Ryan Sook

Ryan Sook
Ryan Sook
Born	San Jose, California
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Penciller, Inker, Colourist
Notable works	Seven Soldiers: Zatanna; X-Factor

Ryan Sook is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as Seven Soldiers: Zatanna, X-Factor and The Spectre. His style has been compared to that of Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes and Kevin Nowlan.^[1]

Career

Sook's first professional work was in Challengers of the Unknown #15 published in 1998. For the next 2 years he worked primarily on books for Dark Horse, including several stories set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, as well as 2 creator-owned projects in Dark Horse Presents: Witch's Son & Ragnok, with writer John Arcudi. He has also inked over Matt Smith's pencils in Lobster Johnson: The Killer in My Skull, a back-up story in Hellboy: Box Full of Evil #1.

In 2001 he earned critical and fan praise for his work on The Spectre for DC Comics. He left the book in 2002 to draw the first spin-off mini-series from Mike Mignola's Hellboy, BPRD: Hollow Earth.^[2]

From 2003 to 2010 Sook has worked primarily for DC Comics focusing more on coverwork than interior sequential pages. His work in this time period includes Arkham Asylum: Living Hell with Dan Slott,^[1] Hawkman with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti,^[3]^[4] Seven Soldiers: Zatanna with Grant Morrison and X-Factor with Peter David for Marvel. He has also worked on several books for Wildstorm.

In 2009 Sook garnered his highest critical praise to date for his work on the Kamandi story in Wednesday Comics, written by Dave Gibbons. For the twelve-part serialization he handled all of the art chores including lettering.

Sook has been compared to Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes and Kevin Nowlan and has as well been influenced by them, but he also draws inspiration from Alphonse Mucha, JC Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell, among many others.^[1]

Bibliography

Interior comic work includes:

Challengers of the Unknown #15: "Earth Came A-Walkin" (with Steven Grant, DC Comics, 1998)
Tales of the Green Lantern: "Know Evil" (with John Ostrander, one-shot, Tangent, 1998)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse):
- Spike & Dru #1-2 (with Christopher Golden and James Marsters, 1999)
- Buffy Annual '99: "Bad Dog" (with Doug Petrie, co-feature, 1999)
- TV Guide Nov. 20-26: "Angel: Point of Order" (with David Fury, News America, 1999)
- Ring of Fire (with Doug Petrie, graphic novel, 2000)
- Reunion (with Jane Espenson, one-shot, 2002)
Dark Horse Presents (anthology, Dark Horse):
- "The Bookroom Horror" (with Mike Mignola, in #142, 1999)
- "Ragnok" (with John Arcudi, in #147-149, 1999)
- "Witch's Son" (with Scott Allie, in #156-157, 2000)
Young Justice 80-Page Giant #1: "Nosferatu to You Too" (with Chuck Dixon, DC Comics, 1999)
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #15: "Heart of Hell" (with J.M. DeMatteis, DC Comics, 1999)
Flinch #12: "Tin God" (with John Arcudi, anthology, Vertigo, 2000)
The Spectre #1-4, 6, 8-9, 11-13 (with J.M. DeMatteis, DC Comics, 2001–2002)
Dark Horse Extra #42-44: "B.P.R.D." (with Christopher Golden, Dark Horse, 2001–2002)
B.P.R.D.: Hollow Earth #1-3 (with Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, Dark Horse, 2002)
Métal Hurlant #6: "3 on a Match" (with R A Jones, anthology, Les Humanoïdes Associés, 2003)
Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #1-6 (with Dan Slott, DC Comics, 2003)
Batman: Gotham Knights #41: "I'll Be Watching" (with Ed Brubaker, co-feature, DC Comics, 2003)
Hawkman #28-31, 34 (with Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, DC Comics, 2004–2005)
Spider-Man Unlimited #8: "Everything" (with Joshua Ortega, anthology, Marvel, 2005)
Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #1-4 (with Grant Morrison, DC Comics, 2005)
X-Factor #1-4 (with Peter David, Marvel, 2006)
The Goon: Noir #1: "Big Ma's Hootenanny & Slack-Jaw Fighting" (with Steve Niles, anthology, Dark Horse, 2006)
Ultimates 2 Annual #2 (flashback sequences, with Charlie Huston and Mike Deodato, Jr., Marvel, 2006)
Worldstorm #2: "Untitled" (with Christos Gage, anthology, Wildstorm, 2007)
DC Infinite Halloween Special: "The Speed of Life" (with Mark Waid, anthology one-shot, DC Comics, 2007)
Countdown to Final Crisis #2: "The Origin of Darkseid" (with Scott Beatty, co-feature, DC Comics, 2008)
First Born: Aftermath: "Crisis of Faith" (with Ron Marz, anthology one-shot, Top Cow, 2008)
Final Crisis: Resist (with Greg Rucka and Marco Rudy, one-shot, DC Comics, 2008)
The Darkness #75: "Absolute Darkness" (with Phil Hester, among other artists, Top Cow, 2009)
Wednesday Comics #1-12: "Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth!" (with Dave Gibbons, anthology, DC Comics, 2009)
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5: "Masquerade" (with Grant Morrison and Pere Pérez, DC Comics, 2010)
The Atom and Hawkman #46: "Bye Bye Birdie!" (with Geoff Johns, DC Comics, 2010)
Action Comics v1 #900: "Life Support" (with Damon Lindelof, co-feature, DC Comics, 2011)
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5: "Never the Whole Truth" (with Nick Spencer and CAFU, DC Comics, 2011)
Rocketeer Adventures #3: "A Rocketeer Story" (script and art, anthology, IDW Publishing, 2011)
Artifacts #10: "Origin: Glacier Stone" (with Ron Marz and Tom Feister, co-feature, Top Cow, 2011)
Jonah Hex #70: "Weird Western" (with Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Diego Olmos, DC Comics, 2011)
Action Comics v2 Annual #1: "Anchiale" (with Max Landis, co-feature, DC Comics, 2012)
Outlaw Territory Volume 3: "Heaven Sent" (script and art, with Alex Sheikman, anthology, Image, 2013)
Ghost #1-2 (with Kelly Sue DeConnick, Chris Sebela and Drew Johnson (#2), Dark Horse, 2013–2014)