Mike Vosburg: From Underground Comics to Emmy Gold
Send us a text # Mike Vosburg: From Underground Comics to Emmy Gold What happens when a 15-year-old comic fanboy launches his own fanzine and never stops creating? You get Mike Vosburg—a legendary artist whose pen has shaped everything from underground comics and Marvel’s GI Joe to HBO’s iconic Tales from the Crypt and Emmy-winning animation. In this episode, we trace Mike’s extraordinary journey through five decades of pop culture. Starting with his DIY fanzine Masquerader in 1962, Mike ro...
# Mike Vosburg: From Underground Comics to Emmy Gold
What happens when a 15-year-old comic fanboy launches his own fanzine and never stops creating? You get Mike Vosburg—a legendary artist whose pen has shaped everything from underground comics and Marvel’s GI Joe to HBO’s iconic Tales from the Crypt and Emmy-winning animation.
In this episode, we trace Mike’s extraordinary journey through five decades of pop culture. Starting with his DIY fanzine Masquerader in 1962, Mike rode the wave of underground comics in the ’70s before breaking into mainstream Marvel with GI Joe: A Real American Hero, where he both penciled classic issues and storyboarded for the animated series.
But Mike’s most haunting legacy might be his work on Tales from the Crypt, where he illustrated 92 of the 93 covers and storyboarded the show’s wraparound sequences, bringing EC Comics’ horror tradition to a new generation. His talent for visual storytelling earned him an Emmy for directing HBO’s Spawn series, proving he could master both the page and the screen.
We also explore his feminist fantasy epic Sisterhood of Steel, his storyboard work on iconic music videos like Eminem’s “Stan” and Eve’s “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” and what it takes to build a career that seamlessly moves between comics, television, animation, and film.
**In This Episode:**
- Launching a fanzine at 15 and breaking into underground comics
- Inside Marvel’s GI Joe empire: penciling and storyboarding
- Creating 92 spine-chilling covers for Tales from the Crypt
- Winning an Emmy for directing Spawn
- Storyboarding hip-hop’s most memorable music videos
- The story behind Sisterhood of Steel and taking control of publishing
- Hard-earned lessons on visual storytelling across mediums
Whether you grew up reading GI Joe, got nightmares from the Crypt Keeper, or marvel at the craft behind your favorite music videos, Mike Vosburg’s story is a masterclass in creative versatility and artistic longevity.
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Mike’s Website
Theme music composed by Ron Wasserman
Audio composed and edited by
Lauren M. Antoine
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