| Trevor Von Eeden | |
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Trevor Von Eeden |
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| Born | Trevor Von Eeden |
| Area(s) | Comics |
| Notable works | Black Lightning Batman Green Arrow Power Man and Iron Fist The Original Johnson |
| Official website | |
Trevor Von Eeden is a comic book writer/artist who, known for his work on such DC Comics books as Black Lightning, Batman, and Green Arrow, as well as Marvel Comics books such as Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.
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According to Von Eeden, he remembers drawing in his early teens in order to alleviate the boredom of junior high school, beginning with anatomical studies of faces and hands, which he says are the most difficult things to draw accurately, in the margins of his notebooks. He was introduced to comics through the collection of his best friend, who encouraged him to submit sample artwork to DC Comics.[1]
Von Eeden's comic book career began at age 16, when DC Comics hired him to design and draw their first ever black superhero to have his own title, Black Lightning.[1][2] A few years into his career, at about the age of 20, Von Eeden began to suspect that he had only gotten that job because of his skin color, which displeased him deeply, and motivated him to hone his craft so that it would distinguish itself on the basis of its quality, without any regard for his ethnicity. As Von Eeden recalls, "I sat down and wrote a five-page "mission statement" (now lost)--writing out for myself in detail exactly what I wanted to create--the kind of style I thought would express myself most effectively, while also telling a story in the most dramatic way possible. I wrote everything down that I could think of--the details, form, and purpose of the style of art that I'd wanted to create."[1]
In the 1980s, he worked on books like Thriller an action-adventure story that allowed him room to experiment.[3]
Other comic book titles on which Von Eeden worked during the 1980s included Black Canary and Batman for DC Comics, and Power Man and Iron Fist for Marvel Comics. In 1984 Von Eeden illustrated the first eight issues of the DC miniseries Thriller. He also provided pencil art for a well regarded four-issue Green Arrow mini-series that was inked by Dick Giordano.
During much of the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s Von Eeden worked as a storyboard artist for various New York advertising agencies.
In 2001 Von Eeden returned to Batman comics, providing pencil art for the five-issue storyline "Grimm" that appeared issues #149-153 of the DC Comics series, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. For this storyline, Von Eeden's pencils were inked by José Luis García-López. Trevor Von Eeden has also illustrated a series of short stories, "Joe In The Future", which have been published in Heavy Metal magazine since 2001.
In 2007 Von Eeden began writing and drawing The Original Johnson, an epic biography of the boxer Jack Johnson. The 242-page graphic novel project was serialized in weekly online installments at ComicMix, and was completed in 2009. Editor Mike Gold of ComicMix says of Von Eeden's attraction to projects that stir him emotionally, "You’re dealing with a guy who wasn’t necessarily interested in just the high visibility and high-money projects. In any medium, you’re going to get a much better story if you have heart. And the story of Jack Johnson is one of heart."[3] Print rights to the book were acquired by IDW Publishing, who issued the series as a two volume set. The first volume appeared in 2010[4] and the second in 2011.[5]
In 2009 Von Eeden provided illustrations for the text story, "The Holo-Marketeer", for Heavy Metal magazine.
In 2011 Von Eeden designed and illustrated superhero comics produced for The National Hockey League by Stan Lee.