Alex Maleev ( Bulgarian: Алекс Малеев) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

illustrator, best known for the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

' series '' Daredevil'' (vol. 2) with frequent collaborator

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an Americans, American comic book writer and artist. Starting with crime fiction, crime and hardboiled, noir comics, Bendis eventually moved to mainstream superhero fiction, superhero work. While a ...

. Steven S. DeKnight has said that Maleev's art was a template for the Daredevil television series.

Career

Coming from a fine arts background, Maleev made his first foray into comics in Bulgaria for ''Godan'' (''Годън'' in Bulgarian) and ''Carthel of Dead'' published in ''Riko'' magazine since 1991 and 1992, respectively. Upon arriving in the United States in 1995, he enrolled at The Kubert School where, within a month, he was promoted from first to second year status at the suggestion of instructor

Alec Stevens Alec Preston Stevens (born 22 February 1965) is an American author, illustrator and musician. Biography Alec Stevens was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil where his father, a USAF officer stationed in various parts of the world, was on military a ...

. Maleev left the school in early 1996, already securing professional comics work on James O'Barr's

The Crow ''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...

(''Dead Time'' and ''Flesh and Blood'') and subsequently storyboarding the "Lost in Space" film at Continuity Associates before entering a successful run at DC Comics on ''Batman: No Man's Land''. In his comics, he sometimes references his Bulgarian origins. For example in '' Aliens vs. Predator'' alien eggs are stored in the cellar of a typical Bulgarian church. He first teamed with Bendis on

Todd McFarlane Todd McFarlane (; born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic-book creator, best known for his work as an artist on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horror-fantasy series '' Spawn,'' as well as bein ...

's '' Sam and Twitch'' series in 2000-2001 before they were recruited for ''Daredevil''. In 2006, Maleev finished his run with Bendis in ''Daredevil'' and planned a collaboration with the writer on a new ongoing ''

Spider-Woman Spider-Woman is the code name of several fictional characters in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first major version is Jessica Drew (and later impersonated by Veranke), the second major version is Julia Carpenter, and the third m ...

'' series. Bendis and Maleev collaborated once again on the much delayed four part Halo: Uprising miniseries from

. Bendis and Maleev relaunched

Moon Knight Moon Knight is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, the character first appeared in ''Werewolf by Night'' #32 (August 1975). The son of a rabbi, Marc S ...

in 2011 with volume 4, and are currently working on the creator owned comic ''Scarlet'', under the Marvel imprint

Icon Comics Icon Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics for creator-owned titles, designed to keep select "A-list" creators producing for Marvel rather than seeing them take creator-owned work to other publishers. History Icon Comics was launched in 200 ...

. Maleev also did art for the "

New Avengers The New Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The title has been used for four American comic book series. The first two were written by Brian Michael Bendis and depicted a version of Ma ...

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 ...

" special, the January 2007 issue of the

, issue #26 and the one-shots, ''

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

: The Confession'' and ''

Secret Invasion "Secret Invasion" is a comic book fictional crossover, crossover storyline written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu, that ran through a self-titled eight-issue Limited series (comics), limited series and several ti ...

: Dark Reign''. He also did the artwork for the character Sylar on the TV show '' Heroes''. Often blending photographic and digital effects with drawing in his comics art, as with his work on ''Daredevil'', as well as watercolors and gouache, as on ''Spider-Woman''.

Works

Dark Horse Comics

* '' Hellboy: Weird Tales'' #3 ("Still Born", script and art, with co-author Matt Hollingsworth, 2003, collected in ''Volume 1'', 2003, ) * '' Hellboy & the B.P.R.D.'' #1-#5 (limited series) (with

Mike Mignola Michael Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a Hellboy Universe, shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', ''Abe Sapien'', ''Lobster Johns ...

and

John Arcudi John Arcudi is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on '' The Mask'' and '' B.P.R.D.'' and his series '' Major Bummer''. Early life Arcudi grew up in Buffalo, New York. He attended Columbia University as an English major and ...

, 2014—2015)

Image Comics

* '' Sam and Twitch'' #15-24 (with

, 2000–2001)

Marvel Comics

* ''

: The Confession'' (with Brian Michael Bendis, one-shot, 2007) * '' Daredevil'' (vol.2) #26-50, 56-81, 100 (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2001–2006, 2007) * '' Halo: Uprising'' (with Brian Michael Bendis, 4-issue mini-series, 2007–2009, hardcover, May 2009, ) * ''

Mighty Avengers ''The Mighty Avengers'' is a comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics. Originally written by Brian Michael Bendis, also the writer of ''New Avengers'', the title first featured an officially sanctioned Avengers team of registered s ...

'' #12-13 (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2008) * ''

'' #26, #50 (with Brian Michael Bendis) * ''

'' (with Brian Michael Bendis, one-shot, 2003) * ''

Secret Avengers ''Secret Avengers'' is an American comic book Ongoing series, series published by Marvel Comics featuring a fictional black operation, black ops superhero team of the same name. The series started with Ed Brubaker on writing duties, depicting a b ...

'' #20 (with

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...

, 2012) * ''

: Dark Reign'' (with Brian Michael Bendis, one-shot, 2009) * ''

'' (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2009–2010) * ''

'' #1-12 (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2011) * '' Empire of the Dead: Act One'' (with George A. Romero, 2014) * ''International

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' #1-7 (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2016) * ''Infamous

'' #1-12 (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2016-2017)

DC Comics

* ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Chronicles'' #12 ("Trapped" with

Chris Renaud Chris Renaud (born December 1966) is an American filmmaker, designer, storyboard artist, and voice actor. He is best known for his work at Illumination (company), Illumination, including directing the company's animated films such as the Despica ...

, 1998) * ''Detective Comics'' #723, 730 (with

Chuck Dixon Charles Dixon (born April 14, 1954) is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s. Early life D ...

and Bob Gale, 1998–99) * ''Batman: No Man's Land'' #1 (with Bob Gale, 1999) * ''Shadow of the Bat'' #83 (with Bob Gale, 1999) * ''Batman'' #563 (with Bob Gale, 1999) * ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

vs.

Predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

'' (with

David Michelinie David Michelinie (; born May 6, 1948) is an American comic book writer best known for scripting Marvel Comics' ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and ''Iron Man'' and the DC Comics feature Superman in ''Action Comics''. Among the characters he created or ...

, three-issue mini-series, 2000) * ''Batman'' (vol. 2) #19-20 (backup stories with

Scott Snyder Scott Snyder (born January 15, 1976) is an American comic book author. He is known for his 2006 short story collection ''Voodoo Heart'', and his work for DC Comics, including series such as ''American Vampire'', ''Detective Comics'', a highly acc ...

and James Tynion, 2013) * ''Batman: The Dark Knight'' (vol. 2) #22-25 (with

Gregg Hurwitz Gregg Andrew Hurwitz is an American novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer. Most of his novels are in the thriller fiction genre. His script writing work includes a film adaptation of his book '' Orphan X'', a TV adaptation of Joby Warri ...

, 2013) * ''Event Leviathan'' #1-6 (with

, 2019)

Icon (Marvel Imprint), later Jinxworld (DC Imprint)

* '' Scarlet'' #1-ongoing (with Brian Michael Bendis, 2010–present)

Other editors

*''

: Dead Time'' (with James O'Barr/ John Wagner, 3-issue

mini-series In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

, 1996) *''The Crow: Flesh and Blood'' (with James O'Barr/ James Vance, 3-issue mini-series, Kitchen Sink Press, 1996)

Video games

* '' Freedom Fighters'' cover art

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maleev, Alex Living people The Kubert School alumni Bulgarian comics artists 20th-century Bulgarian illustrators Bulgarian emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing (living people)