By Billy Tucci

The year: 1993. The event: Comic Con International. The place: San Diego Comic Con.

SDCC. I walked the floor interviewing with every comic book company. Showing my humble portfolio to all editors great and small. For three days I anxiously waited on lines for hours and when it was my turn to show my wares, opened my book and hoped the bored-and-hung-over reviewer would awake from his stupor and look up at me wide-eyed as if he’d just made a great discovery, and offer me a job on the spot.

The problem was that no one was interested in me.  From the “Big Two” all the way down to the smallest of publishers, they all turned me down. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

All except one very inspiring and gregarious young gentleman from New Jersey sitting at his six-foot table in the Small Press section. I had never met Brian Pulido before, or heard of his creations, but his set-up, like Brian himself, was very impressive. But that’s not what set Brian apart from all the other comic creators, publishers, and editors I had met during that weekend. Brian spoke to me like a human being. Though he had just started out in comics a few years earlier and was set to hit the big time, Brian found the time to look over my portfolio and gave pointers. And then, amid much conversation about our shared experiences living in New York City, graciously offered me a pin-up, one that eventually found its way into the original Lady Death Swimsuit Special.

And that was pretty much how it all started.

From that day forward, nothing has never been the same. As you know, Brian Pulido and Lady Death created an entirely new genre, Bad Girl comics. One that had roots in the “good girl” art of comics Golden Age, but now with a defiance, where the female protagonists were longer the hapless victim, but rather the hero, or in Lady Death and Shi’s cases, the “anti-hero”. A female force of nature that leads rather than follows, who rules over her domain, her universe and, much to our delight, ours as well.

Brian and I have had our creations share many platforms with one another. From magazines to merchandise, crossovers (including our latest with Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, The Deadly Trio) to covers and even the Overstreet Price Guide… and we are just beginning.

Many pretenders to the throne have come and gone, but to this day, our originals thrive.

And continue to rule, in Crusade Comics’ current Kickstarter campaign Shi: Gatecrasher and Coffin Comics’ Lady Death: Savage Reign #1 launching this Thursday, February 6, 2025.

Click HERE for CoffinComics.com

Lady Death: Savage Reign #1

This Thursday, Brian Pulido and Coffin Comics take yet another leap forward with Coffin Launch, their very own crowdfunding platform with the all-new graphic novel, Lady Death: Savage Reign #1.

FREE FULL-COLOR LADY DEATH CITADEL COIN FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS OF THE LAUNCH! (Free with any purchase of a physically shipping item.)

Lady Death: Savage Reign #1 launches on Coffin Launch on Thursday, February 6, 2025!

Brace yourself for an R-rated, adrenaline-fueled journey through savage lands. This is epic sword and sorcery at its most raw – crafted in the trademark Coffin Comics style. Are you ready to embrace the savagery?

Find out in Lady Death: Savage Reign #1 launching February 6th!

Domo Arigato!

Billy Tucci

Final 10 days remain for Shi: Gatecrasher on Kickstarter as the campaign ends on Thursday February 13, 2025.

Click HERE for SHI: GATECRASHER! Kickstarter Campaign!
Click HERE for SHI: GATECRASHER! Indemand Indiegogo Campaign!

About Billy Tucci

Inkpot Award recipient Billy Tucci is a cartoonist best known for his modern-day samurai saga Shi. Through his company, Crusade Fine Arts, Shi has been printed in five languages and sold more than 3 million comic books. The graduate of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology contributed to the Eisner Award Winning, Comics For Ukraine: Sun Flower Seeds and Love Is Love. Billy has also earned the prestigious Diamond Comics Gem Award and his DC Comics’ graphic novel, Sgt. Rock: The Lost Battalion, was awarded the Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal. The Lost Battalion featured the real-life 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was comprised of Japanese American soldiers. His earnest retelling of the Christmas story in A Child Is Born has quietly turned into an international blockbuster, winning the Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award.  Billy’s critically acclaimed Miss Fury: Joy Division saw the return of the Golden Age Icon for Dynamite Comics. His Crusade Comics has recently released a series of new Shi graphic novels, Return of the Warrior, Haikyo, and Sakura. Crusade as also released the collected editions, Shi: Omnibus Vol. Senryaku Omnibus, Shi: Way of the Warrior Original Art Edition via Kickstarter and Indiegogo uniting backers from over fifty countries and bringing Crusade Comics’ crowdfunding campaign totals to over $1,650,000.00.

You can find Billy Tucci on XFacebook @billytucci and Instagram @billy_tucci
Visit https://www.billytucci.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *