Educated at the University of Southern California, Sal Abbinanti (Sam to his friends) now lives and works on the north side of Chicago. Sal has worked with such classic characters as the Atom, Swamp Thing and Conan and is now devoted most of his talents and energy into launching four new online comics for Mercury Comics - Atomika, Dagos on the Moon, Sliver and Titano.

Excerpted here is an interview we here at Comic Book Pros did with Sal recently.

When did you start to draw?
Well, lets see I started making my own comics with my brother Michael at about 10 yrs old. It was this epic on typing paper called Titano and Lasso Lass.

First comic read?
Thor #206 I bought it at Stoya's drug store on the corner of Broadway and Bryn Mawr in Chicago it was all over after that.

What artists inspired you?
Michelangelo and Jack Kirby.

Who are your favorite artists now?
John Romita, Jr., Ron Garney, Angel Medina, Frank Miller, Dan Clowes and lets see what's that other? Oh yeah, that Alex Ross guy.

What main stream characters would you like to draw?
Wow lets see, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, he's the man. The Atom, has been wasted by DC for years and he's such a cool character. The Eternals, oh hell any of the Kirby fourth world characters.

• See Some of the famous people Sam gets to hang with!
• See Sam in print!