Paul Smith (comics)

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X-Men cover by Paul Smith and John Sibal.

Paul Smith (born September 4, 1953) is an American comic book artist.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Career
2 References
3 External Links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but only lived there three days. His father was a U.S. Naval aviator, and the family moved several times during his childhood. As a young comics fan, Smith particularly admired the work of Steve Ditko on Spider-Man and Neal Adams on Batman.

[edit] Career

Smith had no formal art training aside from some course in airbrushing. Before becoming a professional comic book artist, Smith worked as an animator. In 1977, he began work on the animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. He also worked on Bakshi's film American Pop.

He first came to attention at Marvel Comics in the early 1980s, where a series of fill-ins on various Marvel titles led to him being named the new artist on Doctor Strange. But after a mere two issues he left that title to replace Dave Cockrum on Uncanny X-Men, then the biggest-selling US comic. He left less than a year later, moving back to Doctor Strange. However, Smith's brief run on X-Men left a large impact and most of it was later reprinted in the From the Ashes trade paperback. Smith's would briefly revisit the X-Men, drawing the X-Men / Alpha Flight limited series as well as a brief stint on the X-Men spin-off X-Factor. Since the mid 1980s Smith has worked as an artist on a range of comics titles, including work for the X-Men stable.

Perhaps his best-known work outside of the X-Men are The Golden Age and the young adults comic Leave It to Chance, both collaborations with writer James Robinson. Smith has also contributed art to a number of First Comics titles including American Flagg!, Nexus, and GrimJack.

Among Smith's most recent work is the Kitty Pride: Shadow and Flame limited series written by Akira Yoshida.

[edit] References

Thompson, Kim. "Maidens, Mutants, and Mages: Paul Smith Climbs the Stairway to Stardom . . . Ten Steps at a Time!" Interview with Paul Smith. Amazing Heroes #12 (June 1982).