Featured Artist

Let’s talk about Dave Gibbons. You may have heard of him. Mr. Gibbons was born in 1949 in London, England. He first entered the comics field in 1976 working on underground and smaller press comics. But looming around the corner was 2000AD launching in 1977, that, from the very beginning he was a key contributor to. Prog 01 (February 1977), and went on to draw the first 24 instalments of Harlem Heroes, one of the founding (and pre-Judge Dredd) strips. Midway through the comic’s first year he began illustrating Dan Dare, a cherished project for Gibbons who had been a fan of the original series and artist Frank Hampson who, alongside Frank Bellamy, Don Lawrence and Ron Turner are well-liked and […]

Michael (Mick) McMahon was born in1954 and is a British comics artist best known for his work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd, Sláine and ABC Warriors, and the mini-series The Last American. Judge Dredd was created for IPC’s new science fiction comic 2000 AD in 1977 by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, but problems in pre-publication led to both creators walking out, and the first published story was written by Peter Harris and Pat Mills, and drawn by an inexperienced young artist called Mike McMahon. Mills, who was editor at the time, chose McMahon because he could do a passable imitation of Ezquerra’s style, but the more he drew the more his own style emerged. When Wagner returned to his creation, McMahon became the character’s most regular

Ron Wilson is a comic book artist known for his work on comic books starring the Marvel Comics character The Thing, including the titles Marvel Two-in-One and The Thing. Wilson spent eleven years, from 1975 to 1986, chronicling The Thing’s adventures through different comic titles. He co-created the Wolfpack characters with writer Larry Hama. Ron Wilson was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the Canarsie neighborhood. Wilson entered the comics industry in the early 1970s at Marvel Comics where he produced both cover illustrations and interior artwork. He was the regular artist on Marvel Two-in-One from 1975 to 1978 and again from 1980 to 1983; while additionally working on titles such as Black Goliath, Power Man, The Hulk! and Captain Britain. In the 1980s, after the cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One, Wilson

Sam Kieth was born on January 11, 1963 and is an American comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.  Kieth’s first published work was “a story in the back of a Comico comic” when he was “about seventeen”; it was “about a killer rabbit named Max the Hare”. He came to prominence in 1984 as the inker of Matt Wagner’s Mage, and a year later as the inker of Fish Police. In 1989, he penciled the first five issues (the “Preludes & Nocturnes” story arc)  of writer Neil Gaiman‘s celebrated series The Sandman and collaborated with Alan Grant on a Penguin story in Secret Origins Special #1. He illustrated two volumes of writer William Messner-Loebs‘ Epicurus the Sage, drew an Aliens miniseries for Dark Horse Comics, and drew The Incredible Hulk #368, which led to

Flipsiders, let me introduce you to a beast. An absolute beast of an artist, Katsuhiro Ōtomo, He is best known as the creator of Akira, both the original 1982 manga series and the 1988 animated film adaptation. He was decorated a Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, promoted to Officier of the order in 2014, became the fourth manga artist ever inducted into the American Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2012, and was awarded the Purple Medal of Honor from the Japanese government in 2013. Otomo later received the Winsor McCay Award at the 41st Annie Awards in 2014 and the 2015 Grand Prix de la ville d’Angoulême, the first manga artist to receive the award.  Katsuhiro Otomo was born in Tome, Miyagi Prefecture and grew

Clarence Matthew Baker (December 10, 1921 – August 11, 1959) was an American comic book artist best known for drawing early comics heroines such as the costumed crimefighter Phantom Lady, and romance comics. Active in the 1940s and 1950s Golden Age of comic books, he is the first known African-American artist to find success in the comic-book industry. He also penciled an early form of graphic novel, St. John Publications’ digest-sized “picture novel” It Rhymes with Lust (1950).  His influence can be seen in artists such as Dave Stevens and Adam Hughes. Baker was born December 10, 1921, in Forsyth County, North Carolina.  At a young age he relocated with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and after

A Flipside Inspiration Milton Caniff, often referred to as “the Rembrandt of comic strips,” was an American “adventure” cartoonist famous for his long-running comic strips, Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. Unable to pursue his desire to join the military due to a medical condition, Caniff also used his artistic talents to contribute to the morale of U.S. troops during World War II with the creation of Male Call, an adventure comic strip featuring soldiers, which was available exclusively to members of the armed forces. Born in Hillsboro, Ohio, Caniff began drawing in kindergarten. While a student at Stivers High School, he created cartoons for local newspapers. It was also at Stivers where he

For this feature I’m turning my eyes towards manga. I really hope everyone knows what manga is, but just to be safe, manga, literally, means comics in Japanese. Right now one of my favorites manga artist/writers is Boichi. Mu-jik Park (박무직; born January 29, 1973), known professionally as Boichi, is a South Korean manga artist living in Japan. I first came across his work, probably online somewhere but I know it was this image; What struck was the boldness of the composition as well as the speed in the lines and detail, above all. All of his work has this level of detail and it’s quite striking. The other striking thing is that his work is

Denys Cowan was born January 30, 1961 and is a comic book artist, television producer, media executive and one of the co-founders of Milestone Media. Denys Cowan was first inspired by superheroes as a child from reruns of the 1950s TV show Adventures of Superman with George Reeves. He did not yet even know what a comic book was and would not learn about them until the third grade. After Cowan’s mother died, he moved in with his grandparents, and attended school in that district, where he met a future fellow comics creator, Derek Dingle, who drew comics with his brother. Dingle showed Cowan his first comic book, an issue of Jack Kirby’s New Gods. Cowan attended the High School of