MOUNT AIRY - When people think of comics, they might think of Spider-man and the Incredible Hulk. They might also be thinking of the works of a Surry County man who is making a name for himself in the comic book industry.

Danny Donovan, now 23, broke into the comic business early in life. At age 15, while living in Yorkshire, England, Marvel Comics, one of the larger comic book companies, killed off one of his favorite characters, Blink.

"I came up with an idea they could bring back Blink," Donovan said. He wrote a letter to the editor about his idea essentially giving him a pitch.

The editor wrote him back personally thanking him for writing and giving up some free stuff, but essentially: "He shot down my idea," Donovan said. "But I thought, 'Hey, I could kind of do this,' you know if they'd send me money for it."

"Basicaly, I've always been an avid reader of comics. I've always written. Then, at 18 I answered an ad on job site, and that's how I got my first job. Since then, it's been a kind of falling into things more than anything else."

His first job was writing for a web comic called "Hardcore." Since that, publishers have contacted him when they wanted something to be printed. He has actually worked for Marvel Comics. "I was one of the youngest guys to work with Marvel," said Donovan, proudly. "Sadly, the piece didn't get published, but for someone to walk in off the street and get job and and not just a job to get Spider-man, that was impressive."

Donovan has co-founded a studio with 20 artists in it. Mad Science Studios, as its called is a band of comic book artists and writers.

"The majority were working for a small press copany called Alliance Comics. We had just banded together when the bottom fell out, and took the think tank talent with us," he said.

The recent popularity of comic character movies has also affected the comic book world "It fives us a better visiual in the mainstream," Donovan said. "Up in the frorefront, you see these giant epic dramas about these characters. Unfortunately, the market hasn't caught up yet."

Typically, comic books market only to comic book stores. There are only 5,000 comic stores in America, according to Donovan. This means it's more difficult to acquire comic books, and now that they are becoming popular, it's harder to meet a rising demand.

Donovan said that Barnes and Noble bookstore is is signing to do a Spider-man book that will be sold in all of its stores.

"It will bring a cool modern mythikigy ubti the spotlight," he said. "Comic books are the only ream American culture we didn't adapt from another country."

Donovan said that people are becoming more interested in the older, classic characters as the movies become more popular. They're the ones that people know he said.

He admits that he would like to work on a good X-MEN Comic or something like that.

"You want to have your mark on the guys (characters) you grew up with," Donovan said.

Donovan has been very busy. He has Heroes Convention coming up from June 11-13 in Charlotte in the convention center - he is preparing to take eight people - in addition to working with the guys who produced the Men In Black movies, hlping out the smaller writers and writing his own comic books, including the upcoming "Green Llama."

In the comic book creation process, Donovan said that he starts by coming up with the concept and then the characters.

"Once you get to the point of making the characters real, they develop a life of their own and you type it as fast as it comes to you." he said. "It helps when you have a good team. You kind of feed off each othery's creativity."

"Making a Comic book is one of the most collaborative efforts you'll find. Things other than writing Donovan said, he leaves to "people far more talented" than he. "I'm a wonde trick pony," he said with a laugh.

He explained dealing with everything is very stressful when you are a freelancer on one hand, he gets to make up his own hours, allowing him to sleep late and stay up writing when it's calm and quiet but he said he is one of the more responsible ones of his group.

"So I get all the stress," he said. "It's fun helping everyone out, The newer people look to me, we're more of a family than a studio."

There is a problem in getting more people involved in comic books Donovan said. "All the die-hard fans" he said, "the elitists, don't want to let others into their 'group' but to survive, we really can't be so snobbish about who enjoys our hobby."

When asked to pick a fan favorite Donovan first said Spider-man. Why? Because he can really relate to Peter Parker. "I am a Peter Parker," he said. "I'm the wallflower type and I can relate well to his problems."

He also said he really liked Superman. "People think that the ideals he stands for can't hold up in today's society," he said "I think its sad that ideals are changed because they're too hard to live up to."

Donovan moved to the Mount Airy area in 1998. He said that growing up he lived "all over the place."

"We weren't military," he said. "We just went to see whatever we could see."

His family moved straight from Yorkshire England to Mount Airy. "It worked out well for us. he said. "It's a very lovely and very quiet place." For more information visit Donovan's Web site at www.dannydonovan.com. There visitors can find links to many of the companies with which he works. More information on the heroes convention is online at www.heroesonline.com.