Patrick Spaziante, or “Spaz” as he is commonly known, is a comic book artist who has worked primarily for Archie Comics.
Spaziante is currently a penciler and cover artist at Archie Comics on the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series, and the Sonic X and Sonic Universe comics (Sonic Universe is the successor to Sonic X). But while Spaziante is best known for his work with Archie, he has also created illustrations and comic books for such companies as Dreamwave Productions, Marvel Comics, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, children books and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Spaziante did not receive formal training in illustration. According to an interview he did with Rik Offenberger of Silver Bullet Comic Books on Comicsbulletin.com, the one year Spaziante spent in an art college, he majored in film studies. He said the majority of what he has learned as a comic book artist has been self-taught.
Spaziante was a member of a group a group along with Ken Penders and Steven Butler known collectively as "The Sonic Team" (not to be confused with "Sonic Team", the original creators of the franchise), because of their extensive work on the series. The trio interviewed with Offenberger as they approached the 150th edition of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In the interview, Spaz talked about the early years he spent as an up-and-coming comic book artist with Archie Comics and what it was like to work his way up.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog comic Spaziante worked on was Sonic the Hedgehog: In Your Face! #1 (December 1994), though the first comic he is credited for designing the cover art for was Sonic the Hedgehog #21 (April 1995). That issue was the first to introduce E.V.E. (Exceptionally Versatile Evolvanoid), who became a recurring character of that series. Spaziante also worked on Sonic the Hedgehog #25 (August 1995), which was adapted directly from Sonic CD released two months prior to the release of that comic.
Spaziante other works include worked on Mega Man and Transformers for Dreamwave Comics, the miniseries Muties for Marvel Comics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles children’s books for Simon and Schuster, and Avatar: The Last Airbender for Nickelodeon Comics, which was based on the television series of the same name.