Comic Book Artists and Writers: Alex Ross

Today's post will be on one of the more interesting artists of the comic book world, Alex Ross. Ross has contributed to this industry in a way that no other artist has. He has made the fantastic heroes, the stuff of dreams and daytime thoughts more real than ever before. He does not draw these characters as the other men of this profession do, he paints them. And he also uses friends and look-alikes to humanize the men and women in tights. His first break into comics was his story Marvels, the history of Marvel Comics from the 40's to the 60's through the eyes and life of a normal photographer. After the success of Marvels, he penned the story Kingdom Come, which takes place ten years into the DC history, the world being overrun with power mad superheros, the progeny of the former heroes. Superman, having been retired for those ten years after the Joker killed Lois and the entire Daily Planet staff, comes back with the old heroes to teach this new generation what it means to be a hero. He then wrote Uncle Sam for Vertigo, the Earth X series for Marvel and the two sequels, a series of tabloid sized stories for DC in celebration of their 60th anniversary. In 2004 he published a book on his work, Mythology and has been currently doing cover work for various comic book companies including Dynamite Entertainment and some of their hero books. To Mr. Ross I say, God bless you for all you've done sir.

Comic book artists and writers: Mark Millar

Today's post is going to cover Mark and the work he's done over the years. Breaking into the business in the late 80's writing Trident Comics book Saviour, Millar then moved onto 200o AD, Sonic the Comic and Crisis. In 1994, Millar was hired by DC and began writing for Swamp Thing. In 2000, Millar had his big break, replacing Warren Ellis on The Authority for WildStorm. Due to DC censoring the violence in Authority after 9/11, Millar left the company. His most famous work for DC is the Superman: Red Son story in which The Man of Steel's rocket lands in the Ukraine and he becomes the champion of the Communist Party. Joining Marvel's fold, he created the Ultimate X-Men book for Marvel's Ultimate line, wrote the first six issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four which allowed him to create the Marvel Zombies line. He wrote the plot for Marvel's Civil War series, Marvel 1985 and Old Man Logan. His most famous work to date is the 12 issue mini-series Kick-Ass, in which a kid in the real world becomes a superhero for the heck of it, then gets caught in a war between two inspired heroes Big Daddy and Hit Girl and the Mob. Millar is currently writing the story for the second Kick-Ass series, Kick-Ass 2. To Mr. Millar I have only one thing to say, your work rocks and speaks volumes about your love for this stuff.

Comic book writers and artists: Jim Lee

Alright, today's post is going to be on the fantastic artist Jim Lee! Jim's done a lot of amazing work over the years, starting out at Marvel in 1986 doing pencil work for Alpha Flight and then Punisher: War Journal in 1989. After filling in for Uncanny X-Men artist Marc Silvestri, where he co-created the character Gambit, Lee helped launch the new X-Men book in 1991, in which he became the regular artist and did co-writing as well. After that he moved on to create the company WildStorm, doing artwork for WildC.A.T.S., Savage Dragon and Deathblow among others. In 2003, Lee collaborated on the 12 issues in the Batman pages that would become the story arc "Hush". This was followed by a year long stint with Superman, then doing the artwork for Frank Miller's series All Star Batman and Robin. In February of 2006, Lee was announced as being a concept artist for the upcoming DC MMORPG game DC Universe Online. In February 2010, Lee was named alongside Dan DiDio as Co-Publisher of DC Comics. To Mr. Lee I say, keep on creating fantastic artwork, and keep on bringing more awesome comics to the world.

Comic book writers/artists: Alan Moore

Alright, today's post will be covering a man who took the happy, carefree world of comics that we all knew and in 1986, turned it on its head. That man is Alan Moore. Moore started out doing scripts for British comic books including Warrior and Marvelman. He then came to America in 1983, working on DC's then flagging comic book Swamp Thing. He then penned a two-part piece in Vigilante on domestic abuse and wrote the famous "For the Man who has Everything" story for Superman, followed by "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow". In 1986, Watchmen was released to the public, and the affect was amazing. Moore had created characters (based on the Charlton Comics group), placing them in the world at the height of the Cold War, having played a huge part in the war, and the world up to that point. In 1988 he released the Batman story entitled "The Killing Joke", after which he left working for DC over royalty issues. After returning to mainstream comics work in the 90's, Moore started an imprint group of WildStorm Productions, calling it America's Best Comics. His first work was the comic entitled "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", in which classic Victorian England characters band together to save the world. His next works included the famed comics Tom Strong, Greyshirt and Nubia. He has recently returned to doing independent work, and his upcoming work "The Moon and the Serpent Bumper Book of Magic", is to be published in 2013 by Top Shelf Productions. From all of us fans to you Mr. Moore, thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for this fantastic enterprise.

Comic book artists and writers: Stan Lee

Alright folks, for those out there who actually follow my blog, I apologize for being gone so long, school has just gotten a bit crazy. But I'm back and I'm starting up again. I plan on doing at least two more posts on comic book writers/artists after this one, then once all the new movies start popping up I'll be doing posts on those. But now to move on to the topic of today's post, the one and only Stan Lee!! Stan has been in the comics biz since the glory days of the 1940's, when Marvel (known as Timely Publications) started out. Stan's first work was a back story he wrote for Captain America #3, and then in 1941, became the editor-in-chief and art director until he replaced Martin Goodman as publisher in 1972. In the 60's, Stan was part of the teams that created some of the most recognizable heroes of today, including the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Avengers, the X-Men and a whole bunch of Marvel's other lead characters. Despite no longer actually working with Marvel, Stan still works with superheroes in his company POW! Entertainment. He has continually made guest appearances in the movie's staring his creations and is regarded as one of the most famous men in comics. To Stan Lee I say, bless you sir for your years of hard work and dedication. Excelsior!

Comic book artists and writers: Bob Kane

Alright so this post will be about the man who gave us the Dark Knight, Bob Kane. Bob was another one of those guys who was probably only in his late teens or early 20's when the superhero comic books burst onto the scene. Suddenly, guys who didn't think they had any future career in sight were suddenly being paid big money to do what they did best, use their imaginations. Drawing from pulp heroes like the Shadow, and movies including Douglas Fairbanks The Mark of Zorro, Bob created a man with no powers, yet hunted down criminals using his crime-fighting and detective skills. He created the Bat-Man (later changed to Batman). First appearing in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939, the character became a hit, soon dominating the cover of the magazine and soon began appearing in a comic that featured all Batman stories. The first issue of Batman #1 introduced the lovely thief Catwoman and one of the most despicable and feared villains in comics, the Joker. Bob continued to work in comics until his death in 1998.

Comic book artists and writers: Will Eisner

To kick off the new month and continue my posts on comic book artists/writers, I thought I'd start with a man who gave so much to the industry, the great Will Eisner. This guy has to be by far one of the few men in the industry that has been a part of it since the beginning. Like WWII and WWI veterans, the men still around that have been a part of comic books since the 1940's are few and rare. Eisner not only pioneered several new styles of art and storytelling for comics, he also created one of the best beloved heroes, The Spirit. Bottom line for his origin is Denny Colt was a private investigator on the trail of a criminal by the name of Dr. Cobra. He finds Cobra, who plans to release a toxin into Central City's water supply that will put them to sleep for three days so he can rob them blind. The vat breaks open onto Denny, who is found and presumed dead. Three days later he wakes up, and sees the advantage to this being dead business. He adopts a new identity... The Spirit, once again fighting crime. The only person who knows who he truly is behind the mask is Police Commissioner Dolan. And so that's that folks. Will Eisner continued to work in the business, writing and drawing everything himself despite having slight arthritis in his hands. Will died of complications from a quadruple bypass surgery in December of 2004. This year will mark the 5 year anniversary of his passing. Rest in peace Mr. Eisner and thanks for all you gave to us.