Comics
I have been writing and editing comics for over 30 years. Adventure, horror, mystery, fantasy, science fiction — I do it all!
NOTE: All comics from Caliber Comics are available in digital and print. Visit the Caliber Comics website for more information!
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You’ll find interviews with me and articles about my Caliber projects in:
ALIEN NATION: A BREED APART (Adventure Comics)
Premise based on the 20th-Century Fox film and TV spin-off. None of the characters from the film or program appear. Go figure. We all have our crosses to bear and this comic is one of mine. Read at your own risk.
ARTISTS: Stan Timmons (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks)
Nos. 1-4 (Nov-Dec 1990, Jan-Feb 1991)
AUGUST (Arrow Comics)
I helped plot a story for the first issue of this spiffy superhero series created by Scott Rosema (Space Ghost).
ARTIST: Scott Rosema
No. 1 (1998)
CARMILLA (Aircel Comics)
ADULTS ONLY! Issues 1-3 are a faithful adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic vampire novella. Those lesbian love scenes are just a bonus. Issue 1 also features a dynamite cover by Dave Dorman. Issues 4-6 are an original sequel set in Golden Age era Hollywood. A studio is making a movie based on the Carmilla story and guess who just cannot resist auditioning for the starring role?
Nos. 1-6 (Feb-July 1991)
ARTIST: John Ross
DRACULA (Caliber Comics) – Click here to watch the Dracula promo trailer!
Dracula may be my favorite novel and this comic is the first faithful full-length adaptation of Bram Stoker’s vampire classic in any medium. Originally published by Eternity Comics (Malibu Graphics), the first issue, which featured an atmospheric cover by S. Clarke Hawbaker, went through two printings. Malibu Graphics then collected all four issues of the adaptatation in a graphic novel which features a cover that looks like Peter Bowles (To the Manor Born, The Legend of Hell House) singing the title song from Oklahoma! Caliber Comics published its own graphic novel in 2014 that collected all four issues of the Malibu Dracula adaptation and the Malibu adaptation of “Dracula’s Guest” along with the wonderful cover by Hawbaker from the the first issue. The Caliber graphic novel also features a new forward and afterword by me.
ARTISTS: Robert Schneiders (pencils), Craig Taillefer (inks)
Eternity Comics
Nos. 1-4 (Dec 1989, Jan-March 1990)
No. 1 (2nd Printing, Dec. 1989)
Caliber Comics
Graphic Novel (August 2014)
DRACULA: THE LADY IN THE TOMB (Caliber Comics) – Click here to watch the Dracula promo trailer!
One-issue adaptation of the excised chapter from Dracula that was originally published after Stoker’s death under the title “Dracula’s Guest”. In what could very well have been an homage to Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic novella Carmilla, Jonathan Harker has barely begun his journey to Transylvania and Dracula’s Castle when he stumbles across a lost village, where, during a frightful snowstorm, he almost becomes the latest victim of its cursed past. This adaptation was originally published as a one-issue comic book by Eternity Comics (Malibu Graphics) in 1991; then, in 2014, Caliber Comics collected this adaptation with all four issues of the Malibu Dracula adaptation into a graphic novel, making the Caliber graphic novel is the first full and faithful adaptation of the Bram Stoker’s novel and its excised chapter in any medium.
ARTIST: Robert Schneiders
Eternity Comics
No. 1 (Jan. 1991)
Caliber Comics
Graphic Novel (August 2014)
DRACULA: THE SUICIDE CLUB (Adventure Comics) – Click here to watch the Dracula promo trailer!
An original sequel to Stoker’s Dracula incorporating elements from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Suicide Club series. Count Dracula, King of the Vampires, is dead, but that doesn’t mean England is safe. When Dracula is resurrected by one of his faithful nosferatu, it isn’t long before bizarre suicides begin plaguing London. Scotland Yard Detective Champion Harrison suspects these deaths may actually be murders, and so do the noted occult specialist Sir John Chandos and the beautiful clairvoyant Dion Fortune from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who offer to assist Harrison’s investigation. Their search leads them to London’s most mysterious new club and its peculiar chairman, and, as the club’s terrible secrets are revealed, Harrison and Fortune find themselves challenging Dracula and his followers.
Click here to read more about Dracula: The Suicide Club.
ARTIST: John Ross
Adventure Comics
No. 1-4 (Aug-Nov 1992)
Caliber Comics
Graphic Novel (2017)
HALLOWEEN TERROR (Eternity Comics)
An anthology featuring original individual stories starring Frankenstein’s Monster, a vampire, a mummy, and a werewolf. I wrote the werewolf story, “Kin,” and attempted to create something bold and dynamic in only eight pages. To paraphrase a line from the movie The Monster Squad, I blew it. “Kin” is also available in my comics anthology Heroes & Horrors.
ARTIST: Bruce McCorkindale
Eternity Comics
No. 1 (Sept 1990)
Caliber Comics
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)
HEROES & HORRORS (Caliber Comics)
“Incredibly creative … Steve’s stories are masterworks of what new comics should be: absorbing and exciting and read again and again.” – Clive Cussler
“Steve lights from one genre to another without missing a beat … He’s the pro’s pro.” – Phil Hester
This anthology of nine rarely seen or never-before-published comics stories includes:
- A superhero who may be more vampire than hero!
- A fashion designer who can clean and press the Statue of Liberty!
- A spy with a shape-shifting dragon!
- A dysfunctional family of lyncanthropes!
- A modern lady pirate seeking vengeance!
- Five young adventurers who find a ghost and destiny waiting in a faraway cave!
These stories, created over the course of my writing career, range in a variety of genres and can be enjoyed by all ages. You will find artists Sergio Cariello, Sandy Carruthers, Andrew Chiu, Rob Davis, S. Clarke Hawbaker, Christopher Jones, Dan Jurgens, Barb Myers (formerly Barb Jacobs), and Joshua Werner here, too. And if all that plus an introduction by me isn’t enough, beloved comic book icon Phil Hester contributes the foreword!
INVADERS FROM MARS (Eternity Comics)
This entry consists of two three-issue mini-series with the same name. The first mini-series is an adaptation of the 1952 science fiction chiller directed by William Cameron Menzies. The second mini-series is an original science-fantasy sequel. If you are a fan of Doctor Who, keep an eye out for the Mark Thyme character in both series. Thyme also appears in my adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft’s “Dagon” and “The Alchemist” and is a continuing character in my Corsair property. Artist Sandy Carruthers is best known for his work on the Malibu/Marvel mini-series Men in Black, the basis for the films starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.
Invaders from Mars (I), ARTIST: Sandy Carruthers, (March-May 1990)
Invaders from Mars (II), ARTISTS: Sandy Carruthers (pencils), Wayne Wise (inks) (June-Aug 1991)
KING OF HARLEM (MysteryScene Magazine)
Six-page one-shot comics story. First published comics work for both me and Christopher Jones. Served as the inspiration for my novel King of Harlem, although, except for the presence of Orson Welles and detective Sassafras Winters, this story bares little resemblance to the novel. This story was originally published in Mystery Scene Magazine in 1986 and appears in my comics anthology Heroes & Horrors.
ARTIST: Christopher Jones
Mystery Scene Magazine (1986)
Caliber Comics
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)
LOVECRAFT IN FULL COLOR (Adventure Comics)
WORLDS OF H. P. LOVECRAFT (Tome Press)
WORLDS OF H. P. LOVECRAFT, VOL. 1 (TransFuzion Publishing/Caliber Comics)
WORLDS OF H. P. LOVECRAFT, VOL. 2 (TransFuzion Publishing/Caliber Comics)
H. P. LOVECRAFT (Caliber Comics)
H.P LOVECRAFT’S WORLDS, VOL. 1 (Caliber Comics)
H.P. LOVECRAFT’S WORLDS, VOL. 2 (Caliber Comics)
Adaptations of nine H. P. Lovecraft short stories. A satisfying anthology series that allowed me the opportunity to work with some awesome artists. Well-received by Lovecraft fans. All nine adaptations were collected in 2014 by TransFuzion Publishing in the two volume set Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft, which are now available through Caliber Comics under the banner H.P. Lovecraft’s Worlds. Caliber also released all nine adaptations as individual mini-trade graphic novels, each one featuring the original Lovecraft short story along with introductions and editorial material by me and noted Lovecraft scholar and editor S. T. Joshi.
The Alchemist (Octavio Cariello, artist)
LOVECRAFT In Full Color, No. 4 (May 1992)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “The Alchemist” (1997)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Alchemist” (2016)
Beyond the Wall of Sleep (Octavio Cariello, artist)
LOVECRAFT In Full Color, No. 2 (March 1992)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “Beyond the Wall of Sleep” (1998)
H.P Lovecraft: “Beyond the Wall of Sleep” (2016)
The Call of Cthulhu (Trey Baldwin, artist)
The Worlds of H.P Lovecraft: “The Call of Cthulhu” (2023)
Dagon (Sergio Cariello and S.C. Studio, artist)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “Dagon” No. 1 (1993)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “Dagon” No. 2 (1993)
H.P Lovecraft: “Dagon” (2016)
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family (Wayne Reid, artist)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” (1993)
H.P Lovecraft: “Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” (2016)
The Lurking Fear (Octavio Cariello, artist)
LOVECRAFT In Full Color, No. 1 (Dec 1991)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “The Lurking Fear” (1997)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Lurking Fear” (2016)
The Music of Erich Zann (Aldin Baroza, artist)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: The Music of Erich Zann (1993)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Music of Erich Zann” (2016)
The Picture in the House (Rob Davis, artist)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “The Picture in the House” (1993)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Picture in the House” (2016)
The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Trey Baldwin, artist)
The Worlds of H.P Lovecraft: “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (2020)
The Statement of Randolph Carter (Christopher Jones, artist)
Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “The Statement of Randolph Carter” (1996)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Statement of Randolph Carter” (2016)
The Tomb (Octavio Cariello, artist)
LOVECRAFT In Full Color, No. 3 (April 1992)
The Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft: “The Tomb” (1997)
H.P Lovecraft: “The Tomb” (2016)
MIGHTY 1 (Sundragon Comics)
Click here to read Atomic Avenue’s review of Mighty 1!
Created by David D. Arnold. When a beautiful young 5’2” woman decides to tackle the fashion world that is hardly news. When she cold-cocks a 50’ monster rampaging through New York City on national TV, buddy, that is news. Introducing Christina Puissant, but you can call her Mighty 1. Two stories written by me from this comic also appear in my comics anthology Heroes & Horrors.
ARTIST: Christopher Jones
Scales of the Dragon, No. 1 (1997)
Mighty 1, No. 1 (2001)
Caliber Comics
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)
NIGHTLINGER, featuring VANGUARD (Caliber Comics)
Click here to read Atomic Avenue’s review of Nightlinger!
The Equalizer meets The Night Stalker. Feril Nightinger is the world’s greatest illusionist and escape artist. He is also a masked mystery man who, with his beautiful assistant Michael “Mike” Segretto, helps people plagued with supernatural problems. The best property I have ever or will ever create. The series I was born to write. (Of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle felt that way about his historical novels, so you never know.) Originally published as a two-issue series by Gauntlet Comics (Caliber Comics), both issues along with a Nightlinger short story are now available together for the first time in a graphic novel from Caliber Comics. This graphic novel also features two comics stories featuring my supernatural superhero series Vanguard with layouts by Dan Jurgens, pencils by S. Clarke Hawbaker and Christopher Jones, and inks by C.P. Smith.
Gauntlet Comics (Caliber Comics)
ARTIST: Aldin Baroza
Nos. 1-2 (1993)
Caliber Comics
Graphic Novel (2015)
PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (Campfire Comics)
Adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. I am credited as writer, but be warned that only the narrative breakdown and something like five percent of the dialogue and narration are mine.
ARTIST: K.L. Jones
No. 1 (2010)
QUAZAR #1 (At Home Productions)
In 1980 my friend David D. Arnold (Mighty 1) and I published the first and only issue of what we hoped would be a quarterly comics magazine. Today Quazar is notable for featuring the first published work of artist/writer Dan Jurgens. Also features a nice Vanguard cover by classic Detective Comics and Mister Miracle artist Marshall Rogers.
No. 1 (1980)
RE-ANIMATOR (Adventure Comics)
ADULTS ONLY! Adaptation of the 1985 cult film produced by Brain Yuzna and directed by Stuart Gordon. Issue 1 features a wonderfully warped cover by Dave Dorman that has become popularly associated with the film.
ARTIST: Christopher Jones
Nos. 1-3 (Oct-Dec 1991)
SEDUCTION (Eternity Comics)
This was a one-shot romance anthology. Asked to contribute a nine-page story, I decided to use the opportunity to make amends for my eight-page werewolf story in Halloween Horror, and I succeeded. “Second Stringer” is your basic girl-meets-boys/girl-loses-boys cautionary tale, and it is my favorite comics story of anything I have written after Nightlinger. “Second Stringer” is also available in my comics anthology Heroes & Horrors.
ARTIST: Sandy Carruthers
Eternity Comics
No. 1 (April 1991)
Caliber Comics
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)
SHERLOCK HOLMES: ADVENTURE OF THE OPERA GHOST (Tome Press/Caliber Comics)
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL & MR. HOLMES (Tome Press/Caliber Comics)
SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CASES OF THE TWISTED MINDS (TransFuzion Publishing/Caliber Comics)
CURIOUS CASES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (IDW)
Click here to read The Phantom Project’s critical review of Adventure of the Opera Ghost!
Count Dracula and Sherlock Holmes are my favorite fictional characters. Holmes makes a cameo appearance in issues 2 and 3 of Dracula: The Suicide Club, but I did not write a Holmes pastiche until 1994. Holmes can be an intimidating character to write, and even though Holmes is prominent throughout Adventure of the Opera Ghost, it really focuses on Dr. Watson with Holmes playing the subordinate role. It was not until 1998 that I felt confident enough to write a story that not only starred Holmes, but was narrated by the Great Detective. Both stories have been collected along with Holmes pastiches by Caliber publisher Gary Reed in two different anthologies, The Cases of the Twisted Minds from TransFuzion Publishing and Caliber Comics, and The Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes from IDW Publishing. In 2015 Caliber Comics re-released Adventure of the Opera Ghost and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde as individual mini-trade graphic novels featuring new introductions and editorial material by me.
Adventure of the Opera Ghost (Aldin Baroza, artist)
No. 1 (1994)
No. 2 (1994)
Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Opera Ghost (2016)
Curious Cases of Sherlock Holmes
IDW Publishing Graphic Novel (2011)
Sherlock Holmes: The Cases of the Twisted Minds
TransFuzion Publishing (2009)
Caliber Comics (2014)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes (Seppo Makinen, artist)
No. 1 (1998)
Sherlock Holmes: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Holmes (2016)
STREET HEROES 2005 (Eternity Comics)
WOLVERSTONE & DAVIS: STREET HEROES (Sundragon Comics)
Click here to watch the Webcomic Beacon’s CONVergence Street Heroes 2005 panel with Steve and Chris Jones!
The first professional comics work by me and by Christopher Jones. In the near future superheroes must work with law enforcement if they want to use their powers. The first issue of Street Heroes 2005 was reprinted by Sundragon Comics as Wolverstone & Davis: Street Heroes.
ARTIST: Christopher Jones
Street Heroes 2005
Nos. 1-3 (Dec 1989, April & Aug 1990)
Wolverstone and Davis
No. 1 (April 1997)
“Jacobs and Jones are sitting on a bomb of appeal that’s just ready to explode!” – Gary Reed (DeadWorld, Renfield)
Click here to read “Calling the King” for FREE IN COLOR on Facebook!
Talismen is an epic fantasy series I co-created with Barb Jacobs (Xylia Tales). “Calling the King” takes place after the events in the novel Talismen: The Knightmare Knife, and suggests that big but not totally pleasant things await one of our young heroes in the future. An unusual little blue-and-orange critter named Deek is also introduced.
ARTIST/CO-PLOTTER/CO-CREATOR: Barb Jacobs
Caliber Comics
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)
TALISMEN: RETURN OF THE EXILE (Atlantis Comics/Caliber Comics)
“A beautifully drawn fantasy with a cool contemporary twist!” – Aldin Baroza (animator and animation director)
Click here to hear Barb’s interview on The QuackCast!
Talismen: Return of the Exile is an award-nominated webcomic series that ran from 2003-2005. In Return of the Exile, the exiled children from The Knightmare Knife and The Boy in the Well are now adults, and one of them, US Marine Ollie Steele, discovers a village called Donnelly, a beautiful elf-like Kee’lan woman named Astrina, and eventually recalls his forgotten past. The first two episodes of the webcomic were published as comic books by Atlantis Comics, and Caliber Comics collected the first four-episode story and its epilogue into a graphic novel.
ARTIST/PLOTTER/CO-CREATOR: Barb Jacobs
Atlantis Comics
Nos. 1-2 (2005)
Caliber Comics
Graphic Novel (2015)
TATTERS (Caliber Comics)
The rare one-shot 1996 comic book is available again as a graphic novel and it is more timely than ever! Tatters combines elements from the science fiction, Gothic, and political thriller genres to tell the story of an amnesiac drifter named Peter Collinson who makes some high-powered deep state players nervous as he struggles to recover his past with only haunting memories and what might just be the ghost of his real identity to guide him. Features a new afterword.
Click here to read more about Tatters.
ARTIST/CO-CREATOR: Aldin Baroza
No. 1 (1996)
Graphic Novel (2017)
VANGUARD: GENESIS (Sundragon Comics/Caliber Comics)
Vampire? Superhero? Both? Or something worse? Lee Cowan is your average high schooler until he is murdered then resurrected with terrifying powers and a terrible, uncertain destiny. A cross between the original Morbius the Living Vampire and Omega the Unknown, Vanguard is the first superhero series I created. Vanguard originally appeared in Quazar, then in the first two issues of the Sundragon Comics anthology series Scales of the Dragon, then in the Nightlinger: Creature of the Night graphic novel as well as my comics anthology Heroes & Horrors from Caliber Comics.
Quazar (Dan Jurgens, artist)
No. 1 (1980)
Scales of the Dragon,
No. 1 (March 1997): Dan Jurgens, layout; S. Clarke Hawbaker, pencils/inks; C.P. Smith, inks
Scales of the Dragon
No. 2 (May 1997): Dan Jurgens, co-plot, layouts; Christopher Jones; pencils/layouts; C.P. Smith, inks
Caliber Comics
Nightlinger, featuring Vanguard
Graphic Novel (2015)
Heroes & Horrors Graphic Novel Anthology (2017)