About Gerry Kissell

About Gerry Kissell

Though he had been drawing his entire life, "I was born with a pencil in my hand." Gerry has told folks, "I was drawing advanced stuff at an early age. I was the baby in a family of seven kids, and my parents could never remember if I even had chickenpox, but they remeber my drawing and both kept drawings I did as a little child."

Thanks to his friends Steve and Virginia Johnson, Gerry's professional career as an illustrator and comic artist started back in 1986, working as staff artist for America's #1 sales and marketing magazine Personal Selling Power Magazine. At the age of just 22 he was developing motivational comic strips working with Selling Power's publishers Laura and Gerhardt Gschwandtner, as well as world renouned self help guru, Dr Wayne Dyer. Gerry recalls the strip, saying, "I remember the fist strip I did was of this guy honking his horn in traffic, when Dr Dyer's disembodied head magically appears aboive him, floating over the car, telling the guy that honking his horn won't make traffic move any quicker, it only serves to increase his and everyone else's stress. It was so funny drawing this magical floating Dr Dyer head." One of his strips Gerry drew was so popular, it was picked up by the AP Newswire, and carried in their internall newsletter.

His dreams of being an illustrator and comic artist were happening. He got his first professional comic gig in 1989. However, his dreams would take a back seat to his calling as a patriot, when he walked away from his career to serve in the Army as a Combat Medic during the first Gulf War.

After the army, Gerry's career shifted again. Though he still did illustration here and there, as well as painting book covers, he really focused more on design and commercial art, working as staff artist and designer for several internet companies and ad agencies, and kept doing that type of work for nearly 20 years. However, even after he won several awards for his design work, his love for illustration began to overshadow the steady pay of a staff artist job. Then in 2009, thanks to his old friend Tom Waltz, senior writer at IDW, he was asked to work on The A-Team: War Stories. Gerry decided that doing commercial art and design may pay well, but it's drawing and coloring comics that made him happy. "He has a natural knack for comic art. He's old school...the Al Williamson of our generation." said IDW's Tom Waltz. Ted Adams, CEO of IDW, called Gerry a "beast", when it comes to drawing. Even IDW's Chris Ryall has referred to Gerry as the "consummate comic artist that they say doesn't exist anymore."

When asked what was the best compliment of his work, Gerry stated frankly, "I am very blessed to be good friends with an artist who nearly single handedly inspired me as a boy. I am talking about Star Wars and Indiana Jones movie poster artist Drew Struzan. He was looking at some of my work one day and told me that despite the violent subject, I somehow had managed to make it beautiful. He even once told me seeing some of my sculptures inspired him to to want to sculpt again. To inspire someone who had inspired you? That was something."

Since The A-Team comic, Gerry's dance card has stayed full; drawing and coloring comics for IDW and other independent publishers. This is no surpise film and television director Josh Becker said, "Gerry is someone you actually look forward to working with."

Early in 2011, Gerry formed Hazmat Studios with his cousin Angie, and fellow comic artist Amin Amat, who has worked with Gerry on many of the same projects, as well as with Matt Anderson and Eric Hutchins (Kung Fu Panda, White Picket Fences and Cut the Rope). This year, through Hazmat, Gerry has headed up and was artist, with Amin, on the Alan Wake graphic novel for Xbox, the motion picture Iron Sky prequel comic series, as well as Vanquish, Tim Kenyon's Endtime and finally Tyler Button's Bayeux. Most recently, Gerry created and was penciler and colorist on IDW's Code Word: Geronimo, which is expected to be one of the biggest books of 2011.

Gerry's "dream team" at Hazmat has many projects lined up for the next year, including SLEEPERS: INCEPTION, a sci-fi military action graphic novel that will be ready for readers in 2012, as well as another military themed comic series called VINDICATED, INC. created by military vets, that tells the story of a wounded vet that returns home to become a vigilante.