196 Leadership Drawing Attention Instructor of art, architecture, and design Mitchell Breitweiser blends his Marvel comic book career with teaching, and inspires students. The Department of Art, Architecture and Design began the 2024–25 school year by welcoming a new faculty member: instructor of art, architecture and design Mitchell Breitweiser. Breitweiser received his undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from Harding University, and upon the completion of his degree began his journey into the exciting world of comic books. After graduating, Breitweiser moved to pursue his dream career in comics. “I left Arkansas and went to the New York City area and just started beating down the doors,” Breitweiser said. “I continued to go to all these comic book conventions, and I mostly focused on just putting myself in the orbit of professional artists, professional writers, professional editors and other recent graduates that were trying to break into this business.” Breitweiser focused on building a network of relationships with people in and around the sphere of comic book publishing. “It became about a five-year journey after school getting hit-or-miss work,” Breitweiser said. “My skills weren’t quite there to be working as a professional full time yet, and that took some time to build up to. I ended up working at a sign shop and doing industrial sign design. I also worked as a barista for a bit—just whatever paid the bills in the meantime.” It wasn’t until 2005 that Breitwesier fully committed himself to pursuing his dreams. “I had a friend who lived in a neighborhood in Manhattan, and he was a working professional drawing X-Men at the time,” Breitweiser said. “I knew he would travel to turn his pages into the office every Friday, so I would call him on Thursday nights and ask if I could go with him. He would sneak me into the editorial floor through the freight elevator, and just about every other Friday, I was in the Marvel Comics office with a fresh batch of samples I had drawn over the previous week or two.” Breitweiser stuck with this routine for six months until he was invited to do a trial run for the book “Drax the Destroyer.” “I ended up getting that job and did pretty well at it,” Breitweiser said. “By the end of the second issue that I had drawn, Marvel offered me a two-year exclusive contract with them.” By 2018, Breitweiser took his work to social media in order to build a following around his new project: “The Red Rooster.” Shortly after his work gained a lot of interest, he took a leap of faith and successfully crowdfunded the project. Near the end of 2018, Breitweiser and his wife found themselves pitching their ideas to the book buyer for Walmart. “In December of that year, they said yes,” Breitweiser said. “We basically spent all of 2019 and part of 2020 building the content and hiring artists, writers and an editor—essentially building a publishing brand from scratch.” In 2019, Breitweiser founded the Allegiance Arts publishing brand, which he owned and operated with his wife. In May of 2020, the company launched “The Red Rooster,” along with three other projects that were sold in 3,300 Walmart retail stores. Upon Breitweiser’s return to the University, the English Department invited him to speak at their weekly English Roundtable gathering. Senior Joseph McKinley regularly attended English Roundtable and particularly enjoyed Breitweiser’s guest appearance. “I think his grit and determination really stuck with me,” Mckinley said. “His commitment to his craft and his passion is really impressive.” Senior Hannah Holcomb enjoyed Breitweiser’s approach to teaching in his Drawing I class. “Although I am not an art major, I feel that I have gotten a lot of inspiration from his passion and dedication to his career,” Holcomb said. “I think he will bring a fresh perspective to the Art Department and will expand students’ learning greatly.” Students interested in taking one of Breitweiser’s classes could enroll in Drawing I, Fine Art Profession or Visual Arts Studio I. Breitweiser’s comic book work can be found in select Walmart retail stores, as well as at allegiancearts.com. Written by Jiana Manglicmot
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==