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InventHelp® Employee Takes Comic Books Seriously

While many InventHelp® employees have creative talents that they pursue outside of work, very few of them realize any kind of critical or public acclaim for their efforts. However, that's not the case for InventHelp® Technical Illustrator Tom Scioli, whose name has achieved recognition among comic book aficionados. Prior to this year, Scioli's resume already boasted work on titles like Freedom Force and The Fantastic Four, as well as his own creation, The Myth of 8-Opus. Now, this past June, the artist teamed up with celebrated writer Joe Casey to launch the first issue of their intergalactic epic, Godland. The Image Comics-released series recently hit the big-time – and thrust Tom Scioli's name into the mainstream – with an appearance in the September 23 issue of the popular national magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Always a talented artist with an insatiable passion for drawing, Scioli began illustrating comic books in college at the University of Pittsburgh, where he and some friends founded the anthology magazine Codex Pop. His comic art career took off when one of his Codex Pop stories, The Myth of 8-Opus, caught the eye of Image Comics Publisher Erik Larsen, who subsequently enlisted Scioli to work on projects like the World's Greatest Comics: Fantastic Four mini-series and the popular Freedom Force saga.

Larsen then envisioned Scioli teaming up with veteran Marvel and DC Comics writer Joe Casey, whose portfolio includes story lines for The Uncanny X-Men and
Adventures of Superman. In February 2004, Casey and Scioli began to collaborate on the project that would become Godland. After some initial back-and-forth brainstorming, Scioli knew he was a perfect fit to breathe life into Casey's narrative vision.

"I was completely floored when he sent me the outline for the first issue," said the artist. "It was exactly the type of project I had always imagined myself working on. Before hooking up with Joe, I'd never met anyone whose perception of what he wanted to accomplish so closely matched my own goals."

The Godland story revolves around protagonist Adam Archer, an astronaut who unlocks the power of a buried alien artifact and subsequently becomes entangled in a larger cosmic opera where he confronts unusual beings from the farthest reaches of the universe. Judging by the positive responses since Godland #1 hit stores on July 22, it looks like Casey and Scioli have achieved their goal of creating something that is truly cosmic in scope.

The Entertainment Weekly review awarded Godland a highly favorable "B+" mark and praised "the unexpectedly freaky touches" that Scioli's illustrations bring to the table. Scioli hopes this kind of mainstream coverage will help to expand the series' audience beyond its current base of die-hard comic book fans.

"I'd be thrilled to draw Godland no matter how many people were reading it, but it's definitely nice to have this type of national exposure," Scioli reflects. "I think that Godland has something in it for almost anyone, and we just needed a springboard like the Entertainment Weekly article to get the word out to the general public."

So what's next for Scioli? With the third installment of Gødland just released this month and several other projects in the works, he should have enough on his plate to keep him busy for a long time. Does this mean InventHelp® clients should be worried about the talented Technical Illustrator's possible departure from the company?

"I'm not quitting my job at InventHelp® anytime soon," Scioli laughs. "The comic book audience is extremely fickle. They might love what we're doing right now, but there's no guarantee they'll feel the same way in six months."

We here at InventHelp® encourage all of our employees to pursue their creative talents away from their daily jobs, and we are especially proud of the brilliant art that Tom Scioli has brought to the comic book arena. Here's hoping that Godland continues to build on its early popularity, allowing Tom to realize his dream to "draw this series for the rest of my life." If you're a fan of comic books, pick up a copy of Godland and enjoy Tom Scioli's innovative, out-of-the-box approach to art.

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