Jimmy Gownley

Jimmy Gownley (b. 1972) is an American comic book writer/artist best known for his award winning comic book Amelia Rules. He grew up in the small town of Girardville, Pennsylvania and started to write and draw his own comics at an early age. His first published work was "Shades of Gray", which he self-published. Two issues (#0 and #1), self-distributed in an edition of about 100 copies, were published while the artist was still in high school, in 1988-89. Twelve additional issues, starting over with #1 (1992) and titled "Shades of Gray Comics and Stories", had national distribution in the low thousands of copies, with color covers and black and white interior art. Gownley called his publishing company Lady Luck, Ltd.

In 1998 Gownley published a "Shades of Gray" graphic novel, titled "Fiction, Part One". Included with the graphic novel was a CD of songs, purportedly written and sung by the characters, actually written by Gownley, and performed by a group of hired musicians. "Fiction" ends on a cliffhanger, but as of 2008 no Part Two has appeared. Instead, Gownley turned to a new set of characters with "Amelia Rules".

The first four issues of "Shades of Gray" were collected in 1995, in a trade paperback titled "Days to Remember", and all 12 issues were collected in 2006 in "Black and White Life".

Jimmy Gownley has always had a close circle of admirers, but with the publication of "Amelia Rules", starting in 2001, he began to receive national recognition, with favorable reviews in Library Journal. "Amelia Rules" continues publication as of 2008, and has been collected in four trade paperbacks, all in full color, published by Renaissance Press.

Awards:

In 2008, Gownley was nominated for 4 Eisner Awards the comic book industry's highest honor, tying him for most nominations by an individual that year. He has received 7 Eisner nominations thus far.

Also in 2008, Gownley was a winner of the Pennsylvania Library Associations One Book Award.

References:

Jimmy Gownley, "Shades of Gray Comics and Stories: Black & White Life", Century Comics, 2006, ISBN 0976665131.