Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.16: Walter Simonson

No.16: Walter Simonson

Walter Simonson is an American comic artist and illustrator in the classic mould who has honed his craft in illustration over five decades. Influenced by the likes of British newspaper strip artist Jim Holdaway (Modesty Blaise), Italian comic visionary Sergio Toppi and French genius Moebius, Simonson has become one of the most dynamic and kinetic artistic masters in the industry. He also brought Eastern influences to bear in this work from the start with his acclaimed debut Manhunter, a back-up strip in DC’s Detective Comics series Words: Joel Meadows…

Simonson never intended to be a comic artist from the start. He studied geology at Amherst College and planned to work in the field of dinosaurs. In fact, his signature is in the shape of a dinosaur. He was a comics reader from a very young age but he never thought he would make his living from it. It was in the mid sixties that he discovered Marvel Comics where he really connected with Thor, a book that would feature in his own career almost twenty years later. In 1967, while he was still in college, he began his own epic story featuring the God Of Thunder and adversary Surtur.

Simonson finished his degree at Amherst but after a year off, he enrolled as an art major at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, where he graduated in 1972.

It didn’t take him long to score his professional debut which was drawing a short with writer Len Wein for DC’s Weird War Tales at the beginning of 1973. The same year, thanks to meeting DC editor and writer Archie Goodwin, the artist drew the strip that would come to define his career. Manhunter ran as a backup in DC’s Detective Comics, a book that was struggling with its sales. The strip was an instant hit, showcasing Simonson’s exceptional storytelling skills, compressed pacing and unparalleled grasp of action, a modern adventure story with its DNA very firmly in the newspaper strips of Raymond and Holdaway. In fact, Simonson’s art developed and became more sophisticated as Manhunter went on with its apotheosis reached in its final instalment, Gotterdamerung, which took up a whole issue of Detective Comics (#443)

 

Manhunter put the artist on the map as he recalled in an interview back in 2000: “What Manhunter did was to establish me professionally. Before ‘Manhunter,’ I was one more guy doing comics; after Manhunter, people in the field knew who I was. It’d won a bunch of awards the year that it ran, and after that, I really had no trouble finding work.”

It was an auspicious start and Simonson went on to stay at DC, drawing books like The Metal Men, Hercules Unbound, Batman and Detective Comics. 

In 1977 he began a year-long run on Marvel’s Thor book with writer Len Wein, which was his first encounter with the character as a creator.

He reunited with Goodwin again on Marvel’s adaptation of Ridley Scott’s Alien movie in 1979. In the same year he began working on the company’s shortlived Battlestar Galactica licensed comic series. It was a series where he made his writing debut towards the end of the run.

In 1982, he was penciller on the high-profile DC/ Marvel crossover Uncanny X-Men/ New Teen Titans, which brought together the two companies’ market leaders at the time. He also wrote and drew his own creations, Star Slammers as an original graphic novel at Marvel’s Epic line.

The book was another hit but it was his next project which was another milestone in his career. Simonson had worked as a penciller on Marvel’s Thor in 1977 and 1978 but when he took it over as writer-artist from #337 in 1983, he was given carte blanche to do what he wanted on the title. During his time there, he introduced a number of new characters including alien Beta Ray Bill, who even took over Thor’s mantel for a little while, and he turned Thor into a frog for a few issues.

Thor moved him up in the industry again and he spent the next few years creating covers for companies like Marvel and DC. 

He became penciller on Marvel’s X-Men spin-off book X-Factor book in 1986, written by his wife, veteran writer Louise Simonson. Here he co-created a number of characters who would become more important in the X-Men mythos .

In 1989 he took over as writer-penciller on Marvel’s Fantastic Four series, his other teenage favourite title. His run was almost as well-received as his work on Thor. He left FF and returned to Star Slammers in a new miniseries in 1993 for Malibu’s Bravura imprint.

During the 2000s he worked mostly for DC, drawing Elric: The Making Of A Sorcerer with the character’s creator Michael Moorcock. He was also writer-artist on DC’s Orion title, a spin-off from the New Gods. In 2012, DC published The Judas Coin, an original anthology hardcover graphic novel featuring a number of the publisher’s characters including Two-Face, The Viking Prince and Bat Lash.

Since 2014, he has focused on writing and drawing his creator-owned Norse themed series Ragnarok, published by IDW.

Simonson is a classic comic artist, a master of the four-colour form who identifies with the medium. His storytelling and writing continues to be among the best in the business. His work contains a dynamic energy that has evolved over his long career. A die-hard fan of the medium as well as one of its greatest exponents.

 

Here’s links through to the other entries in our 101 Greatest so far as well

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.17: Russ Heath

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.18: Bill Sienkiewicz

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.19: Jack Cole

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.20: Bernie Krigstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.21: Graham Ingels

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.22: Al Williamson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.23: Barry Windsor-Smith

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.24: Alex Ross

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.25: John Byrne

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.26: Mike Mignola

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.27: Basil Wolverton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.28: Howard Chaykin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.29: Moebius

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.30: Dave Gibbons

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.31: Creig Flessel

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.32: Milt Caniff

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.34: Burne Hogarth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.35: LB Cole

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.37: Bill Everett

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.38: Robert Crumb

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.39: Mac Raboy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.41: Jim Starlin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.42: Mike Zeck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.43: Adam Hughes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.44: Daniel Clowes

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.45: Gene Colan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.46: George Perez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.47: Michael William Kaluta

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.48: Cary Nord

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.49: Frank Quitely

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.50: Mike Ploog

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.51: Johnny Craig

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.52: Darwyn Cooke

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.53: Steve Dillon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.54: Gil Kane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.55: Michael Zulli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.56: John Romita

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.57: Joe Maneely

 

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.58: Marshall Rogers

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.59: John Severin

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.60: Alex Toth

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.61: Brian Bolland

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.62: David Mazzuchelli

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.63 Reed Crandall

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.64 Harry Anderson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.65 Nick Cardy

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.66 Matt Wagner

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.67 Bryan Hitch

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.68 Shawn Martinbrough

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.69 Al Feldstein

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.70 Nestor Redondo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.71 Tarpe Mills

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.72 Eduardo Risso

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.73 JH Williams III

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.74 Irv Novick

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.75 Dan Zolnerowich

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.76 Gilbert Shelton

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.77 Tommy Lee Edwards

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.78: Sean Phillips

 

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.79: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.80: Dan DeCarlo

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.81: Marie Severin

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.82: John Paul Leon

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.83: Jim Lee

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.84: Denys Cowan

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.85: Ross Andru

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.86: Paul Gustavson

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.87: George Evans

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.88: Michael Golden

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.89: Matt Baker

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.90: Todd McFarlane

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.91: Fiona Staples

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.92: Carl Barks

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.93: Carmine Infantino

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.94: Alan Davis

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.95: CC Beck

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.96: Syd Shores

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.97: Bob Fujitani

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.98: Tim Sale

Tripwire’s 101 Greatest Comic Artists Of All Time: No.99: Jim Aparo

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