Katie Skelly | |
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 Skelly speaking at the Small Press Expo in 2019 | |
| Born | February 5, 1985 |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | comics artist |
Katie Skelly is an American comics artist and illustrator. She is best known for her graphic novels My Pretty Vampire, Maids , and Nurse Nurse.
Katie Skelly was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her father's side of the family operated a newsstand in downtown Bethlehem and he brought her comics from the stand to read. She began drawing her own comics in high school, and after graduating from college, Skelly began her science fiction-themed, Barbarella -inspired series Nurse, Nurse. She received a B. A. in Art History from Syracuse University and followed it with graduate coursework at City College of New York. [1]
In 2017 Fantagraphics Books published Skelly's first hardcover graphic novel My Pretty Vampire, notable for its "dramatic colors" and "sense of mercurial motion". [2] Inspired by the Italian horror films of Dario Argento and the early work of comics illustrator Jean-Claude Forest, [3] the story follows a young vampire who escapes captivity by her brother to discover herself through surreal, sensual and often violent adventures in the modern world.
Skelly's other works include Operation Margarine (2014, Adhouse Books), for which she was awarded the inaugural Emerging Artist Prize at the Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Festival in 2015; [4] The Agency (2018, Fantagraphics Underground); and illustrations for the Alex de Campi penned Twisted Romance: Heartbreak Incorporated (2018, Image Comics), which received a 2019 Eisner Awards nomination for best anthology. [5]
Among her early works, Skelly self-published Nurse Nurse in chapter-sized installments until Sparkplug Comics founder Dylan Williams offered to publish the collected issues. Nurse Nurse was one of the last pieces Williams finished publishing before he died in 2011. [6]
Skelly has written and lectured about comics for The Comics Journal , the Center for Cartoon Studies, Fordham University, and The New School, among others. In 2017 she told NPR: "When I started drawing comics, it was to make my own reality. But now as an adult, I draw them to better understand why everyday life is extraordinary." [7]
Currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York, Skelly's biographical graphic novel Maids, based on the lives of convicted murderers Christine and Léa Papin, was published by Fantagraphics Books in October 2020. [8] Library Journal's advance review of the book discusses the "horror of the Papin sisters’ crimes," noting that Skelly's "perceptive examination of the complex bond between Catherine and Lea evokes incredible sympathy for the two nonetheless." [9]
Skelly's first solo exhibition Skellyworld ran at The Naughton Gallery at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland August 8 through October 6, 2019. [10] The show gave insights into Skelly's work and artistic process, exhibiting original drawings from all of her major published works, as well as paintings, sketchbooks, video projects, self-produced merchandise, and a 78-card tarot deck that she designed and illustrated. Exhibition curatorial notes listed Japanese comics, bandes dessinée , science fiction and B movies from the 1960s and 1970s as Skelly's inspirations, and noted that she "examines exploitation genres for transgressive elements" in her work.
Her art has also appeared in group exhibitions, including 18+ at Recspec Gallery in Austin, TX (2018); Speculative Skins at The Naughton Gallery (2018); From Panel to Panel X: C/Overt Movement in Comicana, at the Medialia Gallery in New York City (2014), and Karma-Con at the Rubin Museum of Art (2012).
Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee, which became a New York Times bestseller. She adapted and did the art for the short story "Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman, which also became a New York Times bestseller. Her books have received Eisner, Harvey, Bram Stoker, and International Horror Guild Awards.
Daniel Gillespie Clowes is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in Eightball, a solo anthology comic book series. An Eightball issue typically contained several short pieces and a chapter of a longer narrative that was later collected and published as a graphic novel, such as Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron (1993), Ghost World (1997), David Boring (2000) and Patience (2016). Clowes's illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Vogue, The Village Voice, and elsewhere. With filmmaker Terry Zwigoff, Clowes adapted Ghost World into a 2001 film and another Eightball story into the 2006 film, Art School Confidential. Clowes's comics, graphic novels, and films have received numerous awards, including a Pen Award for Outstanding Work in Graphic Literature, over a dozen Harvey and Eisner Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.
Darcy Megan Stanger, better known by the pen name Dame Darcy is an alternative cartoonist, fine artist, musician, cabaret performer, and animator/filmmaker. Her "Neo-Victorian" comic book series Meat Cake was published by Fantagraphics Books from 1993–2008. The Meat Cake Bible compilation was released in June 2016 and nominated for The Eisner Award July 2017. Vegan Love: Dating and Partnering for the Cruelty-Free Gal, with Fashion, Makeup & Wedding Tips, written by Maya Gottfried and illustrated by Dame Darcy, was the Silver Medalist winners of the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2018. Her self-published Tarot decks went viral world wide in 2012 with a second wave in 2018 for the Dame Darcy Mermaid Tarot Gold Edition deck and Queen Alice Tarot deck and were listed as Etsy Bestsellers in 2018. Dame Darcy's autobiographical graphic novel, Hi Jax & Hi Jinx , was published by Feral House in 2019
The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.
Jessica Abel is an American comic book writer and artist, known as the creator of such works as Life Sucks, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, Soundtrack, La Perdida, Mirror, Window, Radio: An Illustrated Guide, and the omnibus series Artbabe.
Peter Kuper is an American alternative comics artist and illustrator, best known for his autobiographical, political, and social observations.
Carol Tyler is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studio Prize, the Ohio Arts Council Excellence Award, and was declared a Master Cartoonist at the 2016 Cartoon Crossroads Columbus Festival at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
Trina Robbins is an American cartoonist. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first few female artists in that movement. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for and promoting female comics artists. In the 1980s, Robbins became the first woman to draw Wonder Woman comics. She is a member of the Will Eisner Hall of Fame.
Lorenzo Mattotti is an Italian comics artist as well as an illustrator. His illustrations have been published in magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Vogue, The New Yorker, Le Monde and Vanity Fair. In comics, Mattotti won an Eisner Award in 2003 for his Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde graphic novel.
Renée French is an American comics writer and illustrator and, under the pen name Rainy Dohaney, a children's book author, and exhibiting artist.
Linda Medley is an American comic book author and illustrator, known for her Castle Waiting series of comic books and graphic novels.
Lucy Knisley is an American comic artist and musician. Her work is often autobiographical, and food is a common theme.
Eleanor McCutcheon Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator.
Craig Yoe is an author, editor, art director, graphic designer, cartoonist and comics historian, best known for his Yoe! Studio creations and his line of Yoe! Books.
Katie Cook is an American comic artist and writer, currently employed by IDW Publishing. She writes the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic and is also known for her webcomics, Gronk and Nothing Special.
Joan Hilty is an American cartoonist, educator, and comic book editor. She was a Senior Editor for mainstream publisher DC Comics and currently works for Nickelodeon as Editorial Director for graphic novels, comics, and legacy properties. Hilty works independently as both a writer-artist and editor.
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the debut graphic novel of Emil Ferris. It portrays a young girl named Karen Reyes investigating the death of her neighbor in 1960s Chicago. Ferris started working on the graphic novel after contracting West Nile virus and becoming paralyzed at age 40. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for writing and began the graphic novel to help her recover in 2010, taking six years to create 700 pages. The graphic novel draws on Ferris's childhood growing up in Chicago, and her love of monsters and horror media. The process of creating the work was difficult, with Ferris working long hours, living frugally, and encountering publishing setbacks, the cancelation of the book by one publisher, and the temporary seizure of the first volume's printing at the Panama Canal.
Julia Gfrörer is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and author. Her work is often transgressive, invoking occult themes within an ambience of subtly observed historicist concerns, in narratives generally characterized by "mumblecore dialogue, persistent overtones of horror and suffering, and unapologetic sexuality." She's been hailed as "one of the most promising artists of her generation" by Phoebe Gloeckner.
Sparkplug Comic Books is a defunct publisher and distributor of alternative comics founded by cartoonist Dylan Williams. Based in Portland, Oregon, the company operated from 2002 to 2016. The publisher's backlist is now handled by Alternative Comics.
Maids is a 2020 graphic novel by Katie Skelly. It is about Christine and Léa Papin's 1933 murder of Genevieve and Léonie Lancelin.
Acclaimed cartoonist Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets) appeared in conversation with artist Katie Skelly... Skelly said her next book, Maids, will be about the Papin sisters, French maids who committed a grisly murder in the 1930s. It’s due from Fantagraphics in 2020.
Inspired by gekiga, giallo, bande dessinée, science fiction comics, and B movies from the ‘60s and ‘70s, Skelly’s work examines exploitation genres for transgressive elements. Through her female protagonists, Skelly normalises all manner of female sensuality, encouraging confidence, sense of self, or the power to erase one's self and become an agent, an alias, or a woman on the run.
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