Jim Lee

            As I talked about yesterday with comic books and the people who make them important, I will continue my running expose about the industry and the wonderful care givers of the comic universe.  When you open a comic book, what is the first thing that you notice, the writing, the art, the cover, the heroes or characters themselves?  Most everyone in a unanimous response would say “The Art”. You good sir or ma’am would be correct.  Today we will talk about of my all-time favorite artists and how he is helping to shape the books we love to read and the stories they weave through their art.

            Jim Lee is one of my all-time favorite artists for a plethora of reasons, not only is he an artist, but also a writer, and he is now the Co-publisher of DC comics alongside Dan DiDio the head publisher of DC comics.  You may say to yourself “I don’t know who he is and I have never seen his work” but you might be wrong and you wouldn’t even realize it.  Jim Lee has been at his craft since 1987 when he first started work at Marvel drawing for Alpha Flight and The Punisher War Journal, but due to his popularity they gave him the main spot on the X-Men spinoff Uncanny X-Men in 1991 in which art alongside the writer became the #1 bestselling comic and earned them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.  That alone has earned him a spot among the one of my favorites.

            In 1992 he left Marvel with a group of other artists and writers and founded Image Comics where he started work on his own comic for a number of years before selling most of property to DC comics where he then started to work and grow in the ranks.  He has written and drawn some of the best comics in the past 20 years and he is all the better for it.  His work in the comic field has earned him five awards so far and he is at no point to fall out of the lead.  He has earned a Harvey Award in 1990, and Inkpot Award in 1992, and three Wizard Fan Awards in 1996, 2002, 2003.

            He has earned a special place on my book shelf because of his art and the history of which he creates it.  He was born in South Korea and moved to the states at a young age which put him at odds with others.  I was a military brat my whole life so I moved to a new state every other year and I was the outsider.  He learned to draw and to speak through the art and for that reason he earns my #1 artist spot and I hope he continues to create and write some of the work I idolize and love.