Have you ever wanted to fulfill your childhood dreams?
Mississippi State University alumni and comic book artist Eric
Yonge did just that.
Yonge, artist of the new graphic novel “The Hat Squad,” will
hold a signing this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Reality Check
comic and games store in Starkville’s La Galerie shopping
center.
Yonge will be doing free illustrations for everyone who attends
the signing, and Reality Check will be giving away free comics.
“I have been reading comics since I was a kid and always dreamed
of creating them, so I chased my dreams and did it,” Yonge
said.
Growing up in Starkville there were not many people who shared
Yonge’s passion for comics. “Most people think of comics as
juvenile literature because they think of super heroes like
Spider-Man and Batman. Comics are simply the marriage of words and
pictures to tell all types of stories from horror to romance to
sci-fi,” Yonge said.
In high school, Yonge started self-publishing his own comics. To
persuade people to buy his comics he would draw them into the
pictures.
Upon graduating from MSU in 1998 with a degree in fine arts,
Yonge started his own business illustrating pastel portraits.
Seeking a bigger market, Yonge created logodesignguy.com. Yonge
designs logos and illustrations for over 20 businesses nationwide.
Logodesignguy.com is Yonge’s main source of income, and he does
comics and graphic novels on the side.
Yonge’s break into mainstream comics came when his friend,
without Yonge knowing, sent publisher Moonstone Books some of his
drawings.
Yonge was thrilled when Moonstone Books asked if he would
illustrate their graphic novel “The Hat Squad.”
A graphic novel is a deluxe comic book with a self-contained
story and a square-bound cover.
Written by Jay Faerber and illustrated by Yonge, “The Hat Squad”
is based on a true story. It follows a team of four Los Angeles
cops during the 1950s who go to extremes to keep the mob out of Los
Angeles. It is a story of hard-core cops who sometimes break the
law to preserve it.
If you like movies like “L.A. Confidential” or television shows
like “The Shield” then you may want to check out “The Hat
Squad”.
Yonge loves to draw human expressions and drama. He says his
guilty pleasure is drawing fight scenes which are plentiful in “The
Hat Squad”.
Since “The Hat Squad” was released, Yonge has been offered a
chance to do many other comics.
Currently he is working on his own graphic novel “The Silence”.
According to Yonge, “It’s a mystery that follows what happens when
an entire small town disappears, and seven years later one man
returns. The lead character in the story has completely lost his
faith in himself and God, and this follows his journey to
recapturing his heart.”
Yonge has held signings all over the southeast and says there
may be more in the future.
To find out more about “The Hat Squad” go to
“http://www.moonstonebooks.com/hatsquad.asp”>www.moonstonebooks.com/hatsquad.asp.