Faces of Long Island celebrates the uniqueness of everyday Long Islanders. In their own words, they tell us about their life experiences, challenges and triumphs. Newsday launched this social media journey into the human experience to shine a light on the diverse people of this wonderful place we call home.

‘I decided to prove to myself and my children that I could make my dreams come true and become a professional author.’

Ronkonkoma

“Growing up, I always wanted to write stories. Initially, I thought I would write the next Great American Novel, but then I realized that I was more drawn to comics. I have been obsessed with comics since 1993, when ‘The Death of Superman’ came out. I made my parents take me to every comic-book store on Long Island, but everyplace was sold out for weeks. Then I finally found a copy at a newsstand.

“I graduated from college in 2010. The job market was bad, but I managed to secure a position as a waiter at Ruby Tuesday. My friend, Brian, worked alongside me, and we created comics to keep ourselves sane. Then life got in the way. I found a better job as a client executive at a software company, I got married, and I had children. I didn’t start writing again until the pandemic hit in 2020. It was then that I decided to prove to myself and my children that I could make my dreams come true and become a professional author. I wrote several short comic stories and got them included in anthologies. To date, I have about 15 stories published in anthologies that are on sale at 4th World Comics in Smithtown.

“While I have always been interested in writing superhero stories, about half of my stories are in the horror genre. I write what I know, so family life, especially the relationship between fathers and children, is a central theme in a lot of my work. My oldest son inspired one of my most popular stories, ‘Dinner with Blobby,’ since he’s such a picky eater! Inspiration can come from anywhere. I should mention that I’m strictly a writer; the story was illustrated by a very talented artist named Don Cardenas and accepted into the ‘Nightmare Theater’ anthology published by Bloodline Comics. I’m eternally grateful to publisher Clay Adams, who took a chance on my work. My favorite story is ‘The Curse of the Egg Yolk,’ which involves a pandemic, fathers, sons and the legend of Humpty Dumpty. In the future, I would like to create and produce my own full-length comic book. I want to show my children what you can achieve when you dare to follow your dreams.”

Interviewed by Meagan Meehan

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Faces of Long Island is produced by Newsday Consumer Marketing. This content does not involve the reporting and editing staff of Newsday’s Editorial Department.