Life & Work with Rick Stasi of Leawood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Stasi.

Hi Rick, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Being a child whose life began in front of of a TV in the halcyon days of the “tube” I was mesmerized by storytelling. A beginning, a middle, and an end neatly wrapped up in half an hour and seasoned every few minutes with…commercials.

The show that impacted me the most as a child was “The Adventures of Superman.” George Reeves played TV’s first Superman. He exemplified everything a red-blooded American boy aspired to! Kind yet powerful. Heroic but modest. And each show ended with good triumphing over evil. As each episode gave way to the next we knew that Superman would always be there to fight for “truth, justice and the American Way” until one day…he wasn’t.

The morning after my seventh birthday where I was still giddy from the celebration the day before, I was met with a big 72-point type headline in the morning issue of The Kansas City Times. It was June 16, 1959. George Reeves was gone–some say by his own hand. (I, and others still dont believe that.)

The devastation of this news sent me gobsmacked, back to my bedroom. I had a small desk, some note pads from my father’s office and a number 2 pencil. I began to draw stick figures, one of which had a cape. One of which was Superman.

A period of mourning began for an idealistic kid* with a bath towel (cape) shoved in the back of his shirt. Tales of the Man of Steel were not going to die. I would pick up the pencil and continue these morality plays, well, forever.

I would draw Superman. And any other tale of moral compasses that world needed to see. An budding artist in residence where residence is a place called imagination.

* If you’ve seen Ben Affleck’s account of George’s mysterious death, in his 2006 film, “Hollywoodland” you’ll understand why so many of us are called “Hollywoodland Kids.”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Wanting to draw, to tell stories, dictates a need for formal teaching and community. I had neither. The day after I graduated high school I took the mocwy I had saved as a paper boy, a janitor and later as a truck driver and “moved” to New York. I wanted to work for DC Comics, publishers of Superman and all his caped companions. Marvel Comics was also in NY.

After many meetings and interviews adn burning through my money, it was time to return to KC, find my place in a college setting and learn about everything so I could draw, as drawing is storytelling. Sequential panels that were born out of hyroglyphics became my bread and butter. Comics books, Storyboards in advertising and films.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Storytelling tels the story, My bio and incidentals from my final book, “Letters From The Exodus”

Rick Stasi is an artist/writer/creative producer Rick Stasi is an artist/writer/creative producer
with credits at DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Charlton Comics, NOW Comics (Twilight Zone), Eclipse, Disney,
Warner Bros. (Looney Tunes & Tiny Toons for Steven Spielberg) and LucasFilms/STAR WARS.

Rick has taught comics, sequential art and storyboarding courses for more that twenty years, as an instructor with the Shawnee Mission School District, The Westport School of Art and The Kansas City Art Institute. He currently gives individual instruction and career counseling. This is all his side gig, as he’s an accomlished corporate creative director, graphic designer, and marketer.

An author of two books, Rick performs his spoken word selctions at live events and on Kansas City community radio.

He is also accomplished voice talent known most notably for the narration of “Wounded Warriors” a b2b Veteran’s film focusing on mental health.
Online: RickStasi.com YouTube: Rick Stasi, Ninth Street Theatre

Literary endeavors include:
FIRST BOOK:
Funny You Should Ask, Musings and Verse for Better Or…
Poerty, essays, lyrics

AUDIO COLLECTION: Talking To Myself (To You!)
A 60-plus track, double album

FINAL BOOK: Letters From The Exodus
The Definitive Anthology of Poetry, Musings, Songs and Scripts

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I was born on my mother’s birthday, Sunday and Father’s Day. My father told me that was the “trifecta!” To this day I never fully understood what that meant.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rickstasi.com