A view from behind the pencil

Paul Saitowitz

Kra-koom! In a dank, tiny upstairs office just off Harbor Boulevard

lurk the likes of Locklord, Optica, the Romancer, Netwerk, the

Shrubling, Barbrazon and Kid Citrus, just to name a few.

Pla-Chow! In that same office -- amid boxes and shelves full of

comics -- a tall slender 32-year-old man sits at a desk armed with

just a pencil, but without that pencil, none of the above-mentioned

would have a prayer.

The man is Todd Nauck, creator of the “WildGuard” comic, and the

characters are part of the plethora of action heroes that make up the

newest book published by Image Comics.

After years in pursuit of putting out his own book, Nauck finally

realized his dream this past October.

“There’s absolutely nothing I’d rather be doing,” he said. “I’ve

always known that this is what I wanted to do, and I feel really

lucky that I am able to do it.”

What put Nauck in the position to get his own book was that he had

drawn all 55 issues of the highly successful D.C. comic “Young

Justice.”

“From working on ‘Young Justice,’ I had gotten sort of a following

and that has definitely helped,” he said. “Those readers knew my name

and have moved on to ‘WildGuard,’” he said.

Some of the characters in “WildGuard,” a comic about a group of

superheroes trying out for a reality TV show, were created more than

a decade ago.

“After high school, I went on to the Art Institute of Dallas and

studied graphic design, but always with the intent of using it for

comics,” he said. “That was when I first started thinking about

‘WildGuard,’ but back then it was a group of superheroes in a

‘Cops’-like TV show,” Nauck said.

His obsession with comics stems from the artistic lure of shapes,

colors and emotions conveyed through the art. From kindergarten on he

was fascinated with cartoons and eventually got into the likes of

“X-Men,” “Spider-Man,” “Captain America” and the “Fantastic Four” in

junior high.

“There’s just something that has always been intriguing to me

about drawing characters that can do amazing things in the context of

a story,” he said.

“WildGuard” was originally slated for just six issues, but with

the success of the first five that have come out, another six will be

hitting the stands later in the year.

“I’m excited about the way things have turned out,” Nauck said.

“I’ve even gotten a little bit of interest about making it into a

cartoon for TV.” When he’s not working on “WildGuard,” he also does

all the penciling for “Teen Titans Go!,” which is published by D.C.

Comics.

Over the last few years, the majority of comic book readers have

been made up of 20-something geeky fanatics that tend to dress like

their favorite characters at comic conventions. With “Teen Titans

Go!,” Nauck and D.C. aim to change that.

“It’s also on the Cartoon Network, which appeals to kids, but this

book has characters that kids can relate to,” he said. “Hopefully it

can make them look at comics the same way I did when I was their

age.”