Local hero Will Sliney bringing Comic Expo back to Cork
To many, Will Sliney must have the dream job – illustrating Marvel superheroes from his home in East Cork. Next weekend he brings his Comic Expo back to his native city in a bid to inspire future comic artists. reports
For his 13th birthday, Will Sliney asked for yet another Spiderman figure as a present.
“I remember thinking maybe I should stop doing this, I might be a bit old for it,” he laughs.
It’s probably a good thing that he didn’t stop — as his obsession took him to the pinnacle of the comic book industry, when 17 years later, he became an artist for the legendary Marvel Comics, drawing Spiderman for a living.
The moment when Sliney, now 35, achieved his dream of becoming a comic book artist for Marvel is etched in his brain. But it is a moment that didn’t happen in Hollywood fashion — it was the culmination of years of hard work and rejection.
“I was always drawing, just doodling really. It wasn’t until I was in college that I discovered there was such a job as a comic book artist and started to focus and train myself with the long-term goal of getting a job,” says the Cork native.
Sliney studied multimedia at CIT, where his efforts to realise his dream began in earnest.
“It was a broad course — website design, movie-making, programming, all of that but there was a good bit of illustration too, and that’s what I really loved. They were quite supportive in the course, they let me explore it as much as I could.” Full of hope and determination, when he finished college, Sliney took out a loan and flew to the world’s top comic book convention in San Diego.
“I flew halfway around the world to be told: ‘your stuff is crap, go away and practise a bit more.’ It was a massive learning experience. I remember sitting in a room for a DC comics talent search… I went in there full of confidence, then I looked at the work of the person beside me and thought, ‘they’re better than me, maybe I’m the second best in the room’. Then I looked at the work of the person on the other side of me, and they were better too. It was a bit of a reality check.” Sliney reckons it was the best thing that could have happened to him at that time.
“The thing about comic conventions is they are very welcoming, all the professional artists sit at tables, signing. I went around and they told me how my work could be improved and what to work on. That was my first time getting direct feedback from comic book professionals.” When Sliney returned to Ireland, he started drawing for small comic book presses, which led to other work in England and then in America. Meanwhile, he continued to submit work to Marvel.
“I kept practising. I just climbed the ladder, the bigger the job you get, the more visible you are.” Sliney’s persistence paid off when in 2012 he was at a comic book convention in Dublin and met a talent search editor from Marvel.
On the drawing board pic.twitter.com/AAH3i5Oyg5
— Will Sliney (@WillSliney) April 5, 2018
“He looked at my work and just said: ‘Okay, you’re finally ready and we think we have a job for you.’” Even then, Sliney had another agonising wait for his dream moment; there was one final hurdle to overcome.
“I had a comic book signing in Belfast on the Saturday. On Friday night, Marvel mailed me asking for a trial page so I had to stay up all night doing it. I got the train from Cork to Dublin, then Dublin to Belfast and when I went over the border, I lost internet and I was waiting on the email. When I arrived, I ran into the hotel, couldn’t get a connection, then eventually I did and the mail was there telling me I had got the job. The week after was New York Comic Con and I was there in the Marvel offices signing contracts. It was a bit of a whirlwind.” Sliney works from home in the east Cork seaside village of Ballycotton, where he lives with his wife, Laura, who is a secondary school music teacher. He says his surroundings help him keep some balance amid the pressures of meeting deadlines and the often isolating nature of working alone.
“One of the main reasons I moved back to Ballycotton was to have people around if I want a chat but I can also disappear if I want to as well. It is very important to not just live within the industry because you can end up doing all your communicating on a computer. My poor wife comes home from work and I’m so keen to talk to someone because I’ve been cooped up all day, it’s kind of like when you walk in the door and the dog is so excited to see you.” It is clear from talking to Sliney that he is very appreciative of the support he has received on his journey and is keen to return the favour to others interested in pursuing comic art, whether as a hobby or career. To this end, three years ago he organised Cork Comic Expo, a free event, which is being reprised this year.
“I’m doing all these shows around the world so it was really important for me to have something on in Cork. It is something I would have loved to be able to go to as a kid. I’ve done really big signings in the US but nothing resonated with me like this. At the last event, a kid came up to me and gave me a little Lego figure of me that he had made, I was nearly crying. The number of people there was overwhelming. They were so happy to see someone from Cork doing this kind of work; I wanted to show them they don’t have to go to New York to do it.”
Final guest list and poster for Cork Comic Expo. Free Entry, Free Art Classe's no queues to get in. All welcome. Lets RT this and get it around pic.twitter.com/PD6ImS5vLd
— Will Sliney (@WillSliney) April 5, 2018
There are several women involved in the industry appearing at the expo, something which reflects the changing nature of the comic book industry, which for many years was seen as the domain of teenage boys and men.
“The great thing in the last 10 years or so has been the massive growth in female readers — it is nearly 50/50 now, so the comics are adapting to that. At the Cork Expo, the number of female creators we have is brilliant. It is important for young girls and boys to know they can do this job,” says Sliney.
Sliney knows first-hand how life-changing a helping hand from an established artist can be.
“I had a great moment at San Diego Comic Con, where my favourite artist at the time, J Scott Campbell, was signing. There was a big line and I felt bad asking him to look at my portfolio, but he did. He took out a piece of paper and redrew a figure to show me how to add more dynamism to it. I still have that piece of paper. I’ve told him since and he can’t remember it, obviously, because he would have met 10,000 people over the course of that weekend. But that is the culture of the comic book industry.” Sliney’s advice to aspiring comic book artists is to keep at it; he doesn’t see his artistic ability as a gift.
“You’ve just got to keep drawing. It is not a talent, it is not something you are born with, it is a skill. The more you draw, the better you get. I always say to someone, I’ve probably drawn for more hours than McGregor has been in a gym or Messi has played football. It’s achievable by anybody. Especially young kids, because they have so much time ahead of them. If you enjoy it, just keep on doing it…. if it’s a hobby, great, if that hobby turns into a job, even better.”
Sliney’s next adventure is an altogether different leap into the unknown; he and Laura are expecting a baby soon. Sliney is looking forward to having some company while he works from home.
“I’ll have someone else to talk to,” he laughs. “Although, we’ll see how that works. I’ll take the two weeks paternity leave but the advantage is when I do go back to work, I’ll be in the house, helping out as much as I can but making sure I’m meeting my deadlines.” Sliney says his employers at Marvel couldn’t have been happier at the news, and have been hugely supportive.
“The first people I rang after telling my family were Marvel, and they were fantastic. They listed out all my deadlines up to when the baby is due, and they will accommodate me afterwards too. It was a really nice moment for me, I really felt part of the Marvel family.” And there will surely be no shortage of Spiderman figures for Sliney Junior’s birthday.
