By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor

Comic book artist Mike Hawthorne has strong Philly roots. A graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, he’s done work for both the Philadelphia Eagles and the 76ers (he does want to illustrate something for either the Phillies or Flyers so he can a “hat trick”). The Central Pennsylvania resident is best known for his work on DC titles “Batman” and “Wonder Woman,” as well as Marvel’s “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Deadpool.” And during New York Comic Con, which opened today, he’ll be announcing a new series for another major comic book publisher, Image Comics.

We met Mike at Fan Expo Philadelphia earlier this year. During our conversation he shared his introduction into comics, his upcoming series, and his thoughts on AI.

“I think all of us probably had [newspaper strips] as our intro to comics in some way. At our age, comics were not as ubiquitous as they are now, right? They weren’t everywhere. They weren’t in the movies. They weren’t on every TV channel. So, we had to seek them out,” explained Hawthorne. “The first thing I remember drawing was copying stuff from comic strips, from Superman and Spider-Man coloring books, and things like that. I was taken with the idea of just like someone draws, and that’s their job.”

Mike remembers an issue of “X-Men” drawn by Marc Silvestri – one of Hawthrone’s art heroes – as “the first one I bought with my big boy money.” He also inherited a diverse lot of comics from his godbrother, where he was introduced to indie titles like Judge Dredd and larger magazine format comics like “The Savage Sword of Conan.”

He self-published his own title, “Hysteria,” through ThinkTank Comics before doing work for both DC Comics and Marvel, before moving over to Image, which was founded by several iconic artists including Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, and Silvestri.

“There’s always the giddy excitement of ‘Oh my God, I’m working for Marvel, I’m working for DC.’ And I’ve been lucky in that I got to draw all the characters I wanted to draw. But it’s more of a job. You’ve got to meet deadlines. You’ve got to hand in your book on time. You’ve got to make sure that your work is done so that the next guy in the production line has work,” said Hawthorne. “When those guys left Marvel to create Image, they did it for creative freedom, but also to own what they were making. So, at Image, you don’t necessarily work for them as much as you should start your own little business within the Image umbrella. So, everything has to get handled by us internally.”

Mike’s yet to be announced title – which should hit stands in 2027 – is truly a solo creative work.

“I’m writing and drawing a series at Image,” said Hawthorne. “I figured if it’s good enough for [McFarlan, Lee, et al.], I might as well give it a shot.”

AI continues to be a well-discussed topic in a variety of industries, particularly when it comes to creative pursuits. But Hawthorne isn’t worried.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to sweat it. Technology’s been threatening art forever,” explained Hawthorne. “I still teach in college, and students are kind of always worried about this. I remind them that they’re still potters. They’re still people that make hand-thrown pots. And people still want those things. We don’t need pots. Industrialized pottery making is cheaper, it’s faster, there’s no need for a potter; and yet, we still want it. So, I think there will always be a place for art and artists.

“I have been lucky that I get to work with all these young artists. They’re all in love with physical media. They’re collecting records. My middle daughter stole all my CDs. She is actively looking for all her favorite movies on DVD. So much in entertainment is made into rental. They don’t want you to own the media that you’re consuming. And the kids are figuring out that they have to buy the physical stuff. So, I’m noticing more and more 20-somethings that are really into comics. There’s a wide range who are reading these comics and want to own the actual thing not just some personal vision of it.”

You can follow Mike Hawthorne on both Facebook and Instagram.