Klaus Janson

Klaus Janson

Janson at the New York Comic-Con
Born (1952-01-23) January 23, 1952
Coburg, Germany
Area(s) Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works
 Batman: The Dark Knight
Daredevil
Awards Inkwell Award for The Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award (2010)
Inkwell Award for Favorite Inker (2013)

Klaus Janson (born January 23, 1952)[1][2] is a German-born American comic book artist, working regularly for Marvel Comics and DC Comics and sporadically for independent companies. While he is best known as an inker, Janson has frequently worked as a penciller and colorist.

Early life

Klaus Janson was born in Coburg, Germany,[3] He emigrated to the United States in 1957, settling with his family in Connecticut,[3] where he lived in Bridgeport from 1957 to 1972.[4]

Career

After a short stint as assistant to Dick Giordano in the early 1970s,[5] Janson's first credited comics artwork was published by Marvel Comics in Jungle Action #6 (Sept. 1973).[6] Janson came to prominence as the inker over Sal Buscema's pencils on The Defenders. Since then he has freelanced on most of the major titles at Marvel and DC. In 1975 he began a long run as inker on Daredevil, running from #124 (Aug. 1975) to #196 (July 1983). With #171 the series went from bi-monthly to monthly; unable to handle the increased workload, then-writer/penciler Frank Miller began increasingly relying on Janson for the artwork, sending him looser and looser pencils beginning with #173.[7] By issue #185, Miller had virtually relinquished his role as Daredevil's artist, and was providing only rough layouts for Janson to pencil, ink, and color.[7] After Miller's departure, Janson drew the series by himself for four issues.

Janson began working for DC Comics in the early 1980s and inked Gene Colan's pencils on Detective Comics and Jemm, Son of Saturn.[6] Janson was one of the artists on Superman #400 (Oct. 1984).[8] His collaboration with Miller on Daredevil would soon be eclipsed by a second collaboration between them, on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986.[9] Janson has frequently pencilled and inked for various Batman titles, including the first Detective Comics Annual with writer Dennis O'Neil,[10] "Gothic" with Grant Morrison,[11] "Knightfall" with Doug Moench.[12] In 1994, Janson drew the Batman-Spawn: War Devil intercompany crossover which was written by Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant.[13] Janson wrote a short story in the anthology miniseries Batman: Black and White #3 (August 1996).[6] Janson drew part of the "Cataclysm" crossover as well.[14]

Janson and writer Mike Baron introduced the character Microchip as an ally of the Punisher in The Punisher #4 (November 1987).[15] In 1993, Janson drew a three-part story featuring Electro for Spider-Man #38-40.[16] Janson inked the early issues of The Sensational Spider-Man which had been written and penciled by Dan Jurgens.[17] Janson's work as an inker and occasional penciler at Marvel Comics includes collaborations with John Romita Jr. on Wolverine, The Amazing Spider-Man and Black Panther. His other work includes Batman: Death and the Maidens,[18] World War Hulk, Battlestar Galactica, Logan's Run, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In 2010, he inked Romita, Jr.'s pencils on The Avengers.[6] and in 2014 the two artists collaborated on Superman.[19] Janson will be one of the artists on the The Dark Knight III: The Master Race which will be co-written by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello.[20]

Janson has taught sequential storytelling at the School of Visual Arts in New York City since the 1990s[21] and has written both The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics and The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics. Janson also holds annual seminars at Marvel for the editorial staff and their up-and-coming artists, and teaches short courses on comics storytelling for the New York-based Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.[5]

Awards

Bibliography

DC Comics

Marvel Comics

References

  1. ↑ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010.
  2. ↑ Schmidt, Andy (February 13, 2009). The Insider's Guide To Creating Comics And Graphic Novels. Impact Books. ISBN 978-1600610226.
  3. 1 2 "Klaus Janson". Lambiek Comiclopedia. February 18, 2011. Archived from the original on September 23, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Connecticut Talent". Connecticut Historical Society. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Storytelling for Comics Artists". Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art. 2010. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. After a short stint as assistant to Dick Giordano in the early 1970s, Klaus Janson went freelance, working for several comics publishers as writer, penciler, inker and colorist.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Klaus Janson at the Grand Comics Database
  7. 1 2 Cordier, Philippe (April 2007). "Seeing Red: Dissecting Daredevil's Defining Years". Back Issue! (TwoMorrows Publishing) (21): 33–60.
  8. ↑ Addiego, Frankie (December 2013). "Superman #400". Back Issue! (TwoMorrows Publishing) (69): 68–70.
  9. ↑ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. It is arguably the best Batman story of all time. Written and drawn by Frank Miller (with inspired inking by Klaus Janson and beautiful watercolors by Lynn Varley), Batman: The Dark Knight revolutionized the entire genre of the super hero.
  10. ↑ Manning, Matthew K.; Dougall, Alastair, ed. (2014). "1980s". Batman: A Visual History. Dorling Kindersley. p. 174. ISBN 978-1465424563. Dennis O'Neil stepped out of his editorial role once again to chronicle a Batman adventure for Detective Comics first annual. Illustrated by Klaus Janson, Batman and Talia al Ghul hunted for the Penguin.
  11. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dougall, p. 186: "Grant Morrison stepped up to the plate to pen [Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight's] next five-issue storyline, illustrated by Klaus Janson."
  12. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 259: "'Knightfall' was a nineteen-part crossover event that passed through the pages of...the Showcase '93 Two-Face feature scripted by Doug Moench and drawn by Klaus Janson."
  13. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 267: "Fans were also treated to a companion special entitled Batman-Spawn...by writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant, and artist Klaus Janson."
  14. ↑ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 283: "The seventeen-part 'Cataclysm' storyline showed a Gotham City devastated by an earthquake."
  15. ↑ DeFalco, Tom; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1980s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. Dorling Kindersley. p. 232. ISBN 978-0756641238. Linus 'Microchp' Lieberman first appeared in this issue by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson.
  16. ↑ Cowsill, Alan; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2012). "1990s". Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging. Dorling Kindersley. p. 205. ISBN 978-0756692360. Long-time Spidey villain Electro was the focus of a three-part tale written by J. M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Klaus Janson.
  17. ↑ Cowsill "1990s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 224: "The new Spidey title felt fresh and exciting...Issue #0, written and penciled by Dan Jurgens, with Klaus Janson inking, provided a quick recap for latecomers."
  18. ↑ Manning "2000s" in Dougall, p. 269: "Writer Greg Rucka and artist Klaus Janson created this series that delved into the family tree of [Ra's al Ghul]."
  19. ↑ Khouri, Andy (February 4, 2014). "Geoff Johns Returns To Superman In Collaboration With John Romita Jr.". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on February 5, 2014.
  20. ↑ Wheeler, Andrew (July 9, 2015). "Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson Join The Master Race (The Comic)". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on August 14, 2015.
  21. 1 2 "Our Faculty: Klaus Janson". School of Visual Arts. n.d. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2012.

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