Jim Rugg

Last updated
Jim Rugg
Jim Rugg (cropped).jpg
Rugg in 2019
Born (1977-02-01) February 1, 1977 (age 47)
Nationality American
Area(s) Cartoonist, Writer, Penciller, Inker, Letterer, Colourist
Notable works
 Street Angel
Afrodisiac
jimrugg.com

Jim Rugg (born February 1, 1977) is an American cartoonist and illustrator from Pittsburgh known for his tongue-in-cheek evocation of 1970s-era comics and pop culture. His graphic novels and comics collections include Street Angel , Afrodisiac , The P.L.A.I.N. Janes and Janes in Love, One Model Nation , and The Guild .

Contents

Rugg has also produced short comics for VH1, New York magazine, True Porn, Meathaus, Cinema Sewer , Strange Tales , the SPX Annual, Project: Superior , Dark Horse Presents , and the Next Issue Project .

Rugg also co-hosted the YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe with fellow Pittsburgh native cartoonist Ed Piskor.

Biography

A time lapse drawing by Rugg of Gen13, from 2011

Rugg was born in the town of Connellsville, Pennsylvania and moved to Pittsburgh. [1] His art influences include Frank Miller, Erik Larsen, David Lapham, Jack Kirby, David Mazzuchelli, Mike Mignola, the Hernandez brothers, Robert Crumb, Dan Clowes, Chris Ware, and Julie Doucet. [2] Rugg is also inspired by television shows like The Office and Arrested Development , the films of Wes Anderson, Kōbō Abe’s writing, Todd Hido’s photography, and Toba Khedoori's drawings and paintings. [2] He has a BFA in graphic design and painting from a small liberal arts college. [2]

While working as a graphic designer, Rugg met and began working with writer Brian Maruca. The result, Street Angel , was self-published as a mini-comic, where it eventually found its way to the publisher Slave Labor Graphics. [2] The first five issues of Street Angel were collected as a trade paperback by SLG Publishing in 2005.

After the cancellation of a video game project and The P.L.A.I.N. Janes series in 2008, Rugg considered leaving the comics business. [3] His fortunes began turning around in 2009, when he began working on Image Comics' One Model Nation and Dark Horse Comics' The Guild .

In 2010 Rugg (along with co-writer Maruca) released Afrodisiac , collecting stories previously published in anthologies along with new material. (The character first appeared in the pages of Street Angel). [3] The book is a detailed pastiche of 1970s "trash" culture, especially the blaxploitation heroic archetype. The titular hero is an over-the-top '70s-era, kung fu-fighting pimp character depicted in adventures that cross multiple comics styles, from space aliens and flying saucers to dinosaurs to Richard Nixon to Hercules to giant monsters to Dracula. Afrodisiac's production design faithfully evokes the visual style of old comic books, down to faded color schemes and wrinkled, creased covers. [3]

On March 30, 2024, Rugg announced that he had decided to end his professional relationship, such as Cartoonist Kayfabe, with Ed Piskor as a result of allegations against Piskor. Because of a number of factors, Piskor committed suicide two days later. [4]

Rugg currently teaches in the MFA Visual Narrative program at the School of Visual Arts.

Cartoonist Kayfabe and comic historian

Ed Piskor and Rugg discussing Cartoonist Kayfabe in 2019

The Cartoonist Kayfabe series created by Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg, significantly impacted the comic book community by revisiting classic comic books, discussing the processes and stories behind them, and featuring notable figures from the industry. The YouTube show has garnered over 1,800+ videos in its library since its creation. One of the achievements of the series was bringing together Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird for commentaries [5] on their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics. Eastman and Laird, who had not collaborated in years, were invited to discuss their original TMNT comics, providing insights into their creation and evolution of the series. This reunion was particularly special for fans and scholars of comics, as it not only highlighted the creative synergy between the two but also explored the cultural impact of TMNT. The episodes served as a deep dive into the artistic and narrative choices that shaped the TMNT universe, offering fans a rare behind-the-scenes look at the making of a franchise that has remained popular across decades.

Awards

Rugg was nominated for a 2010 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Minicomic for Rambo 3.5. In 2011, Afrodisiac was nominated for an Eisner Award in the humor category, and in 2015, Rugg won the Eisner for best publication design for Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream. [6]

He served on the Ignatz Award jury in 2006.

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Cho</span> Korean-American comic strip and comic book creator (born 1971)

Frank Cho, born Duk Hyun Cho, is a Korean-American comic strip and comic book writer and illustrator, known for his series Liberty Meadows, as well as for books such as Shanna the She-Devil, Mighty Avengers and Hulk for Marvel Comics, and Jungle Girl for Dynamite Entertainment. Cho is noted for his figure drawing, precise lines, and depictions of curvaceous women.

An autobiographical comic is an autobiography in the form of comic books or comic strips. The form first became popular in the underground comix movement and has since become more widespread. It is currently most popular in Canadian, American and French comics; all artists listed below are from the U.S. unless otherwise specified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center for Cartoon Studies</span> Art school in Hartford, Vermont

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) is a two-year institution focusing on sequential art, specifically comics and graphic novels. It is located in the village of White River Junction within the town of Hartford, Vermont. The Center offers a Master of Fine Arts degree, both one and two-year certificate programs, and summer programs. It is "the only college-level training program of its kind in the United States."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Thompson</span> American graphic novelist

Craig Matthew Thompson is an American graphic novelist best known for his books Good-bye, Chunky Rice (1999), Blankets (2003), Carnet de Voyage (2004), Habibi (2011), and Space Dumplins (2015). Thompson has received four Harvey Awards, three Eisner Awards, and two Ignatz Awards. In 2007, his cover design for the Menomena album Friend and Foe received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zander Cannon</span> American cartoonist

Alexander Cannon is an American cartoonist, known for his work on books such as Top 10, Smax and Kaijumax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derf Backderf</span> American cartoonist

John Backderf, also known as Derf or Derf Backderf, is an American cartoonist. He is most famous for his graphic novels, especially My Friend Dahmer, the international bestseller which won an Angoulême Prize, and earlier for his comic strip The City, which appeared in a number of alternative newspapers from 1990 to 2014. In 2006 Derf won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for cartooning. Backderf has been based in Cleveland, Ohio, for much of his career.

Street Angel is an alternative comic book limited series by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca. It was published in 2004 by Slave Labor Graphics, and lasted five issues. In 2016 Jim Rugg would start posting new and old street angel comics online as webcomics, both to his personal website and the Tapas syndicate. Five graphic novels and a one shot were later released by Image Comics between 2017 and 2018, two of them being re-releases of web comics. These books were printed at a larger scale than the original issues, hard cover and full color. They were collected as a single trade paperback in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minx (comics)</span> Imprint of DC comics

Minx was an imprint of DC Comics that published graphic novels aimed at teenage girls. It ran from 2007 to 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Castellucci</span> Canadian musician, American fiction writer

Cecil C. Castellucci, also known as Cecil Seaskull, is an American-born Canadian young adult novelist, indie rocker, and director. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Lasky</span> American alternative cartoonist

David Lasky is an alternative cartoonist based in Seattle, Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faust (comics)</span> American series of comics by David Quinn & Tim Vigil

Faust is the lead superhero character and title of a collective series of comic books by Tim Vigil (art) and playwright David Quinn (stories), released by American publishers Northstar Publishing, Avatar Press, and principally by Vigil and Quinn's own Rebel Studios.

<i>Wizzywig</i> American comic book series by Ed Piskor

Wizzywig is an American comic book series written and drawn by Ed Piskor. It deals with Kevin J. "Boingthump" Phenicle, Jr. a young prodigy who becomes fascinated with social engineering, phone phreaking, and eventually computer hacking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Van Sciver</span> American cartoonist

Noah Van Sciver is an independent American cartoonist who resides in Columbia, South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Piskor</span> American alternative comics artist (1982–2024)

Edward R. Piskor Jr. was an American alternative comics cartoonist. Piskor was known primarily for his work on Hip Hop Family Tree, X-Men: Grand Design, and the Red Room trilogy. Piskor also co-hosted the YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe with fellow Pittsburgh native cartoonist Jim Rugg. In March 2024, Piskor was accused via social media of sexual misconduct. Piskor died on April 1, 2024, at the age of 41, hours after posting a suicide note via social media, defending himself against the allegations leveled against him.

Notable events of 2013 in webcomics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Valero-O'Connell</span> American illustrator and cartoonist

Rosemary Valero-O'Connell is an American illustrator and cartoonist. She is known for her work with DC Comics and BOOM! Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Wimberly</span> American cartoonist and illustrator (born 1979)

Ronald Wimberly is an American cartoonist. He has published several graphic novels, as well as shorter works for The New Yorker, DC/Vertigo, Nike, Marvel, Hill and Wang, and Dark Horse Comics. Wimberly was the 2016 Columbus Museum of Art comics resident, and was a two-time resident cartoonist at Angoulême's Maison des Auteurs. He is the recipient of the 2008 Glyph Comics Award, and has been nominated for two Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Passmore</span> American comics artist and cartoonist

Ben Passmore is an American comics artist and political cartoonist.

X-Men: Grand Design is an American comic book series by Ed Piskor featuring the X-Men and published by Marvel Comics in 2018–2019. The series — composed of three 2-issue limited series — abridges and condenses four decades of X-Men-related canon from 1963 to the late 1980s.

References

  1. ↑ Valenti, Kristy (2011-08-10). "The Jim Rugg Interview". The Comics Journal . ISSN   0194-7869 . Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 White, Adam. "The Jim Rugg Experience," Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine ComicCritique.com (2005).
  3. 1 2 3 Smith, Zack. "Soul comics: Jim Rugg discusses Afrodisiac," Archived 2011-06-17 at the Wayback Machine IndyWeek.com (Feb. 3, 2010).
  4. ↑ Roe, Mike (April 1, 2024). "Ed Piskor, 'Hip Hop Family Tree' Comic Book Artist, Dies at 41". TheWrap . Archived from the original on Apr 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  5. ↑ Popkin (January 26, 2023). "Peter Laird does a once-in-a-lifetime interview about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Cartoonist Kayfabe youtube channel". Boing Boing.
  6. ↑ "Pittsburgh cartoonists Ed Piskor, Jim Rugg win Eisner Awards". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  7. ↑ "Hulk Grand Design Monster #1 (Jan220934)". www.previewsworld.com. Retrieved 2022-03-30.
  8. ↑ "Hulk Grand Design Madness #1 (Feb220882)". www.previewsworld.com. Retrieved 2022-04-27.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.