Author - Douglas Brode
DOUGLAS BRODE (b. 1943) is a screenwriter, playwright, novelist, film historian, and multi-award winning journalist. Born and raised on Long Island, he traveled upstate to attend SUNY Geneseo as an undergrad and never really left. After graduate work in Shakespearean studies at Syracuse University, he and his wife Sue (Johnson) Brode stayed on and raised a family. Brode became the coordinator of the Cinema Studies program at Onondaga College and then an adjunct professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications. He is the author of over 30 books on film and the mass media including Films Of The Fifties, Films Of Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington (a biography), Sinema (Erotic Films), Shakespeare In The Movies (for Oxford University Press), two books on Walt Disney for University of Texas Press, From Walt To Woodstock and Multiculturalism and the mouse. Also, Elvis Cinema And Popular Culture for McFarland Press. Most recently, he and Carol (widow of Rod) Serling have completed Rod Serling And The Twilight Zone: The Official 50th Anniversary Tribute for Barricade Books. Brode wrote the screenplay for Midnight Blue, which one critic called "the best of the low-budget erotic thrillers. His produced plays include Heartbreaker and Somewhere In The Night.
Illustrator - Joe Orsak
JOE ORSAK (b. 1952) is a graphic illustrator born in Syracuse, NY. Joe traveled the world as a youth, graduating from high school in Rome, Italy. He returned to the States in 1970 to attend Syracuse University, graduating in 1974. Working in advertising during the 1970s, Joe also started to develop his talents in graphic storytelling. He worked for a publication called A WEEK'S WORTH OF COMICS, penciling and inking a Sword & Sorcery comic strip "Tarskon & Ursag", written by Tyson Blue.
In 1982 he began a long run writing and illustrating a newspaper strip "The Adventures of Captain 'Cuse" in THE SYRACUSE NEW TIMES and in THE SYRACUSE HERALD-AMERICAN. It was a weekly story of the super-hero of Syracuse New York, featuring local characters and settings. The work was done in black & white at first, but the last two years of the comic were done in full color.The comic strip came to a close in 1990, after 8 1/2 years.
Joe moved on to specialized comic books for museums (Rochester Museum and Science Center, The Franklin Institute and the New York State Museum in Albany)
Next was a series of comic books for MAGNUM COMICS, featuring comic book biographies of sports stars MICKEY MANTLE, BROOKS ROBINSON and DUKE SNIDER. His pencils were inked by well-known comic book inker JOE SINNOTT.
For STELLAR COMICS Joe wrote and illustrated the biography of SHAQUILLE O'NEAL.
He contributed two pages for the DARK HORSE COMICS publication 9-11, ARTISTS RESPOND, written by ROGER STERN. The story is titled ORDINARY HEROES.
Joe also has illustrated books for NEW READERS PRESS and recently did illustrations for SPORTS GAMBLING 101.
From September 2008 through January 2009 Joe returned to comic strips, doing a weekly strip, SALT CITY, for the SYRACUSE NEW TIMES WORKING with Douglas Brode.
Joe lives in Syracuse with his wife Jo (Mills).