ABOUT

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Live from the 2012 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo

     As a professional in the comic book industry, the merits of reading and creative expression abound, prevalent in everything I do. Whether its in scripting dialogue, laying out a page or lettering finished artwork, I am crafting epic tales of my own design, utilizing the fundamental skills of reading and writing I've nurtured since childhood. With school-aged children of my own, I've grown increasingly aware of how difficult it is to establish an interest and appreciation for the language arts. Quite honestly, at their age, I too was guilty of the same disinterest that plagues so many, not having found a subject or format that could keep up with the frenetic pace of my young attention span…that is, until I was introduced to the world of comic books.


     With comics, particularly through the superhero genre, I found a reason to read. With every passing panel, I became even more consumed by these characters and their myriad histories, delving headlong into worlds of alien super-men, mutant civil activists, nocturnal vigilantes and mythic gods. And despite their fictitious origins, each character served as both inspiration and aspiration, affecting the real-world lessons of selflessness, social awareness, culture and optimism I needed to understand in order to survive being an African-American male growing up in the 1990's. As comics have done so much to shape my life path, I feel it no less than my responsibility to share that value with the next generation of readers.


     To do so, I've created the "U Cre-8 Comics" line. Designed as an innovative system to bridge creative expression and classroom fundamentals, the U Cre-8 line uses the sequential form of comics as a backdrop to promote reading comprehension with critical analysis, vocabulary building, creative writing, and an appreciation for the visual arts.

-Victor Dandridge