Rafael Albuquerque

This article is about the comic book illustrator. For the Dominican politician, see Rafael Alburquerque.
Rafael Albuquerque
Born Rafael Albuquerque
1981
Porto Alegre, Brazil
Nationality Brazilian
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works
 Blue Beetle
24Seven
American Vampire
Awards IGN Best of 2010 Award for Best New Series
2011 Eisner Award for Best New Series
2011 Harvey Award for Best New Series

Rafael Albuquerque is a Brazilian comic book creator primarily for his artwork on books such as DC Comics' Blue Beetle and as illustrator and co-creator of American Vampire. Though primarily a penciler and inker of interior comic art, he has also done work as a cover artist, colorist and writer.

Early life and influences

Rafael Albuquerque was born in 1981, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.[1]

Albuquerque has stated that his favorite writer is Brian Azzarello.[2]

Career

Albuquerque begun his professional career working in advertising, doing work for local companies. He began his comic book career in 2002, after posting his portfolio on the Internet, doing work for the Egyptian publishing company AK Comics,[1] which published books for the Middle East.[3]

In 2005, Albuquerque published the creator-owned graphic novel crime story Rumble in la Rambla. It would later be published in the United States in 2007 by Image Comics under the title Crimeland. In 2006 Albuquerque collaborated with writers Keith Giffen and Alan Grant by illustrating issues 4 and 5 Jeremiah Harm and the first issue of Pirate Tales for Boom! Studios. In 2006 and 2007 he illustrated the first three issues of the Boom! series Savage Brothers.[1][3]

In 2007 he illustrated Wonderlost #2 by writer C.B. Cebulski, and "Oil for Blood", a story in volume 2 of 24Seven, both published by Image Comics. The latter was nominated for the 2008 Eisner Award for Best Anthology (though the anthology's editor, Ivan Brandon, was the named nominee, and not the individual creators).[4]

Albuquerque first gained the notice of American comics readers with his work as the regular penciler on the DC Comics monthly series Blue Beetle,[3] which he drew from issues #10 (February 2007) to 34 (February 2009). The series proved to be a challenge to Albuquerque, however, who thought the mainstream superhero book was not well-suited to his darker style, and approached the book by employing less heavy blacks and ink splats, and a more "cartoony" storytelling style.[2] His other DC work has included covers of several titles, as well as interior work on issues 52 and 53 of Superman/Batman in 2008.

In 2008 Albuquerque illustrated writer Ivan Brandon's story, "Wild Goose", which appeared in the Dark Horse Comics anthology Tales of the Fear Agent. In 2009 he illustrated issues 3 and 4 of Strange Adventures, which were written by Jim Starlin.[2] That same year he illustrated the covers to Marvel Comics' four-issue miniseries Nomad: Girl Without a World.[5]

In January 2010, Newsarama named Albuquerque one of ten creators to watch for the coming year.[6] That year, Albuquerque, with Eduardo Medeiros and Mateus Santolouco, wrote Mondo Urbano (Urban World), a graphic novel published by Oni Press.[7] That same year Albuquerque began illustrating American Vampire, a vampire series by Vertigo Comics, the first five issues of which consisted of two separate stories, one by Scott Snyder and one by Stephen King,[8][9] marking King's first original work for comics.[10] Albuquerque illustrated the two stories with different styles, representative of both the personalities of the characters and the eras in which they were set, explaining that he utilized high-contrast blacks and whites for the 1920s story featuring Pearl in order to evoke the films of that era, and a "dirtier, sketchier technique" involving traditional inking, ink wash and pencils for the 1880s story featuring bank robber Skinner, in order to evoke that story's "rough and violent" setting.[11] The first hardcover collection landed on the The New York Times Best Seller list,[12] and the series won IGN's Best of 2010 Award,[13] 2011 Eisner Award[14] and the 2011 Harvey Award,[15] all of them for Best New Series.

In January 2011, Albuquerque's website indicated that he is an exclusive artist for DC Comics.[1]

In 2012 Albuquerque illustrated and wrote his first story for DC Comics, which will appear in Legends of the Dark Knight.[16]

Albuquerque also publishes a creator-owned webcomic in Brazil called Tune 8, which follows a time traveler named Joshua who has only a disembodied female voice as to guide him through the foreign and inhospitable place in which he finds himself. Tune 8 was serialized on the Brazilian website Ig.com.br, and a print edition of the comic is sold by Albuquerque at conventions. Albuquerque hopes to eventually publish a version in English.[16][17]

In 2013 Albuquerque scripted along with frequent collaborator Scott Snyder the 64 page American Vampire one-shot The Long Road to Hell.

Personal life

Albuquerque lives in Porto Alegre, Brazil.[18][19]

Awards and nominations

Won

Nominations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 About page at Albuquerque's official site, accessed January 9, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Arrant, Chris. "The Road to Albuquerque ... Rafael Albuquerque". Newsarama. February 12, 2009
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Rogers, Vaneta. "Rafael Albuquerque on Crimeland". Newsarama. October 18, 2007
  4. ↑ "2008 Eisner Nominations Announced". Comic Book Resources. April 14, 2008
  5. ↑ "Nomad: Girl Without a World #2 cover by Rafael Albuquerque". Marvel Comics. 2009
  6. ↑ Arrant, Chris. "Ten for '10: Things to Watch in the New Year - Creators". Newsarama. January 4, 2010
  7. ↑ Pepose, David. "Oni Press to publish Mondo Urbano". Newsarama. February 23, 2010
  8. ↑ "Variant Cover Revealed for Vertigo's American Vampire #1". Dread Central. February 23, 2010. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  9. ↑ Cowsill, Alan; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "2000s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 340. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. The first five double-sized issues consisted of two stories, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque. Scott Snyder wrote each issue's lead feature, and Stephen King wrote the back-up tales.
  10. ↑ Rogers, Vaneta (October 26, 2009). "Stephen King Brings an American Vampire Tale to Vertigo". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  11. ↑ Rogers, Vaneta. "Rafael Albuquerque Talks American Vampire, Stephen King". Newsarama. October 29, 2010
  12. ↑ Gustines, George Gene. "Graphic Books Best-Sellers: Vampire 2.0". The New York Times. October 15, 2010
  13. ↑ "American Vampire by Scott Snyder and Rafael Alburquerque". IGN. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  14. ↑ Melrose, Kevin (July 23, 2011). "Winners announced for 2011 Eisner Awards". Comic Book Resources.
  15. ↑ "American Vampire wins the Harvey Award!". http://rafaelalbuquerque.com. Aug 21, 2011.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Arrant, Chris (January 11, 2013). "Conversing on Comics with Rafael Albuquerque". Comic Book Resources.
  17. ↑ Arrant, Chris (April 25, 2012). "Rafael Alburquerque goes creator-owned in Brazil with Tune 8". Comic Book Resources.
  18. ↑ Rafael Albuquerque at Wizard World, Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  19. ↑ Albuquerque, Rafael. "About". rafaelalbuquerque.com. Retrieved December 10, 2011.

External links