Thomson, Bill :: Assorted Comic & Cartoon Art

My Jim Aparo Story

Artist: Jim Aparo (Penciller)

12 Comments - 682 Views - 3 Likes

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Artwork Details

Title:	My Jim Aparo Story
Artist:	Jim Aparo (Penciller)
Media Type:	Pencil
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	682
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Favorited on CAF:	1
Comments:	12
Added to Site:	5/19/2021
Comic Art Archive:

Description

During my junior year of high school, I worked at a supermarket stocking shelves. I often took my break the same time as the butcher, John, who was a very nice guy. In those days, when you took a break, you had to punch out on a time clock. One day I noticed the last name on John's time card was "Aparo". Not wanting to reveal my comic nerdity (didn't advertise my interest in comics in those days), I asked him if anyone in his family was an artist. I was shocked at his reply... "my brother Jimmy draws Batman and lives in town- do you want to meet him?" I couldn't believe John the butcher was Jim Aparo's brother and that he lived in my town!

Now I have to admit, I was a Marvel guy throughout my childhood and DC characters just didn't have the same appeal. However, there were 2 DC artists artists whose work I really, really loved: Jim Aparo and Neal Adams. I would only venture outside the Marvel universe for their artwork. I was thrilled to meet an artist that I long admired. As a kid that loved to draw and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, this meeting could also be a pivotal moment.

I nervously called Mr. Aparo and arranged a day to visit him. He spent a couple of hours with me, showing his basement studio and explaining his process. His studio shelf was filled with toys used to draw cars, planes, etc. Using reference was a revelation as I thought everything was drawn out of an artist's head. He showed me a B&B book he was working on and how he told the story through pictures. Mr. Aparo was a one man show doing the pencilling, inking and lettering. He showed me art supplies, and gave little tips like leaving the cap off ink overnight to get it darker. He would also mark the solid black art areas with an "x" and his wife would paint them in at the kitchen table. He told me how Neal Adams had been a child prodigy and started working for DC when he was just a couple of years older than me.

Then Mr. Aparo looked at my drawings and gave me feedback. I had been drawing my own comics, and he showed me how I could use better vantage points and body language to make the story more interesting. He even redrew a splash page on the back of one of my pages to make his points (see attached image). With a couple of quick strokes of his pencil, his storytelling was infinitely better than mine. It's funny the things that you remember- Mr Aparo was missing part of one of his fingers (I tried not to look), and despite that, he still drew much better than anyone I had ever seen. Mr. Aparo also stressed how critical anatomy was, and that environments were just as important as the figures. He talked about variety- showing things from different perspectives and varying the scale of things. The things he told me 40 years ago still resonate with me today.

Mr. Aparo was very humble, but also very honest. I was surprised at some of his advice- particularly not to pursue comics. He said that comic book artists work very hard but don't make a lot of money doing them. He told me that if he had to do it again, he would pursue advertising because that's where "the big money" was. This was in 1980 before the comics artists got their due, and I hope his perspective might have changed in subsequent years. But his advice really stuck with me- if one of the best comic artists in the business said advertising was the best route to pursue, that was exactly what I would do. I went to art school to study illustration and did mostly advertising artwork for the first 15 years of my career.

I visited Mr Aparo once more during my freshman year of college, but mainly just got feedback on my recent work. While I really appreciated the time and advice that he gave me, I also didn't want to be a bother. On each of my visits, his parting words were that he had deadlines and had to get back to work, so I was very conscious that he had made time for me and didn't want to abuse his generosity. After college, I moved out of town and began a career as a freelance illustrator and didn't visit him again.

Fast forward twenty years. I moved back to town after getting married and having kids. I was sitting in Friendly's with my son and noticed him smiling at someone behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mr Aparo and his wife in a booth behind me waving to my son. I walked over and reintroduced myself. I told him how much I appreciated his advice when I was in high school- he smiled and thanked me, but I'm not sure if he actually remembered me. I�m certain those visits were MUCH more important to me than they were to him. I hoped to visit him again, but sadly, Mr. Aparo had passed away a few months later. While I never saw him again, the gift of Mr. Aparo's time and advice is something that I will always cherish. While I never pursued comics, his storytelling advice is in my children�s books, and I remember Mr Aparo's generosity when young artists want advice.

God Bless Jim Aparo!

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About the Owner

	Bill Thomson
Joined:	October 2004
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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Comments on this Artwork

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Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

Cool story of actually meeting your hero and it turning out successfully. As for the Aparo art lesson, he probably only went by the "what the..." line and reimagined the face and body language to one of shock and surprise. Maybe he also suggested something else to put in open space where the oar had been. Again, this is a great story and I thank you for sharing it and your artwork.

Bill Thomson
Member Since 2004

Posted on 5/19/2021

Marcus Wai wrote:

Cool story of actually meeting your hero and it turning out successfully.� As for�the�Aparo art lesson, he�probably only went by the "what the..." line and reimagined the face and body language to one of shock and surprise. �Maybe he also�suggested something else to put in�open space where the oar had been. �Again, this is a great story and I thank you for sharing it and your artwork.

Thanks Marcus! If memory serves correct, I think he thought it better if the meteor went overlapped the moon... and the moon was reflected in the water/open space where the oar originally was. Both points were absolutely great advice!!!

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 5/19/2021

Bill Thomson wrote:

So as a professional yourself, do you pass it forward with mentorships or outreach?

Dave W
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

What an amazing story Bill, thanks so much for sharing. I also worked in a supermarket in high school and often had lunch with the butcher but was not so fortunate for his brother to be a great artist. When I think about Mr. Aparo's words and advice not to go into comic art (I have heard other artists share similarly), it makes me thankful that they didn't take their own advice and put in the work in comics, creating the worlds that we all love so dearly. Thanks for sharing this treasure of a story and piece of art Bill!

Ron S
Member Since 2007

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

Thanks for sharing a great story.

eewwnuk 1
Member Since 2008

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

this was a lovely story. thanks for sharing. hope others read it as well.

Will K
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

I met Aparo briefly at conventions 2 times. No art or career advice but it's always great to have a positive experience when meeting one's heroes. He was a great artist and I hope more people read your story.

Mel C. and B. Carter
Member Since 2005

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

Thank you so much for sharing this story. Jim Aparo's art was one of the first I could recognize on the stands. Just a major part of my adolescence.

. BRAUNY
Member Since 2007

1 - Posted on 5/19/2021

Hey Bill - great story and thanks so much for sharing! I really enjoyed reading about your connection with Jim Aparo. I hope this inspires others to tell their stories about interacting with comics pros.

kent mansley
Member Since 2015

1 - Posted on 5/20/2021

What a wonderful story about an amazing artist and person! Thanks for sharing!

Tim Soter
Member Since 2005

Posted on 5/25/2021

Excellent story, thanks for sharing that. Little is on record about Aparo, so I was extra excited to hear about this. Wish he had been appropriately compensated so he could have felt better about his career choice and how much excitement it brought to people.

Michael McIsaac
Member Since 2020

Posted on 6/24/2021

Thank you for sharing this story. It's always great to hear that a person whose work I've admired was also a decent human being.

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