Vincent DePorter · Artist · Friend · 1959–2022

The Artist Behind the Icons

Before Rock n' Roll Church had a cathedral, it had an artist. Vincent DePorter helped give Dr. OMEB a visual world—characters, covers, posters, and images that made the music feel larger than the stage.

He was a professional comic artist with four decades of work across Europe and the United States. More importantly to me, he was my friend.

Art by a friend, for a friend.

DC Comics · Nickelodeon · SpongeBob Comics · Scooby-Doo · Spirou Magazine · Batman & Superman Style Guides

15 YearsOf Daily Friendship
18Works in the Archive
4 DecadesProfessional Art Career
1M+Plays on His Final Cover

Vincent and I found each other the way a lot of modern friendships begin: commenting on the same Facebook posts and recognizing something familiar in the other person's perspective.

What followed was nearly fifteen years of daily conversation—a transatlantic friendship between a one-man rock band from Cincinnati and a Belgian comic artist living in Arizona. We were connected by music, art, humor, and the particular struggle of being creative people in a world that does not always know what to do with us.

Vincent created artwork for me constantly, often without being asked. I always paid him, but the money was never what drove him. He loved the music. He wanted to contribute. The artwork became another way for us to build something together.

His final completed work for me was the cover art for “Close My Eyes Forever.” The release later crossed one million plays on Facebook. He never got to see that milestone, but his work helped make the moment possible.

“We were born starving artists in a digital world.”

Vincent's Legacy

  • Comic art: DC Comics, Nickelodeon, SpongeBob Comics and Scooby-Doo
  • International career: Belgium, France and the United States
  • Dr. OMEB archive: album covers, posters, character art, logos and promotional pieces
  • Final contribution: “Close My Eyes Forever,” later seen more than one million times on Facebook
Two defining pieces

Featured Works

One became my favorite example of what Vincent could do. The other became his final completed cover for Dr. OMEB.

The piece I consider his finest

OMEB Out of Hell

Created for “You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth” featuring Todd Sucherman.

His final completed cover

Close My Eyes Forever

Cincinnati Vampires featuring Macy Adis · more than one million Facebook plays.

The complete Vincent DePorter collection

18 Pieces. One Friendship.

The image files are being moved out of Bandzoogle and into the permanent GitHub archive. The titles and structure are already preserved here.

Final workClose My Eyes Forever
Finest workOMEB Out of Hell
ArchiveDr. OMEB
ArchiveOMEB Hannah-Barbara
ArchiveDr. Love
ArchiveCover Elements
ArchiveComfortably Numb
ArchiveDark Things
ArchiveMackey & OMEB
ArchiveOMEB Rock
ArchiveNew Cover
ArchiveRaindancer
ArchiveRock Poster
ArchiveSign of the Times
ArchiveZiggy
ArchiveLive and Let Die
ArchiveSabbath Knights
ArchiveBass Drum Head

Archive Asset Migration

Before Bandzoogle is cancelled, all 18 original image files will be copied into this repository and these cards will become the full-size gallery again. This prevents Vincent's archive from depending on Bandzoogle-hosted image URLs.