David Choe - The Comics And Graffiti Artist Who Is Now Richer Than All The Rest

[Rich Johnston]

Comics and graffiti artist David Choe, who was inspired by the likes of Rob Liefeld, Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane, is about to become richer than all of them.

His graphic novel Slow Jams is a much desired item, selling for around $200... but that's not the matter at and here. Rather his work for Facebook's first offices a few years ago, which instead of taking a few thousand dollars in payment for, he took stock. Estimated now, in the face of Facebook going public, to be worth $200 million.



He's now about to be richer than almost everyone at the same Marvel Comics that rejected his pitch with Brian Wood for the comic book series NYX, that would have featured Gambit, Rogue and Jubilee as well as other characters that Wood reworked for his Demo series...

[ManNBlack]

Is Choe the guy who was to do New York X-men with Brian Wood before it all fell apart?

[BrodieIsGod]

I wish I could make money off of hideous art...

[CBattles6]

I'm happy for the guy, but let's not act like this is more than it is.

He got lucky.

He's said himself that, at the time, he had no idea what Facebook was or that it would be as successful as it is today. This doesn't make him any better than Lee or MacFarlane, or the people at Marvel who rejected his pitch. It makes him a talented artist who took advantage of a great opportunity.

[Mike H.]

Good for him. If money isn't a concern for him it'll be interesting to see what he does next. Hopefully he won't just retire.

[alekesam]

I'm kicking myself because I had Slow Jams and lost it to a storage incident.

[Jacen]

Hard to believe this is the same artist that spent 2 years in a Japanese jail. Juxtapoz did a great article about him years ago and it really seems his whole life turned around after that. Inspiring story and a hell of a strange way to hear about him again.

[Eyemelt]

Brilliant! Hopefully he'll carry on with his work, regardless of how rich he is. I guess he can stump up the dough for some pretty interesting projects now...

[Matt Adler]

Is Choe the guy who was to do New York X-men with Brian Wood before it all fell apart?

Yep, and laced into Joe Quesada with an over-the-top rant. You can read it in an old Comicon thread ironically entitled "Has David Choe committed career suicide?"

Has David Choe Committed Career Suicide??? - COMICON.com Panels | Comic Book, Graphic Novel and Cartooning Discussions

Brian Wood is quoted there too. I guess everything comes full circle, since Wood is back at Marvel now.

Wonder how JQ feels about this news?

[alekesam]

Wow. That was a mouthfull.

Honestly, tho'? I wish more writer/artists would speak their mind straight up and not play the "everything is kosher" game. The more that stuff gets buried, the more people are likely to mess/screw someone else over. The comics scene has a serious lack of calling a spade a spade, except when it's convenient or if there's no potential backlash for what they say.