Bill Sienkiewicz

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Bill Sienkiewicz

Sienkiewicz at the Big Apple Con, May 21, 2011.
Born May 3, 1958 (1958-05-03) (age 53)
Blakely, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works Stray Toasters
Elektra: Assassin
New Mutants
Moon Knight
Awards full list
Official website

Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch][1] (born May 3, 1958)[2][3] is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin. Sienkiewicz often utilizes oil painting, collage, mimeograph and other forms generally uncommon in comic books.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Sienkiewicz was born May 3, 1958, in Blakely, Pennsylvania.[2] When he was five years old, he moved with his family to Hainesville, New Jersey, where he attended elementary and secondary school.[4]

Sienkiewicz began drawing "when [he] was about four or five",[4] and continued doing and learning about art throughout his childhood. His early comic-book influences include artist Curt Swan Superman comics, and artist Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four.[4]

Sieniewicz attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in Newark, New Jersey.[2]

After art school, he showed a portfolio of his work to DC Comics' art director Vince Colletta, which led to his breaking into the field at age 19.[5] The artist recalled in 1985, "They didn't have any work for me, but that didn't bother me. I just figured that if comics didn't work out I'd have done advertising or illustration. Vinnie called [renowned comics and advertising artist] Neal Adams, who put me in touch with [Marvel Comics editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter. Soon after that I was drawing Moon Knight, in The Hulk [black-and-white comics] magazine".[4] His art style was heavily influenced by Neal Adams.[6]

[edit] Career

[edit] Comics

Sienkiewicz drawing during a 1997 appearance in Gijón, Spain.

Sienkiewicz continued as artist of the Moon Knight color comics series, starting with the first issue (November 1980). Four years later, after a stint as artist on the Fantastic Four, he became the artist on Marvel's X-Men spin-off New Mutants, beginning with issue No. 18 (August 1984), producing cover paintings and character designs. From this period on, Sienkiewicz's art evolved into a much more expressionistic style, and he began experimenting with paint, collage, and mixed media. He illustrated New Mutants from 1984–1985.

Sienkiewicz produced covers for a range of Marvel titles, including Rom, Dazzler, The Mighty Thor, Return of the Jedi and The Transformers, and drew the comic adaptation of Dune.

Sienkiewicz's own first writing credit was for the painted story "Slow Dancer" in Epic Illustrated magazine in 1986. Sienkiewicz both wrote and illustrated the 1988 miniseries Stray Toasters, an idiosyncratic work published by Epic about a criminal psychologist investigating a series of murders.

His first major interior work for DC Comics was contributing to Batman #400 (October 1986).[7]

He illustrated the 1986–87 eight-issue miniseries Elektra: Assassin written by Frank Miller. After which, he collaborated with writer Andrew Helfer on the first six issues of DC Comics' The Shadow series. In 1988, he contributed to the Brought to Light graphic novel with writer Alan Moore. In 1990, Sienkiewicz and Moore published the first two issues of the uncompleted series Big Numbers. Sienkiewicz painted the Classics Illustrated adaptation of the novel Moby-Dick.

Sienkiewicz was the subject of a 2008 full-length documentary/interview produced by Woodcrest Productions, The Creator Chronicles: Bill Sienkiewicz.[8]

In 2007, Sienkiewicz penciled 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow. In 2008, Sienkiewicz illustrated a story for The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2 graphic novel. That same year, he inked the Reign in Hell limited series for DC.[9] In 2010-2012, he inked several issues of Neal Adams' Batman: Odyssey project for DC Comics.

[edit] Other work

 This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2010)

In addition to his work in comics, Sienkiewicz has also worked in numerous other media, especially in the music and trading card industries. His artwork has been published in magazines including Entertainment Weekly and Spin Magazine. In 1998, he collaborated with writer Martin I. Green to produce the children's book Santa, My Life & Times.

In 1989, Sienkiewicz painted the art for the "Friendly Dictators" card set published by Eclipse Comics which portrayed various foreign leaders such as Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos, and Anastasio Somoza Debayle.[10] Sienkiewicz has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.[11] In 2004, Sienkiewicz contributed to card art for VS System, a collectible card game published by Upper Deck Entertainment.

In 1995, Sienkiewicz illustrated the Martin I. Green biography of Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. The following year he provided the artwork for the Bruce Cockburn album The Charity of Night, and went on to provide album covers for RZA's Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998) and EPMD's Business as Usual (1990).

In 2006, Sienkiewicz designed the layout and art for The Venture Bros. season one DVD set. He also designed the cover art for the season three DVD and Blu-ray set. Still in 2006, Sienkiewicz teamed with Neal Adams to create art for former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. Their artwork was utilized as video projections for live performances of Waters' "Leaving Beirut."

[edit] Awards

[edit] Personal life

During the early 1980s Sienkiewicz was married to a woman named Franki, who worked on-staff at Marvel as editor-in-chief Jim Shooter's administrative assistant, and later went on to a job as Marvel's Administrative Manager of International Licensing.[14] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1983.[15]

[edit] Bibliography

Stray Toasters #3. Front and back covers by Sienkiewicz.

[edit] Interior art

[edit] DC Comics

[edit] Marvel Comics

[edit] Covers only

[edit] DC Comics

[edit] Marvel Comics

[edit] Other publishers

  • 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow (3 issue mini series, covers and full interior art)
  • The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #2, published by Dark Horse
  • Big Numbers # 1 – 2 (Covers and full interior art and several pages of number 3 which was unpublished and the series discontinued)
  • Brought to Light Graphic novel (Cover and interior art)
  • Judge Dredd #'s 12 to 22 – Titan books collected edition (Covers only)
  • Judge Dredd and the Angel Gang – Collected edition graphic novel (Cover only)
  • Judge Dredd: City of the Damned – Collected edition graphic novel (Cover only)
  • Judge Dredd: Innocents Abroad – Collected edition graphic novel (Cover only. Note – this is a cropped and inferior version of the cover of the Titan books Judge Dredd # 14)
  • Judge Dredd: Oz Books One to Three – Titan books collected edition (Covers only. Note – all three covers interlink to form larger image)
  • Judge Dredd: The Complete Oz – Collected edition graphic novel (Cover only. Note – The cover features a mix of covers # 2 + 3 from the single reprint books)
  • Lone Wolf and Cub # 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 – US reprint books by First Publishing (Covers only)
  • Oni Double Feature #4–5 ("A River in Egypt" part one and two)
  • The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2 graphic novel, published by Fox Atomic Comics
  • Classics Illustrated #4 – Moby-Dick (Berkley Publishing)
  • Total Eclipse #1–5 (cover only)
  • The Matrix Graphic novel (Interior art on story section)

[edit] Other work

  • Santa, My Life & Times. (Illustrated storybook, cover and full interior art)
  • Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix (Illustrated storybook with CD, cover and full interior art)
  • Bill Sienkiewicz Sketchbook (Fantagraphics)
  • Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Guide to Camarilla & Sabbat covers

[edit] Media

[edit] Trading cards

  • VS System, various sets
  • Big Budget Circus (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Friendly Dictators (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Coup D’Etat (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Rock Bottom Awards (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Marvel Masterpieces, Series 2 and Series 3, assorted cards
  • 1994 Fleer Ultra X-Men, assorted cards

[edit] References

  1. ^ Letters page, Fantastic Four No. 227 (February 1981).
  2. ^ a b c Bill Sienkiewicz at the Lambiek Comiclopedia
  3. ^ Comics Buyer's Guide #1485; May 3, 2002; Page 29
  4. ^ a b c d Marvel Age No. 53 (July 1985): "The Marvel Age Interview: Bill Sienkiewicz", pp. 20–22
  5. ^ Shooter, Jim. "Introduction," Moon Knight Special Edition No. 1 (Nov. 1983).
  6. ^ Thomas, Michael. "Bill Sienkiewicz Interview," Comic Book Resources (July 17, 2001): "Studying Neal's work, ... I became obsessed ... and became fixated on it. It was like my intention was to be Neal. ... There was no one at this point saying don't do that, you've got to be your own person. ... When I finally got started, what got me hired was the fact that I drew like Neal. Neal in fact called up Shooter and said, 'I've got this kid fresh off the street and he draws like me. Is that a problem?'"
  7. ^ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "Batman celebrated the 400th issue of his self-titled comic with a blockbuster featuring dozens of famous comic book creators and nearly as many infamous villains. Written by Doug Moench, with an introduction by novelist Stephen King...[it was] drawn by George Pérez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Arthur Adams, Joe Kubert, Brian Bolland, and others." 
  8. ^ "Creator Chronicles–Bill Sienkiewicz DVD Next up at Bat!", Comic Box, December 12, 2007
  9. ^ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 334: "DC's version of Hell erupted into all-out war when the rulers of Purgatory, Blaze and Satanus invaded Neron's infernal domain. Written by Keith Giffen with art by Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz."
  10. ^ Meet the Friendly Dictators, funkiness.com, accessed June 30, 2011.
  11. ^ Gatherer: Magic Card Database
  12. ^ a b c d e f g wordsandpictures.org. "Bill Sienkiewicz-Awards, Exhibits". http://www.wordsandpictures.org/Elektra/elektra19.html. 
  13. ^ a b Immagine-Centro Studi Iconografici. "17° SALONE, 1986" (in Italian). http://www.immaginecentrostudi.org/saloni/salone17.asp. 
  14. ^ Shooter, Jim. "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel comics cover-dated Jan. 1982.
  15. ^ Sim, Dave. "The 'Synchronicity' Triptych," The Beguiling website (2003).

[edit] External links

Portal icon Biography portal
Preceded by
John Byrne		 Fantastic Four artist
1980–1981		 Succeeded by
John Byrne
Preceded by
Sal Buscema		 New Mutants artist
1984–1985		 Succeeded by
Steve Leialoha
Preceded by
Scott Hanna		 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man inker
1995		 Succeeded by
Al Milgrom
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