Northeast Ohio Artist Thom Zahler Puts His Spin on Comic Books

Greater Cleveland’s comic book history is robust, tracing back to the 1930s when Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman (which Cleveland native Brian Michael Bendis continued, decades later). Cleveland Heights’ Bill Watterson made the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Harvey Pekar won over Cleveland and transformed the approach to the craft with his American Splendour series.

“Cleveland’s got a really good pedigree of comic book creators,” Thom Zahler says. “I think it's the weather, because cartooning is such a great indoor event that having six months where it's not fun to go outside really makes you learn your skills, through stuff to do when you can't run around.”

Zahler has, for decades, put his stamp on the city’s impressive comics scene, breaking away from the format's typical genres and delving into different kinds of stories. His latest release, The Ghost Whiskerers, is a kid-friendly spooky comic book released by Storm King, an imprint from famed filmmaker John Carpenter and his wife Sandy Carpenter. The debut issue was published in February.

In the book, a kid named Daniel communicates with his ghost-seeing cats, and helps get a few lingering spirits to move on and leave their haunted house. Suitable for readers 8-12 years old, The Ghost Whiskerers is a part of Storm King’s “Storm Kids” collection.

“I have two cats, which I made the stars of the story,” Zahler says. “I have a nephew, and I based one of the characters on him, and came up with an idea that used all three of those things and still fit the spooky, but not too scary, vibe.”

It’s Zahler’s latest publication, following his work illustrating and writing the popular My Little Pony comic books, along with a Webtoon series titled Warning Label and an ongoing superhero romance titled Love And Capes, which Zahler crowdfunds through Kickstarter. The artist also once drew a Slider comic for the Cleveland Indians’ magazine, Game Face.

Beyond The Ghost Whiskerers, Zahler has more projects in the works, including an Angry Birds comic book, more editions of Love And Capes and a reissue of his comic book Long Distance, which follows the story of a couple in a long-distance relationship.

For all of his success in the comic-making world, Zahler traces his interest in the format back to his childhood, when he first started sketching and would send hand-drawn pictures to Cleveland WUAB legend Superhost to have his art appear live on local TV.

“This is just my favorite thing to do,” Zahler says. “I love that I’ve been able to do it.”

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