Jill Thompson

For the American educator and politician, see Jill Long Thompson.

Jill Thompson
Thompson at the 2011 New York Comic Con.
Born	November 20, 1966 (1966-11-20)
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer and Illustrator
Notable works	The Sandman Scary Godmother

Jill Thompson (born November 20, 1966) is an American comic book writer and illustrator. Probably better known for her work on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has also worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman.

Early life

Thompson is a graduate of The American Academy of Art in Chicago.

Career

Thompson illustrating in her sketchbook.

Jill Thompson illustrated The Sandman story arc Brief Lives (issues 41-49), and the individual Sandman issue "The Parliament of Rooks" (issue 40) in the Fables and Reflections collection. Within this tale she created the immensely popular characters of Li'l Death and Li'l Morpheus, child-like versions of two of the Endless based on classic comic characters Sugar and Spike; these (together with their siblings, the other five of the "Little Endless") were later given their own book.

She has since written and illustrated several stories featuring the Sandman characters; these include the manga-style book Death: At Death's Door (one of DC's best selling books of 2003) set during the events of Season of Mists, and The Little Endless Storybook, a children’s book using child-like versions of The Endless.

In 2005 Thompson wrote and illustrated the Dead Boy Detectives, an original graphic novel based on two minor characters from Season of Mists.

Awards and recognition

She has won multiple Eisner Awards, including in 2001 for best painter for Scary Godmother, 2004 for "Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art)" for her work on The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings, and in 2005 for "Best Short Story" for Unfamiliar (from The Dark Horse Book of the Dead) with Evan Dorkin. In 2011 the National Cartoonist Society named her Best Comic Book Artist for Beasts of Burden, beating out Stan Sakai and Chris Samnee.

Personal life

Thompson is married to fellow comic book writer Brian Azzarello, creator of 100 Bullets and former writer of Hellblazer and Batman.

Bibliography

Comics

Comico

• The Elementals (artist 1987)
• Fathom (artist 1987)

First Comics

• Classics Illustrated: The Scarlet Letter (artist 1989)
• The Chronicles of Corum (artist 1989)

DC Comics

• Wonder Woman (artist 1990-91)
• Sandman (artist with Neil Gaiman, 1991–93):
  • "The Parliament of Rooks" in Fables and Reflections
  • Brief Lives
• Black Orchid (artist 1993)
• The Invisibles (artist 1993, 1995,1997)
• Swamp Thing (artist 1994)
• Books of Magic (artist 1996)
• Seekers into the Mystery (artist 1996)
• Finals (creator/artist 1999)
• The Little Endless Storybook (writer/artist 2001)
• Death: At Death’s Door (writer/artist 2002-2003)
• Dead Boy Detectives (writer /artist 2005)
• Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall: "Fair Division"
• Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook (writer /artist 2011)

Marvel Comics

• Spider-Man: Shadows and Light
• X-Men Unlimited: Dazzler - Beyond the Music

Topps

• The X-Files: Afterflight

Dark Horse Comics

• The Badger: Shattered Mirror (artist)
• The Dark Horse Book of:
  • Hauntings: "Stray"
  • Witchcraft: "Unfamiliar Story"
  • The Dead: "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"
  • Monsters: "A Dog and His Boy"
• Beasts of Burden - 4-issue mini-series, Dark Horse Comics, 2009

Sirius Entertainment

• Scary Godmother books (all creator/writer/illustrator):
  • The Scary Godmother (1997)
  • The Revenge of Jimmy (1998)
  • The Mystery Date (1999)
  • The Boo Flu (2000)
• Scary Godmother comics:
  • Scary Godmother: My Bloody Valentine (1998)
  • Scary Godmother Holiday Spooktakular (1998)
  • Scary Godmother Activity book (2000)
  • Scary Godmother: Wild About Harry (2000)
  • Scary Godmother: Ghoul’s Out for Summer (2000–2001)

Bongo Comics

• Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror (writer 2000)
• Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror (artist 2002)

Caliber Comics

• The Bandyman (artist 1999)

Scholastic

• Goosebumps Graphix: Terror Trips - One Day at HorrorLand (as illustrator)

Other material

Harper Collins Children's Books

Created by, written and illustrated by Thompson:

• Magic Trixie (2008)
• Magic Trixie Sleeps Over (2008)
• Magic Trixie and the Dragon (2009)
• The Curse of the Royal Ruby: A Rinnah Two Feathers Mystery (as illustrator)
• The Secret of Dead Man's Mine: A Rinnah Two Feathers Mystery (as illustrator)
• Mick Foley's Halloween Hijinx (as illustrator)
• Tales from Wrescal Lane (as illustrator)

Stageplay

Adaptation/ co-writer, art director, set designer:

• Scary Godmother 2001 at the Athanaeum Theatre in Chicago with Runamuck Productions

Scary Godmother Animated Specials

With Mainframe Entertainment:

• Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular co-writer, editor, art director,background painter,prop designer, executive creative director
• Scary Godmother: The Revenge Of Jimmy creative consultation, executive producer, prop and character designer

Interviews

• Greg Upton at Emerald City ComiCon for The Backroom Comics Podcast Emerald city ComiCon 2010 Part 3, March 2010

References

• Jill Thompson at the Grand Comics Database

External links

• Official website
• Jill Thompson at the Comic Book DB