Jim Lee

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Jim Lee
12.19.10JimLeeByLuigiNovi1.jpg
Lee at a December 2010 signing for his coffee table art book, Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee, at Midtown Comics in Manhattan.
Born (1964-08-11) August 11, 1964 (age 48)
Seoul, South Korea
Nationality Korean-American
Area(s) Writer, Artist, Publisher
Notable works All Star Batman and Robin
Batman: Hush
Superman: For Tomorrow
WildC.A.T.s
X-Men vol. 2
Awards Harvey Award, 1990
Inkpot Award, 1992
Wizard Fan Award, 1996, 2002, 2003
Jim Lee
Hangul 이용철
Revised Romanization I Yong-cheol
McCune–Reischauer Yi Yong-ch'ǒl

Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men. X-Men #1, the 1991 spinoff series premiere that Lee penciled and co-wrote with Chris Claremont, remains the best-selling comic book of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

In 1992 Lee and several other artists formed their own publishing company, Image Comics, to publish their creator-owned titles, with Lee publishing his titles through his studio, Wildstorm Productions, such as WildC.A.T.s and Gen¹³. Eschewing the role of publisher in order to return to illustration, Lee sold Wildstorm in 1998 to DC Comics, where he continued to run Wildstorm as a DC imprint until DC ended Wildstorm in 2010, as well as illustrating successful books set in DC's main fictional universe, such as the year-long "Batman: Hush" and "Superman: For Tomorrow" storylines. On February 18, 2010, Jim Lee was announced as the new Co-Publisher of DC Comics with Dan DiDio, both replacing Paul Levitz.

He has received a Harvey Award, Inkpot Award and three Wizard Fan Awards in recognition for his work.

Contents

Early life [edit]

Lee was born on August 11, 1964 in Seoul, South Korea.[1][2] When Lee was a child, he and his family emigrated to the United States to escape the Korean War. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri,[3][4] where he lived a "typical middle-class childhood".[4] Lee attended River Bend Elementary School in Chesterfield and later St. Louis Country Day School, where he drew posters for school plays. Having had to learn English when he first came to the U.S. presented the young Lee with the sense of being an outsider, as did the "preppy, upper-class" atmosphere of Country Day. As a result, when Lee on the rare occasions that his parents bought him comics, Lee's favorite characters were the X-Men, because they were outsiders themselves. Lee says that he benefited as an artist by connecting with characters that were themselves disenfranchised, like Spider-Man, or who were born of such backgrounds, such as Superman, who was created by two Jewish men from Cleveland to lift their spirits during the Depression. His classmates predicted in his senior yearbook that he would found his own comic book company.[3][4] Despite this, Lee was resigned to following his father's career in medicine, attending Princeton University to study psychology, with the intention of becoming a medical doctor.[4][5]

Career [edit]

Rise to fame at Marvel Comics [edit]

In 1986, as he was preparing to graduate, Lee took an art class that reignited his love of drawing, and led to his rediscovery of comics at a time when seminal works such as Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen spurred a renaissance within the American comics industry.[4] After obtaining his psychology degree,[5] he decided to postpone his medical degree, and earned the reluctant blessing of his parents by allotting himself one year to succeed, vowing that he would attend medical school if he did not break into the comic book industry in that time. He submitted samples to various publishers, but did not find success.[4] When Lee befriended St. Louis-area comics artists Don Secrease and Rick Burchett, they convinced him he needed to show his portfolio to editors in person, prompting Lee to attend a New York comics convention,[3] where he met editor Archie Goodwin. Goodwin invited Lee to Marvel Comics, where the aspiring artist received his first assignment by editor Carl Potts, who hired him to pencil the mid-list series Alpha Flight, seguéing from that title in 1989 to Punisher: War Journal.[4][6] Lee's work on the Punisher: War Journal was inspired by artists like Frank Miller, David Ross, Kevin Nowlan, and Whilce Portacio, as well as Japanese manga.[6]

In 1989, Lee filled in for regular illustrator Marc Silvestri on Uncanny X-Men #248 and did another guest stint on issues #256 through #258 as part of the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, eventually becoming the series' ongoing artist with issue #267, following Silvestri's departure. During his stint on Uncanny Lee first worked with inker Scott Williams, who would become a long-time collaborator. During his run on the title, Lee co-created the character Gambit with long-time X-Men writer Chris Claremont.

Gatefold cover art from X-Men #1

Lee's artwork quickly gained popularity in the eyes of enthusiastic fans, which allowed him to gain greater creative control of the franchise. In 1991, Lee helped launch a second X-Men series simply called X-Men (volume 2), not only as the artist, but also as co-writer with Claremont. X-Men #1 (vol 2) is still the best-selling comic book of all-time with sales of over 8.1 million copies (and nearly $7 million), according to a public proclamation by the Guinness Book of World Records at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.[7][8] The sales figures were generated in part by publishing the issue with five different variant covers, four of which showed different characters from the book that formed a single image when laid side by side, and a fifth, gatefold cover of that combined image, large numbers of which were purchased by retailers, who anticipated fans and speculators who would buy multiple copies in order to acquire a complete collection of the covers.[9] Lee designed new character uniforms for the series, including those worn by Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Psylocke and Storm. He also created the villain Omega Red.

Stan Lee interviewed Jim Lee in the documentary series The Comic Book Greats.

Image Comics and WildStorm, return to Marvel [edit]

WildC.A.T.s promotional artwork.

Enticed by the idea of being able to exert more control over his own work, in 1992, Lee accepted the invitation to join six other artists who broke away from Marvel to form Image Comics, which would publish their creator-owned titles.[5] Lee's group of titles was initially called Aegis Entertainment before being christened Wildstorm Productions, and published Lee's initial title WildC.A.T.s, which Lee pencilled and co-wrote, and other series created by Lee in the same shared universe. The other major series of the initial years of Wildstorm, for which Lee either created characters, co-plotted or provided art for, included Stormwatch, Deathblow and Gen¹³.

In 1993, Lee and his close friend, Valiant Comics publisher Steve Massarsky, arranged a Valiant-Image Comics crossover miniseries called Deathmate, in which the Valiant characters would interact with those of Wildstorm, and of Lee's fellow Image partner, Rob Liefeld. The miniseries would consist of four "center books", (each one denoted by a color rather than an issue number), two each produced by the respective companies, plus a prologue and epilogue book. Wildstorm produced Deathmate Black, with Lee himself contributing to the writing. He also illustrated the covers for that book, the Deathmate Tourbook and the prologue book, as well as contributing to the prologue's interior inks. The assignment was given to Valiant creators against their better judgment, in particular Editor-in-chief Bob Layton, who complained about Image's inability to meet their deadlines. Deathmate Black, in particular, came out a few months after Valiant's Blue and Yellow installments, which had come out on time, and Liefeld's Deathmate Red was so late that Layton flew to California to procure that chapter personally, and ink it himself in an Anaheim hotel room. Layton sees Deathmate's lateness as one of Valiant's "unmitigated disasters", and views that project as the beginning of the speculator collapse of the 1990s.[10]

Wildstorm would expand its line to include other ongoing titles whose creative work was handled by other writers and artists, some of which were spinoffs of the earlier titles, or properties owned by other creators, such as Whilce Portacio's Wetworks. As publisher, Lee later also expanded his comics line creating two publishing imprints of Wildstorm, Homage and Cliffhanger (that years later merged and were replaced by a single Wildstorm Signature imprint), to publish creator-owned comics by some selected creators of the US comics industry.

Lee and Rob Liefeld, another Marvel-illustrator-turned-Image-founder, returned to Marvel in 1996 to participate in a reboot of several classic characters; the project was known as Heroes Reborn. While Liefeld reworked Captain America and The Avengers, Lee plotted Iron Man and wrote and illustrated The Fantastic Four. Halfway through the project, Lee's studio took over Liefeld's two titles, finishing all four series.

Lee returned to Wildstorm, where he would publish series such as The Authority and Planetary, as well as Alan Moore's imprint, America's Best Comics. Lee himself wrote and illustrated a 12-issue series called Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday, in which an internet slacker inadvertently manages to download the secrets of the universe, and is thrown into a wild fantasy world.

Lee's depiction of DC Comics' Superman and Batman.

Move to DC Comics [edit]

Because he felt his role as publisher interfered with his role as an artist, Lee left Image Comics and sold Wildstorm to DC Comics in late 1998, enabling him to focus once again on art.[4][5] In 2003 he collaborated on a 12-issue run on Batman with writer Jeph Loeb.[11] "Hush" became a runaway sales success. He followed this up in 2004 by illustrating "For Tomorrow", a 12-issue story in Superman by writer Brian Azzarello. In 2005, Lee teamed with Frank Miller on the new series All Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, a series plagued by delays. Lee himself took full responsibility for the delays, explaining that his involvement with the DC Universe Online video game were the cause, and not Miller's scripts, which had been completed for some time.[12][13][14]

Lee continued to run Wildstorm as Editorial Director, sometimes working on both DC and Wildstorm properties simultaneously. In September 2006, Jim Lee returned to WildC.A.T.s with Grant Morrison as the writer, pencilling both WildC.A.T.s and All Star Batman and Robin, both of which were characterized by publication delays. The gap between All-Star Batman and Robin #4 and #5 was one year, and to date, only one issue of WildC.A.T.s (Vol. 4) has been published. Lee drew alternative cover art for the Infinite Crisis series.

Lee at the August 31, 2011 midnight signing of Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 at Midtown Comics, which initiated DC's New 52 initiative.

In February 2006 it was announced that Lee would be involved with the concept art for the upcoming DC Comics MMORPG, DC Universe Online.[5] In 2008, Lee was named the Executive Creative Director of the forthcoming game, which at that time was expected to be released in 2009.[15]

In 2009 Lee provided artwork for the album booklet for Daughtry's 2009 album Leave This Town.

In February 2010 Lee was named alongside Dan DiDio as Co-Publisher of DC Comics.[16][17][18] According to Lee, this does not indicate another move away from the creative side of comics, as his Co-Publishing duties not only grant him greater creative involvement in the entire DC line, but also allow him to illustrate titles, such as Dark Knight: Boy Wonder, a re-branded conclusion to the story he and Frank Miller began in All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder.[4][19] He also was to supply the painted art over Giuseppe Camuncoli's layouts in Batman: Europa #1, a 2011 miniseries[20] inspired by Lee's time living in Italy,[21] though as of June 2011, neither of these projects have materialized. According to March 2013 article however, DC insists that Europa is not cancelled.[22] DC announced they were ending the Wildstorm imprint in September 2010.[23]

In September 2011, DC Comics instituted a program called The New 52, in which the publisher cancelled all of its superhero titles and relaunched 52 new series with #1 issues, wiping out most of the then-current continuity. Lee and writer Geoff Johns, DC Comics' Chief Creative Officer, are the architects of the relaunch, which was initiated with a new Justice League series, written and illustrated by Johns and Lee, respectively. The series' first story arc was a new origin of the Justice League, which depicted the return of DC's primary superheroes to the team.[24] Lee's illustration for the cover of issue #12 drew media attention for its depiction of Superman and Wonder Woman in a passionate embrace, a rendition that Lee said was inspired by Gustav Klimt's painting The Kiss and Alfred Eisenstaedt's 1945 photograph V-J Day in Times Square.[25][26][27][28]

In October of that year, DC Entertainment and Kia Motors America entered a partnership to benefit We Can Be Heroes, a campaign dedicated to fighting hunger in the Horn of Africa. The campaign involves the creation of eight Justice League-inspired vehicles, on whose designs Lee collaborated. Each vehicle is tied thematically to a member of the League,[29] the first of which was a Batman-themed Kia Optima.[30] A Superman-themed version inspired by Lee's art followed in February 2013.[31]

Technique and materials [edit]

Lee is known to use F lead for his pencil work.[32][33] While inking his own pencils on Punisher: War Journal, Lee began using a crowquill nib for the first time.[6]

In talking about the artist's work ethic, Lee has said, "Sometimes I wonder if we ever really improve as artists or if the nirvana derived from completing a piece blinds us enough to love what we have created and move on to the next piece. If we could see the work as it is, with years of reflection in the here and now, how many images would end up in the trash rather than on the racks?"[34]

Awards [edit]

Bibliography [edit]

Lee at San Diego Comic Con 2009

DC [edit]

Image [edit]

Marvel [edit]

Marvel/Image [edit]

  • WildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Silver Age (1997)

References [edit]

  1. ^ "About This Person: Jim Lee". IGN. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  2. ^ "Jim Lee". Newsday. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Kerman, Byron (2010-07). "Comic Genius". St. Louis Magazine. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lee, Jim; Baker, Bill Baker. Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee Titan Books, 2010, pp. 8 and 10
  5. ^ a b c d e Tantimedh, Adi (2006-02-25). "New York Comic Con, Day One: Jim Lee Spotlight". Comic Book Resources. 
  6. ^ a b c Gaffney, Suzanne. "Co-Conspirators Talk". The Punisher War Journal. Marvel Comics. December 1988.
  7. ^ Morse, Ben. "SDCC 2010: Marvel Breaks World Record". Marvel Comics. August 10, 2010
  8. ^ Johnson, Rich. "X-Men #1 The Guinness World Record Best Selling Comic Of All Time?" Bleeding Cool. July 22, 2010
  9. ^ Miller, John Jackson (November 16, 2010). "X-Men #1, One Piece, and world records". The Comics Chronicles.
  10. ^ McLelland, Ryan. "Valiant Days, Valiant Nights - A Look Back at the Rise and Fall of Valiant", Newsarama, September 24, 2003
  11. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "2000s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. "The 'Hush' story arc [begun] in Batman #608 was artist Jim Lee's first major work since he joined DC...Written by Jeph Loeb, 'Hush' brought profound changes to the life of the Dark Knight." 
  12. ^ Barringer, John (August 1, 2009). "All Star Batman and Robin Update: Jim Lee Interview". A Comic Book Blog.
  13. ^ Montgomery, Paul (April 2, 2010). "All-Star Batman and Robin to Conclude Next Year…Sort of". iFanboy.
  14. ^ Frankenhoff, Brent. (June 6, 2006). "All-Star Batman and Robin #5 delays end". CBG Xtra.
  15. ^ LeTendre, Brian (2008-07-15). "E3 2008: Jim Lee talks DC Universe Online". Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
  16. ^ Hyde, David (February 18, 2010). "Jim Lee and Dan DiDio Named Co-Publishers DC Comics, Geoff Johns to Serve as Chief Creative Officer, John Rood Named EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, Patrick Caldon Named EVP, Finance and Administration". DC Universe: The Source.
  17. ^ "DC Names DiDio & Lee Co-Publisher, Johns Chief Creative Officer". Comic Book Resources. February 18, 2010
  18. ^ "DC Announces New Publisher – All Five Of Them!" Bleeding Cool. February 18, 2010
  19. ^ Segura, Alex (April 2, 2010). "What's Next for Frank Miller and Jim Lee?". DC Universe: The Source.
  20. ^ Segura, Alex (October 6, 2010). "NYCC 2010: Batman: Europa by Jim Lee and co-writers Brian Azzarello and Matteo Casali". DC Universe: The Source.
  21. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (January 6, 2011). "BRIAN AZZARELLO Teams BATMAN & THE JOKER In EUROPA". Newsarama.
  22. ^ Johnston, Rich (March 2013) "The Black Bolt List". Bleeding Cool. pp. 49-50.
  23. ^ Ching, Albert (September 21, 2010). "DC Co-Publishers Announce End of WILDSTORM Imprint, Zuda". Newsarama.
  24. ^ Truitt, Brian (May 3, 2011). "DC Comics ready for a risky yet relevant publishing change". USA Today.
  25. ^ Jensen, Jeff (August 22, 2012). "'Justice League' #12: DC reveals Superman's new leading lady... and it's a doozy -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly.
  26. ^ Langshaw, Mark (August 22, 2012). "'Justice League' to feature new Superman romance". Digital Spy.
  27. ^ Khouri, Andy (August 22, 2012). "Superman + Wonder Woman = <3 In 'Justice League' #12 (Kissy Kissy)". ComicsAlliance.
  28. ^ Montgomery, Paul (August 22, 2012). "Superman & Wonder Woman Sitting in a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G in JUSTICE LEAGUE #12 and Beyond". iFanboy.
  29. ^ Nicholson, Max (October 3, 2012). "DC and Kia Team Up for JLA Car Fleet". IGN.
  30. ^ Nicholson, Max (October 11, 2012). "The Batman Kia Optima Comes in Black". IGN.
  31. ^ "SUPERMAN-INSPIRED KIA OPTIMA HYBRID SOARS INTO CHICAGO FOR AUTO SHOW DEBUT". Kia Motors. February7, 2013.
  32. ^ Campbell, J. Scott. "Pencils". deviantArt. 2008
  33. ^ "Reinventing the pencil: 21 artists who changed mainstream comics (for better or worse)". The AV Club. July 20, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-25. 
  34. ^ Blog entry on Lee's blog; January 27, 2005.
  35. ^ "1990 Harvey Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  36. ^ "Inkpot Award Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  37. ^ "4th Annual Wizard Fan Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  38. ^ "10th Annual Wizard Fan Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  39. ^ "11th Annual Wizard Fan Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved December 28, 2011.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jim Lee
Preceded by
Marc Silvestri		 Uncanny X-Men artist
(with Whilce Portacio from 1991-1992)
1990–1992		 Succeeded by
Brandon Peterson
Preceded by
Chris Claremont		 X-Men (vol. 2) writer
1992
(with Chris Claremont)		 Succeeded by
Fabian Nicieza
Preceded by
Tom DeFalco		 Fantastic Four writer/artist
1996–1997
(with Brandon Choi)		 Succeeded by
Scott Lobdell (writer)
Brett Booth (artist)
Preceded by
Terry Kavanagh		 Iron Man writer
1996–1997
(with Scott Lobdell)		 Succeeded by
Jeph Loeb
Preceded by
Jeph Loeb		 Iron Man writer
1997
(with Jeph Loeb)		 Succeeded by
Kurt Busiek
Preceded by
Scott McDaniel		 Batman artist
2002–2003		 Succeeded by
Eduardo Risso
Preceded by
Scott McDaniel		 Superman artist
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Ed Benes
Preceded by
Paul Levitz		 Publisher of DC Comics
(with Dan DiDio)
2010–present		 Succeeded by
current
Authority control
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