Joe Madureira (; born December 1974), often called Joe Mad, is an American comic book artist and game developer, best known for his work on Darksiders, Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Men and his creator-owned comic book Battle Chasers. He is the founder of video game development companies Vigil Games and Airship Syndicate.
Madureira's style combines Western comic book influences (most notably the influence of artist Arthur Adams) though it evolved to incorporate heavy influences from Japanese manga and video games.
Early life
Joe Madureira was born December 1974, He attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan.
Career
At age 16, while still in high school, Madureira started at Marvel Comics as an intern, working under editor Danny Fingeroth. Madureira's art, which was heavily influenced by Arthur Adams, was first published in an eight-page story for the anthology series Marvel Comics Presents #89 (November 1991), starring Mojo, and then a story starring Northstar in issue #92 (December 1992). Despite the order of publication, Madureira drew the Mojo story second, as the influence of Arthur Adams, who co-created Mojo, is more evident in that story, and is closer to the style for which Madureira was known in the initial part of his career. His style would later evolve as he incorporated the influence of Japanese manga.
Madureira produced a total of nine issues in four years (publishing two to three a year), a pace for which he was criticized. The second issue was published in January 2008, the third issue released on February 20, 2008. Ultimates 3 #4 came out on June 25, 2008. The run received negative reviews and sold less than previous Ultimates volumes.
In July 2007, Vigil Games' Darksiders was announced, of which Joe Madureira was creative director. It follows War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on his quest to find out who prematurely triggered the apocalypse. It was released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 5, 2010.
Madureira has also provided cover artwork for Capcom's Marvel Super Heroes for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, and the Sony PlayStation game Gekido: Urban Fighters and Darkened Skye.
On June 13, 2011, it was announced that he would be handling art duties on a new series written by Zeb Wells entitled Avenging Spider-Man. Battle Chasers: Nightwar was released in October 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in May 2018 for Nintendo Switch and Linux.
In February 2023, Madureira confirmed to io9 that after having left Battlechasers on a cliffhanger 20 years earlier, he would produce the conclusion to the story with Battle Chasers #10, which had originally been solicited for November 2001, and would release it June 14 through Image. Madureira would write the issue and produce the cover art, while Ludo Lullabi would provide the interior art.
Personal life
As of 2021, Madureira lives in Austin, Texas.
Madureira has a daughter, who was six years old as of June 2011.