Artie Romero

Artie Edward Romero (born in Springfield, Missouri) is an American cartoonist, animator, producer, director and publisher. He began his career in comic books at a young age in the 1970s, and now is best known for his animation work.

Early life

The first child of Wilma and Artie Thomas, he was born in 1951 in Springfield, Missouri, and named Artie Edward Thomas, Jr. His parents' tumultuous marriage produced three more sons before ending in divorce in 1962. Wilma then married Jose Santiago Romero, and Jose adopted the four boys, changing their names to Romero.

Romero decided to pursue a career as an artist after his work was published in his school's literary magazine, and he became fascinated with the technical aspects of printing and publishing.

In an interview, Romero said ″I decided to become an artist when I was about 15. I sent a letter to Stan Lee in 1968, which he published along with my mailing address and his reply in 'Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #4.' I got a lot of mail from comics fans after that, and I was encouraged to become a fan artist.″

Soon thereafter, he joined the staff of Carl Gafford's New Milford, Connecticut based fanzine Minotaur as a co-editor. Romero recruited fellow student artists and writers to create a magazine, and in January, 1969, the first issue of Platinum Toad appeared. Printed on the school's duplicator, it included poems by co-editor Tom Haber, a cover by Romero, comics by George Laws and Robert Crumb (an unauthorized reprint of Crumb's "Keep On Truckin'"), a short story by Martha Ann Kennedy, and assorted artwork.

Comics and publishing

In his school years Romero published original illustrations by Frank Frazetta, Vaughn Bodē, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Michael William Kaluta in his comics and science fiction fanzine Realm (1969–72). He dropped out of college to help found Everyman Studios, an artists' collective. Other founding members of Everyman Studios include illustrators Rick Berry and Darrel Kurt Anderson, who later founded Braid Media Arts.

Romero was commissioned by Frank M. Robinson in 1973 to create a full page, color illustration for Robinson's short story "Downhill All the Way." It was published in the first issue of In Touch magazine in June, 1974.

In 1974–75, Anderson and Romero were co-editors of a Colorado Springs alternative newspaper, Everyman Flyer, which included underground comix.

From 1978 to 1981, Romero edited and published Cascade Comix Monthly, a fanzine about underground comix with news and artist interviews, including Art Spiegelman, Denis Kitchen, Dan O'Neill, Gilbert Shelton and Trina Robbins. Cascade also published original comix and art by S. Clay Wilson, Spain Rodriguez, Skip Williamson, M. K. Brown, Jay Lynch and other pioneering underground comix artists. Several full-size underground comix, tabloids and a series of 21 minicomics with color covers were published under Everyman Comics' imprint. Several of Romero's minicomics were reprinted, including their color covers, in Fantagraphics' 2010 anthology, Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s.

Animator, producer and director

While attending college, Romero began working on animation projects such as music videos, TV commercials and movie titles. He continued to do so from 1981 through 1994 as Everyman Studios, then in 1994 he founded ARG! Cartoon Animation Studio. ARG! currently produces animation for movies, television and the Web. Romero's screen credits include visual effects animation for Johnny Mnemonic (Sony Pictures, 1995), and animated cartoon segments for a children's program, TV Planet (Rocky Mountain PBS, 1999).

Early work

In 1981, Romero's publishing company Everyman Studios expanded into commercial animation production, hiring animators William Kirk Kennedy, Jan Johnson and Roy W. Smith, and accepting a contract to produce an animated rock video for the band Gibraltar. A work print of the 5-minute film "King's Elevator" premiered at the 39th World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, and subsequently the finished video aired on the nationally syndicated TV series "America Rocks." The studio then began producing animated television and theatrical commercials under contract.

In 1983 the studio produced titles and animation for Frameline Filmworks' Lost starring Sandra Dee and Jack Elam, and in 1983-1984, Romero produced and directed a TV mini-series about video games called Video Game All Stars for the local NBC affiliate, KOAA Channels 5/30. The series included animated bumpers by Romero. In 2022, clips from the first episode of Video Game All Stars were licensed to be included in Pause & Replay, a series of films about the history of video games that is on public display in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Also in 1984, Romero produced title animation and animated bumpers for Almost Live, produced and hosted by Jeff Valdez. Everyman Studios continued to produce animation for TV commercials, movie title sequences and software throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, converting from film to digital animation production in 1991.

ARG! Cartoon Animation

In 1994 Romero rebranded Everyman Studios as ARG! Cartoon Animation in Colorado Springs, producing animation for Duracell's national sales meeting and visual effects for Sony Pictures' Johnny Mnemonic. Romero launched the ARG! website Artie.com in 1996, and it quickly became one of the most popular animation sites on the Web. The ARG! site got 1 billion hits in a 20-month period in 2005–2006.

Best known for his work on Keanu Reeves' 1995 cyberpunk feature Johnny Mnemonic, Romero has served as ARG! producer, director and animator on movie projects, TV series, music videos and thousands of animated shorts and commercials. His directorial credits include productions for MTV Networks, PBS, Kaiser Permanente, Harper Collins, AT&T, Transamerica, Safeco Insurance and others.

In addition to its commercial work, the studio recently produced a series of short whiteboard/Flash cartoons, Edward Lear's Nonsense Stories for YouTube and cable TV. Since January 2015, the studio has produced storyboards and 4K animation for TAYEKENI Productions' Adventures of Turtle Taido, a children's television series that is broadcast on Nigerian Television Authority stations. The program was nominated for Best Animation at the 2015 Abuja Film Festival, and was screened at Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

In 2017, the ARG! studio moved from Colorado Springs to Stilwell, Oklahoma. In 2018, Romero sold their original website domain Artie.com to Artie, Inc., a virtual reality startup, and relocated the official ARG! site to ArtieStick.com. Their short film for children, Taffy the Pink Hippopotamus premiered at WonderCon on April 2, 2022, and was screened at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con in the children's film program.

CityStar Group

In 1996, Romero founded the web development company CityStar Group in Colorado Springs. The company produced a complex of 300 city directory websites containing listings for businesses and organizations. Romero worked with the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado, sponsoring a series of internet marketing workshops, and promoting the Bureau's services. In 2014, CityStar Group's assets were acquired by Blue Roof, Inc., and in 2015 the CityStar corporation was voluntarily dissolved.

In 2022, Romero launched a website development and hosting company, Ozarks Tech LLC in Stilwell, Oklahoma. It creates sites for city governments, school systems, non-profit organizations and businesses.

Filmography Year Film Credit Award 1982 King's Elevator Technical director Screened, 39th World Science Fiction Convention 1983 Lost Animator 1983 Beasts Animator 1986 Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry Animator 1995 Johnny Mnemonic Visual effects Winner, Genie Award 1999 TV Planet Associate Producer Nominee, Emmy Awards 2014 How Cartoons Are Made Producer/director Winner, Top Indie Film Awards 2017 Pedro at the Rainbow Bridge Producer Winner, International Independent Film Awards 2018 Turtle Taido in Osun and Kogi States Producer/director Winner, International Independent Film Awards 2020 Turtle Taido: The Story of the Elephant (director's cut) Director Winner, World Film Carnival Singapore 2020 Monkey & Cat Producer/director Winner, Accolade Competition 2022 Taffy the Pink Hippopotamus Producer/director Winner, Paris Film Awards 2024 There's Nothing Wrong with Me Producer/director Winner, Top Indie Film Awards

Selected bibliography 1968 Cranberry Oblivion covers Minotaur "The Esper" (artist) 1969 Platinum Toad #1 Platinum Toad #2 Fantasy Realm #1 Beware of the Mysterious Fotato #1 1970 Realm #2 - title changed from Fantasy Realm Realm #3 Platinum Toad #3 Beware of the Mysterious Fotato #2 1971 Realm #4 1972 Truth 1 Portfolio - with Darrel Anderson Realm #5 - 1st ed. 1973 Batchwalley - with David Greg Taylor, Jeffrey May, Darrel Anderson 1974 In Touch Magazine - Color illustration for Frank M. Robinson's short story Everyman Flyer #1 Everyman Flyer #2 Everyman Flyer #3 Everyman Flyer #4 1975 Everyman Flyer #5 Everyman Flyer #6 Realm #6 - 1st ed. 1976 Scrabbits Reno Comics 1977 Scrabbis Treno - with Harvey Kurtzman, Dan O'Neill, Allan Greenier, Larry Todd Realm #5 - 2nd ed. Realm #6 - 2nd ed. Realm #7 Platinum Toad #5 Platinum Toad #6 - with Darrel Anderson Platinum Toad #7 1978 Cascade Comix Monthly #1 - 1st ed. Cascade Comix Monthly #2 - 1st ed. Cascade Comix Monthly #3 - 1st ed. Cascade Comix Monthly #4 - 1st ed. Cascade Comix Monthly #5 Platinum Toad #8 Cascade Comix Monthly #6 Cascade Comix Monthly #7 Cascade Comix Monthly #8 Cascade Comix Monthly #9-10 Platinum Toad #9 1979 Star Food Comics - published by Colorado State University Extension Robot Romance Bug Infested Comics - with Bob Vojtko Cascade Comix Monthly #11-12 Real Dope Thrills - with Gary Whitney Waldo and Emerson - with Jim Siergey Cascade Comix Monthly #13 Nutso Toons Samo - with Gary Whitney MLF Communique #2 - with Roger May, Dan O'Neill, S. Clay Wilson, Victor Moscoso Cascade Comix Monthly #14 Funny Animal Lust - with George Erling Captain Nimrod - with Darrel Anderson Moon Pie - with J. Michael Leondard Calculus Cat - with Hunt Emerson Cascade Comix Monthly #15 Cascade Comix Monthly #16 1980 Cascade Comix Monthly #17 Astounding Sci-Bondage - with John Adams Bar Fly Theater - with Richard Krauss Cascade Comix Monthly #18 Space Junk - with Larry Rippee Werks Phase Two - with Al Sirois Cascade Comix Monthly #19 Z - with Bhob Stewart Conception - with Jim Valentino Horrible Misunderstandings #1 - with Roger May B'ad Comics Pep Comix Platinum Toad #10 - limited edition Yikes #4 - with George Erling Cascade Comix Monthly #20 Animal Bite Comix - with Doug Hansen Hobo Stories - with Dave Taylor More Potatoes Samyang Ramyon Cascade Comix Monthly #21 Art 2000 Horrible Misunderstandings #2 - 2nd ed. 1981 Platinum Toad #11 Tales of Mr. Fly - with Bob Conway Riffs - with Bruce Chrislip Horrible Misunderstandings #1 - 3rd ed. Cascade #22 - title change from Cascade Comix Monthly Cascade #23 with S. Clay Wilson, Jay Lynch, Robert Williams (artist), Spain Rodriguez 1983 Platinum Toad #12 - All Romero, published by Phantasy Press Stick City - All Romero, featuring Artie Stick 1984 Watch Out for Flying Saucers - All Romero 1986 Platinum Toad #13 Panorama of the World Cycling Championships - poster by Romero 1991 Arnsrarngen Comix #0 - with Jim Siergey, William Kirk Kennedy, David Gregory Taylor 2010 Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s from Fantagraphics Books - Romero interview, several minicomics reprinted 2016 Realm #8 - from Phantasy Press, "Best of Everyman Comics" with Hunt Emerson, Rick Berry (artist) Nutso Toons #2 - with Skip Williamson, M. K. Brown, Rick Berry (artist)