Ep 95. 82 Marvel Covers. Two Heart Surgeries. One Universe.

About this episode

Marko Djurdjevic discusses his transition from client work to creating a transmedia universe and shares insights from his career in comic book art and tabletop RPGs.

After 30 years at the top of entertainment, Marko Djurdjevic reached a point where nothing in client work excited him anymore. So he shifted his focus to building an entire transmedia universe, funding it out of pocket while his wife runs the outsourcing side of SIXMOREVODKA. The Kickstarter launches February 26th alongside a free playable Steam demo. Marko is one of the most prolific cover artists Marvel has ever had. He produced 82 covers in his first year, was deliberately placed on titles close to cancellation because his art spiked sales, and ran 23 consecutive issues on Daredevil. His concept art fed the early MCU, and his studio held a seven-year exclusive partnership with Riot Games on League of Legends. The conversation covers why client work stopped exciting him after 30 years, what The Last Unicorn at age six taught him about storytelling, how a viral X-Men redesign brought Marvel's talent scouts to his door at the exact moment he'd met his wife, and why he believes 2008 was the last great year of cinema. Marko shares the painful lessons from Degenesis, a cult tabletop RPG that collapsed when free PDF downloads hit 3,000 per release while sales dropped to 80. That…

People in this episode

Guest: Marko Djurdjevic

Topics covered

• transmedia universe
• comic book art
• storytelling
• tabletop RPG
• Kickstarter
• heart surgery

Keywords

• Marko Djurdjevic
• transmedia
• Marvel covers
• Degenesis
• Orken
• Kickstarter
• heart surgery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SIXMOREVODKA, Marvel, Riot Games

Books & works: The Last Unicorn, Daredevil, Degenesis, Orken, League of Legends