For more than 40 years, Midland comic book creator Mark Starks has held on to the same imagination and creativity he had while he was in grade school. As Starks matured, so did his work, evolving with different technologies and formats.

Since then, Starks has met and worked with some of the biggest names in the comic world, including Stan Lee, Adam West and Wally Wingard, the announcer for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and the voice of the riddler in the "Batman: Arkham" video game series.

He has attended multiple comic conventions, such as Motor City Comic Con in Novi, Denver Comic Con and Stan Lee's Comickazi in Los Angeles, where Starks served as a panelist.

This weekend, Starks will be at Fantasticon looking for people to bring his comics to life. He will be recruiting voice actors for future projects at Fantasticon Oct. 19 at Soaring Eagle Casino. Starks said anyone who is interested can approach him at booth A5. He can also be reached through email or on his Facebook page.

"Anyone who has an interest, aspiring voice actors, no experience necessary, male or female of all ages can stop by my table," Starks said. "I can tell them more about 'Martian' and see if they have an interest in it, then I can get a script to them."

His story, "Martian" is the tale of an endangered alien that patrols the universe as an intergalactic cop with his earthling partner.

"I was just inspired by the TV shows at the time. I was a big fan of the '60s Batman TV series and I created 'Martian' in that vein," Starks said.

Starks developed "Martian" in grade school, usually for class credit. When he started college at Ferris State University, he turned "Martian" into a syndicated comic strip for the Ferris Torch.

For his last year of college, Starks transferred to Central Michigan University to obtain a Bachelor's degree in journalism and contribute to Central Michigan Life. After graduation, he paid his bills by writing for The Morning Sun, Gratiot County Herald, Argus-Press, The Midland Daily and hosting shows on MCTV in the 1980s and '90s.

"I do quite a bit of writing and I work on 'Martian.' I'm in my mid-50s now, so (I'm) kind of winding down career-wise, but I'm just happy to be working on it," Starks said.

As the world transitioned into a technological renaissance, Starks watched as comic books climbed in price and digital entertainment became the norm. Embracing change, he turned "Martian" into a motion comic book in 2010.

Motion comic books are short videos that use voice acting, sound effects and minimalist animation, while still using traditional illustrations, panels and speech bubbles to tell the story.

"A lot of people are intimidated by the budget of making films but the internet has made it so much easier to make micro-budget films," Starks said. "Through the internet, I've been able to find collaborators, writers, and animators worldwide who work very reasonably."

In January 2019, Starks produced a CGI 3D animated version of "Martian," which premiered on Amazon Prime Video, receiving strong numbers and ratings.

"It would be great to see a television, even a streaming series, or a feature film would be nice," Starks said. "Just to show the whole story arc from when he was rescued by earth astronauts on mars to when he leaves earth with Terra and goes on these fantastic adventures."