For Christopher Condon \u201920, few Montclair State experiences could eclipse being able to take a class on the work of John Milton with Dr. Jeffrey Alan Miller, Milton scholar and 2019 MacArthur Fellow. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a required course, but what an opportunity,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was so cool to get a sense of the depth of Dr. Miller\u2019s knowledge on the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before he arrived at Montclair State, Condon had studied Cinema and Fine Arts at Middlesex College and attended classes at California\u2019s Woodbury University. Internships with West Hollywood\u2019s Renfield Productions and Trailers From Hell led to paying jobs, and it would seem that his career was on track.<\/p>\n
But something was missing. \u201cI always wanted to finish my degree,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though I had good jobs in my field, education was important to me. I really wanted to be the first in my family to graduate from college.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he moved back to New Jersey, Condon happened to land in Montclair. He learned about ÌÇÐÄvlog, visited the campus, and decided to enroll. \u201cI started out thinking I would study film or creative writing, but those tracks didn\u2019t feel like enough of a stretch for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to re-learn what I had already been doing for years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Condon brought his dilemma to one of his professors, who assured him that the University would work with him toward a solution. \u201cI was overjoyed,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was the first time I had experienced that kind of collaboration in a school setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result of those conversations was matriculation as an English major \u2013 the perfect choice, according to Condon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe classes were great \u2013 they really got you thinking,\u201d he says, recalling the courses he took with Dr. Jeffrey Gonzalez in particular. \u201cEven if I didn\u2019t like the reading he assigned, I made sure I was prepared to say something in class. Sometimes the discussions were pretty heated. Dr. Gonzalez and the other professors in the program made sure that we engaged with the material.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inspiration for Condon\u2019s first graphic novel soon followed. \u201cI had ideas for the first arc of\u00a0That Texas Blood<\/em>, titled\u00a0A Brother\u2019s Conscience<\/em>, while re-reading Hamlet for a class,\u201d he says. \u201cThe story centered on a writer and was very much about that time in my life. The reading and research I did for my classes helped influence my style.\u201d<\/p>\n Working with artist Jacob Phillips, Condon created the first story arc for That Texas Blood<\/em>, which was released in 2020 by Image Comics, the world\u2019s third-largest publisher of comics and graphic novels. The series quickly gained popularity and acclaim, described as \u201cParis, Texas gut-punched by No Country for Old Men<\/em>\u201d and \u201cTrue Grit<\/em> meets Breaking Bad<\/em>.\u201d Condon and Phillips also release Brutal Dark<\/em>, an independent digital comic, directly to subscribers through Patreon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Success has, at times, felt a little surreal for Condon. \u201cYou see sales numbers on a screen, but you don\u2019t get a sense of how readers feel about your work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Fortunately, Condon\u2019s alma mater offered him an in-person opportunity to connect with fans last November, when Dr. Gonzalez invited him to give a talk for students. \u201cI tried to stress that success is the result of doing the work \u2013 I have been developing these stories for years,\u201d he says. \u201cYou just have to keep at it and get your work out there.\u201d<\/p>\n He enjoyed speaking with the students who lined up afterward to ask questions, and was excited to learn that the English Department is beginning to take an interest in comic books as a medium. \u201cI would love to come back to campus to talk about comic book history,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Condon and Phillips are well into developing the third story arc for That Texas Blood<\/em>. \u201cWe are doing research \u2013 working on character designs, reading books and watching movies for inspiration,\u201d he says. The first of the series\u2019 six issues is due out in June.<\/p>\n It is times like these that remind Condon of his Montclair State classes. \u201cSome days I wish I had the curriculum notes from my courses,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cI would appreciate having the professors\u2019 lists of articles and reference materials that took us on a deep dive of whatever piece we were working on.\u201d<\/p>\n Condon\u2019s Montclair State take-aways go beyond academics, however. \u201cMontclair State is not a gigantic school, and that is where the magic lies,\u201d he says. \u201cI was able to get to know my professors as human beings. They were able to draw us, the students, out to understand what we were thinking. They made us feel important.\u201d<\/p>\n Condon carries that kind of commitment forward every month, when he writes personal notes to all of his Patreon subscribers. \u201cI really appreciated how the professors cared for us as individuals,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to do the same for my fans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou might not even realize how much Montclair State changes your way of thinking,\u201d Condon advises today\u2019s students. \u201cThe education you receive at Montclair State is special. Homework and tests might feel like a drag, but at the end of the day, you\u2019ll be drawing on what you learned here. Let the experience do its work \u2013 let it shape you into who you are going to become.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christopher Condon ’20 is redefining what success can look like for a ÌÇÐÄvlog English degree graduate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":210549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210548"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210552,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210548\/revisions\/210552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}