Joe Zabel (born July 7, 1953)[1] is a comic book writer and artist living in Cleveland Heights. He is best known for his work illustrating American Splendor, by fellow Clevelander Harvey Pekar.[2][3] Under the company names Known Associates Press and Amazing Montage Press, Zabel has also published his own series of mystery comics, The Trespassers.
Zabel grew up in Chesterland, Ohio, and attended Youngstown State University. He broke into comics in 1977, helping to draw a promo ad in an issue of Power Comics' Cobalt Blue.[1] Shortly after moving to Cleveland, he began illustrating for American Splendor in 1985, usually inked by Gary Dumm,[2] and was a regular contributor to Pekar's comics until 1997, illustrating many covers along the way. Zabel also had his work published in anthologies like Duplex Planet Illustrated, Negative Burn, and Real Stuff.
Beginning in the 2000s, Zabel turned away from printed comics and begun making online digital comic strips. Zabel's Fear Mongers horror webcomics was used, along with Penny Arcade, Fetus-X and American Elf, as an example of using the web to create "an explosion of diverse genres and styles" in Scott McCloud's 2006 book Making Comics.[4]
Zabel is also a comics reviewer, having been published in such venues as The Comics Journal, Subliminal Tattoos, Indy magazine, and iComics.com.[5] He was the editor-in-chief of The Webcomics Examiner, an online magazine of webcomics reviews and interviews.
^ abZabel entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999.
^ abRea, Steven (2006-08-17). "From the comic book to the screen". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. H1
^Winn, Steven (2003-08-21). "Every picture tells a thousand stories". San Francisco Chronicle. p. E1
^McCloud, Scott (2006). Making Comics, New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-078094-0, p. 227.
JoeZabel (born July 7, 1953) is a comic book writer and artist living in Cleveland Heights. He is best known for his work illustrating American Splendor...
Gary Dumm, Greg Budgett, Spain Rodriguez, JoeZabel, Gerry Shamray, Frank Stack, Mark Zingarelli, and Joe Sacco. Other notable American Splendor illustrators...
1994) — art by JoeZabel and Gary Dumm & John Stats "Breakfast at Billy's," Dark Horse Presents #100-3 (Dark Horse, August 1995) — art by Joe Sacco "Flight...
include Crumb, Dumm, Budgett, Spain Rodriguez, JoeZabel, Gerry Shamray, Frank Stack, Mark Zingarelli, and Joe Sacco. In the 2000s, he teamed regularly with...
McCloud had a difficult time working on the book. In an interview with JoeZabel, McCloud stated that he was so eager to get to the second half of the...
customers", allowing him to modify the strip based on their feedback. JoeZabel stated that Dilbert had a large influence on many of the webcomics that...
Joy of Tech by Liza Schmalcel and Bruce Evans. Comic writer and artist JoeZabel said that User Friendly "may be one of the earliest webcomics manifestation...
(Drawn & Quarterly) Ben Katchor, The Jew of New York (Pantheon Books) JoeZabel & Gary Dumm, Oracle (Amazing Montage) 2000 Chris Ware, The Acme Novelty...
the digital medium, such as Flash animation and music. That same year, JoeZabel also noted that the primary purpose for the infinite canvas would be to...
pencils of Greg Budgett and JoeZabel, although he also illustrated some stories on his own. (Dumm has also inked Zabel in other venues, including Caliber's...
Examiner, JoeZabel described the comic as "shopping sprees of free association and mythic transcendence, peppered with sly, ironic commentary". Zabel said...
commissioning this proposed competitor following a pitch from producers Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman. The series tagline was "History as we know it is a lie...
of Death were together named among the best webcomics of the year by JoeZabel. In 2019, Cat and Girl won a National Cartoonists Society Division Award...
obsession" and calls this a theme he returns to often. In an interview with JoeZabel, McCloud said that he is "pessimistic about the wisdom of trying to find...
Clowes, Jim Woodring, Chris Ware, Dame Darcy, James Kochalka, Jason Lutes, JoeZabel, Gary Dumm, Ellen Forney, Peter Kuper, Roberta Gregory, Tim Hensley, Dave...
police department Joe Tippett as John Ross, Lori's husband and cousin of Erin's father Kenny Evan Peters as Detective Colin Zabel, the county detective...
McCloud himself, "it still wasn't simple enough for a lot of people." JoeZabel said in 2006 that micropayments were necessary for webcomics that couldn't...
"nice to see a protagonist handled with this much care and complexity". JoeZabel of The Webcomics Examiner stated that he was particularly fond of Antimony's...
Alex Robinson, Andrew Robinson, Dave Sim & Gerhard, Jim Valentino, and JoeZabel August 11–13: Dallas Fantasy Fair II (Dallas Market Hall Convention Center...
Marv Wolfman Ohiocon '75 (Youngstown, Ohio) — program booklet, edited by JoeZabel, includes a history of the Youngstown Comic Art Association Pittcon '75...
produced by Christopher Chulack, Michael Crichton, John Wells, David Zabel, Joe Sachs, and Janine Sherman Barrois. Virgil Williams and Lisa Zwerling act...
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