Comics / Comics News

The "First" Independent super hero to return? And quick name change for "Mickey the Z"

By The Editor
August 19, 2010 - 05:59

Before leaving the independents in the mid eighties to work for the majors, and a career in commercial art and marketing, illustrator Vince Argondezzi contributed a great share of his talents to the independents, with artwork, and even the founding and co-founding  of several imprints. Contributing to companies from  Pacific to a company called Comico and everywhere in-between, Argondezzi was conceiving and drawing, with a successful track record that has given him a client list that stretches from the EPA to Time Warner, to Reed Elsivier.

Before leaving Comico completely due to creative and business differences in 1986 (as an artist doing Next Man with Roger Mc Kenzie; Argondezzi left several years earlier as the co-founder and an ostensible partner) he had given a hand in a variety of projects for the independents...Next Man, Comic Company A (now being rechristened Comici), as well as offerings for Pacific and Reggie Byers' (much missed) Victory Publications, among others. These projects have been near and dear to his heart, along with his latest, Mickey  the Z.. At the very start of it all, and happy to say with a proven influence on many youngsters reading comics at the time (Argondezzi was a youngster himself), was the character coined "Justice Direct", from the first issue of the Comico early edition of Primer. Only ten pages long, Justice was done by the only working professional there at Comico at the time, Argondezzi, who was already storyboarding for ad agencies and getting work from DC Comics in their apprentice program. It told the story of  Doug Direct, secret agent, who stumbled into a world of even higher high tech gadgetry and intrigue. It was simple for it's time, the first alternative independent super hero visually and continuity wise from the miasma of characters and concepts in that time period...but it got the attention of most readers as the only thing close to professionally produced material in the early Primers, and made a mark in the now famous "Presents" covers and posters, and basically, helped kick started the whole thing.

Fast forward twenty plus years. With several series under his belt, and tempered from years of  medical and commercial illustration, Argondezzi is sizing up his first creation, and will be releasing brand new artwork for a possible revival. Argondezzi states: "Several Comico redos have been going on recently online,  and while I'm wishing them well, they are nice, it looks like its not quite what I want.. The spirit of the company I came up with all those years ago was fun, spontaneity and excitement, and while I like the super mature stuff, and esoterica, and I can sort of keep up, I won't pretend that I'm a leader in that forte', or that I know everything. Only clowns pretend to know everything. I'm toying with possibly my own Comico redo...maybe that'll finally fill any void."

On a different note, a correction. Recently, several press releases were sent out, with some art and info on the above mentioned project "Mickey".  In our haste, we did not do due diligence and check to see Mickey the Z was used properly. While the use of the name Zenith is involved in the story, we won't be using the name "Zenith" with this character. It was an oversight, and we're sorry if we confused anybody.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12