Monday Night Facts

 

Fact: My first professional work was for Jerry B. Jenkins. At that time he was the editor of Freeway Magazine, a large newspaper size supplement for Sunday Schools published by Scripture Press. I submitted a three-page illustrated piece on the doctrine of Kenosis. He wrote back and asked for one extra page to finish it out. I was paid a whopping $100 for four pages of art, comic book style. I could have been paid $10,000 - I was so thrilled to see it in print.

Fact: I used to keep a pocket spiral notebook on me, at all times, to jot down ideas for Calvinistic Cartoons. This was great when my wife and I were shopping. She can stay in a clothing store so long I have to shave again before I leave, so I spent most of my waiting time thinking up new cartoons and features. 

One day, after I washed a load of my clothes, I found hundreds of tiny bits of paper all over the dryer. I had included one of my notebooks (the one that was completely full, of course) in the wash. I will never recover some of those jokes but, at least my ideas were clean.

Fact: Dan Adkins, an inker for DC comics, wanted to hire me as his assistant many years ago. I stayed with him for a week in New York City. He offered for me to stay at his home for 3 or 4 months, rent free - until I earned enough money to rent an apartment and send for my wife and kids. I turned his offer down because I didn't want to be away from my family for that length of time.