Jill Thompson

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Jill Thompson (1966 - ) is a comic book writer and illustrator. Probably best known for her work on Neil Gaiman's Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has also worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing and Wonder Woman.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 The Sandman 2 Bibliography 2.1 Sandman Stories 2.2 Other comic books 2.3 Other material 3 Trivia 4 References

[edit] Biography

Thompson is a graduate of The American Academy of Art in Chicago^[1]. She has won multiple Eisner Awards, including in 2004 for "Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)" for her work on The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings,^[2] and in 2005 for "Best Short Story" for Unfamiliar (from The Dark Horse Book of the Dead ) with Evan Dorkin.^[3]

Thompson is married to fellow comic book writer Brian Azzarello, creator of 100 Bullets and former writer of Hellblazer and Batman. ^[1]

[edit] The Sandman

Jill Thompson illustrated The Sandman story arc Brief Lives (issues 41-49), and the individual Sandman issue "The Parliament of Rooks" (issue 40) in the Fables and Reflections collection. Within this tale she created the immensely popular characters of Li'l Death and Li'l Morpheus, child-like versions of two of the Endless based on classic comic characters Sugar and Spike; these were later given their own book.

She has since written and illustrated several stories featuring the Sandman characters; these include the manga-style book Death: At Death's Door (one of DC's best selling books of 2003)^[4] set during the events of Season of Mists, and the Li'l Endless Story Book, a children’s book using child-like versions of The Endless.

In 2005 Thompson wrote and illustrated The Dead Boy Detectives, an original graphic novel based on two minor characters from Season of Mists.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Sandman Stories

Written by Neil Gaiman

• "The Parliament of Rooks" in Fables and Reflections
• Brief Lives

Without Gaiman

• Death: At Death's Door (2003)
• The Dead Boy Detectives (2005)

[edit] Other comic books

• Fables - 1001 Nights of Snowfall
  • Fair Division
• Scary Godmother
  • Scary Godmother (1997)
  • Revenge of Jimmy (1998)
  • The Mystery Date (1999)
  • Boo Floo (2000)
  • Wild about Harry (2001)
  • Ghoul's Out for Summer (2003)
  • Spooktacular Stories (2004)

• The Invisibles
  • The Invisibles: Say You Want a Revolution (as Illustrator)
  • The Invisibles: Apocalipstick (as illustrator)

• Dark Horse anthologies
  • The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft
  • The Book of Hauntings
  • Badger: Shattered Mirror

• Books of Magic
  • Death After Death (as illustrator)

[edit] Other material

• The Curse of the Royal Ruby: A Rinnah Two Feathers Mystery (as illustrator)
• ''X-files: Afterflight (as illustrator)
• The Secret of Dead Man's Mine: A Rinnah Two Feathers Mystery (as illustrator)
• Mick Foley's Halloween Hijinx (as illustrator)

• Tales from Wrescal Lane (as illustrator)

[edit] Trivia

• The character Etain of the Second Look, from Brief Lives, and much of the contents of her flat, were based on Thompson herself. Thompson first came to the attention of Sandman creator Neil Gaiman when he was given a nude sketch of Death she had drawn for him to sign at a convention; he was impressed enough to ask her to illustrate for the series.
• The looks of the character Ragged Robin (from The Invisibles) and The Joker's Daughter (from Kingdom Come) were also based on Thompson's likeness.
• Many of Thompson's female characters bear a facial resemblance to Tori Amos.
• Thompson is a graduate of Chicago's famed Player's Workshop of the Second City, summer 1988. Her graduate show was held on the mainstage of Second City.

[edit] References