It is 270 miles from Belo Horizonte to San Paulo in Brazil, and the road from aspiring fan to top comic book artist is longer than that. For artist Will Conrad, a journey that began in the mountaintop city he calls home nearly ended before it began, in a calamitous bus wreck on the road to San Paulo.  In the end, not even that derailed his life-long dream. 

Watching the joy as Will draws you would never suspect how close it came to not happening.  At a convention as he does sketches with a smile, jokes as he takes fans requests and seems genuinely happy to answer their questions.  He works at the drawing board twelve hours a day or more, and when he takes breaks sketches to relax. 

It’s hard to believe but the mega-star artist, currently hard at work on Conan for Dark Horse and The Freshmen for Top Cow, never thought a career in comics was possible because of the low page rates paid by Brazilian publishers. “In Brazil, drawing comics was asking to starve,” he remembers.  “They paid $10, maybe $20 a page.  If you got paid at all.”

Things changed in 1997, when comic book legend Will Eisner paid a visit to Will’s hometown.  The legendary comic creator was participating in a seminar and Will signed up.  “One of my first comics was for a contest at the seminar.”  Will Eisner was a judge.  Will won, and as his prize got to spend five priceless minutes with Eisner, who critiqued his work.  He considers the storytelling tips he received that day a key moment in his career.

Inspired by the meeting, Will worked every spare minute to improve his craft.  He called the Brazilian publishers of American comic books, but they published only reprints and had no art jobs available.  Fortunately though, through his inquiries Will learned there was a studio in San Paulo that kept artists on staff, producing artwork for the American market.

Will called the studio on a Wednesday to see if they would review his portfolio.  They told him to come in on Friday, two days later.  The average annual average income in Brazil was about one-tenth of that in the United States, but without hesitation he plunked down $45 dollars for his bus ticket.   

It was pouring rain when Will climbed aboard the bus with his backpack, portfolio, and 100 other passengers.  An hour into the trip, the bus was still navigating treacherous mountain roads only one lane in each direction.   

“Most people on the bus were sleeping but I was awake,” Will recalls.  He saw the semi come barreling down at him, the driver going too fast to hold his lane in the winding, narrow roadway.  The truck driver veered to avoid the collision, and the trailer jackknifed and slammed the bus. “I covered my head with my arms.”   

On impact, Will was thrown into the bench in front of him, cutting his head and bruising his arms. Most of his fellow passenger weren’t as fortunate.  The man in the seat next to him, who was asleep, hit his head hard and was bleeding badly. 

For the driver and the passengers in front it was far worse.  They were killed on impact.  “It looked like a war,” Will remembers sadly.  “The roof of the bus was opened like a convertible.” 

He climbed out a window, clutching his portfolio, and tried to help the other passengers till the ambulances arrived.  A passing trucker stopped to help out, and when there was nothing more they could do to help Will hopped a ride with him, covered in blood, the rest of the way to San Paulo. 

The next day, with his one change of clothes and very little sleep, Will made it to the Art & Comics studio in San Paulo.  The reception didn’t exactly make the trip seem worthwhile.  A long wait for his portfolio review finally ended when he overheard the secretary talking about the bus accident.  He began to fill them in on the details, and after the secretary realized he had been on board, she took pity on Will and cornered the office manager to make him look over Will’s samples.  

Told his work wasn’t quite what they were looking for, Will asked what he could do to improve.  He got a few suggestions and when he got home worked on more samples whenever he could find the time, getting enough done in his free time to send off a package every few weeks.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t getting responses, and couldn’t get anybody but the studio secretary on the phone. 

Many aspiring creators, perhaps most, would have been discouraged enough to give up.  But Will, who did his first artwork on his mother’s clean walls, learned how to draw Superman from a soda bottle at age eight, and crawled out from under the wreckage of a bus clutching his portfolio, was not the type to surrender. 

He learned that Art & Comics had a partner in the United States, and sent an e-mail to Glass House Graphics.  David Campiti quickly responded he’d be happy to review Will’s work.  David quickly recognized Will’s talent and dedication, and before long found him regular work, beginning with a long stint inking Cliff Richard’s pencils on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 

As Will’s stint on Buffy finished up, he was ready to move on to penciling.  His first job was in Rob Zombie’s Spookshow, and before long he was penciling three issues of Elektra for Marvel. 

Today Will draws in a neat studio not far from his home, with walls covered with his original art.  Though he long worked at home, the arrival of his second daughter a few months ago forced him to find another place to practice his craft.   One of his current projects, Conan and Thusala Doom, is especially close to his heart.

IIf a bus crash couldn’t stop Will what hope does Thusala Doom have?

 “It was Conan that first made me want to draw comics,” Will remembers.  “It was drawn by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala.  It was just…”   

Words failed Will at that point, as he puckered his lips, put his fingertips to his lips, and kissed them loudly.  If his finished the sentence, I think he would have said “perfection.” 

Besides Buscema and Alcala, along with Will Eisner, Will considers Neal Adams and Frank Frazetta to be the major influences on his work. 

But no matter how good Will’s work gets, or how popular he becomes, there is little danger of him getting a swelled head.  He has his family to make sure of that. 

They were never quite sure what to make of the son who wanted to draw for a living.  One day, he was picking up his mother from church, when the pastor asked what Will did for a living.