Neil Vokes was born in Fort Lauderdale, FL in 1954. A few years later the family moved to New Jersey, where he still resides.
After losing his job in the early ’80s, Neil’s wife Siri convinced him to follow his passion for art and he landed a job at Comico Comics in 1983, where he and inking partner Rich Rankin worked on Robotech Masters, a spin-off of the popular Japanese Robotech TV series.
In 1986, Vokes and Rankin founded Crystal Comics with the sole purpose of self-publishing their own title, Eagle, which centered on a vigilante named Richard Eagle, a detective and martial arts expert who possessed supernatural powers. Although there had been a boom for black-and-white comics when the series began, it quickly began to wane and Crystal Comics was forced out of business after 16 issues went to press. Beginning with issue #17, Apple Comics began publishing Eagle, which finally came to an end with issue #23. Vokes has stated that he still hopes to revive the series one day.
Vokes had developed enough of a clout as a comic artist that he was able to find work-for-hire jobs. NOW Comics founder Tony Caputo was impressed with Vokes work on the Robotech series and asked him if he would work on their new adaptation of Speed Racer. Although he was disinterested in Speed Racer, Vokes agreed with the proviso that he also be allowed to work on Fright Night. A lifelong fan of the vampire genre, Vokes was enamored with the film and put great care into his pencil drawings, which are arguably some of the best artwork of the series. Vokes fought to get Count Dracula included in the Fright Night franchise and won, even garnering a rare “co-plotted by” credit for The Resurrection of Dracula, Part 1. Unfortunately, with the financially and creatively unstable scene at Now Comics, Vokes quit a few issues later.
In the years since he worked at NOW, Vokes has gone on to write, draw, ink and color for countless other series, most recently a series of three graphic novels with Robert Tinnell called Flesh and Blood, which feature original stories revolving around Count Dracula, Abraham Van Helsing, Jonathan and Mina Harker, and Doctors Jekyll and Frankenstein.
We’re always happy to have Neil and Siri join us for Monsterama!
