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Graphic Novels: Writers and Artists

Welcome to the Graphic Novel research guide. Here you will find resources for all things related to comic books and graphic novels. Enjoy!

Gene Luen Yang

Gene Luen Yang  (August 9, 1973) is a Chinese American writer of graphic novels and comics. In 2006, Yang published American Born Chinese with and won the annual Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association recognizing the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It was also the first graphic novel to be a finalist for theNational Book Award, Young People's Literature, and it won an Eisner Award for best new graphic album.Yang is currently writing the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics series for Dark Horse Comics, the first volume of which was released in January 2012. Yang recently finished his new graphic novel, Boxers & Saints, which was published by First Second Books in September 2013.He tavels all over the world, speaking about graphic novels and comics at comic book conventions and universities, schools, and libraries. ~ from Wikipedia

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman
(10 November 1960)
is an English author of short fiction, illusions, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. Gaiman's writing has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker, as well as the 2009 Newbery Medal and 2010 Carnegie Medal in Literature. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work. - from Wikipedia

Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud (born Scott McLeod on June 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics, Understanding Comics (1993),Reinventing Comics (2000), and Making Comics (2006). McCloud created the light-hearted science fiction/superhero comic book series Zot! in 1984, in part as a reaction to the increasingly grim direction that superhero comics were taking in the 1980s.

He is best known as a comics theorist or, as some say, the "Aristotle of comics",following the publication in 1993 of Understanding Comics, a wide-ranging exploration of the definition, history, vocabulary, and methods of the medium of comics, itself in comics form.

McCloud was the principal author of the Creator's Bill of Rights, a 1988 document with the stated aim of protecting the rights of comic book creators and help aid against the exploitation of comic artists and writers by corporate work-for-hire practices.The Bill included twelve rights such as "The right to full ownership of what we fully create," and "The right to prompt payment of a fair and equitable share of profits derived from all of our creative work."

McCloud has won four Harvey Awards, an Eisner and a Kirby award. ~ from Wikipedia

Will Eisner

William Erwin "Will" Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series The Spirit (1940–1952) was noted for its experiments in content and form. In 1978, he popularized the term "graphic novel" with the publication of his book A Contract with God. He was an early contributor to formal comics studies with his book Comics and Sequential Art (1985). The Eisner Award was named in his honor, and is given to recognize achievements each year in the comics medium; he was one of the three inaugural inductees to the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. ~ from Wikipedia

Bob Kane

Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn; October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998) was an American comic book artist and writer credited as the creator of the DC Comics superhero Batman. He was inducted into both the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996. ~ from Wikipedia

Frank Miller

Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artistwriter and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels RoninDaredevil: Born AgainBatman: The Dark Knight ReturnsSin City and 300. He also directed the film version of The Spirit, shared directing duties with Robert Rodriguez on Sin City and produced the film 300. He's won several awards including the Eisner, Kirby and Harvey. ~  from Wikipedia

 

James (Jim) Steranko

James F. "Jim" Steranko (born November 5, 1938) is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator. His most famous comic book work was with the 1960s superspy feature "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." in Marvel Comics' Strange Tales and in the subsequent eponymous series. Steranko earned lasting acclaim for his innovations in sequential art during the Silver Age of Comic Books, particularly his infusion of surrealism, op art, and graphic design into the medium. His work has been published in many countries and his influence on the field has remained strong since his comics heyday. He went on to create book covers, become a comics historian who published a pioneering two-volume history of the birth and early years of comic books, and to create conceptual art and character designs for films including Raiders of the Lost Ark and Bram Stoker's Dracula.

He was inducted into the comic-book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006. ~ from Wikipedia

Stan Lee

Stan Lee (December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018)) was an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. In collaboration with several artists, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and many other fictional characters. In addition, he headed the first major successful challenge to the industry's censorship organization, the Comics Code Authority, and forced it to reform its policies.Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation. He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. - from Wikipedia

Alan Moore

Alan Oswald Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell Frequently described as the best comic writer in history, he has also been described as "one of the most important British writers of the last fifty years. He also developied America's Best Comics, an imprint through which he published works such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore has won numerous Jack Kirby Awards during his career, and has received the Eisner Award for Best Writer nine times since 1988. - from Wikipedia

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994), born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor. In 1941, Kirby and writer Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby would create a number of comics for various publishers, often teaming with Simon. In the 1960s, Kirby co-created many of Marvel Comics' major characters, including the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Hulk, along with writer-editor Stan Lee. In 1987, Kirby, along with Carl Barks and Will Eisner, was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. - from Wikipedia

Carl Barks

Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), the Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961). The quality of his scripts and drawings earned him the nicknames The Duck Man and The Good Duck Artist. Writer-artist Will Eisner called him "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books." In 1987, Barks was one of the three inaugural inductees of the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. - from Wikipedia