Mark Beachum is an American comic book artist, writer, painter, publisher, photographer and filmmaker known for beautiful, dynamic and highly erotic renditions of the female figure. Having worked for

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, DC, Continuity among others, his most notable credits include work in '' Web of Spiderman'', ''Samuree'', ''

Vampirella Vampirella () is a fictional vampire superheroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic book artist Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine ''Vampirella'' #1 (Sept. 1969), a sister publication of ''Creepy'' ...

'', ''

Penthouse Comix ''Penthouse Comix'' was an American mass-market, magazine-sized comic book, published by Penthouse International/General Media Communications from spring 1994 through July 1998. Founded and initially edited by George Caragonne and Horatio Weisfeld ...

'', ''Razmataz'', ''Alienzkin'' and ''Supergurlz''. Michael Bair summarizes Beachum: Beachum has often expressed that

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es are an erotic idiom, and that he is not interested in writing/drawing for children. Beachum is known for drawing sexy. It can be men or women, but in his art everyone looks beautiful. In New Talent Showcase, Mark is said to be influenced by

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship a ...

Trevor Von Eeden Trevor Von Eeden (born July 24, 1959) is a Guyanese-American comics artist, actor and writer known for his work on such titles as ''Black Lightning'', ''Batman'', ''Green Arrow'', ''Power Man and Iron Fist'', and the biographical series ''The Origi ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

, and

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout ...

. He is also known in the industry as the kind of person who will do what he wants when he wants to, here is what Christopher Priest has to say about that:

Early life

Mark Beachum was born in New York city. He dropped out of the High School of Art & Design and continued his artistic development as an

autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

. He worked at the

Soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, r ...

jazz club as he was making his way into the comic industry.

Career

DC

In 1981 he came up to DC Comics and showed his portfolio to then-art director

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Early li ...

, a short time after he was commissioned to draw a

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in ...

story that for some reason was never published. However in 1984 there was the Jenesis story on the

New Talent Showcase ''Showcase'' is a comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of the series was to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring untested characters in ...

, penciling a

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

story and the Huntress backup in Wonder Woman.

Marvel

Many covers for ''

The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'' and ''

Web of Spider-Man ''Web of Spider-Man'' is the name of two different monthly comic book series starring Spider-Man that have been published by Marvel Comics since 1985, the first volume of which ran for 129 issues between 1985 and 1995, and the second of which ran f ...

'' from the late 80s were created by Beachum. Together with

Peter David Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...

over at Marvel, he created Spider-Man's adversary Ace, a badass street character, which contrary to most places reporting was not based on the musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

nor

, in fact Ace was modeled after Beachum himself.

Continuity Comics

From the late 80s to early 90s Beachum is working with

Continuity Comics Continuity Publishing, also known as Continuity Comics, was an American independent comic book company formed by Neal Adams in 1984, publishing comics until 1994. History After years as a freelancer and comics art packager (with his company Con ...

where he was doing both comics and commercial advertising art work. He became most notable for drawing the Samuree story while there; at the same time he also worked on Michael Jackson

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

commercial storyboards and animatics. Mark warmly recounts and regards the time spent around Neal Adams at Continuity Publishing, as the place where all kinds of creativeness intersected and the place he wanted to be. Peter Stone, editor and writer at Continuity describes Beachum's dynamic in the studio:

Aja Blu

In 1990 Mark Beachum co-created an independent label Aja Blu Comix along with a comic world debutante Sandra Chang, who although a beginner, was among the first self-published Asian American female indie comic creators and definitely one of the first women in the erotic comics field.The two of them did all that was required: wrote, edited, penciled, inked, produced, published... to

self-publish Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

the ''Achilles Storm/Razmataz'' books.

Penthouse

At the time of its existence

had the highest paying rate for comics and was priding itself on hand picking the best artists and in mid 90s Beachum painted the futuristic story Backlash written by Tom Thornton for them. Then he published his art portfolio ''FemmErotiSexiVision'' in the magazine as well as two stories ''Nightclaw'' and ''Latex Diva'', which appeared in later issues of Penthouse Comix. The stories were painted as well as written by Beachum.

Other

In the early 90s Beachum was friendly with

Horatio Weisfeld Horatio (Ray) Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfe ...

and did cover art for his Bullet Comics publications ''Radrex'' and ''BIO 90''. In 1994 he illustrated the ''Syphons'' story written by Allen Curtis. Originally published in color as a three issue

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic book ...

, a decade later in 2004 it was republished by

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

as a black and white graphic novel. Around the time of working for Continuity and Penthouse, he began submitting fully painted art thus eliminating the need for either inker or colorist. The art would be produced using watercolors, acrylics, graphite, ink, markers or any mixture necessary to achieve the desired effect. In the early 2000s when the ''Alienzkin'' GN came out, there was a new look to Beachum's work, he started using CG to add yet another dimension to his art. Beachum created original characters for his ''Razmataz'' and ''Alienzkin'' books and shared his ideas about independent publishing with others. Hart D. Fisher cites Beachum as his inspiration to go independent and create his own company,

Boneyard Press Hart D. Fisher (b. May 27, 1969) is an American horror crime author, comic book writer and publisher best known for creating a comic book about Jeffrey Dahmer and for founding Boneyard Press. Early life and education Fisher graduated in 1992 wit ...

, after Beachum said to him: “Why do you want to spend all of your artistic energy on something someone else owns?”

Art Collectors

Mark Beachum created a logo for Sizzle magazine of

NBM Publishing Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc. (or NBM Publishing) is an American graphic novel publisher. Founded by Terry Nantier in 1976 as Flying Buttress Publications, NBM is one of the oldest graphic novel publishers in North America. The compa ...

. Sizzle was the first place where his ''Alienzkin'' story was published over the course of three issues in 1999 (originally it was supposed to be called ''Razor Burn''). NBM was in the process of moving to a new location, after the move they discovered that the original artwork for ''Alienzkin'' story was lost. Beachum's artworks are numerous on the collectors' market, a good portion of them were sold off without artist's permission on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. Fellow comic artist

Michael Bair Michael A. Hernandez is an American comics artist also known by the pen name Michael Bair, who is best known for his work as an inker. His work includes Marvel Comics' ''Alpha Flight'', and DC Comics' ''Hawkman''. He is best known for inking Rags ...

collects Beachum art and tells that he would get paid with Mark Beachum art by Anubis Press. Beachum and Bair have done much work together; however, there appears to be some animosity between them.

Vampirella

Beachum produced Vampirella work and covers during the Harris era, some of the art consisted of paintings and photography mixed media art. In 2019 he was approached to make a

variant Variant may refer to: In arts and entertainment * ''Variant'' (magazine), a former British cultural magazine * Variant cover, an issue of comic books with varying cover art * ''Variant'' (novel), a novel by Robison Wells * " The Variant", 2021 e ...

Vampirella cover for the upcoming

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

in which Vampirella would be portrayed as a black character, Christopher Priest and Matt Idelson were putting that idea together. Here is what Beachum had to say about his history with the character:

Photography and Filmmaking

Sometime in the 90s Beachum started holding photo shoots for art reference and to include in his

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

creations. He would shoot film and had models

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

ing as characters for him before it became mainstream. Over the years he created numerous album covers and promotional photo shoots for artists and bands, among them: Mark Wood, The kHz, Natasha Komis, Illuminated ft Zen, Soco Fa Sho. In 1996 together with artist Kristina Marie a.k.a. Glitterfist, Beachum puts out a portfolio of black and white erotic themed photos called ''FemmErotiSexiVision'' under his own label Elektrik Ladyland (play on

Electric Ladyland ''Electric Ladyland'' is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the final studio album released before Hendrix's death in 1970. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience produced by Hendrix. The ban ...

album by

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

), Beachum autographed those as "Diamond". That same year, again with Kristina Marie, Beachum takes part in a music video shoot for the song "Boom N' Bust" by then unknown in America Japanese actor

Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's '' Cold Fever'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train''. Nagase was described by Todd Brown of Twitch Film as "one of the great unsung heroes of Japane ...

working to promote his music career. The video was directed by

Hal Hartley Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...

. Both Beachum and Kristina Marie look very edgy, he sports blond hair and she is wearing a fetish-wear PVC catsuit designed by Beachum, made by

Madonna's Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

designer. Somewhere in mid 2000s from photography he is segued into yet another venture, this time it's film. On his websites he showcases previews of his film work, they appear to be a mixture between

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

and

art-house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

that look inspired by

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...

, Bob Carlos Clark,

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese people, Japanese filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter, Film editing, editor, Film director, director, cinematographer, art director, production designer and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad ...

. In 2011 Beachum was cited to direct a short film based on Heroic Publishing's superheroine Flare. Heroic Publishing held a successful

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

campaign to fund the film.

Bibliography

DC

* ''Wonder Woman'' #310, 314-318 (1983–84) * ''New Talent Showcase'' #8-10 (1984) * ''Thriller'' #7 (1984) * ''Elvira's House of Mystery'' #4-6 (1986) * ''The Outsiders'' #12 (Halo, Looker) (1986) * ''Who's Who: Update '87'' #3 (1987) * ''Young All-Stars'' #12 (1988) * ''Tales of the Teen Titans'' #90 (1988) * ''The Comet'' #7 (Impact Comics, 1992) * ''Jaguar'' #7-8, 10-11 (Impact Comics, 1992) * ''The Ray'' #1 (1992) * ''Green Lantern: Mosaic'' #9 (1993)

Marvel

* ''The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual'' #5-6 (1984-1985) * ''Moon Knight: Fist Of Khonshu'' #6 (1985) * ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' #106, 112, 115, 120-121 (1985-1986) * ''The Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe'' #2, 7, 11 (1986) * ''The Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #20 (1986) * ''Web of Spider-Man'' #11-16, 22 (1986-1987) * ''Mark Hazzard: Merc'' #5 (1987) * ''Marvel Age'' #47 (1987) * ''Spider-Man / Dr. Strange: The Way To Dusty Death GN'' (1991) * ''Hellstorm: Prince of Lies'' #1 (1993) * ''Beavis & Butt-Head'' #10 (1994) * ''Iron Man 2020'' (1994) * ''Spider-Man Saga vol.2'' #1 (2010) * ''Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Kraven's Last Hunt'' (2017) * ''Moon Knight Omnibus Vol. 2'' (2022)

Continuity

* ''Samuree'' #1-7, 9 (1987-1991) * ''Ms. Mystic'' #5 (1990)

Aja Blu Comix

* ''Achilles Storm Featuring Razmataz'' #1-4 (1990-1991)

Penthouse comix

* ''Penthouse Comix'' #4-11 (Backlash) (1994-1996) * ''Penthouse Comix'' #12 (Cover, Nightclaw story) (1996) * ''Penthouse Comix #32'' (Latex Diva) (1998)

Hero Comics/Heroic Publishing

* ''Flare'' #1-7, 43-44, 47-48 (1988-2019) * ''Flare First Edition'' #1-4 (1991-1993) * ''Rose'' #1-3 (1992–93) * ''Flare Trade Paperback'' #1-2 (2007) * ''Liberty Comics'' #2 (2007) * ''Flare Annual'' #2 (2009) * ''Anthem'' #5 (2011) * ''Flare Adventures'' #8-9, 31 (2012) * ''Tigress'' #7 (2016) * ''Sensational G-Girl'' #2, 5, 7 (2017-2022)

Vampirella: Harris/Dynamite

* ''Vampirella of Drakulon'' #5 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Sad Wings of Destiny'' (1996) * ''Vampirella of Drakulon'' #5 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Death & Destruction LE'' #1 (1996) * ''Vampirella: Silver Anniversary Collection'' #1, 2B, 3B (1997) * ''Vampirella/Dracula: The Centennial'' (1997) * ''Vampirella Monthly Series Preview Edition'' #1 (1997) * ''Vampirella: Silver Anniversary Collection'' #1-4 (1997) * ''Vampirella Dracula and Pantha Showcase'' #1 (1997) * ''Vampirella Crossover Gallery'' #1 (1997) * ''The Best of Vampirella'' #1 – Lost Tales (Harris Comics, 2008) * ''Art of Vampirella HC'' (Dynamite, 2010) * ''Vampirella Masters Series Vol. 2: Warren Ellis'' (Dynamite, 2010) * ''Vampirella'' #8 1:75 (Dynamite, 2020) * ''Vampirella'' ''(Vol. 5)'' #8 (Dynamite, 2020)

Eros

* Razmataz GN (Eros Comix, 2001) * Alienzkin GN (Eros Comix, 2003)

Self Publishing

* ''Synthetik XS v1'' (2009) * ''Supergurlz: In Trouble v1'' (2011) * ''Razorgurlz'' (2014) * ''Syllabus Erotique'' odule 1(2017)

Other Publishers

* ''Black Diamond'' #1 (AC, 1983) * ''Ninja'' #1 Special (Eternity Comics, 1987) * ''Danse'' #1 (Blackthorne Publishing, 1987) * ''Delirium'' #1 (Metro Comics, 1987) * ''Halo Jones'' #8-9 (Quality Comics, 1987) * ''Ex-Mutants: The Shattered Earth Chronicles'' #8 (Eternity Comics, 1987) * ''The A1 True Life Bikini Confidential'' #1 (Atomeka Press, 1990) * ''Radrex'' #1-3 (Bullet Comics, 1990) * ''Green Hornet'' #24 (NOW Comics, 1991) * ''Raw Media Mags'' #1 (Rebel Studios, 1991) * ''BIO 90'' #1 (Bullet Comics, 1992) * ''The Choke'' #1 LE (Anubis Press, 1992) * ''Black Dominion'' #2 (Anubis Press, 1993) * ''WildC.A.T.s Trilogy'' #3 (Image Comics, 1993) * ''Syphons Preview Edition'' (NOW Comics, 1994) * ''Syphons'' #1-3 (NOW Comics, 1994) * ''Hustler Comix vol.2'' #1 (Web of the Black Tarantula story) (LFP Inc., 1998) * ''Stain'' #1 (Robot Print) (Fathom Press, 1998) * ''Forbidden Zone'' #1 (Galaxy Publishing, 1999) * ''Sizzle'' #3-5 (Alienzkin) (NBM Publishing, 1999) * ''Faust: Singha’s Talons'' #0.5, 1 (Avatar Press, 2000) * ''Alter Ego'' #9 (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2001) * ''Syphons GN'' (Image Comics, 2004) * ''Agent Wild Union Fall'' #1 (Dork Empire, 2020)

Portfolios

* ''Strength of Man'' (BlackThorne Publishing, 1986) * ''Midnight Silk'' together with Rick Bryant (S.Q. Productions, 1987) * ''Femmerotisexivision'': the erotic art of Mark Beachum(Elektrik Ladyland, 1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beachum, Mark Marvel Comics people DC Comics people Pin-up artists Fetish artists American erotic artists American painters American comics artists American comics writers 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists African-American comics creators American comics creators American film directors African-American film directors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people