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Editor's Note: This is part of a new series on KSL.com where we do a follow-up article about Utahns who we have previously featured on KSL. If you have been the subject of a feature story on KSL in the past and would like to be part of our "Where Are They Now?" series, email cwilliams@deseretdigital.com for consideration. WEST JORDAN — Anthony Woolf remembers the thrill from the first time he sold his artwork — even if it was $5 for the three hours of work he spent drawing something for a junior high school classmate.
Years later, that feeling remains even with the stresses of life that could easily bog him down. When KSL last featured Woolf, he had gained attention for the humorous way he dealt with his recent testicular cancer diagnosis.
An Army veteran, husband, father of a young child and artist, Woolf drew comics making light of his situation and it helped lighten the load of everything related to cancer. On top of his own diagnosis, his father had been diagnosed with leukemia just months earlier.
“It helped me — being able to draw it — to take the problem and put it on paper, to visualize it, to make it something I can laugh at,” he said of those drawings.
After doctors removed his left testicle in December, it was discovered that cancer had spread to his lymph nodes. That prompted a series of radiation treatment. Woolf said he is nearing the end of that treatment and will find out next week if it has been working.
In the meantime, drawing has kept himself focused on fulfilling a dream of his — and gave him the escape he has needed. Though drawing is his profession, it’s his hobby and it’s his release.
“In my free time, that’s all I like to do is draw,” he said. “It’s how I relax. It’s also how I take my mind off things. If I’m having a tough time, I go and I draw.”
Woolf’s newest project is now just weeks away from release. As a staunch comic book fan, the Utahn hatched his own comic book while deployed to Afghanistan in 2013. That taught him how to deal with everything he needed to know in areas such as comic design, layout and storylines.
In the summer of 2015, Woolf began the groundwork for a completely new idea. That, however, got pushed aside due to unexpected circumstances. In September, his dad was diagnosed with cancer. Woolf then got diagnosed with cancer in November.
Instead of giving up on his project, Woolf — who admitted he’s better at drawing than creating a storyline — implemented his struggles into his own project. Some of the situation he’s currently dealing with has trickled into his characters’ plights (no spoilers on the plot).
“The comic book and its characters — I thought, ‘What better way than to take on a personal meaning?’” Woolf said. “I figured, I’ll take my characters and relate them to people in my life or even myself because then I can make those characters a little bit more believable.”
Woolf launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for the first edition of a comic series entitled “Relics.” The project reached its goal of $1,500 within the first two weeks. It was actually his second attempt at raising money through the site, but he said the failed first attempt allowed him to know how to create a product that not only he enjoyed, but the consumer would be interested in.
"It’s exciting that people want to see something you’ve created. They want to know the story I have going on in my head. This is the beginning, but I want to be able to get the whole story out if I can so I can leave my mark in the comic book world." — Anthony Woolf
“It’s exciting that people want to see something you’ve created. They want to know the story I have going on in my head,” Woolf said. “This is the beginning, but I want to be able to get the whole story out if I can so I can leave my mark in the comic book world — and that’s what this is. It’s like the first step.”
The breakdown of the funds that the money would go to is the coloring of the comics, which is done by another local artist, printing, packaging and other fees.
Woolf wanted to make sure his comic doesn’t disappoint aesthetically. He creates the work himself from cover to cover, while other comic books may be drawn together by various artists. All of the artwork is also done by hand instead of digitally.
The project begins with Issue No. 0, which essentially serves as a prologue and introduces the characters. In all, the goal is to make it through at least seven editions. Any excess money from the Kickstarter campaign, Woolf said, will go toward the future editions.
In addition, he got a booth at the Salt Lake Comic Con in September. Woolf said he attended the first Salt Lake Comic Con and has attended several since. There, he’s been drawn to the artists’ booths.
This time around, he’ll be selling his work to fans, which is a dream come true for Woolf.
“It’s just fulfilling to do this comic book,” he said. “It’s so much hard work because I started it when we had our first kid, so you don’t have time to breathe, eat or sleep — let alone work on a comic book in your spare time. My wife has been real supportive of me as I’ve had to work late nights and get it done.
“To be able to do it all, it’s just a huge project and it’s so fulfilling to see it come to fruition.”
