INTERVIEW  

By 1985, discovering he could sell more comics work packaging artwork or complete books to go with those stories, David went into freelance editing/packaging full-time for several years, helping to launch Amazing, Wonder, Pied Piper, Eternity, Sirius, Malibu , and other companies. ( In the process, he discovered and began the careers of such talents as Ron Lim and Bart Sears. )

In 1988, he wrote the business proposal and raised $400,000 in financing to launch Innovation Publishing. Under David's control, Innovation became #4 in market share, below only Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, as it brought to prominence many literary, film, and TV tie-ins and adaptations, such as Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat, Dark Shadows, Quantum Leap, Lost in Space, and many others. ( He was the first editor to publish an authorized Stephen King story in comics in 25 years. )

Innovation was also the first company to delve heavily into recruiting talent from Brazil, starting the American careers of Mike Deodato, Joe Bennett, and more.

"I miss the Innovation titles," David admits. "I was targeting adult female readers, a market that the bigger companies said didn't exist. I laughed about that; women are more than half the population, and I was selling an awful lot of books to a market that supposedly didn't exist. I also miss the painted books, the high-class production values, the sheer variety of titles Innovation offered. I'm surprised another company never stepped to the plate; Innovation closed in '94, a year after I left, for reasons that had nothing to do with the sales of the books."

Over the years, David was a writer or co-writer for hundreds of comic books, often illustrated by artists he discovered. His credits include Superman, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, MAGNUS, Angel Heat, Beauty and the Beast, Dangerous Secrets, Dark Shadows, Hero Alliance, the Vampire Companion, and many others -- most recently Exposure and Jade Warriors , both for Image Comics . (His son Bill scripted his own first comic book, The Experimentals , for Caliber Comics at age 12, and his daughter Katie is working on her first story at the same age.)

"In a way," he says, "it's doing for others what Al Williamson did for me, and motivating me the way early encouragement came to me from C.C. Beck and from Ray Bradbury. 

The business needed someone who could not only recruit and find work for the best talents out their, but also teach people who don't have the opportunities to learn otherwise."

Today, David oversees three offices in Brazil and one in Manila, coordinating art from a roster of nearly 100 revolving talents worldwide -- to produce art and digital graphics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Chaos, Vertigo, Wildstorm, Ballantine Books, Universal Studios, Twentieth Television Services, New Line Cinema, Full Moon Entertainment, Toyota, xxxspacegirls.com, loribenson.com, and other companies. He teaches seminars throughout the U.S. (at Conventions and art schools), Brazil, and the Philippines on a regular basis, and is responsible for launching the professional careers of more than 100 artists in the past 19 years. 

His talent roster includes Ed Benes , Joe Bennett, Mike Deodato, Sandu Florea, Hector Gomez, Joe Pimentel, Cliff Richards, Al Rio, Luke Ross, Carlo Pagulayan, Wilson Tortosa  and many others. David has just been chosen as Consulting Publisher of MAD Magazine in Brazil.

He was married to Meryl Calanog on May 5, 2001. They reside in Wheeling, WV.