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

 No.49: Frank Quitely

Frank Quitely (real name Vincent Deighan) is a Scottish comic artist and illustrator whose work is a unique fusion of European artists like Moebius and Enki Bilal but also Scottish strips like The Broons by Dudley D Watkins and The Beano. Words: Joel Meadows

Quitely got his start on indie anthology Electric Soup in 1990 and it was here that he first used his pseudonym of Frank Quitely, a spoonerism of Quite Frankly, as he didn’t want his family to know he was working on the strip, The Browns, his version of The Broons.

Electric Soup led to him being noticed by Judge Dredd The Megazine editor David Bishop and he was hired to draw futuristic Japanese strip Shimura, written by Robbie Morrison, and future Western Missionary Man with writer Gordon Rennie.

Both of these strips attracted international attention and so DC commissioned him to contribute to their Big Books published by their imprint Paradox Press in the early 1990s. Dark Horse also hired him and his work appeared in their flagship Dark Horse Presents book.

His idiosyncratic approach meant that he had already built up quite a following when in 1996 DC put him together with fellow Scottish creator Grant Morrison on Doom Patrol spin-off Flex Mentallo. This was a series which propelled Quitely into the upper echelons of the industry.

Flex Mentallo led to Quitely drawing for DC’s Weird War Tales anthology and working with another Scottish writer, Alan Grant, on Batman: The Scottish Connection. He also illustrated three issues of Jamie Delano’s 2020 Visions series for Vertigo. He collaborated again with Morrison on graphic novel JLA: Earth 2 in 2000. He also replaced artist Bryan Hitch on Wildstorm’s hit superhero book The Authority with fellow Scot Mark Millar writing.

He jumped ship from DC to join Marvel, reuniting with Grant Morrison on their New X-Men series.

Returning to DC’s Vertigo imprint in 2004, Quitely worked with Morrison again on sci-fi series We3. That same year he signed an exclusive contract with DC where he drew the acclaimed All-Star Superman series once again with Morrison on writing duties.

He went on to draw three issues of DC’s Batman and Robin series.

In 2012, Quitely worked with Millar again on series Jupiter’s Legacy, a creator-owned superhero series published by Image Comics.

He worked with Morrison once more on an issue of the writer’s epic DC series Multiversity in 2014.

Most recently he has been creating labels for boutique whisky labels and a piece of his adorns a hotel in Glasgow. His work was celebrated in a huge exhibition at Glasgow’s prestigious Kelvingrove museum in 2017.

Quitely is an artist whose style is instantly recognisable and his collaborations with Grant Morrison have meant that he has become one of the most in-demand comic artists of the past twenty years. All-Star Superman is still seen as one of the high points of the character’s portrayal this century. Quitely’s versatility as an artist  continues to win him fans around the world. His singular style is bold yet cartoony, fusing the best of his influences while transcending them. His work has influenced other modern comic artists like Chris Burnham and Nathan Fox.

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.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

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-100/

https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/tripwires-101-greatest-comic-artists-of-all-time-no-101/