ABOUT WCG COMICS

WCG Comics is the publishing imprint/studio name for Randy Reynaldo, publisher-writer-artist of the comic-book series Rob Hanes Adventures.

WCG Comics began publishing officially in 1990 with a digest-sized zine called Adventure Strip Digest. Four issues of the title were published before the series was launched in 1994 as a full-size independent comic-book series under the same title. Four issues of this series were released before the title was relaunched in October 2000 as Rob Hanes Adventures.

A trade paperback collection of the early zine stories called the Rob Hanes Archives also has been published, funded by a grant from the Xeric Foundation. (See our online store for details about these titles.)

For more information, see the Complete History of WCG or check out the WCG Comics Checklist!

Biography of Randy Reynaldo

Cartoonist Randy Reynaldo is a past Xeric Foundation award recipient and nominee of the Russ Manning Award for Most Promising Newcomer, which is presented in conjunction with the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

Randy is the writer, artist and creator of Rob Hanes Adventures, a contemporary comic-book action-adventure series in the tradition of Will Eisner's Spirit, Roy Crane's Buz Sawyer, and Milton Caniff's Terry and the Pirates. The series has been described by critics as a "grown-up Jonny Quest," and drawn comparisons to Tintin, James Bond, and Indiana Jones.

Rob Hanes Adventures is self-published by Randy as an independent comic-book series under his WCG Comics imprint. The title character, Rob Hanes, has appeared previously in Adventure Strip Digest and the Rob Hanes Archives, a trade paperback collection. Randy's work also has been published in several anthologies, including Love in Tights #2 (Slave Labor Graphics), Negative Burn #s 30 and 39 (Caliber Comics), and Wolff & Byrd #7 (pinup for Exhibit A Press).

Randy's high-contrast black-and-white art has been compared to master comic-strip storytellers like Milton Caniff and Alex Toth, and earned him numerous positive accolades from critics and indus, including positive reviews and coverage in the Comic Buyer's Guide, Wizard, Back Issue, and indy. Randy has been also interviewed on "Talk Audio Soup," a public radio show devoted to popular culture.

In 1995, Randy received a Xeric Foundation Award and was nominated for the Russ Manning Award, which is awarded annually in conjunction with the Eisner Awards at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. The Xeric Grant enabled Randy to publish the Rob Hanes Archives, a trade paperback collection of early and previously unpublished work from the series. Randy also is a member of the Southern California-based Cartoon Arts Professional Society (CAPS), for which he has served multiple times as vice president and treasurer.

Born and raised in New York City, Randy now lives and works in Southern California. He is married to Dr. Sadina Reynaldo. The couple have two children.

See the Checklist for a full list of Randy's work. An archive of published interviews is also available.

LINKS

Below is a list of comics-related and other recommended site links...

Friends & Colleagues

• Barry Gregory and his wife, cartoonist Jenni Gregory (DreamWalker) run the digital comics website, 01Comics. You'll find a many outstanding comics at this site, including the first-run appearances of Rob Hanes Adventures in full color!!!

Exhibit A Press, the publishing imprint of Batton Lash's Supernatural Law, which is now also a web comic!

David Montoya is the publisher of Yume Comics and his fantasy series MOHO.

• Gary Chaloner is a talented cartoonist who, like me, has a great love for classic adventure comics. He produces Red Kelso, as well as Will Eisner's John Law, Lady Luck, and Mr. Mystic.


• Mike Vozburg is one of the most versatile and talented cartoonists, storyboardmen and artists in the business, who is well versed in the history of cartooning and commercial art. Check out his Vozart site to see how diverse and polished his work is....


• Nat Gertler's home page is an excellent resource for aspiring comic-book writers (or writers of about anything!) Nat's a good friend, a fellow professional, and the publisher of About Comics.


• Twist and Shout is the home site for Mike Meyer, who was my first colorist and taught me the ropes of Photoshop!


• The Immortal Chronicles isn't a comics-related site, but an on-line version of a newsletter put together by Randy and his college buddies.


• WCG Staff Bob Westal recently launched his own blog to comment on the pop cultural landscape, Forward to Yesterday.

Useful Sites for Publishers and Cartoonists

• BlamBlot is an outstanding Web site for comic-book-style fonts, both free and for sale. Highly recommended.


• Several cooperative sites that I am affiliated with include OnlineComics.net and the Web Comic List. Both are clearinghouses for web comics. I'm also a member of Comicon.com, an online comics convention available all year round!

• An excellent resource for independent comics, whether you are a fan or a professional, is Geoffrey Mason's indyworld web site.


• The Rob Hanes Adventures web comic is hosted by Web Comics Nation.

Other Comics-Related Sites

• My primary comics industry news site of choice is Heidi MacDonald's The Beat. The site is both entertaining and a good central resource for breaking stories and industry trends.


• Other news sites I frequent include: Tom Spurgeon's The Comics Reporter, Comic Book Resources, and Digital Webbing. The latter two sites have pretty good comic-book discussion forms.


• Favorite comics industry magazines are the Comics Buyer's Guide, Wizard, the Comics Journal, and Comics Shop News. Other industry magazines I enjoy are Comic Book Artist, Back Issue, and Draw!


• I'm a frequent attendee of the Comic-Con International in San Diego.


• As many people know, Alex Toth is one of my major inspirations. There is a Toth Fans website devoted to him.

Also Recommended

• myVmarks: A site that centrally stores and consolidates your bookmarks online. (Excellent for people who use multiple computers like me!)
• The WCGComics.com website is hosted by WestHost. Very affordable and very dependable.
• I've become a big fan of iGoogle, a Webportal site that can be tied to your gmail account and customized with useful gadgets and games. Installed at my iGoogle site is Enhanced Bookmarks, which is a handy bookmark link feature; movie showtimes for my local area; a window to my gmail account; Sticky Notes where I keep a to do list that I can access anywhere; MapQuest; a calculator; the weather; and a world clock. For my comics work, I installed a currency converter (for figuring out the cover price of my comics in Canadian dollars!), a unit/distance converter, and a universal translator (useful when I put a foreign language in my stories).
• Flipdrive is one of several available free online data storage services—or as they describe it, an “Internet hard drive.” It allows me to store and access documents and files in a central place online that I can access from multiple computers regardless of whether I’m at home or at work. I explored several sites and found Flipdrive to have the simplest and most intuitive interface, even though it doesn’t provide as much space (25 MB) before you need to upgrade and begin paying for it. But it's become a great resource for me.

Acknowledgements

Special recognition to the WCG Comics bullpen: Bob Westal, Scott Brick, Sidney Terence Cooper, Terry Delegeane, David Gordy, Mike Meyer, and Rodney Reynaldo. Many of these people are also fellow Immortals.

Finally, of course, my deepest love and gratitude to my wife Sadina for her love, support, guidance, and editorial input, and for producing two beautiful children with me.