There Was a Haunted Man...

We all have our ghosts, at least those of us who’ve grown old enough to accumulate our share of dead friends and relatives.

Among those who’ve passed is a former boss (whom I was surprised later on to realize had also become a friend) by the name of Dave Sutherland. As their art director, he hired me in the summer of 1980 to the TSR art department, where I illustrated this and that in support of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game (among other things).

He was mostly a soft-spoken man, but adamant in certain beliefs. “You need to start putting more armor on your fighter characters,” he’d often say, whilst peering over my shoulder. He was right, even though I didn’t realize it at the time, and usually rebelled. In those youthful years I was still caught up in the cult of half-naked barbarians. Did Tarzan need armor? Did Conan need armor? (Actually he did, and used it often, but was seldom depicted in full panoply on the lurid paperback and Marvel Comics covers of the day.)

Back then I was a lost soul. I kicked against his admonitions. I resisted – dug my heels in. It took years for me to come around to Dave’s quiet wisdom.

But I did come around. Today, when I have occasion to draw within the medieval fantasy-adventure realms, I can always count on Dave’s good ghost whispering over my shoulder, “Remember to put some armor on that guy.”

Every time. Dave Sutherland haunts me, but in the best possible way.

One of my new publishers is on the threshold of making a big announcement about an ambitious new project we’re doing together. They have the prerogative of being the first to talk it up, and I won’t try to steal their moment. But I am going to spoil one thing: the dedication. Here’s how it will read:

To the very good ghost of David Sutherland the Third, who taught me medieval armor. Forgive me for taking so long to come around.