| Brent Anderson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brent Eric Anderson[1] June 15, 1955 San Jose, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Penciller, Artist |
| Notable works | X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Astro City |
| Awards | Inkpot Award, 1985 Harvey Award, 1996, 1997 Eisner Award, 1996–1998 |
| Official website | |
Brent Anderson (born June 15, 1955,[2] in San Jose, California) is an American comic book artist known for his work on X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills and the comic book series Astro City.
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In junior high school, Brent Anderson discovered the pantheon of characters in Marvel Comics. The first Marvel comic he read was Fantastic Four #69, "By Ben Betrayed" (Dec. 1967),[3] "They were a family who had super-powers and helped each other out. I wanted to be part of a family like that," he says.[4] Anderson began writing and drawing his own comics on school binder paper, creating a pantheon of his own that included "Radium the Robot" and "The Chameleon".[4]
After doing fanzine illustrations, Anderson's first professional comics work appeared in the mid-1970s in independent/underground publications such as All-Slug, Tesserae, and Venture.[5]
In 1981, Ka-Zar The Savage, written by Bruce Jones, became Anderson's first regular series. The X-Men graphic novel God Loves, Man Kills followed, as well as artwork on a number of Marvel Comics series, including the heroic space-opera Strikeforce: Morituri. During this period, Anderson was active doing artwork for independent publishers Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, including the innovative cinematic comic Somerset Holmes.
In 1995, Anderson co-created (with writer Kurt Busiek and cover artist Alex Ross), the award-winning Astro City. Anderson is currently the regular artist on Kurt Busiek's Astro City, having just completed Astro City: Silver Agent, a two-issue special for DC/Wildstorm.
Other recent work included J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars: Untouchable spin-off series written by Fiona Avery covering the life story of special assassin Laurel Darkhaven. Work continues on a 200-plus page graphic novel, Jar of Ashes, written by Shirley Johnston. Anderson worked with writer Marv Wolfman on a one-shot featuring Green Lantern and Plastic Man entitled Green Lantern/Plastic Man: Weapons of Mass Deception, released in December 2010.[6]
Anderson's work fits into the category of "realism" defined by Neal Adams, one of Anderson's many artistic influences.[3] Anderson's work is known for its focus on character. "My greatest joy in drawing comics comes when I've added nuance to a character with just the right expression and illustrated a scene that captures the perfect moment of mood. When the characters come to life I feel alive. That's why I've dedicated my professional life to creating comics."[4]
| Preceded by N/A |
Ka-Zar artist 1981–1982 |
Succeeded by Ron Frenz |
| Preceded by N/A |
Strikeforce: Morituri artist 1986–1988 |
Succeeded by Huw Thomas |