Joint Contrast

By – J.C.

When you’ve spent an entire life paving your own path there’s no reason to change the approach all that much at this point. It’s a lesson John Jackman has lived by over the past several years while following his instincts and bringing comic book characters to life through his own imagination.

His current recreations of the past will surface in boxes of Spider-Man Archives Trading Cards, due out on Oct. 28. Sketch cards featuring actual artwork from over 80 other artists, including some of the most well known names in the game, will be sporadically placed in random cases of printed cards for collectors. The set features characters that appeared in the first 100 issues of the classic Marvel comic, The Amazing Spider-Man.

(Above and bottom): John "Jax" Jackman fine-tunes some of the original hand-drawn sketch cards that will be inserted into the Spider-Man Archives Trading Card set due out in October. (Below): Randomly selected pieces of artwork Jackman has produced.

As busy as Jackman, a.k.a. JAX, has been with this current project, the self-taught artists says it all started with the simplest of maneuvers – getting more involved in the industry as a whole.

“In this industry it’s all about who you know and whose artwork is good,” said Jackman. Apparently his efforts and enthusiasm have not gone unnoticed.

He’s since made plenty of contacts throughout the comic art community over the years and credits a chance encounter with members of the Vicious Circle Project, as well as many others he’s met at conventions such as MegaCon and FX, for kickstarting his foray into the professional scene. Those relationships helped lead Jackman into a number of random projects such as a 24-hour comic book collective drawing session in Tampa, his first comic book contribution, and a chance to take part in his first illustrated card set a few years back.

“It’s all because I stuck my foot in the door and said ‘hey, I’m here’,” he said. “It was time to get off the coach and get out and do something.”

The first big project for Jackman came in 2006 when he produced 240 cards for The Complete Avengers (1963-Present) card set released by Rittenhouse Archives. As impressive as those turned out to be, despite the rush job he was up against (a production deadline of less than three weeks), the 150 Spider-Man Archives sketch cards currently being finished up proves he’s taking his craft to a whole new level. The world will soon agree.

In a community of grass roots, do-it-yourself artists, there are many places to turn and give thanks when it comes to recognizing how people help people land these types of opportunities.

Among the names that come to mind, when Jackman thinks of lasting relationships, influences and respect he has for other artists, are those of Jason Sobol, James Bukauskas, Adam Hughes, Phil Noto, Joe Pekar and Rhiannon Owens, among countless others. They are all individuals who have a particular style and go about things in their own unconventional ways.

“When you’re doing stuff that nobody’s done before it makes it unique,” said Jackman of continuing to learn and fine-tune his style. “I’ve learned a lot of things, not classically, but I get to try them out and experiment and I think that’s the benefit of never having been told ‘this is how you’re supposed to do it’ because then you end up making stuff that looks like everyone else.”

If nothing else it’s helped make putting his own twist of the villains, bit characters, and guest appearances in the upcoming Spider-Man card set that much funnier to create.