About On the Square Comics

A bald man wearing a black comic T-shirt is signing a comic book at a table with various comic books, markers, and posters on it. Several people are seated or walking around in the background of a convention or comic book signing event.

On The Square Comics Founder Jay Taylor and his kids at a store signing.

Jay Taylor doing a demonstration in a classroom.

Jay Taylor, Blake Zdawski, and Alton Simpson standing on a stage with a large screen behind them, displaying 'Vampires of New Jersey Convention' and the date November 15, 2025. T

Jay Taylor and David Finch hanging at a comic convention.

Jay Taylor signing artwork at a convention booth, surrounded by comic books and memorabilia. The booth has a sign that reads 'On the Square Comic'

On the Square Comics is the brainchild of lifelong comics fans Jay Taylor, Mike Frangione, Troy Wilkins and Sean Wooden. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, Jay fell in love with the amazing stories in Marvel and DC comics - specifically the artistry of such industry giants as Kane, Adams, Byrne and Buscema. Further nurtured by sic-fi and fantasy novels by Eddings, Howard and Burroughs, he soon began creating stories and characters of his own.

Shortly afterward, he met a kindred spirit in neighborhood friend Mike Frangione. Mike was also a huge fan of comics and had a massive collection of silver age Marvel and DC books. It wasn't long before their neighborhood hijinx became fodder for their first comics; the adventures of Chuck, Maki and Sluggo may still see the light of day (though they will need to carry an NC-17 rating!) Eventually college in the form of a journalism program came calling for Mike. A few years younger, Jay continued to work on his artwork with a goal of going to art school.

While attending high school, Jay met Sean Wooden and the gorilla who would become Troy Wilkins. The three of them bonded over a sad devotion to Doc Samson and role-playing games. They soon conceived of an entire universe entirely populated by ripoff super strong characters. the adventures of the Crusader, Axis Ubermensch and Red Mercury remained relegated to role-playing games and eventually they headed off to their respective universities. Jay found himself studying Finance at Drexel University and put the drawing pencil down for a time.

Jobs and family took center stage for all of them, but they remained friends and would occasionally talk about their desire to produce comics. Notable false starts would produce pages of unlettered artwork in 2001, 2004 and again in 2011. Finally in 2011, Jay made a commitment to get focused and start working on a project. He pursued a number of courses at ComicsExperience.Com to further hone his craft. Mike and Jay began production on their first issue of Centralia in December 2013 and in January 2014, Troy and Jay debuted Opposing Forces. In June 2014 Sean got in on the act with his story Utopia Broken.

On May 14th, 2014 the first issue of Centralia was released beginning the On the Square Comics adventure. in the past ten years, On The Square Comics has also released Opposing Forces, Tales of the Lightning Legion, Eden’s Shroud and Animus Cascade. The books can be found in a number of Comic shops including Ron’s Comic World, Heroes Comics, among others or you can visit the online store here.