Steve Dutro

I’d like to say that my childhood home was always filled with Beatles music and that I’m a longtime fan—I really would—but embarrassingly I’ve come to the band only recently. My path to the Beatles was quite bass-ackwards as I went through a sixties mod/psychedelic pop phase and started listening to bands like The Action or Strawberry Alarm Clock, but once I truly experienced mid-period Beatles my tastes for well-crafted weirdness was fully realized. More sitar!

My first comic purchase was Superman #273 (20 cents) drawn by Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell. Little did I know that Tex would later be one of my instructors (and occasional housemate) at the Joe Kubert School. I used to trace the Superman drawings using nasty carbon paper, so my copy looks like something the cat coughed up now. After Joe Kubert gave me a (vice-grip) handshake and a diploma I started as a staff letterer in the Marvel Comics bullpen circa 1991… this is when they were producing over 100 titles a month. Ah, speculators… whatever became of you and your fat wallets? My first regular assignment was Avengers West Coast, but I have to say working on the Star Wars movie adaptations were the most satisfying to my inner geek. I’ve worked on Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Superman, Moebius, Darkchylde, Star Wars, and many manga titles like EDEN, Vagabond, and Rurouni Kenshin. Don’t sweat Barbie Fashion, either. My hobbies include listening to/playing music (Django Reinhardt, classical guitar, and the glorious misery that is Portuguese Fado music… but I play at dive bars in a classic butt-rock band), disappointing women, losing at fantasy baseball/football, perfecting my gazpacho recipe, and coming up with cool ideas and then forgetting them.