| P. Craig Russell | |
|---|---|
 P. Craig Russell by Michael Netzer, 2005 | |
| Born | Philip Craig Russell October 30, 1951 Wellsville, Ohio |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer, Penciller, Inker |
Philip Craig Russell (born October 30, 1951) is an American comics artist, writer, and illustrator. His work has won multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards. Russell was the fourth mainstream comic book creator to come out as openly gay, following Andy Mangels in 1988, Craig Hamilton in 1989, and Eric Shanower in 1990. [1] [2]
Philip Craig Russell was born October 30, 1951 [3] in Wellsville, Ohio. [4] He entered the comics industry in 1972 [5] as an assistant to Dan Adkins. [6] [7] Russell first became well known with his 11–issue Amazing Adventures run and subsequent graphic novel featuring Killraven, hero of a future version of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds , collaborating with writer Don McGregor. [8] Comics historian Peter Sanderson wrote that, "McGregor's finest artistic collaborator on the series was P. Craig Russell, whose sensitive, elaborate artwork, evocative of Art Nouveau illustration, gave the landscape of Killraven's America a nostalgic, pastoral feel, and the Martian architecture the look of futuristic castles." [9] At DC Comics, Russell inked Batman stories in Batman Family and Detective Comics over the pencils of Michael Golden [7] and Jim Starlin respectively. [10]
Withdrawing for a while from mainstream comics, Russell produced a number of experimental strips, many of which were later published in his Night Music series and in Epic Illustrated . [7]
Russell's first Elric story, the Roy Thomas scripted "The Dreaming City", was published by Marvel Comics in 1982 as Marvel Graphic Novel #2, following initial publication of the first half of the graphic novel in Epic Illustrated. For the next series, "Elric of Melnibone", also written by Roy Thomas, Russell shared art duties with Michael T. Gilbert. This story was published by Pacific Comics as Elric issues #1–6 in 1983–1984. Russell did not return to Elric until 1997 when he collaborated directly with Michael Moorcock on Elric: Stormbringer, co-published by Dark Horse Comics and Topps Comics. [7]
In 1984, Russell began Night Music , an ongoing anthology series for Eclipse Comics featuring some of his most heralded literary and operatic adaptations. Russell has previously used the same title for a black and white collection of the earliest of these works, published by Eclipse Comics. Included in this series was "The King's Ankus", adapted from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. Russell had previously inked a number of Jungle Book adaptations drawn by Gil Kane, published in Marvel Fanfare #8–11 (May–Nov. 1983). The series included "Pelleas & Melisande", adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name which had been turned into an opera by Claude Debussy, and "Salome" adapted from Oscar Wilde's play of the same name which was the basis for Richard Strauss's opera. Opera would continue to resurface in Russell's work, including a four-part adaptation of The Magic Flute, taken from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera. [7]
Russell inked Mike Mignola's pencils on the Phantom Stranger limited series in 1987. [11] Russell illustrated issue #50 of writer Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman . [12] [13] The story was titled "Ramadan" and was later included in the collection The Sandman: Fables and Reflections . Russell drew the first story in Gaiman's later Sandman graphic novel, Endless Nights , and adapted both Gaiman's short story "Murder Mysteries" and his children's book Coraline into comics form. [14] He has adapted another Gaiman Sandman work, Sandman: The Dream Hunters , and a Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian story, "The Jewels of Gwahlur". [7] Russell got involved with a collaborative art project with the Web-based artist group Kaleidospace in 1994. [15]
In 1991, Kent State University student Michael Mould began translating Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci into English for a comics adaptation, but died on USAir Flight 405 before he could complete it. Marc Andreyko finished Mould's translation as The Clowns, a one-shot written by Russell and illustrated by Galen Showman. Published in 1998 by Dark Horse Comics, The Clowns is dedicated in memory of Mould. [16]
Beginning in 2000, Dark Horse Comics published Russell's adaptation of Richard Wagner's operatic cycle, The Ring of the Nibelung as 14 comic books; in 2001, the series won two Eisner Awards: for Best Finite Series/Limited Series, and for Best Artist/Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team. The series since been published as a single-volume hardcover book. [17] He has adapted the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde into comic-book albums from NBM Publishing. [7]
In December 2007, Desperado published The Art of P. Craig Russell, a 256-page retrospective of Russell's career. It was nominated for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book. [18] A documentary feature about the artist, Night Music: The Art of P. Craig Russell, premiered at the 2008 Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio. [19]
In November 2015, Wayne Alan Harold Productions published the P. Craig Russell Sketchbook Archives, a 250-page hardcover art book featuring the best of Russell's personal sketchbooks. [20] The same publisher is currently creating an Artist's Edition-type line of 12" x 17" hardcovers that reproduce Russell's original art at full-size,." [21]
From early in his career, Russell has numbered his works in the order in which they were drawn, similar to the treatment of works by classical musical composers. The works are usually labeled somewhere within the art with the word "Opus" (or an abbreviation thereof) and its corresponding number. [29]
Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.
Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and the novels Good Omens, Stardust, Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He co-created the TV series adaptations of Good Omens and The Sandman.
Bryan Talbot is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire, as well as the Grandville series of books. He collaborated with his wife, Mary M. Talbot to produce Dotter of Her Father's Eyes, which won the 2012 Costa biography award.
Matt Wagner is an American comics artist and writer who is best known as the creator of the series Mage and Grendel.
The inker is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.
Vincent Patrick Deighan, better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman, and Batman and Robin, as well as his work with Mark Millar on The Authority and Jupiter's Legacy.
Nelson Alexander Ross is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He has since done a variety of projects for both Marvel and DC Comics, such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, which he also cowrote. Since then he has done covers and character designs for Busiek's series Astro City, and various projects for Dynamite Entertainment. His feature film work includes concept and narrative art for Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004), and DVD packaging art for the M. Night Shyamalan film Unbreakable (2000). He has done covers for TV Guide, promotional artwork for the Academy Awards, posters and packaging design for video games, and his renditions of superheroes have been merchandised as action figures.
Michael Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer best known for creating Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and various spin-offs. He has also created other supernatural and paranormal themed titles for Dark Horse including Baltimore, Joe Golem, and The Amazing Screw-On Head.
Michael Dalton "Mike" Allred is an American comic book artist and writer. He is most well known for his independent comics creation Madman and for co-creating and drawing the comic book series iZombie. His work often draws upon pop art, as well as commercial and comic art of the 1950s and 1960s.
Walter Simonson is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' Thor from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned work Star Slammers, which he inaugurated in 1972 as a Rhode Island School of Design thesis. He has also worked on other Marvel titles such as X-Factor and Fantastic Four, on DC Comics books including Detective Comics, Manhunter, Metal Men and Orion, and on licensed properties such as Star Wars, Alien, Battlestar Galactica and Robocop vs. Terminator.
Michael Zulli was an American artist known for his work as an animal and wildlife illustrator and as a comic book illustrator. Best known for his work on the Sandman.
Jill Thompson is an American illustrator and writer who has worked for stage, film, and television. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman as well.
James H. Williams III, usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is an American comics artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as Chase, Promethea, Desolation Jones,Batwoman, and The Sandman: Overture.
Teddy Kristiansen is a Danish comic book artist, known for his work in mystery, horror, and dark, suspense-filled comics. He drew one chapter of "The Kindly Ones" story arc in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series. In 2005, Kristiansen won an Eisner Award for Best Comics Painter for his work on the Superman Graphic Novel It's a Bird.... Kristiansen was also featured in DC's 8th issue of Solo.
Gene Ha is an American comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among others. He has also drawn Global Frequency and has drawn covers for Wizard and Marvel Comics.
Charles Eber "Chic" Stone was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age inkers, including his landmark run of Fantastic Four.
Kelley Jones is an American comics artist best known for his work on Batman with writer Doug Moench and on The Sandman with writer Neil Gaiman.
Michael Terry Gilbert is an American comic book artist and writer who has worked for both mainstream and underground comic book companies.
Steve Leialoha is an American comics artist whose work first came to prominence in the 1970s. He has worked primarily as an inker, though occasionally as a penciller, for several publishers, including Marvel Comics and later DC Comics.
P. Craig Russell, a native of Wellsville, Ohio
McGregor began his memorable collaboration with artist P. Craig Russell in issue #27.
{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)...and another Batman adventure by writer/layout artist Jim Starlin and finisher P. Craig Russell.
{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
