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Carl Potts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carl Potts
Potts in 2024
Born (1952-11-12) November 12, 1952 (age 72)
Oakland, California, US
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Inker, Editor
Notable works
Alien Legion
Epic Comics
The Punisher War Journal

Carl Potts (born November 12, 1952)[1] is an American comics artist, writer, teacher, and editor best known for creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics.

Early life

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Born in Oakland, California, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Hawaii, Potts received an associate degree in commercial art from Chabot College in Hayward, California.[2] He received his bachelor's degree in creative writing and editing from SUNY – Empire State College.

Career

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After contributing to such comics fanzines as the anthology Venture,[3] Potts drew backgrounds and some secondary figures for a late fill-in issue of DC Comics' Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter, being drawn by Bay Area comics artists Jim Starlin and Alan Weiss.[2] Potts began his comics career in 1975.[4]

Relocating to New York City, he freelanced briefly until joining Neal Adams' commercial art company and comic book packager Continuity Studios and was a member of the Crusty Bunkers.[5] As he explained in a 2000 interview: "Continuity was gearing up to produce black-and-white magazines based on several TV series: The Six Million Dollar Man, Space: 1999, and Emergency!. I got involved with storyboard and comp art for major New York ad agencies. I also produced finished-illustration for magazines and books for several years before joining Marvel's editorial staff in 1983".[2][6]

Marvel Comics

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At Marvel as an editor, Potts discovered and/or mentored many top comics creators including Arthur Adams,[7][8] Jon Bogdanove, June Brigman, Jim Lee,[9] Mike Mignola,[10] Mike Okamoto, Whilce Portacio, Terry Shoemaker, Steve Skroce, Larry Stroman, Sal Velutto, Chris Warner, and Scott Williams. He oversaw the development of the Punisher from guest star to franchise character, and edited such titles as The Incredible Hulk, Doctor Strange, The Defenders, The Thing,[11] Alpha Flight, and Moon Knight, as well as the newly created Amazing High Adventure, Power Pack, Strikeforce: Morituri, and What The--?!.[12] He was the editor who produced the first Rocket Raccoon miniseries.[10] Potts' editorship was humorously characterized in 1988 as "a remarkable feat considering [his] legendary spelling disability."[13]

After hours, Potts continued to write and produce occasional art for Marvel. He created the "Last of the Dragons" serial which appeared in Epic Illustrated #15–20 (Dec. 1982–Oct. 1983) and was written by Dennis O'Neil and inked by Terry Austin.[14][15] In 1983, Potts teamed with Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco to co-create the series Alien Legion, conceived as "the French Foreign Legion in space." Two ongoing series and several miniseries and one-shots were produced.[2][16] In 2007, Potts' Alien Legion screenplay was optioned by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and The Walt Disney Company.[17] Bruckheimer exercised the option and bought the script in 2010, hiring Game of Thrones show runner David Benioff to do a rewrite.[citation needed]

Potts wrote and, for the early issues, did layouts for the launch of the Punisher War Journal title in 1988 with Jim Lee doing the finished art.[18] In 1989, Potts was named executive editor in charge of the Epic imprint, and about a third of the mainstream Marvel titles.[12] Five years later, he became editor-in-chief of the "General Entertainment" and Epic Comics divisions.[2]

Later career

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After 13 years at Marvel, Potts left to become Creative Director at VR-1, a massively multiplayer online game company.[2] He then worked with Gary Winnick and Cirocco's Lightsource Studios[2] before freelancing. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts[19] and the Academy of Art University.[20]

In 2023 the rights to his Alien Legion were picked up by Warner Bros., with Tim Miller slated to direct an adaptation.[21]

Personal life

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Potts and his wife Cathy have two children.[citation needed]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Potts, Carl (2013). The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling. Watson-Guptill. ISBN 978-0385344722.

Comics

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Charlton Comics

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DC Comics

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HM Communications, Inc.

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Marvel Comics

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Epic Comics
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References

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  1. ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Ellis, Jonathan (May 2000). "Interview: Carl Potts". PopImage.com. Archived from the original on May 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Carl Potts". Lambiek Comiclopedia. 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  4. ^ Carl Potts at the Grand Comics Database
  5. ^ Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames. "Crusty Bunkers". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. Archived from the original on May 11, 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2012.
  6. ^ DeFalco, Tom (2008). "1980s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.). Marvel Chronicle: A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 210. ISBN 978-0756641238. The editorial staff also changed in 1983. Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and Carl Potts all became editors.
  7. ^ Cooke, Jon B. (January 2002). "The Art of Arthur Adams". Comic Book Artist (17). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016.
  8. ^ Khoury, George; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2006). Modern Masters, Vol. 6: Arthur Adams. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1893905542.
  9. ^ Lee, Jim; Baker, Bill (2010). Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee. London, United Kingdom: Titan Books. pp. 8–10. ISBN 978-1845765194.
  10. ^ a b "VF / NM Industry Interview: Carl Potts". VeryFineNearMint.com. January 10, 2010. Archived from the original on December 7, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2016. When I became an editor, Mike [Mignola] had just penciled his first story, a Sub-Mariner job for Marvel Fanfare. We renewed our acquaintance and I assigned him his first series as a penciller, Rocket Raccoon.
  11. ^ Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel Comics cover-dated November 1983.
  12. ^ a b Carl Potts (editor) at the Grand Comics Database
  13. ^ The Punisher War Journal #1 (1988). Reprinted in The Punisher War Journal: Classic, (Marvel Comics, 2008) ISBN 978-0-7851-3118-2, p. 33
  14. ^ Dueben, Alex (March 1, 2016). "Former Marvel Editor Returns to 'Last of the Dragons', Talks Mentoring Talent". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. One of Potts' first comics projects, 'Last of the Dragons', originally published in Epic Illustrated, has been repackaged and released by Dover Books. The story, written and illustrated by the comics veteran in the early '80s, has a unique take on monks, ninjas, samurais and dragons as a group of monks in 19th Century Japan have trained dragons and plan to bring them to America.
  15. ^ Potts, Carl; O'Neil, Dennis (2015). Last of the Dragons. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. p. 80. ISBN 978-0486803579.
  16. ^ "Mission Summaries". Alien Legion.com. n.d. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016.
  17. ^ Geddes, John (November 16, 2009). "Alien Legion Prepares for Blast-off". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 19, 2009.
  18. ^ Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 203. ISBN 9780810938212. A second regularly published series, The Punisher: War Journal, was added in November 1988; this time Carl Potts provided the scripts himself, and also did layouts that were fully rendered by artist Jim Lee.
  19. ^ "Our Faculty: Carl Potts". School of Visual Arts. Archived from the original on July 5, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  20. ^ "Academy of Art University Catalog Addendum 2" (PDF). Academy of Art University. 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 25, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  21. ^ Umberto Gonzalez (November 14, 2023). "Warner Bros. Picks Up 'Alien Legion' With Tim Miller Attached to Direct". TheWrap. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Potts.
Preceded by The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 editor
1983–1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Dennis O'Neil
 Alpha Flight editor
1985–1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
n/a
 The Punisher vol. 2 editor
1987–1989 		Succeeded by
Don Daley
Preceded by Marvel Comics Group Editor-in-Chiefs
licensed-property titles
1994–1995
With: Mark Gruenwald, Marvel Universe titles
Bob Harras, X-Men titles
Bob Budiansky, Spider-Man titles
Bobbie Chase, Marvel Edge titles 		Succeeded by
Bob Harras
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