My name is Steve Tinsley, A.K.A. Mad Dog

By visiting this web site, I assume you may know I plan a publication featuring my first graphic sometime in 2027. This site will be a place you can see sample art, story synopsis, and background info about this project. This project has been years in the making and we will be releasing the first 2 story arcs in 24 page installments when completed.

    The story behind this story actually begins with my love for comic books. I was introduced to comics in 1964, when my mother took myself, my sister and 2 brothers to the airport to pick my father up from a business trip. He bought each of the boys a comic- and I was hooked! I know he got something for my sister- but i had this bright colorful book full of heroes and excitement. After that my brothers and I pooled our allowance money each week to buy all the new comics we could afford. My co-creator on this project was born several months after this fateful day, but jumped on the this magic carpet ride without hesitation! (as if there was a choice with 3 addicted older brothers) 

     I stayed with my comics over the many years- through High School, College, Medical School and post-doctorate school. Yes, the comic nerd actually became the Mad Scientist. I majored in Biochemistry as an undergraduate and did cataract research. In medical school I did mitochondrial research,. As a Pulmonary Fellow at the University of Florida, I gained experience managing the critical care unit and did research on the mechanisms of lung injury. This research was published in a leading biochemistry journal and lead to an invitation by the World Health Organization  to it’s international  conference in 1990  in Boston present my research in the grand lecture hall. I had the placement next to the keynote speaker as the second greatest honor awarded that year. My research lead to many insights into mechanisms of lung injury and it’s defensive mechanisms. 

    After my career in academic medicine, I left University of Florida, moved to the Tampa Bay area and had a long career in pulmonary and critical care medicine. I had many positions of leadership at one of the hospitals I worked in and continued to be involved in the training of medical residents and pulmonary and critical care fellows. After a long and rewarding career, I retired 2-3 years ago. I relay all this information as a warning that my science fiction/fantasy story is heavy on the science.

   My love of comics never left me during this time. I continued to collect. In fact, after it became known that I enjoyed comics, I was offered and purchased several additional collections to result in an excessively large collection. My reputation with comics led to an article about me, my collection, and my project in one go U of F’s Alumni magazines. The link to the article is drgator.ufl.edu with an article entitled Stethoscopes and superheroes.

  I began my graphic novel “the Balance” a few years before I retired. I initially started it as a way to get back into artwork. I enjoyed it and started to concentrate on the story as much as the artwork. My brother and co-creator, Stikman Tinsley, has been a comic and graphic art professional for over twenty years and made this project possible. (I will have a Bio of Stikman on this site in the near future.)

    At the current time I have over 250 pages of art and story complete, with some minor prepress work to complete. I have four hour chapters to complete the artwork. With the proper dedication, I hope to have my first two story arcs complete and scheduled for publication sometime in 2027. I hope that Stikman will be publishing some of his stories in conjunction with this project at the same time. This is all my update for 8//8/28, but stay tuned for future updates.

Kevin “Stickman” Tinsley has been a comic book professional for over 35 years. Graduating from the Kubert School in 1989, Stickman began his career at Marvel Comics as one of Romita’s Raiders, and became one of the company’s most prolific colorists, best known for his work on Spider-Man®, Punisher War Zone®, Excalibur®, and Generation X®.

The new millennium brought new opportunities as Tinsley began self-publishing at Stickman Graphics®. His first graphic novel was the critically acclaimed supernatural-mystery called The Festering Season™. This was followed by the Stonehaven™ Series, a contemporary fantasy genre that included the books Milk Cartons and Dog Biscuits™, Subterranean Hearts™, and the prose novel Fruit of the Poisonous Vine™.

Moving forward, Stickman will be exploring the Balance universe with a variety of tales that fall under the Cosmic Tapestry™ banner and will include such characters as Knights International™, a group of enhanced security contractors (i.e., mercenaries).