Arthur Adams (comics)

Arthur Adams (born April 5, 1963) is an American comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries Longshot. His subsequent interior comics work includes a number of Marvel's major books, including The Uncanny X-Men, Excalibur, X-Factor, Fantastic Four, Hulk, and Ultimate Comics: X, as well as books by various other publishers, such as Action Comics, Vampirella, The Rocketeer, and The Authority. Adams has also illustrated books featuring characters for which he has a personal love, such as Godzilla, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and Gumby, the latter of which garnered him a 1988 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue.

In 1994, Adams joined a group of creators that included Frank Miller, John Byrne, and Mike Mignola to form Legend, an imprint of creator-owned comics published by Dark Horse Comics, through which Adams published Monkeyman and O'Brien, a science fiction adventure series featuring archetypal sci-fi monsters that Adams wrote and illustrated. Although the Legend imprint ceased in 1998, Monkeyman and O'Brien continued to appear in print, sometimes in crossover stories with other comics characters, such as Gen13/Monkeyman and O'Brien (1998), and Savage Dragon #41 (September 1997).

Because of his reputedly tight, labor-intensive penciling style, which was initially influenced by Michael Golden and Walter Simonson, and his admittedly slow pace, Adams mostly does cover work. When he does do interior art, it is usually for short storylines, one-shots, miniseries or contributions to anthologies, such as his 2002–2004 work on "Jonni Future", a pulp science fiction series he co-created with Steve Moore for the Wildstorm Productions anthology Tom Strong's Terrific Tales, and his 2008 work on Hulk (Vol 2) #7 - 9. His other cover work includes books such as Avengers Classic, Wonder Woman, and JLA, as well as pinups and other spot illustrations for books such as Sin City, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and his own published sketchbook series, Arthur Adams Sketchbook. He has done design work for toys and video games, and miniature busts have been produced based on his renditions of notable characters. In the early 2000s he was commissioned to create artwork for the drum kit used by System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan.

He is one of the most popular and widely imitated artists in the comics industry, whose drawing style has been credited as an influence upon artists such as Joe Madureira and Ed McGuinness, as well as the artists associated with the founding and early days of Image Comics, such as J. Scott Campbell.

In October 2024, Adams was inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame.

Early life

Arthur Adams was born on April 5, 1963 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, though his family moved from there when he was a year old, and thus he has no memory of that town. His father was a loadmaster in the United States Air Force, and as a result, Adams frequently moved with his parents and four younger brothers to places that included West Virginia. When Adams was five years old, the family settled in Vacaville, California, near Travis Air Force Base. Adams' first exposure to superhero and monster comics came through the ones his mother would buy for him once a month at a thrift store. His enthusiasm for superhero stories by particular creators began when his father returned from an overseas trip with the first Marvel Treasury Grab-Bag, which included stories by Ross Andru, Wally Wood, and Gene Colan. He particularly enjoyed Marvel Comics for their stories with monster-like characters such as the Thing, the Hulk, and the Man-Thing. His interest in professional paleontology waned, however, when he realized that the extreme climates of the environments in which he would be required to work were not appealing to him. and Adams returned to submitting samples while working at the pizzeria. Adams later dismissed the story as poorly drawn. He also drew "Away Off There Amid The Softly Winking Lights", a story in the 1984 Pacific Comics anthology Three Dimensional Alien Worlds. which had been turned down by every other artist she offered it to. Adams, now a couple of months before his twentieth birthday, did a series of preliminary design drawings, basing the main character's appearance and hairstyle on that of singer Limahl, and the female lead, Ricochet Rita, on Nocenti herself. The series was freelance-edited by Louise Simonson, and without a firm schedule, which provided Adams the time he needed to complete it. This was due in part to his problems with perspective and other things he was not accustomed to drawing, such as windmills, babies and people smiling, and in part because he had to redraw the first half of it, as Ann Nocenti's story was so dense that the pages featured up to 20 panels. This problem was addressed by editor Elliot Brown, who showed Adams how to compose panels depicting multiple actions. He also penciled Page 30 of Secret Wars, which was inked by Mike Mignola, and released April 10, 1985, though Adams was not credited in the book. Longshot #1 was published on September 1, 1985, with a cover date of September 1985.

His work on the X-Men franchise would continue with a number of covers for The New Mutants and The Uncanny X-Men in 1986 and 1987, respectively. He also drew all but three of the first 23 covers and interior frontispieces to Classic X-Men from 1986 to 1988. His interior X-Men-related work included a two-issue run on X-Factor and the one-shot Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem, both in 1989, and three Uncanny X-Men Annuals, in 1986, 1988, and 1990. It was in drawing the 1988 annual that Adams says he felt like a professional comic book artist for the first time, as he first felt confident that he knew what he was doing. and Action Comics Annual #1 in 1987. The latter is viewed as a turning point in Adam's drawing style, characterized by bulkier figures of Batman and Superman, though Adams explains that this was in part due to the influence of The Dark Knight Returns. Adams also explained that the overall change in art was style partly due to deliberate experimentation on his part, and partly to Dick Giordano's inking, which exhibited a different line weight. That same year, he illustrated Gumby Summer Fun Special #1 by Comico Comics, a job he obtained through Comico editor Diana Schutz, an old friend who noticed the incidental images of Gumby that Adams had included in the pages of Longshot. Adams would later illustrate a second Gumby book, Gumby's Winter Fun Special, which was written by Steve Purcell. Series writer Walter Simonson, who also was the regular artist on the title, decided to write a story for Adams to draw in order to catch up on his deadlines. Simonson asked Marvel's Marketing Department who the four top-selling characters were, and was told they were Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, and the Punisher. Adams disliked the Punisher, and especially disliked drawing guns, because he felt he was not good at it, and suggested the Hulk. When Simonson asked him what he liked to draw, Adams indicated that he was a fan of the classic elements of the book, such as the Mole Man and the Skrulls, which Simonson incorporated into the story. The three-issue arc, which is cited by Adams as one of his favorite works, Adams did more work for the X-Men franchise, such as the 1997 intercompany crossover one-shot Gen13/Generation X.

Adams became acquainted with Randy Stradley and other staff members of Dark Horse Comics, after which he illustrated a number of their books featuring the classic Universal Monsters he loved in his youth. His first Godzilla work was Godzilla Color Special #1 in 1992. For that story Adams created an organization called G-Force, which he designed to be a Japanese version of the Fantastic Four, and in the story, had that group mention that they had fought the Shrewmanoid, a villain Adams later created for Monkeyman & O'Brien. Toho, the production company that produces the Godzilla films, would later introduce a version of that team in the 1993 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. A book on the making of that film features a cover illustration of Godzilla that was copied from the Color Special, which amused Adams. Adams would follow these with other Godzilla works, such as "King Kong vs. Godzilla", a story that appeared in the anthology Urban Legends #1 that is notable for being the only work of his to date that he wrote, penciled, inked and lettered, and "Tramplin' Tokyo", an Alan Moore story he drew for Negative Burn #18 (December 1994). In 1995 he drew Godzilla vs. Hero Zero, and wrote issues 5–8 of Target: Godzilla! When Adams learned that Dark Horse would acquire the rights to the Universal Monsters, Adams lobbied to them to illustrate a comics sequel to the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon, but Dark Horse wanted to produce an adaptation of the film first, and told Adams that if he illustrated that, that he would be able to illustrate a future sequel. The 50-page adaptation was published in 1993, but the line's low sales cost Dark Horse money, and it was canceled after four books, precluding the sequel that Adams wanted to draw. and the extraterrestrial Froglodytes. Despite the offer from Image, Adams and Mignola (the latter of whom created Hellboy, which had been rejected by DC Comics), took their ideas to Dark Horse, for whom Adams had already done work, as it would allow them to collaborate with creators they admired, such as Frank Miller and John Byrne. Together with Paul Chadwick, Mike Allred, Dave Gibbons, and Geof Darrow, the creators formed Legend, a creator-owned imprint of Dark Horse. After an initial 1993 appearance in San Diego Comic Con Comics #2, Monkeyman and O'Brien appeared in installments in Dark Horse Presents #80 in 1993 and Dark Horse Insider #27 in 1994. The duo's first appearance under the Legend imprint was an ongoing backup story in Mike Mignola's 1994 Hellboy: Seed of Destruction miniseries. They would eventually graduate to their own self-titled miniseries in 1996. When first producing the series, Adams had on hand the Marvel Monsterworks reprint of the Atlas Comics monster stories "Where Monsters Dwell" and "Creatures on the Loose" for inspiration. and Gen13/MonkeyMan and O'Brien (1998), both published by Image Comics, the latter of which Adams wrote and drew for Wildstorm Productions.

In 1996 Dark Horse Comics published Art Adams' Creature Features,

Throughout the 2000s, Adams provided cover images for various DC Comics, such as Superman, Batman, and JLA: Scary Monsters, as well as for books by various other publishers, such as Vampirella, Red Sonja, Jurassic Park, Madman Adventures, Thundercats, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Adams' 2000s Marvel cover work include Generation X #67 - 72 in 2000 and 2001, and Incredible Hercules #113 - 115 in 2008, as well for three of its collected editions. His 2000s interior comics work includes Superman/Batman #26 (2006), an issue dedicated to writer Jeph Loeb's late son, Sam, to which dozens of writers and artists contributed. In 2008 he illustrated a Red Hulk story in King-Size Hulk #1, and later illustrated a Hulk/Wendigo story that appeared in 11-page installments Hulk #7 - 9, as well as those issues' covers. In 2010 he illustrated Ultimate X #1-5, his first work for the Ultimate Marvel line of comic books.

2010s–present

In 2014, Adams illustrated variant covers for each of the eight issues of Marvel Comics miniseries Original Sin, composing them as eight pieces of a single, interlocked image, which depicts all of the major characters of the Marvel Universe. It was the single piece that took the longest for Adams to complete, at 10 weeks. A recreation of Barry Windsor-Smith's classic cover to Avengers #100 that Adams drew on a whim was later used by Marvel Comics as a variant cover to an actual issue, and in July 2019, as the image of a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle licensed by Aquarius.

left|thumb|Adams at the 2018 Phoenix Comic Fest

On November 30, 2011, Gumby Comics/Wildcard Ink published a single volume collecting Adams' previous two specials featuring Gumby. The book was initially called Gumby's Arthur Adams Specials, but was eventually published with a sticker covering Adams' name on the cover, effectively renaming the book Gumby's Spring Specials. According to Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, this was done on Adams' request, who wanted nothing to do with the publisher, and took action to keep his name off the book's cover. The book is nonetheless sold by merchants such as Mile High Comics under its originally intended name.

In 2016 Adams provided the illustrations for a satirical piece in GQ magazine that imagined a number of controversial public figures as comic book supervillains, including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Sepp Blatter, Martin Shkreli, and Kris Jenner. Later that year, Dynamite Entertainment announced it that would be producing limited edition poly-resin busts of female characters for its Women of Dynamite line, based on Adams' renditions of those characters and sculpted by Jason Smith. The first bust was a Red Sonja bust debuting in November, followed by a Vampirella bust in February 2017. In the late 2010s, Adams illustrated cover runs on Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol 4) and X-Men Blue.

In April 2022, Adams was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Adams would provide one of the covers to the softcover edition of the book.

Though his work for Marvel takes priority for him, he also makes a significant amount of his income from private commissions, which he produces when time permits.

On October 11, 2024, the Harvey Awards announced that Adams was one of five comics creators to be inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame at the 36th annual Harvey Awards ceremony on October 18 at the New York Comic Con. The other four inductees were Akira Toriyama, Larry Hama, Sergio Aragonés, and John Buscema. Upon learning of the honor, Adams reacted by commenting, "Wow! What an unexpected honor! And to be inducted with these four giants of the comics industry! Amazing! Thank you so much Harvey Awards! I'm shocked!"

Technique and materials

thumb|left|Adams was heavily influenced by the work of [[Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, among other sources, in illustrating "Jonni Future", which he considers his best work. Nonetheless, he stated in a 2019 interview that while he had not harbored any strong emotional attachment to the X-Men as a child, he had been drawn to that franchise because "I just like the characters and I've worked on them enough that they trust me," and has gone on to name his favorite X-Men characters to draw. He said he loves Domino as a character, despite not having had many opportunities to draw her; he enjoyed depicting Wolverine out of costume in a storyline that paired him with Jubilee; has called Kitty Pryde a good character; and enjoys drawing Colossus, X-23, and Jean Grey. He dislikes drawing the Punisher, because he believes that he is not adept at drawing guns. Timothy Callahan of Comic Book Resources points to the use of dynamic action poses, idealized figures, costume designs featuring numerous accessories, a preference for copious crosshatching over brushwork in rendering, and the depiction of cybernetic limbs and other reflective surfaces seen in those artists' styles as being derived from Adams' work, in particular his run on Longshot. Callahan also points out that the detailed webbing for which Todd McFarlane became known during his run on Spider-Man had previously been used by Adams on the cover of Longshot #4, although Callahan notes that Adams did not necessarily originate these elements, but was influenced himself by Michael Golden and Micronauts, he states that Adams popularized them. Adams' conception of Spider-Man with a large-eyed mask, detailed "spaghetti"-style webbing, and more contorted poses while web-swinging can be seen in Web of Spider-Man Annual #2, published in June 1986 (approximately 1½ years before Todd McFarlane's first published Spider-Man work, The Amazing Spider-Man #298). Noting also that Adams' Longshot pencils were inked by Whilce Portacio and an uncredited Scott Williams, Callahan refers to that book as "early Image, in primal form". J. Scott Campbell, Ed McGuinness, Aaron Kuder, Shelby Robertson, Olivier Coipel, and Nick Bradshaw.

Personal life

Adams is married to fellow comics artist Joyce Chin, whom he met at the 1996 San Diego Comic-Con. Chin has inked Adams' pencils, and Adams has inked Chin's, as on Xena: Warrior Princess #4 (January 2000). As of 1997 they lived in Portland, Oregon.

Awards and accolades

1986: Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award
1988: Eisner Award for Best Single Issue (with Bob Burden for Gumby Summer Fun Special #1)
2024: Inducted into the Harvey Awards Hall of Fame Wildstorm, 2002)
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #1–4, 6–10: "Jonni Future" (with Steve Moore, America's Best Comics, 2002–2004)
The Many Worlds of Tesla Strong (with Alan Moore and Peter K. Hogan, among other artists, one-shot, Wildstorm, 2003)
Action Comics Annual #10 : "The Many Deaths of Superman" (DC Comics, 2007)
Countdown to Final Crisis #14: "The Origin of Gorilla Grodd" (with Scott Beatty, co-feature, DC Comics, 2008)
King-Size Hulk: "Where Monsters Dwell" (with Jeph Loeb, Marvel, 2008)
Hulk #7–9 (with Jeph Loeb, Marvel, 2008)
Ultimate Comics: X (with Jeph Loeb, Marvel, 2010–2011)
AvX: VS #6 (with Jeph Loeb, Marvel, 2012, pg 18)
All-New X-Men #25 (Marvel, 2014)

Cover work

Marvel Fanfare #13 (Marvel Comics, 1984)
Marvel Team-Up #141 (Marvel, 1984)
Micronauts: The New Voyages #2 (Marvel, 1984)
The Defenders #142 (Marvel, 1985)
The New Mutants Special Edition (Marvel, 1985)
X-Men Annual #9 (Marvel, 1985)
The New Mutants #38–39 (Marvel, 1986)
Firestar #3 (Marvel, 1986)
Classic X-Men #1–23 (Marvel, 1986–1988)
Daredevil #238–239 (Marvel, 1987)
Uncanny X-Men #214, 218 (Marvel, 1987)
The Spectre Annual #1 (DC Comics, 1988)
Marvel Age Annual #4 (Marvel, 1988)
The Last of the Viking Heroes #7 (Genesis West Comics, 1989)
Tommy and the Monsters #1 (New Comics Group, 1989)
Appleseed Book Two #1–5 (Eclipse Comics, 1989)
The Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular (Marvel, 1990)
Marvel Super-Heroes #6 (1991)
Conan the Barbarian #247–249 (Marvel, 1991)
Animal Confidential (Dark Horse Comics, 1992)
Vampirella: Summer Nights #1 (Harris Comics, 1992)
Marvel Holiday Special '92 (Marvel, 1993)
Showcase '93 #1 (DC Comics, 1993)
Superman: Legacy of Superman #1 (DC Comics, 1993)
Dark Horse Comics #11 (Dark Horse, 1993)
Comics' Greatest World: Vortex #2 (Comics' Greatest World, 1993)
Out of the Vortex #7 (Dark Horse, 1994)
Classic Star Wars: A New Hope #1 (Dark Horse, 1994)
Division 13 #1 (Comics' Greatest World, 1994)
Medal of Honor #2 (Dark Horse, 1994)
Gen13 #1 (Wildstorm, 1995)
New Men #12 (Extreme Studios, 1995)
Godzilla #1-7 (Dark Horse, 1995)
Avengelyne #3 (Maximum Press, 1995)
Badrock Annual #1 (Image, 1995)
Godzilla vs. Hero Zero #1 (Dark Horse, 1995)
Leonard Nimoy's Primortals: Origins #1-2 (Tekno Comix, 1995)
Oblivion #1 (Comico, 1995)
Leonard Nimoy's Primortals #13-14 (Tekno Comix, 1996)
Untold Tales of Spider-Man #17 (Marvel, 1996)
The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest #9 (Dark Horse, 1997)
Star Kid #1 (Dark Horse, 1998)
Crimson #2 (Cliffhanger, 1998)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1, 6 (Dark Horse, 1998–1999)
Daring Escapes #1 (Image, 1998)
Clerks: Holiday Special #1 (Oni Press, 1998)
Darkchylde: The Legacy #2-3 (Image, 1998)
Nathan Never #1-4 (Dark Horse, 1999)
Wildcats #1 (Wildstorm, 1999)
Lady Death: The Rapture #1 (Chaos!, 1999)
Purgatori: Goddess Rising #1 (Chaos!, 1999)
JLA Annual #3 (DC Comics, 1999)
Batman Annual #23 (DC Comics, 1999)
Aquaman Annual #5 (DC Comics, 1999)
Wonder Woman Annual #8 (DC Comics, 1999)
The Flash Annual #12 (DC Comics, 1999)
Superman Annual #11 (DC Comics, 1999)
Green Lantern Annual #8 (DC Comics, 1999)
Martian Manhunter Annual #2 (DC Comics, 1999)
Tellos #4 (Image, 1999)
Tom Strong #4 (America's Best Comics, 1999)
Lionheart #2 (Awesome, 1999)
X-Men #100 (Marvel, 2000)
X-Men: The Movie Special Edition #1 (Marvel, 2000)
Generation X #67-72 (Marvel, 2000–2001)
Kin #6 (Top Cow, 2000)
Gatecrasher #5 (Black Bull, 2000)
X-Men Annual '00 (Marvel, 2000)
Deadpool #50 (Marvel, 2001)
Defenders #2 (Marvel, 2001)
Cavewoman: Pangaean Sea #0 (Basement, 2001)
Angel and the Ape #1-4 (Vertigo, 2001–2002)
The Authority #29 (Wildstorm, 2002)
Thundercats #1 (Wildstorm, 2002)
Tom Strong's Terrific Tales #5, 12 (America's Best Comics, 2003–2005)
JLA: Scary Monsters #1-6 (DC Comics, 2003)
Magdalena/ Vampirella #1 (Top Cow, 2003)
Wildguard: Casting Call #3 (Image, 2003)
Witchblade /Magdalena/ Vampirella #1 (Top Cow, 2004)
Alter Nation #1 (Image, 2004)
Action Comics #814-821 (DC Comics, 2004–2005)
Red Sonja #1-2, 25, 50 (Dynamite, 2005–2010)
Worldstorm #1 (Wildstorm, 2006)
The Authority #1 (Wildstorm, 2006)
Justice League of America #5 (DC Comics, 2007)
Manhunter #26 (DC Comics, 2007)
Midnighter #2 (Wildstorm, 2007)
Tales of the Unexpected #7 (DC Comics, 2007)
Avengers Classic #1-12 (Marvel, 2007–2008)
Booster Gold #1-2 (DC Comics, 2007)
Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer — Wildstorm #1 (DC Comics, 2007)
Fantastic Four #551, 583–584, 600 (Marvel, 2008–2011)
The Incredible Hulk #112 (Marvel, 2008)
The Incredible Hercules #113-115 (Marvel, 2008)
Thor vol. 3 #6 (Marvel, 2008)
The Perhapanauts #1 (Image, 2008)
Invincible #50 (Image, 2008)
Brit #7 (Image, 2008)
Marvel Apes #0, 4 (2008–2009)
Agents of Atlas #1 (Marvel, 2009)
Hulk #10-12 (Marvel, 2009)
Jurassic Park #2 (IDW Publishing, 2010)
New Mutants #15, 25 (Marvel, 2010–2011)
New Mutants Forever #2, 4 (Marvel, 2010–2011)
Wolverine #2 (Marvel, 2010)
Carnage #1-2 (Marvel, 2010–2011)
Warlord of Mars: Dejah Thoris #1-5 (Dynamite, 2011)
Avengers: The Children's Crusade #3 (Marvel, 2011)
Captain America: Man Out of Time #1 (Marvel, 2011)
Young Allies #6 (Marvel, 2011)
Avengers Prime #5 (Marvel, 2011)
Thunderbolts #154 (Marvel, 2011)
Journey into Mystery #622 (Marvel, 2011)
Astonishing X-Men #43 (Marvel, 2011)
Godzilla: Legends #1-5 (IDW Publishing, 2011)
The Fearless #1-12 (Marvel, 2011–2012)
Godzilla #1 (IDW Publishing, 2012)
Secret Avengers #22-25, 29-37 (Marvel, 2012–2013)
Battle of the Atom #1-5 (Marvel, 2013)
Uncanny Avengers Annual #1 (Marvel, 2014)
Immortal X-Men #9 (Marvel, 2023)

References

External links

Arthur Adams at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
Arthur Adams at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
Art Adams Image Gallery at Comic Art Community
Sarahtika, Dhania (September 12, 2017). "Fan-Favorite Arthur Adams Talks About His Journey as Comic Book Artist". Jakarta Globe