'''Tom Sutton''', aka '''"Sean Todd"''' (born April_15, 1937; died May [date uncertain], 2002, Amesbury, Massachusetts) was an American Comic_book Artist best known for his work at Marvel_Comics and on Warren_Publishing's line of black-and-white horror-Comics Magazines, particularly as the first story-artist of the highly popular character Vampirella. He is not the designer Tom Sutton.
==Biography==
===Early life and career===
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Sutton was raised in North_Adams,_Massachusetts, where father Harry was a Plumbing, heating and Air_conditioning shopkeeper, and a machinest and Gunsmith for General_Electric and others. Influenced by the Comic_strip art of Photorealist draftsman Milt_Caniff and the illustrative Alex_Raymond and Hal_Foster, as well as by the EC line of 1950s horror comics, Sutton began drawing nudie schoolyard art for paying classmates.
He enlisted in the U.S._Air_Force after graduating from High_school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort_Francis_E._Warren, near Laramie,_Wyoming. Later, stationed at Itami base in northern Japan, Sutton created the Caniff-style adventure strip ''F.E.A.F Dragon'' for a base publication. Sutton's first professional comics work, it led to a long-hoped-for placement on the military's ''Stars_and_Stripes'' magazine. At its Tokyo office, he drew the comic strip ''Johnny Craig'', a character name inspired by the EC artist Johnny_Craig. Sutton recalled that he worked on this strip "for two years and some odd months. I did it seven days a week, I think. It was all stupid. It was a kind of cheap version of [Frank Robbins'] ''Johnny Hazard'', I think it was".[* Trimmings: Tom Sutton (Online additions to interview published in ''The Comics Journal'' #230]
On his return, Sutton attended the School_of_the_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston on a scholarship, and began working as a freelance Commercial_artist. At one point, living and working in San_Francisco, he became acquainted with the work of Robert_Crumb. Although he was not enamored of the local Underground_comics scene, he did express a desire for the kind of creative freedom he saw in alternative comics.
Sutton became an Art_director at AVP, a company that produced Film_strips for Marketing, and was a director of Animation for Transradio_Productions. By the mid-1960s, he was married with two sons; his first marriage lasted five years, and he remarried in the 1970s.
===Warren and Marvel===
Sutton's first two comic-book stories appeared the same month. His first sale, "The Monster from One Billion B.C.", was published in Warren's ''Eerie'' #11 (Sept. 1967), though it was originally commissioned for ''Famous_Monsters_of_Filmland'' (where it was reprinted four months later). He also illustrated the five-page anthological Western story "The Wild Ones", written by Sol_Brodsky, in Marvel's ''Kid Colt, Outlaw'' #137 (Sept. 1967). It was one of many Westerns he would draw for the company, including the introduction of the short-lived feature "Renegades" — ''The_Fugitive'' times four, in the Old West — in ''Western_Gunfighters'' #1 (Aug. 1970).
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Sutton soon developed a trademark frantic, cartoony style that, when juxtaposed on dramatic narratives, gave his work a vibrant, quirky dynamism reminiscent of the underground comics he largely disdained. That distinctive style helped establish the popular supernatural character Vampirella from her first story, "Vampirella of Draculona" by Forrest_J._Ackerman in ''Vampriella'' #1 (Sept. 1969). Later, with writer Archie Goodwin, Sutton helped transition Vampi from cheeky horror hostess to serious dramatic character in the 21-page story "Who Serves the Cause of Chaos?" in issue #8 (Nov. 1970, reprinted in color in Harris Comics' 1995 ''Vampirella Classics'' series).
Though well-suited to horror stories, Sutton was also admired for his work on such Science_fiction series as Marvel's ''Planet_of_the_Apes'' magazine and First_Comics' ''GrimJack'' and ''Squalor'', and for the Humor title ''Not_Brand_Ecch'', on which he appeared in nearly every issue with parodies of Marvel's own characters. He was not especially equipped to do Superheroes, either by art style or temperament, once calling them "fascist". While he lent a hand very occasionally, Sutton stayed mostly on Marvel's supernatural heroes: Werewolf_by_Night, Ghost_Rider, Doctor_Strange (in the 1970s series, plus Baron_Mordo backup stories in the 1980s ''Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme''). With writer Steve_Englehart, penciler Sutton introduced the new furrily transformed ''X-Men'' character the Beast, who starred in a superhero/horror feature in ''Amazing_Adventures'' #11-15 (March-Sept. 1972).
For the horror-oriented Warren, Sutton drew dozens of stories early in his career. He moonlighted for Warren competitor Skywald_Publications, drawing the ''Frankenstein''-novel sequel "Frankenstein, Book II" (serialized in ''Psycho'' magazine #3-6, May 1971 - May 1972) — doing so under the pseudonym "Sean Todd" (Writer-Penciler Sutton and Inkers Dan_Adkins, Jack_Abel and Sutton himself), to avoid the wrath of publisher James Warren. A separate story in ''Psycho'' #4, written by Sutton and drawn by him and Syd_Shores, was credited as "Larry Todd" (writer) and "David Cook" (art) — someone having inadvertently inserted the name of real-life writer Larry Todd rather than usual pseudonym Sean Todd.
For Skywald's short-lived line of color comics, Sutton wrote and drew stories under his own name for the Western title ''Butch Cassidy'' and the horror title ''The Heap'' (no relation to the 1940s-'50s Hillman_Publications character later revived by Eclipse_Comics). Sutton would draw Marvel's similar muck-monster Man-Thing as eight-page installments in the omnibus series ''Marvel_Comics_Presents'' in the late 1980s.
===Later career===
He both wrote and drew anthological horror stories for such Charlton_Comics titles as ''Ghost Manor'', ''Midnight Tales'', ''Monster Hunters'' and ''The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves'' in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, and produced painted covers for the company. In the mid-'80s, Sutton drew suspense stories for DC_Comics' ''House_of_Mystery'' and ''House_of_Secrets'', and penciled virtually every one of the 56 issues of DC's Licensed series ''Star_Trek''. He also penciled the Harlan_Ellison-scripted "Croatoan" in ''Heavy Metal'' volume two, #5 (Sept. 1978).
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Near the end of his life, Sutton did commercial art for New_England ad agencies, and, under the pseudonym "Dementia", drew for Fantagraphics' Eros_Comix line of Pornographic comics.
Sutton was also a Painter who had gallery showings of his bar-scene canvases. A limited edition portfolio of fantasy prints, ''The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath'', was produced by Another World, Ltd., in 1978.
Police found Sutton dead in his apartment on May_3 2002; it is unclear whether a Medical_examiner's determination of time or date of death was reported. News accounts did say he had died of a Heart_attack at his drawing board, during production of the book ''Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft'', which the publisher posthumously dedicated to him. Eros' ''Dementia's Dirty Girls'' #1 (May 2002) included a tribute by Bill_Pearson.
==Quotes==
'''''The Comics Reporter''''': "The comic work recognized by many as Sutton's best came in partnership with [writer] Doug_Moench. Together, they created the "Future Chronicles" stories for Marvel's ''Planet_of_the_Apes'' magazine. [For this] enormously elaborate and cleverly designed fantasy saga set on the world featured in the movies, Sutton worked with oversized originals to better show off his mixed-media work and allow for meticulous detail. The result was a lush, moody, and striking fantasy story to stand with any in mainstream comics history. ' He really made the work a joy, and pure fun,' Moench told ''[The Comics] Journal''. ' This guy was so into the Future Chronicles, he wanted to put so much detail into it, he worked on these gigantic boards. It was [a] black-and-white [magazine], so it was already bigger than regular comics pages. Then he did that series twice up, these enormous things that would cover my desk. Right there it made it something special, the sheer physical size of it. The enthusiasm you could see in every brushstroke just made it so exciting'".[''The Comics Reporter'' obituary, posted June 30, 2002]
== Footnotes ==
==References==
''Comic_Book_Artist'' #12 (March 2001): Tom Sutton interview, pp. 62-69
* Lambiek Comiclopedia: Tom Sutton
* Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Publishing News: "Tom Sutton (1937-2002)"
* Graphic Classics: Tom Sutton
* The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
* The Grand Comic Book Database
* "The Warren Magazines", by Richard J. Arndt (History, bibliography, interviews)
* The Complete Skywald Checklist
* ''Charlton Spotlight'' #3: "Tom Sutton Tribute", by Jim Amash
* ''Alter Ego'' #16, July 2002: "Tom Sutton (1937-2002)"
==External links==
* Ask ART — The American Artists Bluebook: Tom Sutton
* Tom Sutton Charlton Checklist
* Wacky Packages - Tom Sutton
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