At the end of the day, mild-mannered artist Tom Floyd works on his passion: sharing the adventures of his crime-fighting superhero with thousands of fans on the Web
JEFF KORBELIK / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, December 5, 2007 6:00 pm
By day, Tom Floyd is a mild-mannered multimedia graphic artist at Nebraska Educational Telecommunications.
By night, he is Captain Spectre, a crime-fighting superhero with blond hair, bulging biceps and a heart of gold.
Well, to be honest, the 55-year-old, gray-haired Floyd isn’t Captain Spectre, but the superhero is his creation — a graphic novel character who captivates thousands with his weekly adventures at captainspectre.com.
“Everybody (at NET) had an awareness that this was an interest of (Tom’s), but I didn’t realize until I started working with him recently how much he was immersed in it,” NET Television producer Bill Kelly said.
Floyd has shared Captain Spectre’s exploits since October 2004 when he launched the first chapter of his inaugural story, “The Mark of Death.”
Since then, the artist has written and drawn two more stories and recently kicked off his fourth, “The Day the Sky Screamed.”
“I love doing this and I can’t wait to retire so I can do it all the time,” he said.
Born in Nebraska, Floyd spent his early years in Wymore and Palmyra before his family moved to Andrews, Texas. He grew up with a pen or pencil in his hand, creating his own cartoons.
“Spaceships, army men, typical kids stuff,” he said. “I drew anything that seemed normal back then.”
He loved comic books. Jack Kirby’s Captain America was a favorite, as was Kirby’s “Challengers of the Unknown.”
He called Kirby, known as “The King,” a major influence. So was Milton Caniff (Steve Canyon) and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon).
Floyd didn’t, however, pursue his passion for art.
After high school graduation in 1969, he spent four years in the Army, which included stints in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He was an engineer by day and helicopter door gunner at night.
After the service, he returned to Texas (Odessa) and worked as a mechanic for a Caterpillar dealer. A case of hepatitis from a blood donation gone awry and a bad back forced him to change careers.
He took advantage of the chance to turn to his artistic abilities.
He went to Texas Tech, earned a degree in art education and became a junior high and high school teacher. He returned to Nebraska for personal reasons and landed a job as a graphic artist at NET, where he’s been for 11 years.
Floyd’s work was front-and-center during NET Television’s “Murder House,” a documentary Bill Kelly produced about the forensics program at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The program featured Floyd’s colorful, pulp-fiction-type artwork.
“(His drawings) are so rich to look at,” Kelly said. “It’s almost like the narrative be damned. His panels are so dense.”
Floyd’s dream always has been to produce comic books. He admitted he may not have enough talent for Marvel or DC comics.
“I have the rejection letters to prove it,” he said.
So, as the story goes, one thing led to another. He knew a guy who wanted to write a 1940s-type character and have Floyd do the drawings. But Floyd was disappointed with the script.
“I remember thinking, ‘I can write this bad,’” he joked.
So instead of leaning on someone else for text, he decided to do it himself. Captain Spectre came to life, fighting crime with a handful of friends and his dog, Rocket.
“He’s a combination of all (the characters) I liked as a kid,” Floyd said. “He’s an adventurer, a swashbuckler like Flash Gordon or Doc Savage who’s here to keep the world safe.”
The artist didn’t stop there. He turned Captain Spectre into an old-time radio personality as well, similar to the Dark Shadow or the Green Hornet.
His superhero, like those before him, features radio premiums. There’s a fan club — The Lightning Legion — that fans can join and download their membership cards.
And for a small fee, fans will receive a Lightning Legion patch and coin in the mail. Floyd also sells T-shirts, hats and more. He uses the money to pay for art supplies and computer software.
“I’m not making any money off this,” he said. “If I could make money off it, it would be nice.”
Captain Spectre stories are similar to the old radio serials. Floyd did that on purpose, saying many of today’s comics have “gone beyond realism.”
“I kind of like the old, light-hearted stuff,” he said. “The bad guy is bad. The good guy is good, with not a lot of oddball stuff in between.”
Apparently, it’s working. Floyd draws about 15,000 to 20,000 hits per week on his site, he said. He’s become a regular guest or speaker at regional comic book conventions.
He’s also landed other significant projects: Edgar Rice Burroughs’ family commissioned him to draw pieces for a “uniform edition” of “Tarzan of the Apes,” and he’s drawn 22 illustrations as well as a 10-page book of The Spider for Moonstone Books.
But Captain Spectre is his baby. He copyrighted the character and and purchased the web domain. More than anything, it takes him back to his youth.
“When I was little kid, I read comics all the time,” he said. “I thought they were the greatest thing.”
As great as Captain Spectre is super.
Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.