 |
Jacob Pander (born January 26, 1965) [1] and Arnold Pander (born June 16, 1967), [2] known commercially as The Pander Brothers, [3] are American comic book creators, artists, and filmmakers. They are best known for their work on the comics titles Grendel: Devil's Legacy, [4] Batman: City of Light, [5] The Batman Chronicles, and Girlfiend. [6]
The Pander Brothers first came to prominence with their artwork on Matt Wagner's Grendel (comics) [Volume Two] issues 1-12 (collected as Grendel:Devil's Legacy), from Comico. They later illustrated the 1990 series Exquisite Corpse, [7] from Dark Horse Comics written by Jerry Prosser about the tragic and violent life of a serial killer, the three issue series can be read in any order. Depending on the order the reader chooses, they are left with varying impressions of the main character.
In 1994, they released Triple-X International, a comic series from Dark Horse. [8] It tells the story of a young American dissident hiding out in futuristic Amsterdam to avoid persecution after New York City falls under martial law, only to find that his refuge is about to explode into revolution. Triple-X was re-released in 1997 as a collected graphic novel.
In 1997, Arnold Pander illustrated Jack Zero, a short story series from Dark Horse. The five-part series appeared in Dark Horse Presents 121-125 and was co-authored by New York Performance artist Joel Blumsack (aka Zeroboy). [9] [10]
The following year, in 1998, the brothers released the Secret Broadcast comic, which included CD soundtrack companion, with Oni Press. Originally printed in Oni Double Feature #1&2, Secret Broadcast combined story and music to tell the story of a pirate radio broadcaster on the run from the FCC. The track numbers in the panels of the comics corresponded to tracks on the companion soundtrack. The book went through three printings, and music videos from the CD appeared on MTV AMP. It was originally released in print with Jay and Silent Bob by Matt Wagner. [11] [12]
In 1999, the Panders wrote and illustrated a short story for DC Comics' "Elseworlds" title, Batman Chronicles, entitled "Apocalypse Girl." Batman must track down a girl from an anti-matter dimension who destroys anything that comes into contact with her.
The Panders illustrated the four issue miniseries Accelerate from DC/Vertigo in 2000. Written by sci-fi novelist Richard Kadrey, the comic explores a speculative future Los Angeles where marginalized citizens have become "Tribes" in an economically polarized society. Accelerate was reprinted as a graphic novel in 2007 through Image Comics and was remastered in 2014 for digital release on Comixology.
In 2004, the Pander Brothers co-authored the 8 issue miniseries Batman: City of Light for DC Comics with writer Mark Paniccia. In the story, illustrated by the Panders with inks by Alvaro Lopez, Batman goes into hiatus after the fatal injury of a young man.
In 2009, Arnold Pander co-authored and illustrated the graphic novel Tasty Bullet for Image Comics. Co-authored by conspiracy theory historian Jonathan Vankin, Tasty Bullet is an exploration of the darker underbelly of product testing, fame building, and corporate espionage. [13] The Pander Brothers promoted the book by creating an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) involving a hacked website, blogs written by “relatives” of victims suffering from the drink's side effects, a militant anti Tasty Bullet site devoted to revealing the conspiracy, and YouTube videos of "real" ads from Japan, Eastern Europe, and India featuring the original 1990s drink "Tasty" that inspired the graphic novel. [14]
In 2012, a remastered digital version of the Secret Broadcast comic with additional story was released on Comixology, along with a new soundtrack called Secret Broadcast Redux that was released digitally on DECOY Recordings through InGrooves/Fontana. [15]
In 2015, the brothers returned to comics with Girlfiend, a graphic novel released by Dark Horse Comics. The 270-page romance horror follows the story of a runaway vampire named Karina and her mortal lover Nick who hunt down the criminal underworld to keep Karina fed and appease Nick's ethical boundaries. [16]
During their comics career, the Pander Brothers have been nominated for several awards, including the Eisner Award for groundbreaking artwork in the comics medium. [17]
The brothers' film work includes music videos, narrative shorts, and the 2008 feature film Selfless. Selfless premiered at the BendFilm Festival where it took top honors including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting actor (Mo Gallini), and Best Editing. [18] It also won Best Cinematography at the Albuquerque Film Festival in 2009. [19]
In 2015, they released the short film Subtext, in which all of the film's dialogue takes place over texting between the film's characters. [20] The Panders debuted the short online at the 2015 TechFest Northwest in Portland, Oregon, in August 2015. [21]
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on Daredevil, for which he created the character Elektra, and subsequent Daredevil: Born Again, The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Sin City, and 300.
Matt Wagner is an American comics artist and writer who is best known as the creator of the series Mage and Grendel.
Sam Kieth is an American comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel. Once considered a major contender on the American market, Comico went into bankruptcy in 1990, although it continued to sporadically publish books until 1997. In 2009, two of Comico's original founders launched an original webcomics site called CO2 Comics, which they explained was the reincarnation of Comico.
Grendel is a long-running series of comic books originally created by American author Matt Wagner. First published in 1982 by Comico, Wagner later moved publication of the series to Dark Horse. Originally a noir comic in the style of European titles such as Diabolik, it has evolved into, in Wagner's words, a study of the nature of aggression. In 2009, Hunter Rose was ranked as IGN's 88th-greatest villain of all time.
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.
Scott Morse is an American animator, filmmaker, and comic book artist/writer.
Andrew Watson is a British cartoonist and illustrator best known for the graphic novels Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day and his series Skeleton Key and Love Fights, published by Oni Press and Slave Labor Graphics.
Duncan Fegredo is a British comic book artist.
Nunzio DeFilippis is an American writer of comic books and television. He writes with his wife, Christina Weir, whom he met while they were both students at Vassar College.
Dean Motter is an illustrator, designer and writer who has worked for many years in Canada (Toronto) and the United States. He is best known for his album cover designs, two of which won Juno Awards. He is also the creator and designer of Mister X, one of the most influential "new-wave" comics of the 1980s.
Steven T. Seagle is an American writer who works in the comic book, television, film, live theater, video game and animation industries.
Cameron Stewart is a Canadian comic book creator. He first came to prominence when he collaborated as an illustrator with writer Grant Morrison, and he went on to illustrate Catwoman and co-write Batgirl. He won Eisner and Shuster Awards for his self-published mystery web comic Sin Titulo, and received an Eisner nomination for The Other Side. In 2020, he was the subject of numerous sexual misconduct accusations.
John K. Snyder III is a writer and illustrator of comic books and graphic novels. His work has been published in the pages of the underground press, most notably The Duckberg Times, and by independent comic book publishers, including Grendel for Dark Horse Comics. At DC Comics, Snyder has worked on titles such as Suicide Squad, Doctor Mid-Nite, Green Lantern, and Mister E. Snyder's latest project is as adapter/artist of the graphic novel adaptation of Lawrence Block's detective noir novel, 8 Million Ways to Die.
Tom Fowler is a Canadian cartoonist living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Steve Lieber is an American comic book illustrator known for his work on books such as Detective Comics and Hawkman, and the critically acclaimed miniseries Whiteout, which was adapted into a 2009 feature film starring Kate Beckinsale. His other works include the Eisner Award-winning sequel Whiteout: Melt, and the thrillers Shooters and Underground. With writer Nat Gertler, he co-authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel.
Cliff Chiang is an American comic book artist. Formerly an assistant editor at DC Comics, he is now an illustrator, known for his work on Human Target, Beware the Creeper and Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre, Green Arrow/Black Canary, Wonder Woman and Paper Girls.
Diana Schutz is a Canadian-born comic book editor, serving as editor in chief of Comico during its peak years, followed by a 25-year tenure at Dark Horse Comics. Some of the best-known works she has edited are Frank Miller's Sin City and 300, Matt Wagner's Grendel, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, and Paul Chadwick's Concrete. She was known to her letter-column readers as "Auntie Dydie". She was an adjunct instructor of comics history and criticism at Portland Community College.
Robert Schreck is an American comic book writer and editor. Schreck is best known for his influential role as editor and marketing director at Dark Horse Comics in the 1990s, co-founding Oni Press, and for his subsequent stint as editor for DC Comics. He is currently the Deputy Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Joëlle Jones is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for her work on Lady Killer, a series published in 2015–2017 by Dark Horse Comics, for her cover work on various Marvel Comics series, and for her work writing and illustrating DC Comics series including Batman and Catwoman.