Fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other familiar comic books series may or may not be aware of the name Jeremy Clark. As a professional comic book inker, Jeremy has had the pleasure of working with major publishers and is responsible for inking a number of fan favorite variant covers including some from TMNT. Our very own Machelle aka ‘April O’Neil’ had the pleasure of talking with Jeremy at the first-ever 90s Con over the weekend. With a beaming smile, Jeremy spoke about his love for fans, his journey in the comic book industry, and all things TMNT related!
Jeremy discussed how wonderful it is to interact with fans at 90s Con who have spent many years viewing his work and are equally as excited about it. As Jeremy himself said, “I couldn’t be doing this and be on this side of the table if there wasn’t an equal amount of support on the other side of the table.” He was obviously very appreciative of the dedicated fanbase his work has gathered over the years even calling himself just “one cog in a machine,” that he hopes keeps on working. That being said, Jeremy was also excited about the onslaught of new comic book audiences and the destigmatization of the comic book industry as “nerdy” since the boom in popularity of comic-book adaptations on screen. “I think you see everybody from all walks of life being very excited about the stuff that we are doing,” Jeremy explained, “They’re not worried to put on a Batman shirt or something of that nature anymore. It’s kind of become this whole pop culture scene that everybody seems to want to be a part of.”
Comic books are obviously a huge passion of Jeremy’s and remained so even before his time working in the industry! Jeremy described his love for noir-style comics such as The Crow or Watchmen which inspired him to divert from a career in political science to one as a comic book inker. In particular, he said that the black-and-white style of these works was what drew him to work as an inker as he loved the linework within these darker comics. Of course, it was his ink work on variant covers for multiple titles, including that of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles created by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird that led Jeremy into a more mainstream comic book audience. Standing proudly next to one of the covers he inked for issue 1 of The Last Ronin, Jeremy was happy to announce that he had more work for the TMNT series potentially coming soon. In addition, he is taking a different route from his usual superhero-style comics and devoting some time to a new horror anthology called OMG. For fans of Jeremy’s work who are considering lending their artistic talents to the comic book world themselves, he advised them not to be afraid of the unconventional path. His main pieces of advice – talk with established professionals to get detailed feedback and don’t be afraid to focus solely on the genres you love. It is better to be really proficient at one style at first than to try and be good at all of them!
Getting back to his roots, our April O’Neil / Machelle was ready to throw some rapid-fire TMNT-related questions Jeremy’s way. On the topic of the beloved 90s series, Jeremy was ready to get nostalgic and share stories about how his love for pizza influenced his art for the series, his opinions on the movie series – especially his love for the animated adaptations – and why his interest in traditional Japanese weaponry makes him a big fan of Leondardo’s in particular!
It is truly wonderful to see someone so enthusiastic about inking comic book icons take pride in his work and in his growing fanbase. Jeremy has an obvious love and dedication to all the characters he has helped put on the page which shines through his attention to detail in his work. Fans of Jeremy’s can keep up with him on Instagram and Facebook @jeremyclarkink as well as on his website jeremyclarkink.com. As Jeremy would say, cowabunga dudes! Be sure to check out the full interview with Jeremy on GeekRockTv’s youtube page linked down below.