Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
founded	1992
country	United States
headquarters	Berkeley, California
keypeople	Todd McFarlaneRob LiefeldJim LeeMarc SilvestriErik LarsenJim ValentinoWhilce PortacioRobert Kirkman
publications	Comic books, Books
imprints	Highbrow EntertainmentShadowLineSkyboundTodd McFarlane ProductionsTop Cow ProductionsImage Central
url	}}

Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains one of the largest comic book publishers in North America. Its output was originally dominated by work from the studios of the Image partners, but later included work by numerous independent creators. Its best-known series include ''Spawn'', ''Invincible'', ''The Walking Dead'', ''Witchblade'', 'The Nightly News'', ''The Darkness'', and ''Savage Dragon''.

History

Founding

In the early 1990s, several freelance illustrators doing popular work for Marvel Comics grew frustrated with the company's policies and practices. Their primary complaint was that the artwork and new characters they created were being merchandised heavily, with the artists receiving only standard page rates for their work and modest royalties on sales of the comics. In December 1991, a group of these illustrators approached Marvel president Terry Stewart and demanded that the company give them ownership and creative control over their work. Accounts vary as to whom this group included, but it is generally accepted that Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld were among its leaders. Marvel did not meet their demands.

In response, eight creators announced the founding of Image Comics: illustrators Todd McFarlane (known for his work on ''Spider-Man''), Jim Lee (''X-Men''), Rob Liefeld (''X-Force''), Marc Silvestri (''Wolverine''), Erik Larsen (''The Amazing Spider-Man''), Jim Valentino (''Guardians of the Galaxy''), and Whilce Portacio (''Uncanny X-Men''); and long-time ''Uncanny X-Men'' writer Chris Claremont. This development was nicknamed the "X-odus", because several of the creators involved (Claremont, Liefeld, Lee, Silvestri, and Portacio) were famous for their work on the X-Men franchise. Marvel's stock fell $3.25/share when the news became public.

Image's organizing charter had two key provisions:

Image would not own any creator's work; the creator would.

No Image partner would interfere – creatively or financially – with any other partner's work.

Image itself would own no intellectual property except the company trademarks: its name and its logo. Each Image partner founded his own studio, which published under the Image banner but was autonomous from any central editorial control. Claremont was not part of the partnership, and Portacio withdrew during the formative stages to deal with his sister's illness, so Image originally consisted of six studios:

Extreme Studios, owned by Rob Liefeld

Highbrow Entertainment, owned by Erik Larsen

ShadowLine, owned by Jim Valentino

Todd McFarlane Productions, owned by Todd McFarlane

Top Cow Productions, owned by Marc Silvestri

Wildstorm Productions, owned by Jim Lee

Development

Image's initial titles were produced through Malibu Comics, a small but established publishing company sympathetic with Image's position on creator ownership. Malibu provided administrative, production, distribution, and marketing support for the launch of the initial titles.

The first Image comic books to arrive in stores were Liefeld's ''Youngblood'', Larsen's ''The Savage Dragon'', McFarlane's ''Spawn'', and Lee's ''WildC.A.T.s''. Propelled by the artists' popularity and the eagerness of comic book collectors to get in on the "next big thing", these series sold in numbers that no publisher other than Marvel, DC, or Valiant Comics had achieved since the market's decline in the 1970s. (The company experienced lesser successes with Silvestri's ''Cyberforce'', Valentino's ''Shadowhawk'', and Portacio's much-delayed ''Wetworks''.) Within a few months, the Image titles' success led to Malibu having almost 10% of the North American comics market share, briefly exceeding that of industry giant DC Comics. By the beginning of 1993, Image's financial situation was secure enough to publish its titles independently, and it left Malibu.

Some of the founders' studios came to resemble separate publishers, each with several ongoing series set in a shared universe. (At first there were indications of an "Image Universe" shared by all the studios, but these decreased as the studios developed their own directions.) The use of freelancers to write or illustrate series that were owned by the Image partners led to criticism that some of them had reproduced the very system they had rebelled against, but with them in charge instead of a corporation. Image partners such as Larsen and Valentino, who did not take this approach, assumed a neutral position on it, in keeping with the requirement that none of them had any say in how the others' studios were run.

Some of the Image partners used their studios to also publish works produced outside of their studios, allowing the creators to retain ownership and editorial control over those series, an arrangement which was then uncommon among large publishers. These included Sam Kieth (''The Maxx''), Dale Keown (''Pitt''), Jae Lee (''Hellshock''), and the team of Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross (''Astro City''). Later, some established self-published series also moved to Image, such as Jeff Smith's ''Bone'' and Colleen Doran's ''A Distant Soil''.

The partners had little business or management experience, and many series fell behind their intended publishing schedule. Retailers' orders of newly-offered issues were typically based on the sales of recent issues, but as the issues shipped weeks and even several months late, fans' interest tended to wane, leaving retailers with unsold inventory. In response, retailers cut orders to reduce their risk. This significantly hurt the studios, which were each responsible for their own cash flow and profitability. In late 1993, the partners hired independent cartoonist Larry Marder to act as "executive director" for the publisher; Valentino quipped in interviews that Marder's job was literally to "direct the executives" (i.e. the Image partners). Marder developed better financial planning and had some success in disciplining creators to deliver their work on time, in part by insisting that retail orders for new issues would not be solicited until the books had been illustrated, usually ensuring they would be ready to ship when promised.

By the mid-1990s Image series such as ''Spawn'' and ''The Savage Dragon'' had proven themselves as lasting successes (the former frequently topping the sales charts for months in which new issues came out), while new series such as Wildstorm's ''Gen¹³'', and Top Cow's ''Witchblade'' and ''The Darkness'' were also successful. Image had become the third-largest comics publisher in North America, exceeded only by long-established industry leaders Marvel and DC Comics.

Partial break-up

Clashes between partners began to harm the company. Several of the partners complained that Liefeld was using his position as CEO of Image to promote and perhaps even to financially support his own separate publishing company Maximum Press. Silvestri withdrew Top Cow from Image in 1996 (although he retained his partnership in the company), protesting that Liefeld was recruiting artists from his studio, including the highly popular Michael Turner (''Witchblade''). The other five partners discussed ousting Liefeld from the company, and Liefeld resigned in September 1996, giving up his share of the company. Silvestri subsequently returned Top Cow to Image.

Wildstorm's Cliffhanger imprint, established in 1998, was a commercial success, launching high-selling creator-owned properties by Humberto Ramos, J. Scott Campbell, Joe Madureira, and others. However, Jim Lee sold Wildstorm to DC Comics in 1999, citing a desire to exchange his responsibilities as a publisher for the opportunity to do more creative work.

Diversification

The founders of Image were best known for their dynamic and extravagant art, and for character-driven thinly-plotted stories in the superhero genre, and although the company published dissimilar works, many readers came to perceive this as the "Image style" of comics. Valentino had become less active as a creator after the company's first few years, and responded to this by using his position as a partner to seek out and publish a number of titles by other creators in distinctly different genres and styles, in a deliberate attempt to diversify Image's output and its perception. Although most of these series — ironically dubbed the "non-line" because of their lack of commonality — did not sell well and were soon canceled, they introduced an increasingly important business model for the company: offering other creators the same total-ownership terms the partners enjoyed, but taking a fixed fee upon publication for the company's administrative costs. This practice was later formalized as a function of "Image Central", the business unit independent of any of the studios. This focus on non-studio comics increased when Valentino took on the role of Image's publisher, assuming many of the responsibilities held by Marder until he left the company in 1999. In February 2004, Larsen replaced Valentino as publisher, largely continuing existing business practices. Larsen stepped down as publisher in July 2008 and executive director Eric Stephenson was promoted to the position.

Shortly after Stephenson's appointment, Image added a new partner. Robert Kirkman, whose black and white series ''The Walking Dead'' had emerged as a long-running and popular series, and whose ''Invincible'' had become one of the longest-running series featuring a newly-created superhero series in recent years, became the first partner added since its founding. In July 2010 he announced that he would create an imprint under his direction, known as Skybound.

The company's position in the North American direct market diminished in the first decade of the 2000s, challenged by Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing for the position of "third largest publisher" after Marvel and DC. As of 2010, the majority of titles Image publishes in a given month are non-studio productions. McFarlane's ''Spawn'' and related titles, his McFarlane Toys line, Silvestri's Top Cow imprint, and Kirkman's various series remain a substantial segment of Image's total sales. Larsen's ''Savage Dragon'' continues as the longest-running owner-created title by an Image partner. Valentino has returned to operating his own studio with his Shadowline imprint.

See also

List of Image Comics publications

Notes

References

''Image Comics: The Road To Independence'' (by George Khoury, 280 pages, TwoMorrows Publishing, June 2007, ISBN 1-893905-71-3) excerpts:

* McFarlane and Khoury on 15 Years of Image Comics, Comic Book Resources, June 13, 2007

* Marc Silvestri from Image Comics: The Road to Independence, Newsarama, June 14, 2007

* Dale Keown excerpt from Image Comics: The Road to Independence, June 14, 2007

* Robert Kirkman Interview

Image Comics at the Big Comic Book DataBase

External links

Image Database Project Wiki

"The Image Story" by Michael Dean. ''The Comics Journal'', 2000.

Category:Publishing companies established in 1992 Category:Companies based in Berkeley, California

de:Image Comics es:Image Comics fr:Image Comics it:Image Comics he:אימג' קומיקס hu:Image Comics nl:Image Comics ja:イメージ・コミック pl:Image Comics pt:Image Comics ru:Image Comics sq:Image Comics fi:Image Comics

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
birth date	March 16, 1961
birth place	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
nationality	Canadian
write	y
pencil	y
ink	y
publish	y
notable works	''The Amazing Spider-Man''''Infinity, Inc''''Spawn''''Spider-Man''
awards	Inkpot Award, 1992National Cartoonists Society Award, 1992National Football League Artist of the Year, 2005
website	http://www.spawn.com
sortkey	Mcfarlane, Todd
subcat	Canadian }}

Todd McFarlane (born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series ''Spawn''.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' ''Spider-Man'' franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was a popular hero in the 1990s and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.

Since leaving inking duties on ''Spawn'' with issue #70 (February 1998), McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be a co-owner of the National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.

Early life and education

McFarlane was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He graduated from James Monroe High School. As a 17-year-old teenager, he discovered comic books and was a fan of stars such as fellow Canadian John Byrne and Americans Jack Kirby, Frank Miller and George Pérez (as well as the writing of Alan Moore), but was especially drawn to the more atypical art of Michael Golden and Katsuhiro Ōtomo, creator of the manga Akira. Gil Kane was also a major influence on McFarlane.

In the early-1980s, McFarlane attended Eastern Washington University on a baseball scholarship, and studied graphic art. He sought to play baseball professionally after graduation but suffered a career-ending ankle injury in his junior year. During his time at EWU, McFarlane worked at a comic book shop in Spokane, Washington. Drawings he did of Marvel and DC superheros were sold at local shops. McFarlane also attended the Alberta College of Art and Design.

Career

Early work and Marvel

McFarlane's first published work was a 1984 backup story in Epic Comics' ''Coyote''. He soon began drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel, with his first major body of work being a two-year run (1985–1987) on DC's ''Infinity, Inc.'' In 1987, McFarlane also illustrated several issues of ''Detective Comics''' ''Batman: Year Two'' storyline. From there, he moved to Marvel's ''Incredible Hulk'', which he drew from 1987–1988.

In 1988, McFarlane joined writer David Michelinie on Marvel's ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' beginning with issue 298. McFarlane was also the first artist to draw the first, full appearance of Eddie Brock, the first original incarnation of the popular villain Venom. He has been credited as the character's co-creator, though this has been a topic of dispute within the comic book industry. (''See Eddie Brock: Creation and conception''.)

McFarlane's work on ''Amazing Spider-Man'' turned him into an industry superstar. His cover art for ''Amazing Spider-Man'' #313, for which he was originally paid $700 in 1989, for example, would later sell for $71,200 in 2010. In 1990, after a 28-issue run of ''Amazing Spider-Man'', McFarlane told editor Jim Salicrup he'd grown tired of drawing other people's stories and would be leaving the book with issue #328 to write his own work. Salicrup offered McFarlane a new Spider-Man book, prompting the launch of a new monthly title simply called ''Spider-Man,'' which McFarlane both wrote and illustrated. ''Spider-Man'' #1 sold 2.5 million copies, partially due to the variant covers that were used to encourage collectors into buying more than one edition. McFarlane wrote and illustrated ''Spider-Man'''s first 14 issues, as well as #16; many issues of which were crossovers with characters such as Wolverine, X-Force, and Ghost Rider. After issue #16 (Nov. 1991), McFarlane left the book due to creative clashes with new editor Danny Fingeroth. He was replaced on the title by future Image Comics co-founder Erik Larsen.

Image Comics

McFarlane then left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, an umbrella company under which each owned a publishing house. McFarlane's studio, Todd McFarlane Productions, published his creation, the occult-themed ''Spawn''. Upon release, ''Spawn'' #1 sold 1.7 million copies, still a record for an independent comic book.

Spawn was launched in 1992 with McFarlane as artist/writer for the first 7 issues. Guest writers Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim and Frank Miller were brought on for issues 8 to 11 (respectively) while McFarlane continued as the artist. In order to concentrate on the 1994 ''Spawn/Batman'' crossover (with Miller writing), he brought on Grant Morrison (as writer) and Greg Capullo (penciller) from issues #16-#18. Then Andrew Grossberg and Tom Orzechowski took over writing issues #19 and 20 with Capullo still penciling. McFarlane returned as writer/artist for issue 21 and remained so until issue 24. Greg Capullo took over as pencil artist with issue 26, McFarlane remained writer and inker on the book until issue 70.

McFarlane eventually would hand off scripting duties (while still overseeing plotlines) to other writers, and the book continued to retain a respectable following. He has story input and inks covers on occasion.

In 2006 McFarlane announced plans for ''Spawn/Batman'' with artist Greg Capullo, which McFarlane wrote and inked, which paid tribute to Jack Kirby. He also began taking an active role in comics publishing again, publishing collections of his Spawn comics in paperback form. ''Spawn Collection'' Volume 1 collecting issues 1-12 minus issue 9 (due to royalty issues with Neil Gaiman) and 10 (due to a vow he made to Sim) was released in December 2005. The first volume achieved moderate success, ranking 17 in the top one hundred graphic novels, with pre-order sales of 3227 for that period.

''Haunt'', an ongoing series co-created by McFarlane and Robert Kirkman, was first announced in 2007, and launched October 7, 2009. The comic is written by Kirkman, penciled by Ryan Ottley, inked by McFarlane, with Greg Capullo providing layouts.

McFarlane Entertainment

Todd McFarlane Productions has also published multiple Spawn spin-off mini-series. McFarlane increasingly concentrated his own personal attention to those other ventures, which resulted in irregular work as an illustrator. By 1994, he ceased to be the regular illustrator of his own "signature" book, and would only re-visit ''Spawn'' sporadically, or as a promotional stunt for the title.

That same year, McFarlane created McFarlane Toys. Its line of meticulously sculpted Spawn action figures changed the entire industry by focusing on more mature consumers and non-traditional action figure inspirations such as musicians. The company has licensed the right to produce action figures of athletes in all four major North American sports — baseball, hockey, football and basketball — and several recent, successful film franchises, including ''The Terminator'', ''The Matrix'' and ''Shrek''. He has also created figures of rock musicians, including the members of Kiss, Alice Cooper, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix and toys related to video games, like ''Halo 3''.

In 1996, McFarlane founded Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In collaboration with New Line Cinema, it produced the 1997 ''Spawn'' film and a new Spawn movie, planned in 2008. ''Spawn'', while critically panned, was a modest box office success, earning $54.97 million domestically, a little over $69 million worldwide. It also produced the animated series ''Todd McFarlane’s Spawn,'' (featuring voice work by actor Keith David) which aired on HBO from 1997 until 1999. The animated series received significantly more positive press than the film, received two Primetime Emmy awards (including "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour))," and was a moderate success when eventually released on DVD.

The studio has produced acclaimed music videos for Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution" (1998), KoЯn's "Freak on a Leash" (1999) and Disturbed's "Land of Confusion" (2006). They also produced an animated segment of the film ''The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'' (2002). He also fully animated "The Guy", the mascot for Disturbed.

On July 21, 2011 at San Diego Comic-Con International, McFarlane and Stan Lee will debut their new comic, ''Blood Red Dragon''. The series is a collaboration with musician Yoshiki and stars a fictionalized version of him.

Sports

McFarlane is an avid baseball fan; he briefly tried to achieve a pro career in the sport as a young adult. McFarlane has bought, at auction, multiple balls from Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's 1998 race to establish a record for the greatest number of home runs hit in a single season. McFarlane owns Sosa's 33rd, 61st and 66th home run balls, and McGwire's first, 63rd, 67th, 68th, 69th and 70th. (McGwire's 61st was the ball which tied Roger Maris' then-record, while McGwire's 70th, bought by McFarlane at auction for US $3 million, set a new record at the time — broken in 2001 by Barry Bonds.) He later purchased Bonds' record setting 73rd home run ball for $450,000.

As well as being a former part owner of the Edmonton Oilers, McFarlane also designed the logo used on the team's alternate (third) jerseys. This jersey has not been worn since 2007.

Recently, baseball pitcher Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox has teamed up with McFarlane, forming 38 Studios (formerly ''Green Monster Games''), LLC. This gaming studio will feature McFarlane's art direction and will also feature R.A. Salvatore as creative director. The studio's focus will be massive multiplayer online games of which Schilling is an avid fan.

Other media

For the release of ''Halo 3'', McFarlane was enlisted to design a series of action figures.

McFarlane also created the character Necrid for the console versions of the video game ''Soul Calibur II''. Spawn appears as a playable character in the Xbox version of SCII.

A PlayStation 2 game, ''McFarlane's Evil Prophecy'', was released in 2004 by Konami. In it, players battle creatures based on a line of Todd McFarlane's action figures including classic movie monsters such as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula.

In January 2005, McFarlane announced that he was set to produce a half-hour anthology television series for Fox called ''Twisted Tales'', based on the Bruce Jones' comic book to which McFarlane had purchased the rights.

In December 2002, Todd McFarlane directed the music video "Breathe" for Canadian hip-hop group Swollen Members that featured Nelly Furtado. He later drew both the Canadian and International covers for their next album ''Heavy'', released October 2003.

Todd McFarlane is also the cartoonist responsible for the cover art of the albums ''Ten Thousand Fists'', released in September 2005 and ''Indestructible'', released June 2008 by metal band Disturbed, and the art in their single "Land of Confusion", as well as that of metal band Iced Earth's 1996 ''Spawn''-based concept album ''The Dark Saga'' and Korn's third studio album ''Follow the Leader'', which was released in 1998.

McFarlane is also doing artwork for the Lord of Vermilion game published by Square Enix.

In "Spidey Cents", a fourth season episode of the History reality television series ''Pawn Stars'', which aired in May 2011, a man tries to sell McFarlane's original artwork for page 25 of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #316 (June 1989) for $20,000 to the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. Because the seller lacked the paper work authenticating the artwork, Gold & Silver manager Corey Harrison would only pay $1,000 for the page, an offer that the seller declined.

Lawsuits

McFarlane lost judgments in two lawsuits in the 2000s. The first was a 2002 suit in which McFarlane contested with writer Neil Gaiman over the rights to some supporting Spawn characters created by Gaiman in issue #9 of the ''Spawn'' series and over payment for later works featuring those characters. In 1997 the two signed a deal in which Gaiman would give his share of characters Angela, Medieval Spawn and Cogliostro to McFarlane in exchange of McFarlane's share of British superhero Marvelman (in reality, what McFarlane actually owned were two trademarks for Miracleman logos, not the character, which would become clear only after the lawsuit concluded). However, this deal was broken by McFarlane, which motivated Neil Gaiman to start the lawsuit. The jury was unanimous in favor of Gaiman. The two were involved in a lengthy dispute over ownership of Miracleman, but no lawsuit has been filed in that dispute. In 2009, Marvel Comics brought resolution to the matter by purchasing the property.

The second was a December 2004 suit in which hockey player Tony Twist sued Todd McFarlane because he named a mobster character in ''Spawn'' after Twist.

Awards

McFarlane's work has won him numerous awards over the years, including:

a 1992 National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.

a 1992 Inkpot Award

the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video for "Freak on a Leash".

McFarlane received the National Football League's ''Artist of the Year'' award for 2005, for his work on program covers for the Baltimore Ravens.

McFarlane was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Creator Hall of Fame, on June 18, 2011 at the Joe Shuster Awards in Calgary.

Bibliography

Comics work (interior pencil art) includes:

DC

''All-Star Squadron'' #47 (along with Mike Clark) (1985)

''Detective Comics'' #576-578 (Batman: Year Two) (1987)

''Infinity, Inc'' #14-37 (full art); Annual #1-2 (among other artists) (1985–87)

''Invasion!'', miniseries, #1-2 (1989)

Image

''Cyberforce'' #8 (1994)

''Image Comics Summer Special'' #1 (2004)

''Spawn'' #1-15, 21-24 (full art); #26-33 (along with Greg Capullo) (1992–95); #190, 200 (among other artists) (2010)

''Spawn/Batman'' #1 (1994)

Marvel

''Amazing Spider-Man'' #298-323, 325, 328 (1988–90)

''Coyote'' #11-14 (1985)

''Daredevil'' #241 (1987)

''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero'' #60 (1987)

''G.I. Joe Special'' #1 (1995)

''Incredible Hulk'' #330-334, 336-345 (1987–88)

''Marvel Holiday Special'' (Spider-Man) 2004

''Spectacular Spider-Man'' Annual #10 (1990)

''Spider-Man'' #1-14, 16 (1990–91)

''Spitfire And The Troubleshooters'' #4 (1987)

References

External links

— including a biography and info about McFarlane's work

Press release on Twist issue

Latest on Twist issue

Comic Book Awards Almanac

Todd McFarlane's work on Marvel.com

Interviews

Gary Groth (1992)">Audio Interview by Gary Groth (1992)

SuicideGirls

''Now Playing'' magazine

Todd McFarlane talks to Maxim.com (July 2008)

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Alberta Category:Eastern Washington University alumni Category:Canadian businesspeople Category:Edmonton Oilers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Image Comics Category:People from Calgary Category:People from Spokane, Washington Category:Spawn (comics) Category:Toy designers

br:Todd McFarlane de:Todd McFarlane es:Todd McFarlane fr:Todd McFarlane it:Todd McFarlane he:טוד מקפרלן hu:Todd McFarlane ms:Todd McFarlane nl:Todd McFarlane ja:トッド・マクファーレン no:Todd McFarlane pl:Todd McFarlane pt:Todd McFarlane ru:Макфарлейн, Тодд sq:Todd McFarlane sv:Todd McFarlane

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
birth date	October 03, 1967
birth place	Anaheim, California, US
nationality	American
write	y
pencil	y
ink	y
edit	y
publish	y
notable works	''Youngblood'' ''X-Force''
website	http://www.robliefeld.net
sortkey	Liefeld, Rob
subcat	American }}

Rob Liefeld (born October 3, 1967, in Anaheim, California) is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium.

In the early 1990s, self-taught artist Liefeld became prominent due to his work on Marvel Comics' ''The New Mutants'' and later ''X-Force''. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which started a wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Rob Liefeld's ''Youngblood'' #1.

Career

Early career

In 1986, Liefeld was a last-minute replacement penciller for the first issue of ''Stetch'', published by Silverwolf Comics. In the same year, Liefeld also had a pin-up page included in ''Boris the Bear'' #6.

In 1988, at the age of 20, he completed his first significant published work for DC Comics' in ''Warlord'' #131 and ''Secret Origins'' #28. This was quickly followed by the ''Hawk and Dove'' limited series by Barbara and Karl Kesel, who also provided inks. Liefeld's layouts were oriented sideways in story pages taking place in a chaos dimension, so that a reader would have to turn the comic book at a right angle to read them. Because this was done without editorial input, editor Mike Carlin cut and pasted the panels into the proper order, and Kesel lightboxed them onto DC comics paper to ink them. The letters column of ''Hawk and Dove'' #5 mentions that Liefeld "showed something new to an editor who thought he’d seen everything." In his defense, Liefeld offered that that was how the dimension had been drawn the only other time it had been featured in the book, although Karl Kesel claims this is untrue.

In 1989, Liefeld moved to Marvel where he became the penciller for ''The New Mutants'', starting with issue #86. He is generally credited for turning this lowest-selling title of the X-franchise into a financial success.

With ''The New Mutants'' (vol. 1) #98, Liefeld assumed full creative control over the series, penciling, inking, and plotting, with Fabian Nicieza writing dialog. The ''New Mutants'' series was retitled ''X-Force'' (vol. 1), whose 1991 debut issue sold four million copies, setting an industry-wide record later broken by Jim Lee's ''X-Men'' (vol. 2) #1. The sales numbers were propelled by 1990s direct market sales strategies; variant editions were issued to encourage sales of multiple copies to single collectors. Lee's ''X-Men'' was published with five variant covers, and ''X-Force'' relied on multiple variant trading cards polybagged with the comic itself. In the early 1990s, Liefeld appeared in Spike Lee-directed commercials for Levi's 501 button fly jeans, in which Lee interviewed him about his career and his status as the creator of ''X-Force''.

Leaving Marvel Comics, co-founding Image Comics

Liefeld's relationship with Marvel began to break down in 1991 when he announced plans in a black-and-white advertisement in the ''Comics Buyers Guide'' to publish an original title with competitor Malibu Comics. The exact title is unknown, but according to journalist Michael Dean, it was something to the effect of ''The X-Cutioners'', a title whose similarity to Marvel's X-Men family of titles evoked the ire of Marvel editor Bob Harras, who threatened to fire Liefeld if he used that title. Liefeld and several other popular young artists including Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio, Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri left Marvel in 1992 to form Image Comics. Each co-founder formed his own studio under the Image banner, such as Liefeld's Extreme Studios. Liefeld's superhero team series ''Youngblood'', which is loosely based on a 1991 ''Teen Titans'' series Liefeld had proposed to DC Comics, was the first comic Image published. He appeared on an episode of ''The Dennis Miller Show'' to promote the book. His other titles included ''Bloodstrike'' #1, which was released in April 1993.

In an interview in ''Hero Illustrated'' #4 (October 1993), Liefeld conceded disappointment with the first four issues of ''Youngblood'', calling the first issue a "disaster". Liefeld explained that production problems, as well as sub-par scripting by his friend and collaborator Hank Kanalz, whose employment Liefeld later terminated, resulted in work that was lower in quality than that which Liefeld produced when Fabian Nicieza scripted his plots on ''X-Force'', and that reprints of those four issues would be re-scripted.

In 1996, Liefeld's and Lee's studios signed with Marvel to re-envision several of the company's core series, an event called "Heroes Reborn." Liefeld was contracted to write twelve issues of ''The Avengers'', co-written with Jeph Loeb, and was to pencil twelve issues of ''Captain America.'' However, he failed to meet the publishing schedule and his overall output met with a less-than enthusiastic response, failing to reach the sales targets required in his agreement with Marvel, although Loeb noted in ''Wizard Magazine'' #72 that their run on ''Captain America'' had three times the sales of issues prior to their run. Marvel terminated the agreement after six issues, and Marvel re-assigned the two series to Lee's studio.

Departure from Image

In June 1996, Marc Silvestri temporarily left Image with his ''Top Cow'' imprint, allegedly because of disputes with the other partners over Liefeld's status in the company. Among the many accusations against Liefeld, which came to light in subsequently filed legal complaints, was the charge that Liefeld routinely used his check-writing powers to cover personal debts from Image funds. Other dissatisfaction with Liefeld ranged from his alleged habit of copying art from other partners' comics to his plans to move titles that had been established at Image to the non-Image Maximum Press. Image Comics Executive Director Larry Marder is quoted as saying "He [Rob] was making an increasing number of business decisions that were counterproductive to being a business partner".

In addition to allegedly siphoning funds, he was said to have used Image staff to do promotional and production work for Maximum. In early September, Liefeld issued a press release stating he was resigning his position at Image and leaving the group. Nearly simultaneously, the Image partners issued a press release stating that they had fired Liefeld. The other partners had already voted once to remove Liefeld from the group, a move he protested on the grounds that he was given too short a notice period. His resignation came only minutes before the second meeting that would have forced him out.

The comics press variously reported several underlying issues: the effect of Liefeld's erratically published and critically derided lines on the company's reputation, his supposed misuse of his position as Image CEO to unfairly benefit his own publishing efforts (including Maximum Press, which was not a part of Image) and attempts to recruit artists employed by his Image partners, a violation of their informal agreements. As further financial reversals followed, Liefeld moved all of his publishing ventures into a new company, Awesome Comics. This new enterprise, announced in April 1997 as a partnership between Liefeld and Malibu Comics founding partner Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, concentrated its efforts on newer properties.

Awesome Comics

At Awesome, Liefeld and Loeb attempted to resurrect their unused ''Captain America'' plots for a new character, Agent America. This character was nearly identical in appearance and background to Captain America. Under legal pressure from Marvel, Liefeld scrapped ''Agent America'' and acquired the rights to Jack Kirby and Joe Simon's Fighting American, updating the design. Liefeld was allowed to publish the book, but legally this new character could not throw his shield, one of Captain America's trademarks.

Meanwhile, Liefeld hired acclaimed comic book writer Alan Moore to revive many of his creations, which had declined in popularity. Moore wrote a few issues of ''Youngblood'' and ''Glory,'' but his most lauded work for Liefeld was on ''Supreme'', which played on the character's more generic traits in a clear tribute to the Mort Weisinger-era Superman.

Awesome's initial releases, including entirely new properties like ''Kaboom!'' created by Jeff Matsuda, were generally received more favorably by critics than the Extreme and Maximum lines had been. However, Awesome soon collapsed under the burdens of disputes among its partners, and an abrupt departure of its primary investor.

2000s work

In the 2000s, Liefeld returned to his former characters in the X-Men franchise, providing pencils for the occasional cover and/or interior of ''Cable'' and ''X-Force'' until the early 2000s, when both were cancelled.

In 2004, he reunited with Fabian Nicieza for an ''X-Force'' limited series and illustrated the early covers for Nicieza's ''Cable and Deadpool''. In that same year, Liefeld formed Arcade Comics and once again announced plans to revive ''Youngblood''. These involved reprinting older material and providing the art for two new series ''Youngblood: Bloodsport'' with Mark Millar and ''Youngblood: Genesis'' with Brandon Thomas. Although the former only published one issue, Liefeld expressed hopes to finish the series.

Liefeld returned to the Heroes Reborn Universe with writer Jeph Loeb with the ''Onslaught Reborn'', a five-issue limited series that premiered in November 2006. This led to Liefeld having a pitch accepted for a plan to bring Killraven back, with writer Robert Kirkman.

In July 2007, it was announced that Rob Liefeld and Youngblood would be returning to Image Comics after years of self-publication. This new partnership marks the first time in a decade that Liefeld and Image would collaborate on a project. The new ''Youngblood'' series is written by Joe Casey with art by Derec Donovan and Val Staples, with covers by Liefeld, and started in January 2008. He took over writing and art duties with issue #9. To commemorate the event, and the 15th anniversary of Image Comics, the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con was headlined by the Image Founders panel, where all seven of the original Image Comics founders appeared on stage simultaneously for the first time in history.

2010 saw Liefeld return to the Deadpool character, first by penciling issue #1 of the ''Prelude to Deadpool Corps'' series, the issue focusing on Lady Deadpool. Liefeld became the regular artist on Deadpool Corps, providing the interior art for the first nine issues.

In March 2011 Liefeld was announced as the artist on ''The Infinite'', a mini-series written by Robert Kirkman. That June, he was announced as the artist on a new ''Hawk and Dove'' series, with writer Sterling Gates, as part of DC Comics massive relaunch of their entire superhero line, returning Liefeld to the characters that helped establish him in the industry.

Criticism

Since the heyday of Image Comics, Liefeld's name has become something of a lightning rod in the industry. In an interview, Brian Michael Bendis described the polarization of opinion on Liefeld: "There is a great dichotomy...There's either some great and generous story about [Liefeld] or you will hear some unbelievable thing like, 'How is he not in jail if he did that?' There is no middle ground."

In interviews, Liefeld has compared himself to other popular artists who experience meteoric success and acclaim early in their careers but near-pariah status afterwards, notably Britney Spears, who "became vapid pop music, and perhaps I was nothing more than a vapid comic book artist." He seems to credit his success tapping into the zeitgeist: "I'll be the first to tell you that we [the Image collective] were never the best artists. We were never the best at anything, but just like a song or a band or whatever, we caught on and we toured rigorously."

He is not without supporters in the industry. The A.V. Club says of Liefeld's critics, "Rob Liefeld is the punching bag of choice for many discerning comics fans. But he’s also the man who defined what the 1990s looked like in superhero books, so he’s crying all the way to the bank. For every detractor who thinks he’s the worst thing to happen to comic books since Fredric Wertham, there are a dozen ravenous fanboys ready to snatch up whatever he does next." Writer Jeph Loeb, with whom Liefeld collaborated, and writer Mark Millar are reported to be admirers of his work. Millar in particular wrote the foreword to the 2008 ''Youngblood'' collection published by Image Comics, in which he defended that series as an entry in the celebrity superhero subgenre that predated ''The Authority'' and ''X-Statix''. Millar also compared critics of Liefeld's layouts and figure work to those who would have criticized Jack Kirby for exhibiting a cartoony style rather than photorealism, and asserted that his own children are avid fans of Liefeld's work in general, and ''Youngblood'' in particular.

Production and business problems

Liefeld has become known for producing late books, primarily his creator-owned ones, though somewhat less so when doing work-for-hire. Some issues of his series ''Youngblood'' shipped as much as nine months late. Liefeld has attributed this to the greater incentive a freelancer feels when doing work-for-hire assignments for a company, as opposed to working on one's self-owned work.

It was alleged that Liefeld was too preoccupied by aspirations of Hollywood production deals, spending time in meetings with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, to effectively publish comic books or participate in the business side of the Image venture, a criticism that Liefeld admits is at least partly true. He reportedly fell asleep at numerous Image board meetings.

After the San Diego Comicon panel in 2007, Liefeld was interviewed by ''Wizard'' magazine about his feud with the Image partners. He claimed the feud was in the past, saying: "The divorce was ugly, but to me it didn't linger....I realized you just need to let it go."

Art style and credit

Liefeld has been criticized for drawing figures with exaggerated muscular anatomy, long legs and tiny feet, along with an improbable profusion of weapons, accessories, and pouches, that have been subject to parody. On the one hand, these stylistic devices were seen as the impetus for his initial success, when such affectations were unusual in comics, and helped lend such characters to successfully merchandised products. On the other hand, the approach later became considered a cliché and led to a widespread hostility towards the style. Liefeld agrees for the most part with this estimation of his early work, saying, "In the mid-90's we Mortal Kombat'ed everything. I'm as guilty as anyone..."

At the beginning of Liefeld's run on the ''New Mutants'' the heavily-muscled, heavily-armed cyborg character Cable was created for the team, and became a popular anti-hero, although there is some dispute over Cable's origin, with Liefeld, Bob Harras, and Louise Simonson all claiming credit for some or all of the character concept. For a time, Marvel credited only Liefeld and Simonson as Cable's creators within the ''Cable & Deadpool'' series. He also was credited as the sole creator of ''Youngblood'', when documentation suggests that Liefeld's longtime friend and collaborator Hank Kanalz co-developed that team with him.

In addition to this, Liefeld is also alleged to have made a habit of swiping, or copying, art from other artists. Liefeld responded to this accusation by stating that in these instances, which he said were limited to ten, he was offering tribute to the artists of the original pieces in question, rather than plagiarizing, and compared this to the work of filmmaker Brian De Palma, who explicitly used the techniques of Alfred Hitchcock, who influenced De Palma. Writer and ''Comics Buyer's Guide'' columnist Peter David responded to this rationale by pointing out that DePalma himself was criticized harshly by film critics for employing Hitchcock's techniques, and that Liefeld, who has identified himself as a "stickler" for credit, did not credit artists whose work he copied, instances of which exceeded the ten upon which Liefeld insisted. David also pointed out that some of these artists, such as John Byrne and George Pérez, did not react to this practice on Liefeld's part as a "tribute," and expressed displeasure at the degree to which Liefeld relied on their work.

Selected bibliography

Interior artwork

''X-Factor'' vol. 1 #40, #52 (cover only), #54 (cover only)

''Uncanny X-Men'' #245

''New Mutants'' vol. 1 #85 (cover only), #86-91, #92 (cover only), #93-96, #97 (cover only), #98-100

''New Mutants'' Annual #5-6

''X-Force'' vol. 1 #1-9 (plot & pencils), #10 (plot), #11 (plot & cover), #12-13 (plot)

''Wolverine'' vol. 2 #154, 155

''Marvel Comics Presents'' #52-53, 85-86

''Heroes Reborn: Captain America''

''Youngblood'' and ''Youngblood: Bloodsport''

''Brigade''

''Smash''

''Re-Gex''

''Teen Titans'' 27-28

''X-Force & Cable'' 1-6

''Onslaught Reborn''

''What If'' vol. 2 #7

''Deadpool'' #900

''Prelude to Deadpool Corps'' #1 (written by Victor Gischler, 5-issue limited series, Marvel Comics, May 2010, 120 pages, premiere hardcover, July 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4752-7)

''Deadpool Corps'' (with Victor Gischler, Marvel Comics, June 2010–present)

''Hawk and Dove'' #1-5 (1988)

Writing

''Heroes Reborn: Avengers'' 1-7

''Heroes Reborn: Captain America'' 1-6

''New Mutants'' 100

''Marvel Comics Presents'' 52, 53, 99

''Prophet/Cable'' #1-2

''Wolverine'' Vol. 2 156

''X-Force'' Vol. 1 1-12

''X-Force: Shatterstar'' 1-4

''Uncanny X-Men'' 245

Notes

References

Rob Liefeld at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

Fiore, R. "Funnybook Roulette", ''The Comics Journal'' #152 (Aug. 1992)

''Wizard Magazine'' #10, interview about ''Executioners'' and ''Berserkers'' (June 1992)

External links

Hanstock and B. "The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings" Progressive Boink (Nov. 13, 2007)

Examples of swiping, side-by-side, with Liefeld's work and earlier comics

"Why is Rob Liefeld the Most Hated Man in Comics?" Talent Pool 03, The Quarter Bin (1998)

Rob Liefeld Can't Draw Feet

Category:People from Anaheim, California Category:Living people Category:1967 births Category:Arcade Comics Category:Awesome Comics Category:Image Comics

de:Rob Liefeld es:Rob Liefeld fr:Rob Liefeld it:Rob Liefeld nl:Rob Liefeld pt:Rob Liefeld

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
birth name	Erik J. Larsen
birth place	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
nationality	American
pencil	y
ink	y
write	y
publish	y
notable works	''Savage Dragon''
sortkey	Larsen, Erik
subcat	American
yob	1962
mob	12
dob	8 }}

Erik J. Larsen (born December 8, 1962) is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on ''Savage Dragon'', as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.

Early life

Larsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a child growing up in Bellingham, Washington and Albion, California, he created several comic books featuring versions of a character named "The Dragon", whom he has since described as a Batman-like character who drove a car copied from Speed Racer's Mach Five. The Dragon turned into a superhero using a magic word to trigger his powers like Captain Marvel. He and two friends produced a fanzine called ''Graphic Fantasy'', which featured this character.

Career

Larsen's first paid work was for the anthology ''Megaton'', co-creating and illustrating a feature called "Vanguard" with publisher Gary Carlson. A revised version of the Dragon debuted in issue #2 and appeared in the following two issues. Larsen went on to work for AC Comics on ''Sentinels of Justice'' and ''The DNAgents'' for Eclipse Comics.

Larsen did work at DC on ''The Outsiders'', ''Teen Titans'', ''Adventures of Superman'' and ''Doom Patrol''. For Marvel he did a ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' fill-in story and five issues of ''Punisher''. A Nova story for ''Marvel Comics Presents'' was greenlit but cancelled because it did not fit with an upcoming New Warriors series that would feature the character. Though he continues to write and illustrate ''The Savage Dragon'', Larsen has occasionally returned to Marvel to write and illustrate, on titles such as ''Fantastic Four'', ''The Defenders'', ''Wolverine'' and ''Nova''. He has also done work for DC writing ''Aquaman''.

In 1990 Erik Larsen replaced Todd McFarlane on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' with issue #329, having previously penciled issues 287, 324 and 327. With writer David Michelinie and Larsen the series experienced increasing sales, with stories such as "The Cosmic Spider-Man", "The Return of the Sinister Six" (#334-339) and "The Powerless Spider-Man" (#341-343). He left the title with #350, leaving it to series mainstay Mark Bagley with #351. Larsen again succeeded McFarlane on ''Spider-Man'', where he wrote and drew the six-issue story arc "Revenge of the Sinister Six" (#18-23).

Image Comics and Savage Dragon

Seeking greater control and profit over the work they created, Larsen and six other illustrators abandoned Marvel to form Image Comics, where Larsen launched a series featuring a character he created while in elementary school, Savage Dragon. In his youth Larsen drew the Dragon in homemade comic books. The original Dragon, inspired by elements from Captain Marvel, Batman, Speed Racer and later The Incredible Hulk, differs greatly from the modern incarnation. After launching Savage Dragon in a professionally published comic book, Larsen returned to the original and reworked his designs into the characters William Jonson, a police officer ally of the Dragon, and Flash Mercury, the "Spectacular Dragon".

Much later, a greatly redesigned Savage Dragon was featured in two issues of Graphic Fantasy, a self-published title with a small print run, published by Larsen and two friends. In this incarnation, the Dragon was a widower and a retired member of a government-sponsored superhero team. Subsequently, the Dragon made another appearance in the third issue of Gary Carlson's Megaton anthology in its Vanguard strip, which Larsen had been drawing. In these appearances, the character of the Dragon remained basically the same as it had been in Graphic Fantasy, with a few details modified (such as the inclusion of his wife, who was dead in his previous incarnation). Both the Graphic Fantasy and Megaton issues containing the Dragon have since been reprinted in high-quality editions.

In 1992, when Larsen left Marvel to co-found Image Comics, he reworked the character for the new publication venture. This time, the Dragon was a massively muscled green amnesiac, who joined the Chicago police department after being discovered in a burning field. Initially debuting in a three-issue mini-series, the Savage Dragon comic book met with enough success to justify a monthly series, launched in 1993. To this day, Larsen continues to write and illustrate the series entirely by himself, and has maintained a reasonably consistent monthly schedule (save for occasional lapses) in comparison with the other original Image Comics titles. Larsen has occasionally produced ancillary mini-series, and sometimes allowed other creators to produce stories featuring the Dragon or other characters from the series.

According to Larsen, the series is aimed at "older Marvel readers who are about ready to throw in the towel on comics altogether. It's the missing link between Marvel and Vertigo. More mature than Marvel; less pretentious than Vertigo. The kind of comics [he wants] to read. [The] book is really self-indulgent."

Savage Dragon is one of two original Image Comics titles still published (the other being Spawn) and the only one still written and drawn by its creator, a fact for which Larsen has been lauded, including by those with whom he has had public disagreements, such as Peter David. The character was also adapted into a short-lived (26 episodes) USA Network animated series that started in 1995.

Publisher

In 2004, Larsen became publisher of Image Comics, taking responsibility for all comics produced by creators other than the Image partners and their studios. Larsen stepped down as publisher in July 2008 and executive director Eric Stephenson was promoted to the position.

In an interview with Project Fanboy Larsen explained that the rumors of a coup for the position were baseless and gave his reasons for stepping down as publisher:

Larsen stated that Eric Stephenson was chosen as his replacement because "He was Jim’s second in command and mine as well. He worked with Jim and Rob Liefeld before that. He’s been with Image almost from day one and he lives an breathes comics. He really was the best man for the job."

Technique and materials

For penciling, Larsen uses a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 2H pencil and a Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser. For inking, he uses a Hunt 102 nib with Higgen's Design ink, a Uni-ball pen and Pentel Rolling Writer pen.

Personal life

Larsen and his wife Jannie live in Oakland, California with their two sons, Christopher and Joseph.

Bibliography

DC

Art

''Adventures of Superman'' #431

''Aquaman'' #50-52

''Aquaman Secret Files'' #1

''DC Secret Origins'' #13

''Doom Patrol'' #6-16

''Doom Patrol Annual'' #1

''Doom Patrol & Suicide Squad Special''

''Legion of Superheros'' #55

''Lobo's Greatest Hits''

''Orion'' #6

''Outsiders'' v2 #24,27,28

''Teen Titans'' #33

''Teen Titans Spotlight'' #10,15

Script

''Aquaman'' #50-62

''Aquaman Secret Files'' #1

Marvel

Art

''The Amazing Spider-Man'' v1 #287, 324, 327, 329-350, v2 #19-21

''Amazing Spider-Man Annual'' #25

''Defenders'' v3 #1-12

''Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme'' #4

''Excalibur: Air Apparent''

''Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine'' #1, 5, 9, 12

''Guardians of the Galaxy'' v1 #13

''Incredible Hulk'' #346

''Marvel Comics Presents'' #31-38,43, 48-50,82-83,138-142

''Marvel Super-Heroes'' v2 #8

''Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual'' #1

''Nova'' v3 #1-7

''Peter Parker: Spider-Man'' v2 #19

''Punisher'' #21-25

''Spider-Man'' #15, 18-23

''Spectacular Spider-Man Annual'' #11

''Spider-Woman'' #10

''Thor'' #385 v2 #26-28

''Wolverine'' #133, 148

''X-51'' #12

''X-Force'' #2-3

Script

''Defenders'' v3 #1-12

''Fantastic Four: The World's Greatest Comics Magazine'' #1-12

''The Hulk'' #8

''Nova'' v3 #1-7

''Wolverine'' #133-149

Image

Art

''10th Muse'' #5

''Desperate Times'' #1-4

''Image Illustrated'' #1

''Negative Burn Anthology''

''Savage Dragon'' v1 #1-3 v2 #1-present

''Savage Dragon vs Savage Megaton Man''

''Savage Dragon Companion''

''Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck''

''Shadowhawk'' #4

''Spawn'' #199

''Splitting Image'' #1

''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' #1-23

''Vanguard: Strange Visitors'' #1-4

''Wildcats'' v1 #14

''Youngblood'' #1

Script

''Deadly Duo'' v1 #1-3

''Freak Force'' v2 #1-3

''Negative Burn Anthology''

''Savage Dragon'' v1 #1-3 v2 #1-present

''Savage Dragon vs Savage Megaton Man''

''Savage Dragon: Sex & Violence'' #1 and 2

''SuperPatriot'' #1-4

''Wildcats'' v1 #14

Editor

''Deadly Duo'' v2 #1-4

''Freak Force'' v1 #1-18

''Savage Dragon: Red Horizon'' #1-3

''Savage Dragon/Destroyer Duck''

''Star'' #1-4

''SuperPatriot: Liberty & Justice'' #1-4

''Vanguard'' #1-6

''Vanguard: Strange Visitors'' #1-4

References

External links

Official site

One Fan's Opinion, Larsen's column at Comic Book Resources

Erik Larsen at Lambiek's Comiclopedia

Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview, October 2005

Kevin Malcolm at Emerald City ComiCon for The Backroom Comics Podcast Episode 8 - Emerald City ComiCon Part 4, April 2009

Where Monsters Dwell Interview , Larsen's interview on Where Monsters Dwell podcast

Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:American comics artists Category:American comics writers Category:People from Mendocino County, California Category:People from Bellingham, Washington Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota Category:Image Comics

es:Erik Larsen fr:Erik Larsen it:Erik Larsen nl:Erik Larsen ja:エリック・ラーセン pt:Erik Larsen

Coordinates	30°19′10″N81°39′36″N
birth place
nationality	American
area	Writer, Editor, Letterer
notable works	''The Walking Dead''''Invincible''''Marvel Zombies''
awards	}}

Robert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on ''The Walking Dead'' and ''Invincible'' for Image Comics, and ''Ultimate X-Men'' and ''Marvel Zombies'' for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series ''Haunt''. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of its co-founders.

Career

Robert Kirkman's first comic book work was the 2000 superhero parody ''Battle Pope'', which he co-created with artist Tony Moore, and self-published under the Funk-O-Tron label. Later, while pitching a new series, ''Science Dog'', Kirkman and artist Cory Walker were hired to do a SuperPatriot miniseries for Image Comics. While working on that book, Kirkman and E.J. Su created the 2002 Image series ''Tech Jacket'', which ran six issues.

In 2003, Kirkman and Walker created ''Invincible'' for Image's new superhero line. The story surrounded the adolescent son of the world's most powerful superhero, who develops powers and starts his own superhero career. Walker later failed to meet the monthly title's deadlines and was replaced by Ryan Ottley. In 2005, Paramount Pictures announced it had bought the rights to produce an ''Invincible'' feature film, and hired Kirkman to write the screenplay.

Shortly after the launch of ''Invincible'', Kirkman and Moore began ''The Walking Dead'' (2003), a series set in a world inspired by George A. Romero's zombie movies. Moore, himself struggling to keep deadlines, was replaced by Charlie Adlard, beginning with issue #7. Moore continued to draw covers until issue 24 as well as the first four volumes of the trade paperbacks for the series.

Kirkman was first hired by Marvel Comics to pen a revival of the 1990s ''Sleepwalker'' series , but it was canceled before being published; the contents of its first issue were included in ''Epic Anthology'' #1 (2004). He soon became a mainstay at Marvel, writing the Avengers Disassembled issues of ''Captain America'' Vol. 4, 2004's ''Marvel Knights 2099'' one-shots event, ''Jubilee'' #1-6 and ''Fantastic Four: Foes'' #1–6, a 2-year run on ''Ultimate X-Men'' and the entire ''Marvel Team-Up'' Vol. 3 and ''Irredeemable Ant-Man'' ongoing series.

At Image, Kirkman and artist Jason Howard created the ongoing series ''The Astounding Wolf-Man'', launching it on May 5, 2007, as part of Free Comic Book Day. Kirkman edited the monthly series ''Brit'', based on the character he created for the series of one-shots, illustrated by Moore and Cliff Rathburn. It ran 12 issues.

Kirkman announced in 2007 that he and artist Rob Liefeld would team on a revival of ''Killraven'' for Marvel Comics. Kirkman that year also said he and Todd McFarlane would collaborate on ''Haunt'' for Image Comics.

In late July 2008, Kirkman was made a partner at Image Comics, thereby ending his freelance association with Marvel. Nonetheless, later in 2009, he and Walker produced the five-issue miniseries ''The Destroyer'' vol. 4 for Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2010, he also began producing the television adaption of his comic The Walking Dead, the pilot of which is directed by Frank Darabont. Kirkman wrote the fourth episode, "Vatos".

In 2009 Kirkman and Marc Silvestri took over the 2009/2010 Pilot Season (comics) for Top Cow Comics. The 2009/2010 Pilot Season contains a series of five one-shot pilot comics that readers will be able to vote on which becomes an ongoing series. Each series is co-created by Silvestri who also provides cover art.

Kirkman narrated the television adaption of ''The Walking Dead'' at San Diego Comic-Con International 2010.

In July 2010, Kirkman announced he would launch and run a new Image Comics imprint called Skybound.

Personal life

Kirkman named his son Peter Parker Kirkman after Spider-Man's civilian identity, Peter Parker.

Bibliography

Image Comics

''The Astounding Wolf-Man'' (2007–2010)

''Brit'' (2003–2004, 2007–2008)

''Capes'' (miniseries)

''Haunt'' (2009–present)

''Image United'' (2009–2010)

''Invincible'' (2003–present)

Pilot Season for Top Cow Comics a partner studio of Image (2009/2010)''

*''Murderer'' #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Nelson Blake II (Cov) Marc Silvestri

*''Demonic'' #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Joe Benitez (Cov) Marc Silvestri

*''Stealth'' #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Sheldon Mitchell (Cov) Marc Silvestri

*''Stellar'' #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Bernard Chang (Cov) Marc Silvestri

*''Hardcore'' #1 (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Brian Stelfreeze (Cov) Marc Silvestri

''Super Dinosaur'' (2011-present)

''SuperPatriot''

''Tech Jacket'' (2002–2003)

''The Walking Dead'' (2003–present)

''Guarding the Globe'' (2010)

Marvel Comics

''Captain America'' vol. 4, #29–32 (2004)

''Destroyer''

''Epic Anthology'' #1

''Fantastic Four: Foes'' #1-6 (2005)

''The Irredeemable Ant-Man'' #1-12 (2006–2007)

''Jubilee'' #1-6 (2004)

''Marvel Knights 2099''

''Marvel Team-Up'' #1-25 (2005–2007)

''Marvel Zombies'' (2005–2007)

*''Marvel Zombies'' vol.1 #1-5 (2005–2006)

*''Marvel Zombies: Dead Days'' (2006)

*''Marvel Zombies 2'' vol.2 #1-5 (2007)

''Ultimate X-Men'' #66-93 & Annual #2 (2006-2008)

Other

''Battle Pope'' (2000)

References

External links

The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

Buy My Books, a column by Robert Kirkman.

Robert Kirkman on the State of the Comic Book Industry – Video and Transcript

Interviews

2010 Interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast

An Excerpt of George Khoury's Kirkman interview from IMAGE COMICS: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE at PopImage

Podcast interview at comiXology

An Interview with Robert Kirkman about ''Pilot Season'' with the Legion of Dudes.

Nerdist Podcast #93: Robert Kirkman May 2011 podcast, recorded live at NerdMelt

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:American comics writers Category:Invincible (comic)

es:Robert Kirkman fr:Robert Kirkman it:Robert Kirkman tr:Robert Kirkman