An Indigenous comic book illustrator and artist from this province dreamt big and had that dream come true when he landed the gig of a lifetime with Marvel.

David Cutler, who is a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation was chosen as one of the illustrators for an innovative new Marvel comic book—Issue number one of ‘Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices’.

The comic, he says, guides the reader through a number of characters they may not have heard about previously.

Cutler’s story is the finale written by Stephen Graham Jones—an award-winning core writer and member of the Blackfeet Nation. It’s the story of Silverfox, who is the first wife of Wolverine of the X-Men.

Cutler says to Marvel’s credit, they’ve had a pretty large staple of Indigenous characters since the ’80s, but this is the first time that First Nations people will be telling the stories of these First Nations characters. He says it takes the whole thing in a different direction when people are able to give these characters their own voices.

Cutler says receiving the e-mail out of the blue from Marvel was a dream come true. He says it was the shock of a lifetime, and turned 2020 from one of the worst years of his life, to one of the best.

As for what’s next, Cutler explains it’s still up in the air and he still has to do some edits on a project he’s not yet ready to reveal. He hopes to work with Marvel again someday.

He tells young budding artists and illustrators out there to keep at it, and hang onto the dream as it can happen, and it’s a great feeling when it does.