"They say that every comicbook artist produces at least one hundred and fifty bad pages before any good ones. I suspect I had about a thousand."

_b i o g r a p h y

Although Ted Naifeh has been working in comics and related fields since 1990, it took more than seven years of working on obscure, self-published and unpublished projects before he earned a significant following with Gloomcookie in 1998. His first work was for Innovation Comics, drawing an adaptation of the respected fantasy/Sci-Fi novel Shadow of the Torturer, which was cancelled after three of its planned six issues. In the mid-90s, Ted and his friend Eric Burnham self-published three issues of a cyberpunk comic called Nicki Shadow that, sadly, failed to capture fans' attention. Among Ted's more successful early projects was The Machine from Dark Horse Comics' now defunct supehero line, and a short story entitled The Grease Trap, written by legendary horror author Joe R. Landsdale, which has appeared in several collections since its initial inclusion in the Mojo Press' Atomic Chili anthology in 1996.

When the comic book market began its well-documented deflation in the early-late-90s, it became clear to Ted that his career in comics was going nowhere, and he needed a change. He got work at Accolade in Silicon Valley doing both 2D and 3D art for videogames. He worked on Slave Zero, an creepy giant robot game with a lot of character and promise. Due to poor management and lackluster marketing, it flopped upon its release in 1999. Ted was ultimately disappointed by the limitations of the medium and the wierdness of its supporting industry, and found himself in need of a better outlet for his creativity. But his three-year stint in games was not entirely without benefit. He learned the computer skills that allowed him to digitally letter and color his comics. This was a key element in the creation of the independent goth romance comic Gloomcookie.

In the summer of 1998 Ted found himself staying all night at his office, photocopying 500 mini-comic samples of a project he and writer Serena Valentino had decided to call Gloomcookie, a series of related short stories about the goth community. Two days later they were handing out copies at San Diego Comic-Con International. Dan Vado of Slave Labor Graphics took an interest, and in a few months it was on the shelves. Response was immediate and enormous. The series was easily the most popular comic Ted had ever worked on, a success made even sweeter by the fact that it was his first creator-owned property.

However, as any independent comics creator knows, it's very nearly impossible to produce a full length comic and hold down a full time job at the same time, and illustrating Gloomcookie couldn't support Ted financially. He had decided that co-producing an independent comic wasn't financially viable, but doing one on his own might be a possibility. In any event, his experience on Gloomcookie gave him the writing bug, so he quit both the games industry and Gloomcookie with the goal of creating his own comics project.

Ted began putting together new series pitches from concepts he'd daydreamed about during the daily commutes between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. His most fruitful idea to date came shortly after his departure from the videogame industry, during a sleepless night spent pondering the creatures that inhabit the shadows and watch us while we sleep. Over the next few months, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things began to take shape. Oni Press liked the concept right away and convinced Ted to publish through them.

Unlike Gloomcookie, Courtney Crumrin was a slow build toward success. Only after the second four-issue series (Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics) was launched did it begin to draw significant fan attention. More people took notice, and not just comics collectors. Alternative culture retailer Hot Topic began carrying the book, as did Waldenbooks and Borders. The bookstores felt that Courtney Crumrin had potential to sell to the huge new market of manga readers. Soon the movie studios began calling. In the summer of 2003 the first four-issue arc was was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Limited Series, losing out to Alan Moore's wildly popular sequal to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Ted has been thrilled with the success of Courtney, especially since it was his first-ever writing effort. He is also extremely proud of How Loathsome, a limited series co-written with Tristan Crane and published through NBM. Given Courtney's all-ages nature, Ted really enjoyed sinking his teeth into the gritty, subversive, and definitely adult material of How Loathsome. How Loathsome is fairly unique in the comics world, dealing with subjects seldom seen in the medium and presented in a challenging and artistic format. It has received numerous rave reviews and earned the respect of many notable industry figures. It also marks a significant step in Ted's creative development as he experimented with unusual techniques in design and story format.

Ted's current projects include a third Courtney Crumrin series and the collected edition of How Loathsome. In early 2004, he's tentatively scheduled to draw a full color series called Death Junior, a promotional comic for Digital Eclipse's upcoming videogame by the same name. He has other projects in the works as well, but nothing that can be revealed at the moment. We could tell you about them, but we'd have to kill you. For more information, refer to The Latest.

Ted lives in San Francisco with his girlfriend Kelly, who wrote this bio and is extremely clever and attractive. His interests include motorcycles, karaoke, and travel. On a recent vacation to the UK, Ted and Kelly fell in love with Edinburgh, Scotland. They're hoping to meet someone who'd like to swap apartments for a few months. Interested parties can contact Ted here.

Hint: Readers will see a lot of Edinburgh in Goblin Town in upcoming Courtney books.