Chris Eliopoulos (born September 30, 1967) is an American cartoonist and letterer of

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

Early life

Eliopoulos attended the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

in New York City from 1985 to 1989. He majored in graphic design and minored in illustration. He is a resident of

River Vale, New Jersey River Vale is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. River Vale is the easternmost municipality in an area of the county referred to as the Pascack Valley. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 9 ...

Career

Chris Eliopoulos (49056483281) (cropped)

Eliopoulos is known as a prolific letterer, in particular for hand-lettering the first 100 issues of the ongoing '' Savage Dragon'' series, even after much of the comic book industry (including Eliopoulos himself, on other titles) had come to rely on computer-generated fonts for dialogue; this was done at ''Savage Dragon'' creator Erik Larsen's request; Larsen preferring the individual look of hand-lettered dialogue. He designed the fonts for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

' in-house computer lettering unit.Contino, Jennifer
"ABCs with Orzechowski," Comicon.com: The Pulse (Dec. 30, 2003). Retrieved January 3, 2010.
He has also contributed lettering work to Valiant Comics,

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

, and other publishers. For

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

, Eliopoulos wrote and/or drew some ''Star Wars'' stories. Eliopoulous is also known for his comic strip ''Desperate Times'', which showcases art admittedly inspired by the work of Bill Watterson of ''Calvin and Hobbes'' fame. ''Desperate Times'' features the misadventures of bachelor losers Marty and Toad, which ran as a back-up feature in ''Savage Dragon'', and later ''Desperate Times'' comics from ''Savage Dragon'' publisher

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-o ...

and AAArgh! Comics, a part of

After Hours Press After may refer to: Literature * ''After'' (Elgar), an 1895 poem by Philip Bourke Marston set to music by Edward Elgar * ''After'' (Prose novel), a 2003 novel by Francine Prose * ''After'' (book), a 2005 book by Canadian writer Francis Chalifour ...

. Eliopoulos quoted in interview about art inspiration. Following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, Eliopoulos contributed a story to a Marvel Comics benefit book about how his family was affected by the event, which shares the date of his wedding anniversary. He is the artist and co-writer on Marvel Comics' former back-up feature and current series of one-shot comics, '' Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius'', teamed with writer Marc Sumerak. The first one-shot in the series was nominated for an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

and a

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that we ...

in 2005. Eliopoulos also created a daily

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be ...

, ''Misery Loves Sherman'', until abandoning it around 2015. He has contributed cartoon strips to the book series ''The Complete Idiot's Guide...'' and to ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

''. On January 14, 2014 Dial Books published ''I am

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; Presumption of death, declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first women in aviation, female aviator to fly solo acro ...

'' and ''I am

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

'', the first two books in writer Brad Meltzer's series of 29 children's books, ''Ordinary People Change the World'', which are illustrated by Eliopoulos. The series focused on 23 historical figures (six books were compilations) such as Martin Luther King Jr.,

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

, Helen Keller,

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Gold ...

, Sacagawea, and

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color lin ...

. Eliopoulos promoted the series during an October 7, 2016 appearance on the NBC talk show ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknight ...

'', which included a live drawing demonstration in which Meyers participated. Eliopoulos appeared as a guest on the August 8, 2020 episode of '' The George Lucas Talk Show'' with fellow guest Lauren Lapkus, in which he discussed his work and career with "retired filmmaker George Lucas" (actor and comedian Connor Ratliff).

Reception

Doug Zawisza, reviewing the 2011 '' Fear Itself'' miniseries for

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom ...

, praised Eliopoulos' lettering, singling issue #4 in particular, for which he positively compared Eliopoulous' work to letterer John Workman, to whom Zawisza felt Eliopoulos was paying homage.Zawisza, Doug (July 6, 2011)
"Review for Fear Itself #4"

Awards

Awards include: * 2002 and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

Wizard Fan Award ''Wizard'' or ''Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture'' (previously titled ''Wizard: The Guide to Comics'' and ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'') was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by Wiz ...

"Favorite Letterer" *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

"Best Letterer" Eagle Award *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

"Best Letterer"

, for ''

Daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superher ...

''2008 Harvey Award Winners
Comic Book Resources, September 28, 2008 Nominations include: * 2006 "Best Letterer"

* 2006 "Best Letterer" Eagle Award * 2008 "Special Award for Humor" Harvey Award, for '' Franklin Richards'' * 2008 "Best letterer" Eagle Award

Bibliography

*'' Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius'' (writer, artist and letterer with co-author Marc Sumerak, Marvel Comics) *''

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 polic ...

'' (letterer, Marvel Comics) *'' Kick-Ass'' (letterer, Marvel/ Icon Comics)

References

External links

* * *
Desperate Times Daily @ ComicBookGazette.com
A New Page of Chris Eliopoulos' Desperate Times Comic Every Day

Interviews

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eliopoulos, Chris 1967 births American cartoonists American comics artists American comics writers American people of Greek descent Comic book letterers Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Living people People from River Vale, New Jersey