Paul Ryan (comics)

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Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan at That's Entertainment comic shop, Worcester MA in 2006.
Born 1949
Massachusetts, USA
Nationality American
Area(s) Comics illustrator
Notable works DP7
Fantastic Four
The Phantom

Paul Ryan (born in 1949 in Massachusetts) is an American comic book and comic strip artist. Ryan has worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comics. He currently pencils and inks the daily and Sunday comic strip The Phantom for King Features Syndicate.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Paul Ryan attended St. Polycarp Grammar School (Somerville, MA) and graduated from St. Mary of the Annunciation High School in 1967. He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design. After graduation Ryan enlisted in the United States National Guard and was shipped to Fort Dix, NJ for Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) in automotive mechanics. He later attended Massachusetts Military Academy in Wakefield, Massachusetts for officer training.

During this period Ryan landed a job in the Graphics Department of Metcalf & Eddy Engineering in Boston, where he worked for 11 years.

[edit] First steps in comics

An article in the Boston Globe reports that "Ryan began his training as a child, growing up in Somerville. He'd park himself in front of the television each night to watch George Reeves in the Adventures of Superman[1] He has said that as a young comics fan and aspiring artist in the Silver Age, he was influenced by the work of Wayne Boring and Curt Swan on Superman. [2] In 1961, Ryan became a big fan of the Fantastic Four of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, having "bought the first issue at the tender age of 11." [3] He has also acknowledged that even as a youth he studied the work of Hal Foster, Sy Barry, Dan Barry, and Mac Raboy, adding "I'm pretty much influenced by anybody whose work I admire." [4]

It was not until 1983, however, that circumstances and opportunity prompted him to write and draw his first comics story, which he titled BREED. This comic was done in response to a general "open audition" offer from Charlton Comics. Charlton had recently instituted a program whereby they would publish the best of the work submitted by aspiring comic book artists in Charlton Bullseye. There was no money involved but Charlton would give the artist 50 copies of the printed piece. The artist would then have published work to show Marvel Comics or DC Comics in the hopes of landing a job with the Big Two. Charlton accepted Ryan's story but unfortunately the title was cancelled before BREED saw print.

The remaining stories from Bullseye ended up in the hands of Bill Black of Americomics in Florida, and Black published BREED. This brought Ryan to the attention of comic book stores in the Boston area. When Marvel Artist, Bob Layton, moved to Boston and needed an assistant, the employees at these stores recommended Paul Ryan to Layton. Ryan worked for Layton for a year doing his backgrounds, and through him met the editors and staff at Marvel. By this time Ryan, having taken a circuitous route toward a career in comic art, was in his early 30s.

Fantastic Four #358, art by Paul Ryan, © Marvel Characters, Inc.
Fantastic Four #358, art by Paul Ryan, © Marvel Characters, Inc.

[edit] Marvel Comics

Soon, Ryan was getting assignments of his own, starting with inking (The Thing #27 and #29) and then moving on to penciling (Iron Man #202, Squadron Supreme #6, 9, 10, 11, 12 , Eternals #12, and a Thor Graphic Novel).

In 1986, writer Mark Gruenwald and Ryan co-created DP7 for Marvel's New Universe imprint; this comic book series about "Displaced Paranormals" has much in common with the TV series Heroes, which first aired two decades after DP7.

Ryan penciled the first six issues of Quasar followed by work on Avengers, Avengers West Coast, Iron Man, and Ravage 2099 (a character which he co-created with Stan Lee). However, Ryan would be most strongly associated with the Fantastic Four for his notably long run on Marvel's flagship title, trailing only Jack Kirby and John Byrne in total number of issues drawn: his first issue was #356 (he had barely started the title when he drew the landmark 30th Anniversary issue, #358), and his last #414. In all, Ryan would rack up eleven years of comic book art exclusivity with Marvel Comics.

In 1992 Stan Lee asked Ryan to take over the penciling (with Joe Sinnott inking) on the Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strip distributed by King Features. He drew that popular feature for just over three years.

[edit] DC Comics and after

In 1996, Ryan's run on Fantastic Four was derailed by the Heroes Reborn event. Shortly after, Paul Ryan left Marvel to work for DC Comics. He penciled a Superman Annual, Legends of the Dead Earth, the Flash series, Batman and many other titles. He also regularly pencilled Superman, Man of Tomorrow as well as several fill-in assignments on other Superman titles.

Paul Ryan became the only artist to have contributed to the wedding issues of both Spider-Man (Peter Parker marrying Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, 1987), and Superman (Clark Kent marrying Lois Lane in Superman: The Wedding Album, published in 1996).

Egmont's Fantomen (Phantom) cover art by Paul Ryan, © Egmont Publishing
Egmont's Fantomen (Phantom) cover art by Paul Ryan, © Egmont Publishing

He was a contributing artist on the NASCAR/Superman custom comic and on Celebrating the Century, a stamp collecting book that DC produced for the United States Postal Service.

Ryan briefly returned to Marvel in 1999, teaming with writer Tom DeFalco on the Fantastic Five. The turn of the Millennium found Ryan working with Wildstorm, penciling one of the Left Behind (comic) Graphic Novels, and working with Crossgen as a regular fill-in artist on such titles as Ruse and Crux. Ryan also became a regular contibutor to The Phantom or Fantomen Comic Books published by Swedish company Egmont (a job which would position him well for his next major assignment).

[edit] The Phantom

The Phantom comic strip began as a weekday newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, with a color Sunday strip added in May of 1939. Many artists have illustrated the character's adventures in the decades since then. In 2005 then current artist George Olesen announced that he was going to retire. Jay Kennedy at King Features Syndicate asked Paul Ryan to assume the artist's role on the daily strips. He agreed. Then in October of 2006 Graham Nolan, artist on The Phantom Sunday Strip, announced his intended departure from the series. Once again Kennedy called, and Ryan agreed to add the Sunday strip to his duties for King Features, with his first Sunday appearing in newspapers on April 1, 2007.

The Phantom daily strip from 2006. Art by Paul Ryan, © King Features Syndicate.
The Phantom daily strip from 2006. Art by Paul Ryan, © King Features Syndicate.

[edit] Working methods

When asked how long it takes to produce his daily comic strip, Ryan estimated "four hours to pencil a strip and three hours to ink it in, crafting lighting and shadows." [5] Ryan's art is characterized by a strong story-telling sense, careful attention to design and perspective, and solid knowledge of anatomy-- on a strip that appears 365 days a year.

On The Phantom, Ryan begins with penciling only the line work. "I work out the lighting, shadows and texture in the inking stage. I go in with the brush first and hit all the shadows and large dark areas. This helps define the page. Then I go in with a finer brush or pen to add details, texture or contour lines." [6]

While Ryan keeps reference books handy, he gives more credit to observation-- and an artist's eye-- for his knowledge of human anatomy as well as the structure of the world around us. "Whenever I'm in any situation, I'll constantly try to memorize things. I'll memorize a face, a room, and actually mentally outline everything." [7]

Ryan confesses to having run around his neighborhood as a youngster with a make-shift Superman cape tied around his neck ("I got beat up a lot," he jokes), [8] and his emotional identification with comic characters has continued into his professional years: "I find that while I'm illustrating a story I become so focused that I feel as if I'm [actually] in the story, taking the part of each of the characters as I draw them," Ryan says. [9]

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Artist Draws on His Childhood Dreams, Published on: 2007-06-17, By Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  2. ^ WELCOME TO PAUL RYAN @ ADELAIDE COMICS AND BOOKS, Published on: 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  3. ^ Articles: Interview: Paul Ryan, Published on: 1997-05-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  4. ^ Talking with Paul Ryan, The new artist for The Phantom comic strip, Published on: 2006-04-07, By Ed Rhoades. Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
  5. ^ Artist Draws on His Childhood Dreams, Published on: 2007-06-17, By Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  6. ^ Talking with Paul Ryan, The new artist for The Phantom comic strip, Published on: 2006-04-07, By Ed Rhoades. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  7. ^ Artist Draws on His Childhood Dreams, Published on: June 17, 2007, By Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
  8. ^ WELCOME TO PAUL RYAN @ ADELAIDE COMICS AND BOOKS, Published on: 2003. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  9. ^ Artist Draws on His Childhood Dreams, Published on: June 17, 2007, By Susan Chaityn Lebovits, Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
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