Tony Harris (artist)

Last updated
Tony Harris
Tony harris.jpg
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works
Starman , vol. 2
Ex Machina
JSA: Liberty File
JSA: Unholy Three
AwardsNominated for 19 Eisner Awards and winner of two
Official website

Tony Harris (born 1969) is an American comic book artist, known for his work on series such as Starman , Iron Man , and Ex Machina . He has been nominated for nineteen Eisner Awards and has won two. [1]

Contents

Career

Harris began his comics career in 1989. Initially, he flitted from assignment to assignment and worked on T-shirts and ads to pay the bills during dry spells in his comics work. He rose to prominence in 1994 with the publication of DC comics' Starman . Summarizing his career up to this point, he remarked "When you jump around as a freelancer, it's easy to have your attention span dwindle down to that of a gnat. When I got Starman, I had to buckle down and just get serious about the work." [2] Co-created with James Robinson, Starman led the two to critical acclaim and eventually an Eisner Award for the "Sand and Stars" story arc. [3]

After four and a half years on Starman, Harris left to pursue other projects but remained the cover artist on for another year and a half. During this time he was also one of the original members of Atlanta's Gaijin Studios.

He pencilled the series Ex Machina with Brian K. Vaughan, published by Wildstorm from 2004 to 2010, and War Heroes with Mark Millar, published by Image Comics, which has only had three issues published as of 2013. [4] In April 2010, Following the completion of Ex Machina, Harris announced that he and B. Clay Moore would produce a series called The Further Adventures of the Whistling Skull, this was later turned into JSA Liberty Files: The Whistling Skull, tying it into the earlier JSA Liberty Files stories he did, and the first issue saw print in December 2012. [5] [6] Concurrently with this, he launched a new series with Steve Niles, Chin Music, in April 2013, then a new creator-owned series, Roundeye: For Love. [7] [8] [9]

In the late 1990s he moved on to form Jolly Roger Studio, in Macon, Georgia.[ citation needed ]

Other works include keyframe animation and storyboards for Chevrolet commercial, illustration for Cartoon Network, product design and illustration for Universal's The Mummy .

Controversy

In November 2012, Harris posted a controversial essay about female cosplayers on his Facebook page, which drew congratulations from some of his fans, but criticism from others for being sexist. [10] [11] [12]

In April of 2013, Harris was paid by Comic Book Store Owner Mike McDaniel of Heroes and Villains in Warner Robins, Georgia, for a commission to honor Bert Christman, a Golden Age comic book creator who died in World War II. Despite repeated inquires by McDaniel on the status of the commission, Harris has not completed the work and McDaniel remains not refunded. McDaniel went public on his store's Facebook page in June of 2019 with the issue.

In October 2019, Harris had failed to deliver a $1200 commission to fan Seth Talley. Talley had paid for the commission seven years prior. Talley had reached out to Harris's agent, who reported that Harris had not worked on them. Comic news website "Bleeding Cool" reached out to Harris, who provided visual evidence of the commission, but then reported he would be destroying the piece rather than finishing it. After Bleeding Cool ran an article on the matter, Talley was repaid via the CashApp.

Technique

Harris makes extensive use of models and photo reference in his work, and composes panels featuring multiple characters with models he uses to represent specific characters. Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days , the first collected trade paperback of that series, featured a "Cast of Characters" page showing the 12 models that starred as the characters in that storyline, followed by a gallery showing how several excerpted pages from that story progressed from photo to pencil art to inks to colors. [13]

Awards

Bibliography

DC

Marvel

Other publishers

Notes

  1. Arts, Tony Harris. "Tony Harris Arts". Tony Harris Arts. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  2. Shapiro, Marc (August 1997). "Wizard Profile: Tony Harris". Wizard . No. 72. p. 208.
  3. 1 2 1997 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners at the Comic Book Awards Almanac
  4. A Week of War Heroes 1: The Art Side Archived 2012-08-29 at the Wayback Machine , Newsarama, May 5, 2008
  5. Renaud, Jeffrey (April 19, 2010). "Following 'The Further Adventures of the Whistling Skull'". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  6. Rogers, Vaneta (September 28, 2012). "Classic JSA Returns in WHISTLING SKULL". Newsarama.
  7. Lee, Gavin (March 31, 2012). "Why Tony Harris Won’t Talk About His New Project". Bleeding Cool.
  8. Johnston, Rich (January 18, 2013). "Image Solicitations: April 2013 – The Return Of Distant Soil, And The Start Of Chin Music, Miniature Jesus And Jupiter’s Legacy. Oh And Mighty Skullkickers.". Bleeding Cool.
  9. Phegley, Kiel (March 31, 2012). "ECCC12: Tony Harris Takes “ROUNDEYE” To Image". Comic Book Resources.
  10. Gallaher, Valerie (November 13, 2012). "Comic Artist Tony Harris Blasts Cosplay Girls: 'Yer Not Comics'". MTV News.
  11. Johnston, Rich (December 8, 2012). "Tony Harris Returns To Talk Cosplay". Bleeding Cool.
  12. Romano, Aja (November 13, 2012). "Sexist rants against 'fake geek girls' hit new low". The Daily Dot.
  13. Vaughan, Brian K.  ( w ),Tony Harris ( p ),Tom Feister ( i ). Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days ,vol. 1(2005). Wildstorm .
  14. 2005 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners at the Comic Book Awards Almanac

Related Research Articles

<i>Starman</i> (DC Comics) Fictional comics superhero

Starman is a name used by several different DC Comics superheroes, most prominently Ted Knight and his sons David and Jack.

<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.

William Douglas Oakley was a letterer for numerous comic books from Marvel, DC, and other companies. His most prominent works include the first two volumes of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Batman: Gotham Knights #1-11, #15-37.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Ross</span> American comic book artist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Buckingham (comic book artist)</span> British comic book artist

Mark Buckingham is a British comic book artist. He is best known for his work on Marvelman and Fables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cassaday</span> American comic book artist and writer (1971–2024)

John Cassaday was an American comic book artist, writer, and television director. He was best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis, Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Levitz</span> American comic book editor (born 1956)

Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002 to 2009, he worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles. Along with publisher Jenette Kahn and managing editor Dick Giordano, Levitz was responsible for hiring such writers as Marv Wolfman and Alan Moore, artists such as George Pérez, Keith Giffen, and John Byrne, and editor Karen Berger, who contributed to the 1980s revitalization of the company's line of comic book heroes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian K. Vaughan</span> American screenwriter, comic book creator

Brian K. Vaughan is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, Saga, and Paper Girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jae Lee</span> Korean American comics artist (born 1972)

Jae Lee is a Korean American comics artist known for his interior illustration and cover work for various publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, and Dynamite Entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Robinson (writer)</span> British writer of comic books and screenplays

James Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays best known for co-creating the character of Starman with Tony Harris and reviving the Justice Society of America in the late 1990s. His other notable works include the screenplay for the film adaptation of the Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the multi-year crossover storyline "Superman: New Krypton".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Gulacy</span> American comics artist (born 1953)

Paul Gulacy is an American comics artist best known for his work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, and for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises' 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor. He is most associated with Marvel's 1970s martial-arts and espionage series Master of Kung Fu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Zulli</span> American artist (1952–2024)

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlos Pacheco</span> Spanish comics artist and penciller (1961–2022)

Carlos Pacheco Perujo was a Spanish comics penciller. After breaking into the European market doing cover work for Planeta De Agostini, he gained recognition doing work for Marvel UK, the England-based branch of Marvel Comics, for his work on the Spider-Man magazine Dark Guard. He then began doing work for the American-based Marvel and DC Comics, where he was one of the first Spanish-born artists to make a major impact in that country, attaining popularity for his work on Avengers Forever, JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice, X-Men: Legacy, Fantastic Four, Green Lantern, and Captain America. He contributed to some high-profile storylines published by the Big Two, including 2009's "Final Crisis" at DC and 2013's "Age of Ultron" at Marvel.

JSA: The Liberty Files is a comic book published by DC Comics. The writers were Dan Jolley and Tony Harris. The artists were Harris and Ray Snyder. The books were originally written as two separate two-issue stories; JSA: The Liberty File in 2000 and a sequel, JSA: The Unholy Three in 2003. They were published as a single volume collection in 2004. In 2012, an additional sequel entitled JSA: The Liberty Files - The Whistling Skull debuted, again with Tony Harris, and featuring B. Clay Moore as the writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Ha</span> American comics artist and writer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Paul Leon</span> American comic book artist (1972–2021)

John Paul Leon was an American comic book artist, known for his work on the Milestone Comics series Static, and the Marvel Comics limited series Earth X.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Clay Moore</span> American comic book writer

B. Clay Moore is an American comic book author, best known for the series Hawaiian Dick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Staples</span> Canadian comic book artist

Fiona Staples is a Canadian comic book artist known for her work on books such as North 40, DV8: Gods and Monsters, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Archie, and Saga. She has been described as one of the best artists working in the industry today. She has won multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards.

Wade von Grawbadger is a comic book artist who is known mostly for his inking work for Marvel and DC comics. He is well known for his collaborations with Stuart Immonen.

References