thedrifter
09-13-03, 05:10 AM
Submitted by: MCAS Iwakuni
Story Identification Number: 20039110171
Story by Cpl. Jeff Zaccaro
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan(Aug. 29, 2003) -- Almost every Marine has seen a Sempertoon somewhere during their military career. Whether in 'Leatherneck Magazine,' on the Internet or taped to their gunny's door, the little clips of military satire are enough to make the most battle-hardened warriors crack a smile.
Staff Sergeant Charles F. Wolf Jr., creator of 'Sempertoons,' visited the Station Thursday to share some of those comics with personnel here and personally sign copies of his first published book, "Welcome to the Real World Devil Dog."
Although 'the real world' for Wolf currently consists of instructing combat illustrators at the Defense Information School at Fort George G. Meade, Md., and creating Sempertoons during his off time, for the first nine years of his current 16-year enlistment, Wolf served as an antitank assaultman in the infantry.
When he had completed basic training, Wolf was put on float aboard the U.S.S. Blue Ridge with 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Wolf's two-year tour with 1/4, he started doodling to pass the time.
"Since I love music I would doodle snakes with instruments and big hair. For some reason my characters were always screaming and had a Marine look," he said.
Soon Wolf's snakes transformed into angry drill instructors, wide-eyed privates and salty gunnery sergeants, and he inadvertently took a major steps in his career while assigned as an enlisted instructor at The Basic School at Quantico, Va.
"While I was at Quantico they found out I could draw so they sent me to sketch a rifle range in operation so they could explain how to read the range to the TBS students," said Wolf. "After I was finished they sent it to the Combat Visual Information Center to get put on a 20 by 20 foot canvas. At the time I had no idea what CVIC was, and when they sent me down there to check on the progress I was like a kid in a candy store. I was amazed with all the people in there just sitting around being creative."
With Wolf's second enlistment starting to wind down, he knew he had to start making major moves in making a lateral move to a 4611 combat illustrator.
"When I went back to the infantry from Quantico I started talking to my career planner to find out what it would take to make the lateral move," Wolf said. "During my eighth year I did on-the-job training for six months, was accepted into the field and reenlisted as a 4611."
Since the job gave him more time to work on art, he started perfecting ?Sempertoons? and released "Welcome to the Real World Devil Dog" around Christmas of 2002.
Even though the book has 120 Marine Corps comics inside, Wolf is not having any trouble finding material to use for a second book he would like to release this year around Christmas time.
"Everywhere I go I see something that would make a good comic," he said. "In the two days I have been here I have already thought of eight comics. About 95 percent of my comics are based off of reality - either something I have seen or something some has e-mailed and told me about."
Although Wolf is the one who gets all the credit for 'Sempertoons,' he admits that he could not have done it without his wife, Amy.
"Amy was the one who finally convinced me to put my comics into a book and she took care of contacting and working with the publishers," he said.
No matter how synonymous the Wolf name becomes with 'Sempertoons,' he knows that he will always be a Marine first and will always be there to help other Marines.
"I can drop 'Sempertoons' like a hot rock if the mission dictated to," he said. "I will always put Marines before my art. I sent care packages to units in Iraq, and recently visited and brought cards, books and prints to three Purple Heart recipients at the Bethesda Naval Hospital."
Throughout Wolf's Marine Corps career, the little things he has seen that make Marines who they are is what gives him the motivation to continue.
"It makes it worth to know that just one Marine laughed at one of my comics, made it through a night of duty or made a fighting hole a little more bearable," he said. "To observe Marines is inspirational, but to be a Marine is exceptional."
http://sempertoons.com
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Story Identification Number: 20039110171
Story by Cpl. Jeff Zaccaro
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan(Aug. 29, 2003) -- Almost every Marine has seen a Sempertoon somewhere during their military career. Whether in 'Leatherneck Magazine,' on the Internet or taped to their gunny's door, the little clips of military satire are enough to make the most battle-hardened warriors crack a smile.
Staff Sergeant Charles F. Wolf Jr., creator of 'Sempertoons,' visited the Station Thursday to share some of those comics with personnel here and personally sign copies of his first published book, "Welcome to the Real World Devil Dog."
Although 'the real world' for Wolf currently consists of instructing combat illustrators at the Defense Information School at Fort George G. Meade, Md., and creating Sempertoons during his off time, for the first nine years of his current 16-year enlistment, Wolf served as an antitank assaultman in the infantry.
When he had completed basic training, Wolf was put on float aboard the U.S.S. Blue Ridge with 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Wolf's two-year tour with 1/4, he started doodling to pass the time.
"Since I love music I would doodle snakes with instruments and big hair. For some reason my characters were always screaming and had a Marine look," he said.
Soon Wolf's snakes transformed into angry drill instructors, wide-eyed privates and salty gunnery sergeants, and he inadvertently took a major steps in his career while assigned as an enlisted instructor at The Basic School at Quantico, Va.
"While I was at Quantico they found out I could draw so they sent me to sketch a rifle range in operation so they could explain how to read the range to the TBS students," said Wolf. "After I was finished they sent it to the Combat Visual Information Center to get put on a 20 by 20 foot canvas. At the time I had no idea what CVIC was, and when they sent me down there to check on the progress I was like a kid in a candy store. I was amazed with all the people in there just sitting around being creative."
With Wolf's second enlistment starting to wind down, he knew he had to start making major moves in making a lateral move to a 4611 combat illustrator.
"When I went back to the infantry from Quantico I started talking to my career planner to find out what it would take to make the lateral move," Wolf said. "During my eighth year I did on-the-job training for six months, was accepted into the field and reenlisted as a 4611."
Since the job gave him more time to work on art, he started perfecting ?Sempertoons? and released "Welcome to the Real World Devil Dog" around Christmas of 2002.
Even though the book has 120 Marine Corps comics inside, Wolf is not having any trouble finding material to use for a second book he would like to release this year around Christmas time.
"Everywhere I go I see something that would make a good comic," he said. "In the two days I have been here I have already thought of eight comics. About 95 percent of my comics are based off of reality - either something I have seen or something some has e-mailed and told me about."
Although Wolf is the one who gets all the credit for 'Sempertoons,' he admits that he could not have done it without his wife, Amy.
"Amy was the one who finally convinced me to put my comics into a book and she took care of contacting and working with the publishers," he said.
No matter how synonymous the Wolf name becomes with 'Sempertoons,' he knows that he will always be a Marine first and will always be there to help other Marines.
"I can drop 'Sempertoons' like a hot rock if the mission dictated to," he said. "I will always put Marines before my art. I sent care packages to units in Iraq, and recently visited and brought cards, books and prints to three Purple Heart recipients at the Bethesda Naval Hospital."
Throughout Wolf's Marine Corps career, the little things he has seen that make Marines who they are is what gives him the motivation to continue.
"It makes it worth to know that just one Marine laughed at one of my comics, made it through a night of duty or made a fighting hole a little more bearable," he said. "To observe Marines is inspirational, but to be a Marine is exceptional."
http://sempertoons.com
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: