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Richard Hoffman has endured 19 glaucoma-related operations on his right eye, which has been prosthetic since 2003. But instead of holding Hoffman back, the visual condition helped spawn the lifelong artist's first comic book.

While sitting for hours on end in waiting rooms starting in 1993, Hoffman drew caricatures of his doctors and moved on to complete his first comic strip, "Tippy and Rachel," as well as its Jewish version, "Reuben and Razel." Now, at age 67, the Somerset resident plans to complete a six-issue comic book called "American Screaming Eagle" by the end of this summer.

"I remember getting aggravated when they called me in because I was still working," Hoffman said of his visits to the doctor.

Hoffman copyrighted the text for "American Screaming Eagle" in 1996, and originally wanted to make a movie out of it. After getting rejected from a number of producers, he decided to settle for a comic book and recruited illustrators William Olmo and Will Torres to help him with the project. Much like Hoffman, main character David Jefferson's glaucoma leads him on an intriguing new path.

Jefferson is a New Jersey native and a U.S. Marines pilot who gets shot down from a helicopter on a mission in Iraq. Jefferson is captured, tortured in Iraq and Beirut, and interviewed on television by Saddam Hussein before finally being freed by Navy Seals as well as an Israeli Mosad agent named Moses Ashkenazi.

After a homecoming that consists of parades and a reunion with his family, Jefferson resigns his commission because he developed glaucoma and cannot fly a plane anymore. Instead, he toughens up his body through karate and weight lifting.

During a subsequent skydiving accident, Jefferson is blown toward high-tension electrical wires, where an Indian medicine man projects an "eagle spirit" to protect him. Jefferson dies, but is brought back to life and attains some extra powers, including extra sensory perception, the ability to fly, healing powers, and a shield of protection in the form of an eagle. He goes on to fight terrorists throughout the first six issues, which Hoffman said should be 20 pages each. Most of the action in the comic book takes place in and around New Jersey and New York.

"The message is that one person can make a difference," Hoffman said.

Hoffman began scribbling Mickey Mouse drawings as a child, prompting the rabbi who officiated his bar mitzvah in Newark to label him the next Walt Disney. He graduated from Seton Hall University as the school's first art minor in 1964, while simultaneously taking night class at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts.

After teaching art at middle schools in Syracuse, Binghamton, and Matawan, he moved with his wife Rosalyn to Redding, Pennsylvania, where he made giant cartoon murals for two wards at Hamburg State School and Hospital. Upon moving back to Newark in 1970, Hoffman worked as a claims adjuster and a driving instructor, then as a supervisor at Meadowlands Racetrack for 27 years. He lived in Piscataway for 23 years before moving to Somerset 19 years ago.

At every stage of his diverse career, Hoffman documented his experiences through drawings and exhibited his work at local art shows. According to Hoffman, it's far more than a hobby.

"It's something that I have to do," Hoffman said of drawing. "Whatever I do, it is always related to my artwork."

"I was always an artist," he added. "When I write something, I feel like I am still the artist, so I am planning a picture with my words. When you do it, you get into it. You're not where you are, you are someplace else."

Hoffman's work is usually influenced by his surroundings, as evidenced by David Jefferson's glaucoma in "American Screaming Eagle." Additionally, "Reuben and Razel" was based on the idiosyncrasies of Hoffman's father-in-law, Myer Charnoff. Reuben is Hoffman's Hebrew name, and Razel was his wife's Hebrew name.

"If he would be in a theater and start laughing, he would laugh so hard that people would start laughing with him," Hoffman said of Charnoff.

Besides drawing, Hoffman is also a stamp collector, chess player, table tennis player, freelance writer, photographer, and videographer. Those interests are also reflected in his art, as two paintings on his wall are replicas of Israeli stamps from the 1980s. Hoffman videotaped his son Scot's bar mitzvah, and handed out copies of his drawings to guests.

"People tell me I'm a renaissance man, but I say I just do stuff. Whatever makes me happy -- I do it. I like to make people smile," Hoffman said.

These days in Somerset, Hoffman is as content as ever. He retired from the Meadowlands in 2003 and finally was able to focus all of his energies on artwork. On a typical morning, Hoffman will shave, brush his teeth, eat breakfast -- and draw a picture before going out.

"I try to live every day to the fullest. I'm a kid at heart, and you really have to be. If you think young, you live young," Hoffman said.