John Costanza

Last updated
John Costanza
Born (1943-08-14) August 14, 1943 (age 80)
Dover, New Jersey
Nationality American
Area(s)Artist, letterer
Notable works
Swamp Thing , The Dark Knight Returns
AwardsBest Letterer of 1974 (Shazam Award)

John Costanza (born August 14, 1943, in Dover, New Jersey) is an American comic book artist and letterer. He has worked for both DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was the letterer during Alan Moore's acclaimed run on Swamp Thing . The bulk of Costanza's art assignments have been for anthropomorphic animal comics and children-oriented material.

Contents

Biography

Costanza began his career in 1965, working as Joe Kubert's assistant on the syndicated newspaper strip Tales of the Green Berets. Costanza soon started to work for comic books, both as an artist and a letterer. He started out with contributing to DC titles like G.I. Combat and House of Mystery in the period 1968-1971. He began freelancing for Marvel (exclusively as a letterer) in 1972, at first under the alias Jon Costa. He would soon become one of the company's premier letterers, working on flagship titles such as Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man, and lettering special projects such as the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby Silver Surfer novel (Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience) published by Fireside Books in 1978.

During the 1970s he produced comics with Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies characters for Western Publishing.

For Marvel in 1980s, Costanza drew comics with Heathcliff, the Get Along Gang, and Hugga Bunch.

In the 1990s, he returned to Warner Bros. comics, this time for DC's Looney Tunes and Animaniacs titles. He also did stories with Roger Rabbit and Mickey Mouse for Walt Disney Studios. Costanza has also drawn issues of Matt Groening's The Simpsons comics.

Bibliography (selected)

Lettering

Awards

Costanza's lettering has been recognized by both peers and fans. The Academy of Comic Book Arts named him Best Letterer of 1974 (the Shazam Award), and in 1986 and 1987 he won the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Letterer for his work on Swamp Thing.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernie Wrightson</span> American comic artist (1948–2017)

Bernard Albert Wrightson was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel Frankenstein illustration work, and for his other horror comics and illustrations, which feature his trademark intricate pen and brushwork.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Byrne (comics)</span> Author and artist of comic books

John Lindley Byrne is a British-born American writer and artist of superhero comics. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on many major superheroes; with noted work on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four. Byrne also facilitated the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics' Superman franchise with the limited series The Man of Steel, the first issue of which featured the comics' first variant cover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Pérez</span> American comic book artist and writer (1954-2022)

George Pérez was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling Fantastic Four and The Avengers for Marvel Comics. In the 1980s he penciled The New Teen Titans, which became one of DC Comics' top-selling series. He penciled DC's landmark limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths, followed by relaunching Wonder Woman as both writer and penciller for the rebooted series. In the meantime, he worked on other comics published by Marvel, DC, and other companies into the 2010s. He was known for his detailed and realistic rendering, and his facility with complex crowd scenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Starlin</span> Comic creator

James P. Starlin is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Nebula, and Shang-Chi, as well as writing the acclaimed miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet and its many sequels, namely The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade, all detailing Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems to court Mistress Death by annihilating half of all life in the cosmos, before coming into conflict with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, the Elders of the Universe, joined by Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Gamora, Nebula, and Drax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marv Wolfman</span> American comic book writer

Marvin Arthur Wolfman is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's The Tomb of Dracula, for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade, and DC Comics's The New Teen Titans and the Crisis on Infinite Earths limited series with George Pérez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Len Wein</span> American comic book writer and editor

Leonard Norman Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men. Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inker</span> Comic book or graphic novel line artist

The inker is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Giordano</span> American comic book artist and editor, 1932-2010

Richard Joseph Giordano was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Aparo</span> American comic book artist

James N. Aparo was an American comic book artist, best known for his DC Comics work from the late 1960s through the 1990s, including on the characters Batman, Aquaman, and the Spectre, along with famous stories such as The Brave and the Bold, "A Death in the Family", and "KnightFall".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Colan</span> American comic artist (1926–2011)

Eugene Jules Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series. He co-created the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comics; Carol Danvers, who would become Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel; and the non-costumed, supernatural vampire hunter Blade.

<i>DC Comics Presents</i> Comic book series

DC Comics Presents is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four Annuals. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring back-up feature "Whatever Happened to...?" had stories revealing the status of various minor and little-used characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Ordway</span> American comic book writer & artist

Jeremiah Joseph Ordway is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronze Age of Comic Books</span> Early-70s-to-80s era of comic books

The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of American superhero comic books usually said to run from 1970 to 1985. It follows the Silver Age of Comic Books and is followed by the Modern Age of Comic Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Nowlan</span> American comics artist (born 1958)

Kevin Nowlan is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic production, from "design to draftsmanship to dramatics".

<i>History of the DC Universe</i> Comic book issue by DC Comics

History of the DC Universe is a two-issue comic book limited series created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez which was published by DC Comics following the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Sharp</span> British comic book artist

Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Comic Book Arts</span>

The Academy of Comic Book Arts (ACBA) was an American professional organization of the 1970s that was designed to be the comic book industry analog of such groups as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Composed of comic-book professionals and initially formed as an honorary society focused on discussing the comic-book craft and hosting an annual awards banquet, the ACBA evolved into an advocacy organization focused on creators' rights.

Notable events of 1982 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

<i>Daredevil</i> (Marvel Comics series) Multiple comic book series

Daredevil is the name of several comic book titles featuring the character Daredevil and published by Marvel Comics, beginning with the original Daredevil comic book series which debuted in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DC Comics insert previews</span> Set of comic book inserts

DC Comics insert previews were 16-page comic book stories inserted into issues of existing DC Comics series to promote new series usually debuting the next month. Running from 1980 to 1985, they consisted of a front cover, 14 pages of story, and a back cover that depicted the cover of the actual first issue. The addition of the insert did not entail an increase in the price of the comic book, and the cover copy called the insert "a special free 16-page comic!"

References