A digital comic created by Peter Gillis and Mike Saenz

Shatter was the first all-digital comic, i.e. a comic for which the art was created entirely on the computer, as opposed to the common method of drawing on board with pencil, pen and ink and then scanning the black and white art into a computer for the application of computer color.

History

Shatter was written by Peter Gillis and illustrated on the computer by Mike Saenz. It first appeared as a backup feature in First Comics' Jon Sable title in 1985. It was published in its own book by First Comics in 1986. The book was art directed by Mark Waid. First Comics was an American publisher of comic books. ... Mark Waid is an American comic book writer. ...

It was a dystopian sci-fi fantasy somewhat in the mold of Blade Runner. Blade Runner is a dark cyberpunk film directed by Ridley Scott and released in 1982. ...

Shatter was initially drawn on a first-generation Mac using a mouse and printed on a dot-matrix printer. The print-outs were then photographed like a piece of traditionally drawn black and white comic art, and the color separations were applied in the traditional manner for comics at the time. Macintosh, also known as Mac, is a family of personal computers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. ... A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer normally refers to a type of computer printer with a print-head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. ...

Mike Saenz left after the first couple of issues of the full Shatter title. He was replaced for several issues by artists who worked in the traditional manner, although the artwork was then digitized.

Artist Charlie Athanas re-established the standard of creating the comic directly on the computer. He draws the pages with a mouse on a Macintosh Plus computer. The Macintosh Plus computer was introduced two years after the original Macintosh. ...

Shatter artist Mike Saenz went went on to create Iron Man: Crash, the first digital graphic novel in 1988 and Donna Matrix a digital graphic novel utilizing 3-D rendering in 1993. A graphic novel (GN) is a work of art produced within the form of the comic book. ...

Writer Peter B. Gillis has worked on a number of comic titles before and after Shatter, including Dr. Strange, What If, Hulk, and The Defenders, for Marvel Comics and several titles for DC Comics. He remains best known for the series Strikeforce: Morituri that he created for Marvel with artist Brent Anderson. The series ran from 1986 to 1989. Marvel Comics, sometimes called by the nickname House of Ideas, is an American comic book company. ... DC Comics is one of the largest companies in comic book and related media publishing. ...

Timeline

• June, 1985: Shatter, written by Peter Gillis and illustrated by Mike Saenz, appears as a backup feature in Jon Sable: Freelance #25, published by First Comics.
• 1985-1986: The series runs as a back up feature in Jon Sable: Freelance from issues #25-30.
• June, 1986: Shatter Special, one shot by Peter Gillis and by Mike Saenz. First Comics.
• July, 1986: Shatter continues as a 14 issue series by First Comics.
• 1986 Mike Saenz leaves after 2 issues. First continues the title using other artists including Steve Erwin and Bob Dienethal who draw traditional art on board that is then digitized while they look for someone to pick up the task of drawing the art directly on a computer.
• 1986-1987 Charlie Athanas re-establishes the practice of creating the comic directly on the computer and draws issues #9-14.
• 1988: Iron Man: Crash, the first digital graphic novel is published by Marvel Comics, drawn by 'Shatter artist Mike Saenz.
• 1994: Mike Saenz creates Donna Matrix, computer generated graphic novel with 3-D graphics, published by Reactor Press. This is the first 3-D CGI graphic novel.

Marvel Comics, sometimes called by the nickname House of Ideas, is an American comic book company. ...

Sources

Books

• McCloud, Scott (2000) Reinventing Comics, pp. 140, 165, Paradox Press

Periodicals

• Gillis, Peter & Saenz, Mike (1985). "Shatter", Jon Sable: Freelance, issues #25-30, First Comics
• Gillis, Peter & Saenz, Mike (1986). Shatter Special, First Comics
• Gillis, Peter & Saenz, Mike (1986). Shatter, First Comics, issues #1-14, First Comics

Web Sites

• Harter, Maurice (1997) "Comics" (http://www.lightworks.com/MonthlyAspectarian/1997/January/07-0197.html), Lightworks
• Szadkowski, Joseph (July 1, 2000). "Digital Production Comes of Age in the Comic World" (http://mag.awn.com/index.php?article_no=296), Animation World Magazine
• "Comic ceator: Mike Saenz" (http://www.lambiek.net/saenz_mike.htm), Lambiek Comiclopedia
• "Peter B. Gillis Biibliography" (http://truestories.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/gillis2.htm), True Stories
• Athenas, Charlie "Comic Books: Shatter Issues #9-14" (http://burningcity.com/bci_html/athanas_comics.html), Burning City