McFadden showed up again when Simpson was teaching cartooning at Community College of Allegheny County. Cupec, a free-lance illustrator from Vandergrift, and Tom Hall, a Ford City native then still in his teens. What had happened in the interim was a drastic downturn in the comics industry. The comic book industry has strangled itself on collectibles. There's so many titles now and only so many fans.
Print runs drop, prices go up.
But now he makes his living mostly from free-lancing in desktop publishing, graphic design and corporate illustration. Neither Cupec nor Hall lives off comics, either. Both were impressed by McFadden, though for different reasons. He was kind of tough to work for. He gave you information you might not actually need.