Cover to Hysteria #1

July 1998 - Hysteria, self-published by me under the name "Thinktank Comics" was shipped to stores. Three more issues followed, and although I lost any money I had saved for the venture I was on my way to "making it". I got my big break from Matt Wagner shortly after on Grendel Red, White and Black, and then onto a slew of other books for just about every other publisher under the sun.

But in 98, I was still just trying to make Hysteria happen. My mother had died about a year before with $2.20 in her pocket and nothing in the bank. I lost her home, and just about everything else. My wish was to be a successful comic artist and she died while I was still starving. This ate me up, so I had to just jump into comics with both feet, everything be damned.

Hysteria is the result of those years, and all the work I did. It's been cleaned up a bit, with fresh new scans and letters. But the art hasn't been changed. Every bit of the book's original pain, dreams and soul is still in there. Hope you enjoy it.

best,
Mike Hawthorne
2007

Cover to Hysteria #2

Cover to Hysteria #3

Cover to Hysteria #4