Evan Pozios, an alumnus of Tulane University Law School, wrote his first comic book series The Catharsis of Ezra. According to Pozios, Ezra is a down-on-his-luck attorney who becomes the hero of second chances. (Photo courtesy of Evan Pozios)
By Kurt Anthony Krug
Legal News
Evan Pozios considers himself a recovering attorney.
“My father came to the United States from Greece in 1969 and has been working ever since,’ said Pozios, 44, of St. Clair Shores. “He wanted all of his children to have an easier life than he did and sacrificed so much to ensure that we at least had the option of becoming a professional.”
His brothers Christopher and Vasilis are an attorney and a doctor, respectively.
“I’ve always enjoyed government and politics, so law school seemed like a natural fit,” Pozios continued. “And when I visited New Orleans, I could not resist its pull. The people, the culture, the sights and sounds – they are unlike any other in the world. New Orleans dances to the beat of its own drum, kind of like I do. And the beignets are spectacular.”
A 1991 graduate of University Liggett High School in Grosse Pointe Woods, Pozios went on to earn his undergraduate degree in political science from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., in 1995 and his juris doctor in law from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans – the 12th oldest law school in the U.S. – in 1998. Later on, in 2002, he earned his MBA in human resources from Michigan State University.
“I’m very lucky to have parents who worked their tails off to send me to the best universities available. I can never repay them,” he said. “I was certified in maritime law. I chose this path mainly because of Tulane’s highly regarded reputation for this specialty and for the excellent teaching ability of Professor Robert Force. A course is only as good as its teacher, and he was one of the best.”
Although he was certified in maritime law, Pozios spent the majority of his law career doing eDiscovery – large scale document review projects, usually involving business litigation. He also dabbled in bankruptcy law.
However, Pozios discovered law wasn’t for him after being in the profession for more than seven years.
“When I was practicing law, I felt like I was running someone else’s race. With no finish line in sight,” he said. “So I decided to choose to be happy.”
With that, he went back to his first love: comics.
Pozios grew up on a steady diet of Marvel Comics, counting The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, The Uncanny X-Men, G.I. Joe, The Avengers, and The West Coast Avengers among his favorites.
As a Christmas gift, his brother Vasilis paid for him to attend a screenwriting seminar in Los Angeles taught by University of Michigan alumnus Robert McKee, who wrote TV scripts for Quincy, M.E., Mrs. Columbo, Kojak, and Spenser: For Hire. Some of McKee’s former students include 63 Oscar winners, most notably director/writer Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame.
“That’s where I developed the writing bug. Within days, I was outlining Time Grunts [one of his comics],” he said. “I am forever grateful to my brother for helping me realize my full potential. Without him, none of this would be possible.”
The first comic he published was The Catharsis of Ezra. Pozios called Ezra the hero of second chances – complete with wings.
“Ezra is an unhappy document review attorney, stuck in a terrible rut. It’s a story that is very close to home. It depicts many emotions from a certain stage of my life.
Feelings of hopelessness, despair, underachieving, unhappiness with work, alcohol and gambling issues.
“It also represents my dissatisfaction with the over-the-top violence we too often brush off as normal in [Detroit],” explained Pozios. “Ezra was the top prospect who never quite made it. He settled. He underachieved. He never realized his full potential. Maybe he was lazy, more likely he feared success. He is a once-promising law school student mired in a world of thankless document review projects. But he is given a ray of hope. That’s what we all need sometimes.”
Currently, he’s working on the aforementioned Time Grunts with artist Alex Sanchez, his Ezra collaborator. Sanchez illustrated DC Comics’ Joker’s Asylum, featuring Batman’s arch-nemesis.
“I was extremely blessed to land an experienced pro like Alex as my first collaborator. He brought out the grit, darkness, despair, and glimmer of hope in Ezra that I was shooting for. It was very special to see the world that we created come to life. Quite a thrill – and it still is!” praised Pozios.
Time Grunts was born out of Pozios’s love for the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series of young adult novels that he read as a kid, where different actions led to different outcomes. The third issue of this eight-issue series is slated for an early October release.
“I began thinking: What if the most evil regime of the modern era were able to manipulate events of the past to change the outcome of World War II?” he explained. “I did some research on Nazi ‘wunderwaffe’ [a German term for the “Miracle Weapon” assigned by the Nazi Germany propaganda ministry during World War II]…
The Nazis will travel to 1943 Detroit to exacerbate the Belle Isle riots in an effort to slow American war production. They will also travel to 1864’s Battle of Monocacy in an attempt to aid the Confederates in a race to control a mostly undefended Washington, D.C. This would extend the Civil War, potentially keeping America out of World War II.”
Pozios stated he still uses the logical reasoning and structured writing style that he learned in law school when scripting comics since a story isn’t a story without proper planning and organization.
“Many people ask me, ‘Don’t you feel like you’re wasting your law degree?’ My response is, ‘Does it make sense to spend a lifetime doing something you dislike?’ I think not. I see many attorneys who are unhappy with their career choice,” he said. “This work isn’t really work. It’s creating new worlds. It’s making new friends. It’s working as a team. It’s constantly improving. And most of all, it lets you be a kid again. Even a kid with a law degree.”
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