WIZARD WORLD LOS ANGELES: ARTHUR SUYDAM PANEL

LOS ANGELES -- Arthur Suydam took a stroll down Zombie Lane on Friday at Wizard World Los Angeles, providing a "director's commentary" as his covers for the Marvel Zombies mini-series.

Following are highlights from the panel:

* Recapping his career, Suydam said he avoided working with the mainstream titles early on because he didn't want to be pinned down to a monthly title and wanted to develop his skills. He turned down Swamp Thing following Bernie Wrightson's run.

"Also, I was the slowest artist in the history of comics," he said.

Then came the point where he thought he was fast enough and developed enough to work on a monthly title. He went to Marvel in 1998 and was extended an open offer, electing to work on a Conan graphic novel.

"Just as I started working at Marvel Comics, they fired everybody," he said, which, combined with his involvement in the film industry, set his comics work back four years.

After being rejected by Marvel, he took some card jobs to show he could do mainstream characters such as Spider-Man, Ghost Rider and Thor.

"They decided to give me a chance with the Marvel Zombies thing," he said. "I thought it was a fantastic concept."

* Suydam said that Marvel Zombies really caught on after the trade paperback was released.

* Suydam's homage to Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 cover was shown, and it was noted little Marvel characters were caught in the webs. Suydam said he was trying to do a brand new piece of work with the previous concept, but recognizable.

* Suydam said the more Zombie covers he did, the further away from the original he painted them. "Irony was a big part of the covers, coming up with some sort of irony to interject into the story," he said.

* It was pointed out Sue Storm was never "zombified" in any of his Fanatastic Four covers. Suydam said it helped create a "Beauty and the Beast" aspect to the covers and implied a sense of threat. He tried to maintain a 1960s vibe with Sue Storm, with a pin-up girl look.

* Suydam said his version of the 1960s X-Men #1 probably got the most laughs.

* Suydam said he originally wanted to stick to older covers, but with the Civil War theme of the second Marvel Zombies series, he used more recent imagery.

* On the Nick Fury cover, Suydam said he tried to integrate Jim Steranko's design skills. "It was a lot of fun for me and a learning experience," he said. "I think we're big fans of each other's work."

Suydam noted he and Steranko are both musicians and he's hoping to form a band with comics artists.

* Suydam also used text as a ploy in his covers, including the "Days of Future Past" homage that also featured Bruce Campbell.

* Suydam's wife was the model for Supergirl in Suydam's Crisis homage.

* His favorite cover? "I like 'em all," he said.

* Suydam is currently the cover artist for Marvel Comics' Moon Knight. "I enjoy working on that charater. It's like Marvel's Batman," he said.

* Suydam said he's almost completed his own zombie series for Dynamite Entertainment. "It will be a three- or four-parter," he said.

* Suydam also has a Wolverine mini-series coming up.