Timothy Truman

Infobox Comics creator

---

imagesize = 150
caption =
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1956|02|09
location = Gauley Bridge, West Virginia
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Penciller, Inker, Writer
alias =


notable works = "Grimjack"
"Scout"
"Jonah Hex"
awards =

Timothy Truman (born February 9, 1956 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia) is an American writer, artist and musician best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art.

He is best known for his work on "Scout" and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale. Truman is currently writing "Conan".

Biography

After graduating from Gauley Bridge High School in 1974, Timothy Truman attended the Columbus College of Art and Design while also attending West Virginia University. From 1979 to 1981 he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey and graduated on the Dean's List.

After graduation, he moved to New York City and worked in the fantasy role-playing game industry for a few years providing illustrations for various companies including working for TSR, Inc. as a staff illustrator.

He currently lives in Lancaster, PA and is an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.

Comics

Truman's first major series was the title GrimJack for independent comics company First Comics with writer John Ostrander. GrimJack first appeared in Starslayer #10 in November 1983 before moving to his own series after issue #18 in 1984 that lasted for 81 issues. Along with being a fan favorite and often imitated character, GrimJack almost single-handedly defined the "grim and gritty" action comic character archetype.

Truman has been continuously creative for more than twenty years, displaying his pulp sensitivities in his writing:

In 1985, he created "Scout" followed by "Scout: War Shaman", a futuristic western.

In 1986 Truman relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics.

At Eclipse, he developed the Prowler, a Shadow type character. And he adapted The Spider into comics for them.

In 1991, at DC Comics he created "Hawkworld", a reinvention of Hawkman, possibly his best work.

With author Joe R. Lansdale he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a complaint from musician Edgar Winter.

He was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book.

He wrote "Turok: Dinosaur Hunter" for Valiant Comics.

For the defunct SF imprint of DC, Helix he created "The Black Lamb".

He worked on a typical pulp adventure "Guns of the Dragon", featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash.

He wrote "Star Wars".

At Dark Horse Comics, he took over the writing of "Conan" from Kurt Busiek in 2006 and after that series ended he started "Conan The Cimmerian". [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=157712 Tim Truman on Conan the Cimmerian] , Newsarama, May 21, 2008]

Music

A longtime fan and musician, Truman has also been able to integrate his love of music into his love of comics and illustration. While working for Eclipse comics, Truman included a Flexi disc recording inside Scout #19 that provided a soundtrack to one of the scenes in the comic. He also released an album through Eclipse Records with his band The Dixie Pistols entitled Marauder. The album included a short comic book featuring the wedding of Emanuel Santanna that took place between the first series Scout and the second series .

While writing the biography of one of his favorite guitarists Carlos Santana for Rock-It Comics, Truman found out that the Carlos was a longtime fan of his comic, Scout whose main character, Emanuel Santanna, is the namesake of the famous guitarist. Naming the characters after favorite musicians is a common convention that Truman has used throughout the Scout series.

Truman has also had a long relationship with the band the Grateful Dead creating artwork for CD covers, tour posters, limited-edition T-Shirts and a color comics page in each issue of the Grateful Dead Almanac.

Truman built a recording studio in his home and while producing recording sessions for Cherokee singer/songwriter Terry Strongheart, they decided to form a new band with some of Truman's friends and Strongheart's daughter called the Terry Strongheart Band. Two CDs have been recorded, the first entitled "Tears" and the follow-up "Indian School".

Timothy is often confused with the music composer Tim Truman ["Scout: War Shaman" issue 14, where the letters page shows several examples of this] who wrote the theme to Melrose Place among other important contributions to the music industry in movies and television.

Awards and nominations

Hawkworld - DC Comics - Spanish Haxtur Award ("Premios Haxtur") for "Best Long Story" 1991

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=creator|id=132|title=Timothy Truman
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/t/truman_timothy.htm Timothy Truman] at lambiek.net
* [http://www.trumanstudio.citymax.com/page/page/1764173.htm Timothy Truman biography]

External links

*official|http://www.ttruman.com

Interviews

* [http://www.comixology.com/podcasts/50/Conan-the-Cimmerian-0-with-Timothy-Truman Tim Truman in a podcast interview] on the "reboot" of Conan the Cimmerian at [http://www.comixology.com comiXology
* [http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodes/comic_geek_speak-106.php Comic Geek Speak Podcast Interview (December 2005)]