Job Title: Comic-book artist Employers: Publishers like DC Comics, Marvel, and Dark Horse Comics Openings: Shop around your portfolio Salary Cap: $250,000 Number of Jobs: About a hundred

Top comic-book artists today are like rock stars. They have groupies, often attracting long lines of them at signings and conventions; they have riches, as illustrator and multimillionaire Todd McFarlane can attest to; and they have Hollywood chasing after them, following the recent slew of semianimated blockbusters developed from comic books like Frank Miller’s Sin City and 300.

Among comic-book artists, few are hotter these days than John Cassaday. A self-taught illustrator whose first job was directing television news in Texas, Cassaday has worked on several of the highest-profile titles in the comic-book world, including the relaunch of Captain America and the hugely popular Astonishing X-Men, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer-creator Joss Whedon. From 2004 to 2006, Cassaday won an unprecedented three straight Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards—the field’s Oscars—for Best Penciller/Inker. Little wonder that writer Warren Ellis—himself a comics superstar—calls Cassaday an illustration god.

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But Cassaday, 36, did start out a mere mortal. He studied filmmaking at a small college in Texas but in 1996 decided to take a portfolio of drawings he’d done over the years to San Diego’s Comic-Con International, the comic industry’s leading convention. He made some fortuitous connections there, including one with veteran writer and editor Mark Waid, who was impressed by the greenhorn illustrator. “He knew how to draw mood and emotion and not just pole-dancers in superhero costumes,” notes Waid.

Through his new contacts, Cassaday began lining up assignments, first from smaller publishers and then from the bigger companies such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, working as an independent contractor, which is typical even of some of the most established artists. In 1999, he partnered with Ellis to create Planetary, an X-Files-esque superhero series for the DC-owned imprint Wildstorm. Planetary received resounding critical acclaim and vaulted Cassaday into the ranks of the field’s premier illustrators.

These days, Cassaday finds himself in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose which assignments he takes. “I’ve got specific goals in mind and don’t want to deviate just for a few bucks if I’m not interested,” he says. “The story must come first.” Though he won’t reveal what he makes, his page rate—the amount an artist charges per page drawn—is among the highest in the business. Given that an elite illustrator can command up to $1,000 a page for a 22-page comic book and that most popular titles are monthlies, a top talent like Cassaday can comfortably clear six figures annually. And that’s not counting potential back-end royalties for merchandise, trade paperbacks, and spin-offs, which are negotiated separately.  

Of course, the big money comes into play when Hollywood gets into the act, and with the recent blockbuster success of such properties as the X-Men, Spider-Man, and 300, movie execs haven’t been subtle in their rush to mine the natural resources of the comic world. This summer alone will see the release of another Batman movie, a new version of The Incredible Hulk, and the first feature version of Iron Man (opening this Friday). Cassaday has had his share of brushes with Hollywood, and he admits he’s been tempted by the prospect of getting his work on-screen. “I plan to start making films in the next two years,” says the former film major. “I do admire artists who can tell their stories in a wide variety of mediums. I like the idea of being a chameleon storyteller.”

Cassaday adds, however, that he has no intention of abandoning the field that made him a star. Drawing comics, says Cassaday, is his dream job: “I get to clock in as a kid everyday and make stories live. It’s a wonderful thing.”

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