Chris Sprouse

Chris Sprouse
Sprouse drawing at a comic convention
Chris Sprouse at GalaxyCon Columbus in 2023
Born (1966-07-30) July 30, 1966 (age 58)
Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.
Area(s)Penciller
Notable works
Tom Strong

Chris Sprouse (born July 30, 1966)[1] is an American comics artist. Sprouse has worked for multiple publishers and has won two Eisner Awards for his work on Tom Strong, a series he created with writer Alan Moore.

Early life

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Chris Sprouse was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the age of 3 he moved with his family to New Delhi, India where he first discovered comics as he was unable to play outside due to the dangerous amount of snakes in the house yard. When he was 6, his family returned to the United States to Dale City, Virginia, where he continued to read and draw comics. Before his debut in comics, Sprouse drew a comic strip entitled Ber-Mander for the school newspaper (The Hyphen) while attending Gar-Field Senior High School in Woodbridge. After graduating in 1984, Sprouse attended James Madison University where he studied graphic design.[2]

Career

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Sprouse launched his career in mainstream comics in 1989, his first credited work being a Chemical King story in Secret Origins vol. 2 #47 (Feb. 1990).[3] His next assignments were a Two-Face story for Batman Annual #14 (1990)[4] and the Hammerlocke limited series. He drew insert posters for the War of the Gods limited series in 1991.[5] Following that, Sprouse drew the Legionnaires series featuring teenaged versions of the Legion of Super-Heroes. He later illustrated a number of one-shots and fill-in issues before illustrating a Star Wars mini-series, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, for Dark Horse Comics.

He then worked for Extreme Studios as the regular penciller of New Men, and in 1997–1998, Sprouse drew several issues of Supreme, scripted by Alan Moore for the same publisher. After Supreme ended, he and Moore created Tom Strong for America's Best Comics,[6] for which Sprouse won two Eisner Awards in 2000, for Best Single Issue and Best Serialized Story.[7]

Sprouse was the penciller and co-creator on the 2004 Ocean mini-series, written by Warren Ellis and published by DC Comics. In 2007, Ocean was optioned for film.[8] In 2006, he began pencilling Wildstorm's Midnighter ongoing series, a spin-off of The Authority. He was the artist on the first issue of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne with Grant Morrison as writer.[9]

In 2011, Sprouse worked with writer Peter Hogan on the Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril limited series.[10] Sprouse drew Action Comics #14 (Jan. 2013) which featured an "appearance" by Neil deGrasse Tyson.[11] In 2014, Sprouse drew the second issue of Grant Morrison's The Multiversity limited series.[12] Other works include Batman '66, Fairest: In All the Land, The Flash, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Thors.[3]

Bibliography

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Awesome Comics

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  • Alan Moore's Awesome Universe Handbook #1 (1999)
  • Judgment Day Omega #2 (1997)
  • Judgment Day: Sourcebook #1 (1997)
  • Supreme #50, 52a, 52b, 53–56 (1997–1998)
  • Supreme the Return #1 (1999)

Dark Horse Comics

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DC Comics

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America's Best Comics

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  • ABC: A-Z, Tom Strong and Jack B. Quick #1 (2005)
  • America's Best Comics Special #1 (2001)
  • Many Worlds of Tesla Strong #1 (2003)
  • Tom Strong #1–18, 23–24, 35–36 (1999–2006)
  • Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #1–6 (2013–2014)
  • Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1–6 (2010–2011)

Wildstorm

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IDW Publishing

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Image Comics

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Malibu Comics

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Marvel Comics

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  • Black Panther vol. 6 #5–8 (2016–2017)
  • Captain America Annual #1 (2018)
  • Battlezones: Dream Team 2 #1 (1996)
  • Dream Team #1 (1995)
  • Thors #1–4 (2015–2016)
  • Uncanny X-Men #304 (1993)

References

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  1. ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Iola, Wisconsin. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Dezago, Todd; Nolen-Weathington, Eric (2009). Modern Masters Volume 21: Chris Sprouse. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-1605490137. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Chris Sprouse at the Grand Comics Database
  4. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2014). "1990s". In Alastair Dougall (ed.). Batman: A Visual History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 188. ISBN 978-1465424563. In perhaps the greatest Two-Face origin story to date, writer Andrew Helfer and artist Chris Sprouse made Harvey Dent more three-dimensional than ever before.
  5. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1990s". In Hannah Dolan (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Three of the four issues in this limited series contained posters of DC characters by the talented Chris Sprouse.
  6. ^ Vukcevic, Filip (April 29, 2008). "Chris Sprouse: Comics The Way He Sees It". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  7. ^ "2000s Eisner Awards Recipients". San Diego Comicon International. 2013. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  8. ^ Fleming, Michael (August 6, 2007). "Hollywood Gang jumps in Ocean". Variety. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  9. ^ "DCU in 2010: The Return of Bruce Wayne hits in April". DC Comics. December 9, 2009. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013.
  10. ^ Melrose, Kevin (April 5, 2013). "Tom Strong returns in July with Planet of Peril". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  11. ^ McMillan, Graeme (November 5, 2012). "Neil deGrasse Tyson Finds Krypton, Shows Up in Action Comics". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Tyson will appear in the next issue of Action Comics helping Superman locate where his home planet used to be as part of the back-up strip by Sholly Fisch and Chris Sprouse.
  12. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (September 18, 2014). "Vivisecting Multiversity: Chris Sprouse On The Society of Super-Heroes". Newsarama. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.

Further reading

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