thanks). They even said they wanted to publish more of my illustrations. Honestly, getting paid was important, but my real goal was to build my publishing credits and professional portfolio. Can you believe that? The level of disrespect for the artist by the comic’s industry (at least 20 years ago) was a joke for people starting out.

∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ So, here are my first published illustrations…even if it was surprise to me at the time.