Mark Ammerman... today.
Mark has been drawing pictures (and making books and comics) since he was knee high to an inkwell. An internationally published cartoonist, illustrator, and award-winning novelist, Mark lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his wife Terri and (scattered throughout Lancaster County) their five children (with assorted spouses) and five grandchildren. He also plays guitar, warbles pretty well, and has written a few hundred songs.
Mark has (for the past decade and a half) pastored a church in the city of Lancaster and the small town of East Petersburg.
Mark Ammerman and Dave Simons... 1971
Mark and Dave met as teens in Mark's home burg of Seelyville (where Dave's grandparents lived up the road, and where Dave sometimes spent summers.) They quickly discovered their common love of comics and comic art, and spent many a happy hour collaborating on art of all kinds and working together on fanzine publication. Both went on to professional careers in illustration: Dave as a comic artist (principally an inker for Marvel) and an animator for television cartoons; Mark as a cartoonist, silkscreen artist, graphics designer, and book illustrator.
Dave passed away in 2009, after a long bout with cancer. We miss him!
The Kutztown Comic Club (and a few friends)
hit the streets of New York during the 1974 New York Comic Art Convention.
Left to right: Mark Ammerman, Dave Simons (head down, face hidden), Frank Siccoro, Tim Groh, Guy Sicher, Don Schenk, and Jim Dietrich. This picture was taken by John Mozzer (with his Kodak Instamatic) on Lexington Avenue at East 42nd Street, in July of 1974, during a breather from the New York Comic Art Convention at the Commodore Hotel.
Mark and some of his progeny in front of Brother Van's Methodist church in the ghost town of Bannock, Montana.
Left to right: Jet Rivera (grandson), Mark, Micah Ammerman (son), Legend Rivera (grandson)
