Artist has talent and a big dream

By Chuck O’Donnell, Correspondent

Traxle Pein is a dim-witted bounty hunter more likely to get socked in the eye or blasted with a laser than successfully complete his mission. But he presses on, chasing his dream of becoming the greatest bounty hunter in the universe.

This determination to overcome life’s letdowns and setbacks is the one thing Pein has in common with his creator.

West Orange writer and artist Tim Yates harbors a dream: He wants to make it in the cutthroat comic-book business. He is hoping Pein’s misadventures help open the door.

Pein — appropriately pronounced “pain” — is the protagonist in Yates’ new, online comic, “Failhunter.” Yates adds new stories to www.failhunter.com during the week, and someday may collect the stories into book form.
Although Pein and the other characters in “Failhunter” have come to life at the tips of Yates’ pencils, they live in a universe based on “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” an online, role-playing game. But there is a twist: A cast of goofy characters inhabits this galaxy far, far away.

“Everything can be a little better with some humor added to it,” said Yates, who is 24 years old. “Plus, it’s very hard to make a good, serious Web comic because the medium just lends itself to levity. Some of the story lines I intend to pursue might end up on the serious side, but at its core ‘Failhunter’ is a comedy.

“Some of my strengths and weaknesses show up in Traxle, especially his determination to achieve his goals no matter what. I also poke fun at myself a little sometimes, as I’m usually the one to figure out how best not to do things in any situation.”

Tony Vassallo, a friend and former classmate of Yates at The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, said, “I like that Tim has a mixture of random gags and a consistent story, which is something the other Web comics he is competing with fail to do. I feel that the quality of the artwork ,as well as the storytelling in ‘Failhunter,’ is far superior to that of the competition.”

“Failhunter” started out as a class project while Yates was attending the Kubert School in Dover; he graduated in the spring. The school has produced many of the comic industry’s top artists, including Alex Maleev of “Daredevil,” Rags Morales of Action Comics and Fernando Ruiz of “Archie.”

But Yates’ path toward writing The Great American Graphic Novel has been a circuitous one. He worked for years in the emergency medical field.

He was a volunteer emergency medical technician in West Orange, and a paid emergency medical services worker in Passaic. He also served as an emergency room clinical technician for a few years.

Yates was halfway through nursing school when he decided he wanted to be a cartoonist, and swapped his ER scrubs for pencil nubs.

Breaking into comics hasn’t been easy — there are a lot of unanswered emails and thank-you-but-no-thank-you notes — but Yates has already found his first professional work. He is coloring several comics for Pennsylvania-based publisher Zenoscope, including “Neverland,” “Grimm Fairy Tales: The Library,” “Hook,” and “1,000 Ways to Die.”

The fact that editors at Zenoscope contacted him a year after he handed them his portfolio at the New York Comic Con is one of the reasons Yates calls comics “an unpredictable business.”

“But if you put the work in improving your portfolio constantly and getting your name out there to editors, it will inevitably pay off,” Yates said.

Yates’ drive to succeed — and his natural eye for coloring comics — can take him far, says Gabe Bridwell, one of Yates’ instructors at the Kubert School.

“Not only did Tim complete his required assignments, in his spare time he found a way to color a dozen sample pages of artwork to strengthen his portfolio,” Bridwell said. “That’s the kind of dedication it takes to get where you want to be in this industry — pushing yourself to the limits. Then going above and beyond those limits. You have to have that drive and passion.”

Although Traxle Pein might find himself chasing evil-doers at Sarlacc’s Pit or some other far-flung point in the universe, you can usually find Yates in his studio in his parents’ basement. On a typical day, he might put in 12 to 16 hours creating comics. His only company is a bunch of dusty art books perched on a shelf above his desk.
But in the still of any given afternoon, Yates is happy. He is dreaming of new universes inhabited by new characters that he can bring to life for his readers.

“My goal is to have as many people as possible enjoy my comic book work and Web comics,” he said. “I say Web comics with an ‘s’ because I'm definitely planning and writing for more than one. ‘Failhunter’ is only the beginning.
“A lot of people might say they dream of working on Batman or Superman or another mainstream character, but the only characters I really dream of working on are my own. I'll know I've made it when I can tell my stories sitting comfortably in my own little cave somewhere without ever having to leave,” added Yates.
This is his life’s passion.