In 1973, Schultz enrolled in Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Four years later, after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting, he embarked upon a career in advertising illustration, bolstered by such odd jobs as working as a security guard, which he ultimately found unsatisfying.[6] In the early 1980s, Schultz became interested in the burgeoning underground comics scene, which allowed creators to publish stories outside the traditional assembly-line approach of the mainstream comics industry. He also became attracted to the art of the classic stories published by EC Comics in the 1950s. At one point, he took the few boxes of 1960s and early 1970s Marvel and DC comic books he owned to a local comic book store and traded them for a large collection of EC Comics.[7] From then on, Schultz began to hone his illustration style to emulate that of classic EC artists.
Careeredit
Schultz's first published comics work was on a story called "The Sea King", featuring Robert E. Howard's character King Kull, which appeared in Savage Sword of Conan #132, published by Marvel Comics. Schultz inked over pencils by Val Semeiks.[5][8] Schultz did not actively pursue further work from Marvel, as he was more interested in developing and publishing comics based on his own concepts. Throughout the early 1980s, Schultz would germinate the ideas which would eventually bear fruit as Xenozoic Tales. The characters and stories he created were set in a future time period he dubbed the "Xenozoic Age", in which an unspecified cataclysm had all but wiped out modern human society. The survivors emerged from their underground bunkers to find a world transformed, where prehistoric creatures had once again become the dominant life forms on Earth. The first story set in the Xenozoic Age that Schultz completed was "Mammoth Pitfall", but it would not see publication until Xenozoic Tales #2. The first to be published was "Xenozoic!", which ran in the anthology title Death Rattle #8, published in December 1986 by Kitchen Sink Press.[9]
Since Xenozoic Tales, Schultz has written comics series for a number of publishers, including Dark Horse and DC. Typically these are stories based on company-owned or licensed characters, rather than his own original work.
Schultz created the underwater adventure comics series SubHuman, published by Dark Horse comics.
From 2005 to 2013, Schultz released a series of sketchbooks of his studies and finished works through Flesk Publications, starting with Mark Schultz: Various Drawings in 5 volumes released from 2005 to 2011, followed by Mark Schultz: Carbon in 2013. Also with the publisher, he contributed with other artists to the graphic novel Flesk Prime in 2011, and in 2015 Schultz released an illustrated pulp noir/science fantasy adventure novella Storms at Sea.
A short preview story titled "Xenozoic!" (written and drawn by Schultz) was published in Death Rattle #8 (anthology, 1986)
All issues consisted of two to three short stoires; starting with Xenozoic Tales #3, one of the stories in each issue featured art by Steve Stiles.
The colorized versions of the first six issues of Xenozoic Tales were published under Marvel's Epic imprint as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs #1–6 (1990–1991)
Kitchen Sink reprinted two short stories ("Green Air" from issue #6 and "The Growing Pool" from #7) with added 3D effect as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs in 3-D (one-shot, 1992)
A spin-off series, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by various artists — with Schultz acting as the consultant — was published by Topps as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs vol. 2 #1–9 (1994)
The original 14 issues of Xenozoic Tales (minus the Stiles-drawn stories) and the short story from Death Rattle were collected by Flesk as Xenozoic (tpb, 352 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-9338-6531-8)
Batman: Shadow of Sin Tzu (with Rick Burchett, daily webcomic launched as a tie-in to Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu — 260 episodes were published via the AOL Kids website between September 29, 2003 and September 24, 2004)
Tom Strong #26: "The Day Tom Strong Renegotiated the Friendly Skies" (with Pasqual Ferry, America's Best Comics, 2004) collected in Tom Strong Book Five (hc, 136 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-4012-0624-7; tpb, 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0625-5)
Collected as Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predator (tpb, 112 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-4012-1328-6)
Collected in DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics: Aliens (tpb, 400 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-40126-636-3)
The Spirit vol. 7 #1–3: "Angel Smerti" (with Moritat, First Wave, 2010) collected in Will Eisner's The Spirit: Angel Smerti (tpb, 168 pages, 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3026-1)
Fables #150 (Volume 22): "The Last Blossom Story" (as artist — illustrations for the 5-page prose story written by Bill Willingham; sc, 160 pages, Vertigo, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5233-8)
Collected in Fables: The Deluxe Edition Volume 15 (hc, 384 pages, 2017, ISBN 1-401-27464-1)
Collected in Fables Compendium Four (tpb, 928 pages, DC Black Label, 2021, ISBN 1-7795-1334-8)
Dark Horse Comicsedit
Dark Horse Presents #120: "One Last Job" (with Al Williamson, anthology, 1997) collected in Al Williamson Adventures (hc, 96 pages, Insight Studios Group, 2003, ISBN 1-8893-1717-9)
Both the one-shot and the short story were collected by Dark Horse in Star Wars Omnibus: Emissaries and Assassins (tpb, 480 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-5958-2229-1)
Both the one-shot and the short story were also collected by Marvel in Star Wars Legends: Rise of the Sith Volume 2 (tpb, 496 pages, 2017, ISBN 1-3029-0790-5)
Star Wars Tales #6: "Fortune, Fate, and the Natural History of the Sarlacc" (with Kellie Strom, anthology, 2000) collected in Star Wars Tales Volume 2 (tpb, 232 pages, 2002, ISBN 1-5697-1757-5)
Aliens vs. Predator Annual: "Chained to Life and Death" (with Tom Biondolillo, co-feature, 1999) collected in Aliens vs. Predator Omnibus Volume 2 (tpb, 464 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-5930-7829-3)
Al Williamson: Hidden Lands: "Up from South America" (biographical article for the book on Williamson's life and career, 224 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-5697-1816-4)
Collected by Dark Horse in The Savage Sword of Kull Volume 2 (tpb, 448 pages, 2011, ISBN 1-59582-788-9)
Collected by Marvel in Kull the Savage: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus (hc, 952 pages, 2021, ISBN 1-3029-2680-2)
Flash Gordon vol. 3 #1–2 (with Al Williamson, 1995) collected in Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Lifelong Vision of the Heroic (hc, 256 pages, Flesk, 2009, ISBN 1-9338-6513-X; tpb, 2009, ISBN 1-9338-6512-1)
Sub-Mariner Comics 70th Anniversary Special: "Vergeltungswaffe!" (with Al Williamson, co-feature, 2009) collected in Timely Comics: The 70th Anniversary Collection (hc, 280 pages, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7851-3899-0)
Frank Cho: Illustrator (foreword for the artbook — co-written by Schultz and Al Williamson; hc, 96 pages, Insight Studios Group, 2000, ISBN 1-889-31707-1; sc, 2001, ISBN 1-88931-709-8)
Sky Ape (untitled one-page illustration created for the collected edition, tpb, 96 pages, AiT/Planet Lar, 2001, ISBN 0-967-68478-1)
In anticipation of the release, Wandering Star published a chapbook featuring Schultz's preliminary drawings and studies: Robert E. Howard's Conan of Cimmeria: A Sketchbook by Mark Schultz (2001)
The volume was subsequently published in the US by Del Rey Books as The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (sc, 464 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-34546-151-7; hc, 502 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-73944-081-0)
All strips published between November 21, 2004 and May 18, 2008 were collected as Prince Valiant: Far from Camelot (tpb, 192 pages, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008, ISBN 0-7407-7737-8)
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #11: "Two Tickets to Heck: Blast from the Future Past!" (as artist, co-written by Chris Bonham and Steve Ringgenberg, anthology, Bongo, 2005)
Collected in The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror — Dead Man's Jest (tpb, 128 pages, HarperCollins, 2008, ISBN 0-0615-7135-0)
Collected in The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Volume 1 (hc, 416 pages, Abrams ComicArts, 2022, ISBN 1-4197-3712-0)
Athena Voltaire: The Collected Webcomics (foreword for the collection of comics serialized online between 2002 and 2004; tpb, 96 pages, Ape Entertainment, 2006, ISBN 0-9741-3989-0)
Hero Comics 2009: "The Dawn Patrol" (one-page illustration featuring Xenozoic Tales characters, anthology one-shot, 2009)
The Adventures of Simone and Ajax (foreword for the collection of comics serialized online between 2007 and 2008 via ComicMix; tpb, 132 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60010-616-1)
X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan Volume 1 (foreword for the collection of strips published between January 30, 1967 and August 30, 1969; hc, 288 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-600-10697-8)
50 Girls 50 and Other Stories (foreword for the collection of stories published in EC Comics anthology titles in the early 1950s; hc, 240 pages, 2013, ISBN 1-606-99577-4)
^Sawyer, James; Beckett, Mike (October 16, 2015). "The One Where We Get To Talk To Mark Schultz!". Action Features Podcast (Podcast). Event occurs at 0:38. Archived from the original on January 2, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
^"Interview: Mark Schultz: Faster Than A Speeding Bullet". The Trades. Archived from the original on 2010-03-12. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
^"Cadillacs Cartoon Enters Brave New World". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-11-15.
^ abMark Schultz's professional bio, via his agent, Denis Kitchen. URL accessed on June 29, 2007
^Gary Gianni's Web site: "King Features partners two comic book greats to help Prince Valiant". URL accessed on June 29, 2007
^Segura, Alex (November 9, 2009). "How About Some More Rags Morales' Sketches From First Wave?". The Source. DC Comics.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved November 10, 2009.
^Segura, Alex (January 19, 2010). "The FIRST WAVE expands in April". The Source. DC Comics.com. Retrieved January 19, 2010.