Why DID we choose comics from the 1980s as our focus?
The Bronze Age is — for us — the most fertile period in comics history. It was when we first discovered comic books; it also coincided with a weird rift in the fabric of spacetime that allowed an industry in flux to reimagine what was possible. We all remember the eye-popping results: The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Love & Rockets, Maus, and on and on.
But what of the lesser known gems that defined this era? Thriller, Grimjack, Nexus, Concrete, Mr. Monster, Scout, Stray Toasters, and so many others? These comics and their creators blazed luminous new trails that forever changed the course of the medium. COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! exists to celebrate and reckon with the extraordinary legacy of 1980s American comics.
Steven Bagatourian
Since the age of seven, I’ve been unreasonably obsessed with comic books, especially the ‘80s output of DC and the indie boom of that day (Pacific, Eclipse, First, Comico, Vortex, etc).
Dropping out of school at 16 to pursue my dream of being a comics artist, somewhere along the way I fell into a dystopian parallel universe where I became a professional screenwriter instead. My credits include American Gun, starring Forest Whitaker and Amanda Seyfried (nominated for Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards) and All Eyez On Me (the landmark biopic of Tupac Shakur). I teach screenwriting at the Jacob Krueger Studio in NYC where I love helping students find their voices on the page.
Currently, I’m in development on one of my passion projects: a television show about the birth of the comic book industry, with Jenette Kahn, the legendary longtime Publisher of DC Comics, attached to produce.
Desert island ‘80s comic: Moore, Bissette, and Totleben’s majestic run on Swamp Thing
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Chris Derrick
Who reads these, anyway?
If you are reading this, you probably want to know something about me… My first comic book memory is buying Fantastic Four #259 off a rack at the Westside Market in Cleveland (it’s that cover where a Godzilla-size Dr. Doom is holding 3/4 of the FF in the palm of his giant metal hand — not sure where Reed was that day); I was hooked; an obsession was born.
I came to Hollywood with feature filmmaker dreams; eventually, I pivoted to writing for television. After being part of the writing staff for Star Trek: Picard for Seasons 2 and 3 (the poignant finale for the TNG crew), I jumped to The Equalizer for Seasons 3 and 4. Besides developing a few TV shows and indie films, I’m also creating a space opera comic — Eclipse of the Nine Suns — with artist extraordinaire Barnaby Bagenda (The Omega Men).
Desert island ‘80s comic: the awe-inspiring Alien Legion by Carl Potts, Alan Zelentez, Frank Cirocco, and Larry Stroman
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