Mark Barnard

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Mark Barnard is co-creator (with artist-animator Terrie Smith) of the comic book HAVOC, INC. His various credits (both under his own name and writing as Michael Santana) have included work as an inker or writer on over 50 anthropomorphic books from the early 1990s on. His other continuing comics project credits have included (inker) KATMANDU and SHANDA THE PANDA as well as inks on two back-ups for RHUDIPRRT, PRINCE OF FUR and (creator/writer) LARK & KEY, OWLHOOTS, SPIRITCHASERS, SCARVES and JUSTICE ON HIGH. His work has also been featured in NEW HORIZONS, WILD SIDE, FURRLOUGH, GENUS and the independent title BATTLE MECHA: LONE BLUE. His stable of characters include such oddities as a dense masked wrestler and his harried manager (The Atomic Dragon and Little Arturo), a squirrel who would be a feared space pirate (Capt. Regulo), Jan and Midori (the Helicopter Police Girls), Mumbo Jumbo, a card trick-addicted elephant cabbie, an Amazonian tribe of otter hucksters, the ever-harried General Chong and his not-so dreaded Koroboromitsu clan, and bumptuous cosmic hero Captain Destiny.

His entry into the comics field began with freelance "gag" cartooning for a host of Star Trek fanzines, followed by work for the C/FO and independent comics, where he both wrote and drew the material. Early influences on his style and approaches included Japanese manga artist/writers Shotaro Ishimori and Go Nagai. Determining that his best chance to break into legitimate comics work was as part of a team, he set out to gain work as an inker and detailer. Once he gained sufficient professional credits, he managed to get his first scripting shots on backup stories for SHANDA THE PANDA.

Mark has also written an original sci-fi series for radio (Operation: Deep Space), contributed story material and artwork for various anime' and Elfquest publications, and recently authored portions of a new reference book on Mexican fantasy and horror films. These sections provide background and overviews of the supernatural western sub-genre and the colorful world of lucha libre films. He also owns a large collection of original advertising art from these wrestler-hero films.

Oher activities have included initiating the successful push which opened his local PBS market to DR. WHO and other science-fiction and fantasy programming and introducing anime' to various midwestern sci-fi convention video rooms in the middle 1970s. He also worked for 8 years, in various capacities, on the planning of the ENCOUNTER sci-fi/comics conventions, which raised funds for the MS Association. During his college years he worked as a disc jockey and a part-time paranormal investigator.

Following his graduation from college, Mark enjoyed a brief stint in stand-up comedy, writing his own material, before moving on to graduate studies. He had earlier appeared in various stage comedies, including THE MOUSE THAT ROARED.

Mark divides his free time between film study (specifically low budget flicks, Chinese fantasy entires, and German krimi films -- in particular the DR. MABUSE series), collecting anime' and Oriental art objects, and cultivating bamboo. He holds a degree in archaeology (specializing in the Aztec, Anasazi and Hohokam cultures), and certification as a digital analyst tech. He currently lives with his wife Terri, in the wilds of Kansas, where he freelances.