Mike Harris (comics)

Last updated
Mike Harris
BornMichael Jay Harris
1962
Queens, NY
NationalityAmerican
Area(s) Penciller, Artist, Inker, Colourist
Notable works
Web of Spider-Man, Punisher: War Zone, Cops: The Job

Michael Jay Harris (born 1962) is an American comic book artist who was active in the industry from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

Contents

Harris was able to use his personal interests in weapons and martial arts to establish himself as an illustrator for characters like The Punisher and G.I. Joe, and titles like Cops: The Job , and No Escape .

Biography

Harris attended New York City's Stuyvesant High School ('79) where he studied under Frank McCourt and School of Visual Arts, where he studied under Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Marshall Arisman, and Gil Stone; [1] Harris's influences included J. C. Leyendecker, Heinrich Kley, and Neal Adams. [1]

Breaking into the industry in 1985, Harris worked as a fill-in artist on several Marvel Comics titles, such as Web of Spider-Man, The 'Nam, Nomad, and Nova: Deathstorm. Harris (with writer David Michelinie) co-created the Spider-Man enemies Chance and Foreigner, both in Web of Spider-Man #15 (June 1986). Later, Harris contributed to Punisher War Zone, and Punisher War Journal, and illustrated the Marvel limited series Cops: The Job, No Escape , and Dragon Strike .

During the 1980s, before becoming a Marvel Comics regular, Harris also freelanced for DC Comics (where he illustrated, among others, All-Star Squadron), Comico, Deluxe Comics, Eclipse Comics, Fantagraphics, First Comics, and Harris Publications. In the mid-1990s, Harris worked for Tekno Comix/Big Entertainment on such titles as Lost Universe and Lady Justice .

During this period Harris also did some G.I. Joe mini-comics, which were packaged with the toys; and illustrated a Magnus, Robot Fighter trading card for Valiant Comics.

Leaving comic books in 1997, Harris moved on to the computer game and animation industries. While working at Interplay, his artwork for Max 2 was included in the Society of Illustrators 40th Annual Exhibition. Harris has had no significant comic book credits since 1999, but contributes Editorial Cartoons to the American Thinker online magazine on a regular basis.

Harris enlisted in the New York National Guard in 1986 as a 19D Cavalry Scout. He was selected for Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as an armored cavalry officer in 1988, and is proficient with a variety of small arms, armor weapons and demolitions. He is also a martial arts student, having studied judo, aikido, Taekwondo, and T'ang Soo Do. [2] He has served in a variety of positions with the Army Reserve and National Guard, and was assessed to the Active Guard Reserve program in 2004. Harris has served combat tours in Iraq and continued to produce artwork for the Army informally while working in operational assignments. He retired from the Army in 2016, at the rank of lieutenant colonel, with 30 years of active and reserve service.

Bibliography

Comics work includes:

Non-comics work includes:

Notes

  1. 1 2 Harris entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999.
  2. Harris bio, Punisher: The Prize (Marvel Comics, 1990).

Related Research Articles

<i>X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men</i> Television pilot

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men is an animated television pilot originally broadcast in 1989 on the Marvel Action Universe television block, featuring Marvel Comics' mutant superheroes of the X-Men. The pilot aired infrequently in syndication and was later released on video. It later served as the basis for Konami's X-Men arcade game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Arad</span> Israeli-American film producer (born 1948)

Avi Arad is an Israeli-American film producer who became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the chairman, CEO, and founder of Marvel Studios. Since then, he has produced and sometimes written a wide array of live-action, animated, and television comic book adaptations, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the 2018 Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Quesada</span> American comic book artist, writer

Joseph Quesada is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom. He later worked on numerous books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Batman: Sword of Azrael and X-Factor, before forming his own company, Event Comics, where he published his creator-owned character, Ash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Productions</span> Television and film studio

Marvel Productions, later known as New World Animation Ltd., was an American production company owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation which was founded in 1981 as the television and film studio subsidiary of the Marvel Entertainment Group, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It later became a subsidiary of New World Entertainment and eventually of News Corporation.

<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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Entertainment</span> American entertainment company

Marvel Entertainment, LLC was an American entertainment company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, formed by the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group and Toy Biz. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company since 2009, and was mainly known for consumer products, licensing, and comic books by Marvel Comics, as well as its early forays into films and television/streaming shows, including those within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Animation</span> Animation company

Marvel Animation Inc. is an American animation production company. It was incorporated on January 25, 2008 to direct Marvel's efforts in animation and home entertainment markets. The incorporated Marvel Animation included then ongoing animation efforts by Marvel Studios with Lionsgate and Nickelodeon. Marvel Animation operates under Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Disney Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company.

Jason Trent Pearson was an American comic book creator, known for his series Body Bags and for his dynamic illustration work on books featuring characters such as the Legion of Super-Heroes, Spider-Man, Batman, and Deadpool. He was one of the founding members of Gaijin Studios.

George Caragonne was an American comic book writer and editor, most notable for being co-founder of Penthouse Comix magazine. He committed suicide on July 20, 1995, by jumping off the 45th floor of the interior atrium of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.

<i>Marvel Action Universe</i>

Marvel Action Universe was a 1988–1991 weekly syndicated television block from Marvel Productions featuring animated adaptions of Dino-Riders and RoboCop, along with reruns of the 1981 Spider-Man cartoon and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paris Cullins</span> American comics artist

Paris Cullins is an American comics artist best known for his work on DC Comics' Blue Devil and Blue Beetle, and Hyperkind from the Marvel Comics imprint Razorline.

Horatio "Ray" Weisfeld is a writer/editor/publisher who co-founded mass-market comics magazines and developed other media properties. His creation of often irreverent commercial entertainment follows in the footsteps of his father, Irwin Weisfeld, a writer and manufacturer of ubiquitous mid-late '60s counterculture buttons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Salmons</span> American comic artist

Thomas Anthony "Tony" Salmons is an American alternative comic book artist, film storyboard artist, and character designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Fortier</span> American author

Ron Fortier is an American author, primarily known for his Green Hornet and The Terminator comic books and his revival of the pulp hero, Captain Hazzard. Early in his career he also wrote short stories and co-authored two novels for TSR.

Juan José Ryp is a Spanish comic book artist. After an early start in Spanish underground comics he has gone on to provide art for all the major American comic publishers, doing extensive work for Avatar Press, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and Image Comics. He has received critical acclaim for his intricately detailed pencil work and his meticulous draftsmanship, with a focus on action and the realism of environments and anatomy. His most notable works are his dark superhero collaborations with writer Warren Ellis, Black Summer and No Hero, his adaptation of Frank Miller's original script for RoboCop 2 with writer Steven Grant and the Britannia mini-series, a horror mystery set at the age of Nero, created with writer Peter Milligan.

Jan Steven Strnad is an American writer of comic books, horror, and science fiction. He is known for his many collaborations with artist Richard Corben, as well as his work in the Star Wars expanded universe, the majority of which has been published by Dark Horse Comics. He has also written for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Eclipse Comics, and Fantagraphics Books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. J. Henderson (writer)</span>

Chris "C. J." Henderson was an American writer of horror, hardboiled crime fiction and comic books, known for such works as the Piers Knight and Teddy London series. His comics work includes books for Marvel Comics and Valiant Comics.

Dave Hunt was an American comic book artist and fine art painter. Most active during the "Bronze Age" of American comics, he did inking for both DC and Marvel comics and Disney's comics. He was also an accomplished hyperrealist painter.

<i>The Amazing Spider-Man</i> 129 129th issue of The Amazing Spider-Man

The Amazing Spider-Man#129, with its subtitle being "The Punisher Strikes Twice!" is a 19-page-long single issue of the American comic book The Amazing Spider-Man, published by Marvel Comics in 1974. The issue is well known for being the first appearance of the character called the Punisher, who at that point in time was portrayed as an antagonist of Spider-Man but would later become one of Marvel's most popular and successful characters. The issue is also the first appearance of the Jackal, a supervillain who would go on to become one of Spider-Man's main adversaries and an integral part of the infamous mid-'90s Spider-Man storyline the Clone Saga.

Mark Beachum is an American comic book artist, writer, painter, publisher, photographer and filmmaker known for renditions of the female figure. Having worked for Marvel, DC, and Continuity, among others, his most notable credits include work in Web of Spiderman, Samuree, Vampirella, Penthouse Comix, Razmataz, Alienzkin and Supergurlz.

References

Mike Harris at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)