Brian Wood

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Brian Wood (1972—) is a writer, illustrator, and graphic designer living in Brooklyn, New York. He is known primarily as a comic book creator; Wood both writes and illustrates graphic novels and serialized monthly comic books for a variety of publishers.

During his comics career, Wood held a day job for several years as a staff designer for Rockstar Games, designing for video game franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Midnight Club and Manhunt. He is also one of the most distinctive graphic designers in the comics industry, having designed covers for Warren Ellis's Global Frequency, as well his own DMZ and others.

Wood's illustrations have appeared in Punk Planet, Bail Magazine, The SF Bay Guardian, and short films for Nike.

Contents 1 Career in Comics 2 Bibliography 2.1 Comics & Graphic Novels 2.2 Short Comics 2.3 Design 2.4 Film 3 Awards 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Career in Comics

Born in Essex Junction, Vermont, Wood went on to graduate from Parsons School of Design in 1997 with a Bachelor's Degree in Illustration. His first professional work in comics was the 5-issue miniseries Channel Zero, published by Image Comics in 1997. Channel Zero is set in a dystopian near-future New York City where the tenets of Mayor Giuliani have grown into a freedom-restricting government initiative called 'The Clean Act'. The protagonist is Jennie 2.5, a former media personality who becomes an information terrorist and enemy of the United States Government.

Wood has worked a lot with San Francisco-based independent comics publisher AiT/PlanetLar, as they currently publish Demo, Channel Zero and others, keeping many of his earliest works in print. He's done extensive graphic design work for the company, including their current logo and branding. His final book with the publisher was the collected Demo.

In August 2006, DC announced that Brian Wood has been signed to an exclusive 2-year contract.^[1] This contract allows for Wood to complete his current commitments to other publishers, such as Local at Oni Press, and Dogs Day End with Top Shelf.

Wood currently writes and produces covers for DMZ, an ongoing series published by DC/Vertigo, and 12-issue series Local, published by Oni Press. His next major work, announced at the same time as his DC exclusive, will be an ongoing Vertigo series about Vikings, entitled Northlanders.^[1]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Comics & Graphic Novels

• Channel Zero:
  • Channel Zero (1997), originally published by Image Comics; later reissued by AiT/PlanetLar
  • Jennie One (2003), AiT/PlanetLar graphic novel, illustrated by Becky Cloonan
  • Public Domain: A Channel Zero Designbook (2002)

• Couscous Express (2002), AiT/PlanetLar graphic novel, illustrated by Brett Weldele
• Generation X #63–75 (2000), Marvel Comics, illustrated by Steve Pugh and others; partly co-written by Warren Ellis
• Vampirella/Witchblade #1: Brooklyn Bounce (2003), illustrated by Steve Pugh.
• Pounded (2003), 3-issue Oni Press series, later collected in trade paperback, illustrated by Steve Rolston
• Fight For Tomorrow (2003), 6-issue Vertigo series, illustrated by Denys Cowan & Kent Williams

• The Couriers:
  • The Couriers (2003), AiT/PlanetLar graphic novel, illustrated by Rob G.
  • Dirtbike Manifesto (2004)AiT/PlanetLar graphic novel, illustrated by Rob G
  • The Ballad of Johnny Funwrecker (2005), AiT/PlanetLar graphic novel, illustrated by Rob G

• Demo (2003–2005), AiT/PlanetLar, 12-issue series, later collected in trade paperback; illustrated by Becky Cloonan
• Demo: The Twelve Original Scripts (2004), AiT/PlanetLar, with illustrations by Becky Cloonan
• The Tourist (2006), Image Comics graphic novel, illustrated by Toby Cypress
• Supermarket (2006), 4-issue IDW Publishing series, later collected in trade paperback, illustrated by Kristian Donaldson
• DMZ (2005– ), ongoing Vertigo series, illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli & Brian Wood
• Local (2005–2006) illustrated by Ryan Kelly, lettered by Hope Larson & Bryan Lee O'Malley.
• Dogs Day End (2007) graphic novel for Top Shelf, illustrated by Matthew Woodson, not yet released
• Northlanders (2007– ), ongoing Vertigo series, not yet released

[edit] Short Comics

• Wiffle, illustrated by Ryan Yount
• The Watcher appeared in AdHouse Books's Project: Superior Anthology
• Transmetropolitan: I Hate It Here single page illustration; written by Warren Ellis
• And What I Ate When I Got There appeared in Ragtag #3

[edit] Design

• 14 cover designs for the comic series Global Frequency
• Logos for Warren Ellis' comics forum The Engine
• Public Domain: A Channel Zero Designbook (2002)
• Logos and art direction (2003-04) for San Francisco-based publishing company AiT-PlanetLar
• Package design for Rockstar Games's Manhunt, Midnight Club, Smugglers Run, Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, State of Emergency, Max Payne.
• Package design for Eidos's Backyard Wrestling 2
• Logo design for Sandbox Strategies, artbomb.net, ComicBookDB.com
• Book designs for 1000 Steps To World Domination, Bad Mojo, Blackheart Billy, Tales From Fish Camp
• Web designer for ivillage.com, nerve.com, neoplanet.com, agency.com

[edit] Film

• Future Imperfect, producer / production manager.

[edit] Awards

• Eisner Award Nomination for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition (2004)
• Eisner Award Nomination for Best Cover Artist (for Global Frequency) (2004)
• Eisner Award Nomination for Best Single Issue (Demo #7) (2005)
• Eisner Award Nomination for Best Limited Series (Demo) (2005)

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} "WW: Chicago '06: Brian Wood Announces DC Exclusive / New Vertigo Ongoing". Newsarama. Retrieved on September 10, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Brian Wood's homepage
• Brian Wood's blog at LiveJournal
• Brian Wood's T-Shirt Line
• Local Workblog
• DMZ Workblog
• Brian Wood's work on ComicBookDB.com

Preceded by Jay Faerber

Generation X writer 2000–2001 (with Warren Ellis in 2000)

Succeeded by None