Steve Rude, an artist best known as the co-creator of "Nexus," can be an elusive and confusing subject, even to dedicated fans of the man's work. Very arguably one of the greatest comic book artists living today, "The Dude" has never assumed the "star" status afforded to many '80s contemporaries like Paul Gulacy, Dave Stevens and Matt Wagner. Rude is about to be the subject of a new documentary by Ian Fischer about Steve Rude's life and career. Shot over three years, the film covers "everything -- Rude's depression, brilliance, wackiness, and change of career," as Fischer told ComicsAlliance. The somewhat heartbreaking trailer, which debuted at Comic-Con International in San Diego, is after the jump.


Rude had brief but eminent forays into the mainstream, including the beloved "Superman/Batman: World's Finest" with Dave Gibbons and Karl Kesel, recently reprinted by DC Comics in a deluxe hardcover edition, and the out-of-print Marvel Comics one-shot, "Incredible Hulk/Superman," with Roger Stern. But the the vast majority of Rude's 30-year career has been on the fridges of the comics industry, primarily within the pages of his and writer Mike Baron's philosophical indie sci-fi opus, "Nexus," and of course in the art collectors' market.

There's little doubt that Steve Rude could have illustrated a long run on a book like "Action Comics" or "Uncanny X-Men" or a similarly high-profile graphic novel or miniseries and become properly rich off its success, but that never happened. In fact, Rude has largely left comics behind to pursue a new career in fine art, something that few people probably realize -- another consequence of his puzzling isolation.

These peculiarities and questions are the subject of "Rude Dude", which will feature interviews with Mike Baron, Mike Allred, Alex Ross, Paul Gulacy, Mike Richardson, Brian Stelfreeze, Mark Evanier, Richard Bruning, and more. Fischer tells us he'll be editing "Rude Dude" for the next six months. Concurrently, Fischer is working on an original script with Mike Baron and "Superhero Nation,' a documentary about superheroes' popularity and influence in the United States.

Check it out below: