Mark Buck
This is a sad week for me here in the office as yesterday I found out about the death of one of my friends and first collaborator Mark Buck. Those of you out there who have followed SLG since the beginning will know Mark Buck as the illustrator of our first comic book Samurai Penguin. Before he drew those comics Mark worked for me at A World of Fantasy, the comic book store I owned, and helped me countless other projects for the few years he worked for me.
I first met Mark when he wandered into my comics shop when he was 16 years old and I hired him to work for me shortly after. He was the first non-family person I had ever hired, but after a time he quickly felt like one of the family. He was a good kid who worked hard and who always seemed to be laughing at me. That was a thing about Mark, he always seemed to be able to laugh at things even when he was ranting about someone or something or another.
He moved on as most kids do and when I caught up with him next he was working for ILM making models. He worked on a lot of very notable films including all three of the most recent Star Wars movies, James and the Giant Peach, Nightmare Before Christmas, Transformers. His IMDB listing had him most recently working on the new Terminator movie.
Mark also got married and became a dad, he leaves behind his wife Mary Ann and young son Henry.
I didn't see Mark much lately, despite the fact that he did not live far from me. Whenever I did see him though he always had some weird and crazy story about himself to share. I kind of half expect to still see him somewhere down the line and have him say something like "Well, you're not going to believe THIS one, I died AGAIN." One of the stories about Mark that serves as a metaphor for the guy is how, at some point I think in his early thirties, he grew like another three inches in height because of an out of control thyroid gland,
The thing that makes that story stand out is that he grew physically just as he had grown as a person. BY all accounts Mark was a great husband and father. He was a great talent artistically and if he maybe wasn't really ready to do an entire comic book when he was a teenager had he stuck with comics I really believe he could have been huge.
I will always know him as a good friend and part of our family and I am lucky to have known him.
Mark Buck. He will be missed.
Dan Vado
Above, Mark and I at the SLG 10th anniversary party holding a copy of Samurai Penguin. Mark Buck building a model for Rocky & Bullwinkle, the cover of Samurai Penguin #1
I first met Mark when he wandered into my comics shop when he was 16 years old and I hired him to work for me shortly after. He was the first non-family person I had ever hired, but after a time he quickly felt like one of the family. He was a good kid who worked hard and who always seemed to be laughing at me. That was a thing about Mark, he always seemed to be able to laugh at things even when he was ranting about someone or something or another.
He moved on as most kids do and when I caught up with him next he was working for ILM making models. He worked on a lot of very notable films including all three of the most recent Star Wars movies, James and the Giant Peach, Nightmare Before Christmas, Transformers. His IMDB listing had him most recently working on the new Terminator movie.
Mark also got married and became a dad, he leaves behind his wife Mary Ann and young son Henry.
I didn't see Mark much lately, despite the fact that he did not live far from me. Whenever I did see him though he always had some weird and crazy story about himself to share. I kind of half expect to still see him somewhere down the line and have him say something like "Well, you're not going to believe THIS one, I died AGAIN." One of the stories about Mark that serves as a metaphor for the guy is how, at some point I think in his early thirties, he grew like another three inches in height because of an out of control thyroid gland,
The thing that makes that story stand out is that he grew physically just as he had grown as a person. BY all accounts Mark was a great husband and father. He was a great talent artistically and if he maybe wasn't really ready to do an entire comic book when he was a teenager had he stuck with comics I really believe he could have been huge.
I will always know him as a good friend and part of our family and I am lucky to have known him.
Mark Buck. He will be missed.
Dan Vado
Above, Mark and I at the SLG 10th anniversary party holding a copy of Samurai Penguin. Mark Buck building a model for Rocky & Bullwinkle, the cover of Samurai Penguin #1
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