John Cassaday

Infobox Comics creator

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imagesize = 150
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = 1971
location = Fort Worth, Texas
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Penciller
alias =
notable works = "Planetary"
"Astonishing X-Men"
"Captain America"
awards = 2006 Eisner Award for Best Penciller/Inker

John Cassaday (born 1971) is an American comic book artist and writer. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas and currently lives in New York City. His style is cinematic, highly detailed and uses relatively realistically-proportioned human characters.

As an illustrator, Cassaday is self-taught; however, he studied filmmaking and directed TV news before leaving Texas to pursue his career in comics [http://www.portfolio.com/careers/job-of-the-week/2008/04/28/Comic-Book-Artist-John-Cassaday] . His influences include NC Wyeth [ [http://www.collectortimes.com/2002_08/Clubhouse.html Coville's Clubhouse - Aug. '02 ] ] , classic pulp magazine-culture iconography, and popular music [* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=324] ] .

Cassaday bears a physical resemblance to the character known as The Drummer from the "Planetary" comic-book series [ [http://www.comicvine.com/the-drummer/17584/costumes/&c=704 The Drummer's Gallery: 'The Drummer Gallery' ] ] .

Biography

Cassaday's professional career commenced in 1995 with a story in Caliber Comics' "Negative Burn". However, he wasn't really 'discovered' until the following year, when he showed his portfolio to Mark Waid at Comic-Con International: San Diego; soon after the convention, Cassaday began to receive job offers. In December 1996 he began to provide art for Dark Horse Comics's "Ghost". Less than 12 months later, he became the main artist on "Desperadoes". He started getting work with DC and Marvel at the end of 1997, on publications such as the"Teen Titans" and "Flash" annuals, "X-Men: Alpha Flight", and "Union Jack".

He is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed [# ^ Kreiner, Rich (February 2004). "Firing Line:Planetary/Batman". The Comics Journal 1 (258): 50-51. ISSN 0194-7869. ] "Planetary" with writer Warren Ellis, "Astonishing X-Men" with Joss Whedon and "Captain America" with John Ney Rieber. The Captain America series was a re-launch under the Marvel Knights banner. Cassaday based the covers on World War II propaganda posters; they were popular with fans and critics alike. He revisited Captain America in 2007, illustrating an issue of "", written by Jeph Loeb.He has also created several covers for comic books featuring "The Phantom", both for US publisher Moonstone Books and the European Egmont, as well as covers for Joss Whedon's "Firefly" spinoff comic "", and "Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper".

From 2004 to 2008, Cassaday illustrated the graphic novel trilogy "Je suis légion" by Fabien Nury from Les Humanoïdes Associés. [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_suis_l%C3%A9gion] In July 2006, Humanoïdes announced a co-production deal with Pierre Spengler which includes a screen adaptation of "I am Legion" AKA "Je Suis Legion" [ [http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2006/07/14/humanoids-production-deal-cassaday-to-direct-2/ THE BEAT » Blog Archive » Humanoids production deal, Cassaday to direct ] ] [ [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002839280 Spengler back in swing with comic-book lineup ] ] . Cassaday is slated to direct the feature film. The project is in development.

In 2008, he is handling covers and art direction on Dynamite Entertainment's "The Lone Ranger" comic-book series.

Renowned as a perfectionist, Cassaday personally inks his own work manually, it is then often colored by Laura Martin. Despite the fact that he has one of the fastest page-completion rates in the industry, the titles he illustrates often run late due to the involvement of high-profile writers and the necessity of co-ordinating the timetables of all the creative professionals involved.

Bibliography

* "Astonishing X-Men" volume 3 #1-24, Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men (with Joss Whedon, Marvel Comics, 2004-2008)
* "Captain America" volume 4 #1-6, 17 (with John Ney Reiber, Marvel, 2002)

* "Desperadoes" (with Jeff Mariotte):
** "A Moment's Sunlight" (Homage Comics/Wildstorm, 5-issue mini-series, 1997-1998, tpb, 104 pages, July 1998, ISBN 1-58240-013-X)
** "Epidemic!" (laid out the art, drawn by John Lucas, Homage Comics/Wildstorm, one-shot, 1999, ISBN B0006RRCHQ)

* "Ghost" #27 (pencils, with Eric Luke and inks by Gary Martin, Dark Horse Comics, 1996-1997, collected in "Ghost: Black October", 1999, ISBN 1-56971-377-4)
* "Hellboy: Weird Tales" #1-4, 6-8 (Dark Horse Comics, 2003-2004, collected in "Hellboy Weird Tales" volumes 1 and 2, 2003, ISBN 1-56971-622-6, 2004, ISBN 1-56971-953-5)
* "Ka-Zar" volume 4 #1 (Marvel)
* "Je suis légion" (with Fabien Nury, 2 volumes, Les Humanoïdes Associés, 2004)
* "Just Imagine Stan Lee with John Cassaday creating Crisis" (DC)
* "Planetary" (with Warren Ellis, #1-27, WildStorm, 1998-ongoing)
* "Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth" (with Warren Ellis, Wildstorm, 2003, collected in "Planetary: Crossing Worlds", 2004)

* "Uncanny X-Men" #352 (Marvel)
* "Union Jack" (script and art, with co-author Ben Raab, 3-issue mini-series, December 1998 - February 1999, tpb, 96 pages, April 2002, ISBN 078510934X)
* "X-Men/Alpha Flight" volume 2 #1 (with Ben Raab, Marvel)
* "Fallen Son - The Death Of Captain America - Iron Man" (with Jeph Loeb, Marvel), August 2007

Awards

*2000: Nominated for "Best Cover Artist" Eisner Award for "Planetary"
*2004:
** Won Best Penciller/Inker Eisner Award for "Planetary" and stories in "Hellboy: Weird Tales"
** Nominated Favourite Comics Artist: Pencils Eagle Award
*2005: Won Best Penciller/Inker Eisner Award for "Astonishing X-Men", "Planetary", and "I Am Legion: The Dancing Faun" in a tie with illustrator Frank Quitely
*2006:
** Won Best Penciller/Inker Eisner Award for "Astonishing X-Men" and "Planetary"
** Won Best Ongoing Series Eisner Award for "Astonishing X-Men" with Joss Whedon
** Won Favourite Comics Artist: Pencils Eagle Award
*2007: Won Best Comic-Book Artist in the Spike TV Scream Awards
*2008: Nominated for "Best Cover Artist" Eisner Award for "Astonishing X-Men" and "Lone Ranger". [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=153595 2008 Eisner Award Nominees Named] (press release), Newsarama, April 14, 2008]

Notes

References

*gcdb|type=credit|search=John+Cassaday|title=John Cassaday
*comicbookdb|type=creator|id=107|title=John Cassaday
* [http://marvel.com/catalog/?artist=John%20Cassaday John Cassaday on Marvel.com]
* [http://comicartcommunity.com/gallery/categories.php?cat_id=134 Collectors' galleries of Cassaday's original artwork]

External links

* [http://www.johncassaday.com/ Official John Cassaday site]

Interviews

* [http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/features/109269151311934.htm John Cassaday: Astonishing] at Silver Bullet Comic Books
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=583 John Cassaday Interview] at Comic Book Resources, October 28, 2001
* [http://www.collectortimes.com/2002_08/Clubhouse.html An Interview With John Cassaday] at CollectorTimes.com, 2002