Art Adams
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Arthur "Art" Adams, born in 1963 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, is an American writer and comic book illustrator.
A self-taught artist, Adams wanted to work in comics since his childhood. He became a fan favorite when, starting at the age of 19, he penciled the critically-acclaimed Longshot miniseries, written by Ann Nocenti and published in 1985 by Marvel Comics. Adams' highly distinctive and detailed artwork gained him considerable popularity, and he found it easy to find further work in the field. However, the labor-intensive nature of his detailed style of artwork meant that Adams did not find it easy to provide on the short deadlines often found in the comics industry, which has led to him working on miniseries, specials, and annuals, but never working as the illustrator of a regular title for an extended period of time. Exceptions to this include a 1989 two-issue run on X-Factor, and a 1990 three-issue run on Fantastic Four. He also had an ten-issue run on Tom Strong's Terrific Tales (2002-2004), which being an anthology, required only eight pages from him for each issue.
Adams' distinctive style has often been named as a considerable influence among a newer generation of popular comic book artists. Adams was also one of the founders of the short-lived Legend imprint for Dark Horse Comics. The consistently popular Adams has worked on many notable series, including various X-Men titles, Fantastic Four, The Authority, Tom Strong, Gen¹³, as well as numerous annuals. He is also known for Art Adams' Creature Features, a collection of previously published stories that paid tribute to various B-movie monsters, published by Dark Horse Comics. Some of the stories had been originally published in black and white, but they were colored for the collection. Along with writer Steve Moore, Adams is the co-creator of Jonni Future, a popular character in Tom Strong's Terrific Tales.
Most of Adams' work has been on properties owned by others, but he is also the author of the creator-owned series Monkeyman and O'Brien, also published by Dark Horse.
Adams is also a highly-regarded cover artist, and he has provided cover images for issues of Superman, Batman, Justice League of America and Vampirella, among other titles. In addition to his work on comics themselves, he has also produced popular commercial art, such as numerous illustrations for trading cards, posters, shirts, and various other comics-related merchandise. Outside the field of comics, he has also provided illustrations for various magazines, movies, games, worked in toy design, and even a series of X-Men-themed Campbell Soup cans.
[edit] Awards
His work on Longshot won him the Russ Manning Award in 1986. He also won, with writer Bob Burden, the 1988 Best Single Issue Eisner Award for Gumby Summer Fun Special #1.
[edit] Selected works
- New Mutants Special Edition #1 (1985)
