Chris Sprouse (born July 30, 1966) is an American

comics artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literar ...

. Sprouse has worked for multiple publishers and has won two

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

s for his work on '' Tom Strong'', a series he created with writer

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', Swamp Thing (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...

Early life

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 number 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 A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

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 James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

where he studied graphic design.

Career

Sprouse launched his career in mainstream comics in 1989, his first credited work being a Chemical King story in ''

Secret Origins ''Secret Origins'' is the title of several comic book series published by DC Comics which featured the origin stories of the publisher's various characters. Publication history ''Secret Origins'' was first published as a one-shot in 1961 and c ...

'' vol. 2 #47 (Feb. 1990). His next assignments were a

Two-Face Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Kane, and first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942). He has become one of the superhero Batman's most enduring e ...

story for '' Batman Annual'' #14 (1990) and the '' Hammerlocke'' limited series. He drew insert posters for the '' War of the Gods'' limited series in 1991. Following that, Sprouse drew the ''Legionnaires'' series featuring teenaged versions of the ''

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st centuries of t ...

''. He later illustrated a number of one-shots and fill-in issues before illustrating a

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

mini-series, '' Splinter of the Mind's Eye'', for

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

. 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

for the same publisher. After ''Supreme'' ended, he and Moore created '' Tom Strong'' for America's Best Comics, for which Sprouse won two

s in 2000, for Best Single Issue and Best Serialized Story. Sprouse was the penciller and co-creator on the 2004 ''

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

'' mini-series, written by

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'' ...

and published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. In 2007, ''Ocean'' was optioned for film. In 2006, he began pencilling Wildstorm's ''

Midnighter Midnighter is a superhero appearing in American comic books first published by WildStorm and later DC Comics once it absorbed the former. The character was created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch. The character made his first appe ...

ongoing series In comics, an ongoing series is a series that runs indefinitely. This is in contrast to limited series (a series intended to end after a certain number of issues thus limited), a one shot (a comic book which is not a part of an 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 Grant Morrison (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, Humanism, humanist philosophy and counterculture, countercultural leanings. Morrison has writt ...

as writer. In 2011, Sprouse worked with writer Peter Hogan on the ''Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril'' limited series. Sprouse drew ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National ...

'' #14 (Jan. 2013) which featured an "appearance" by

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysics, astrophysicist, author, and science communication, science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia Univ ...

. In 2014, Sprouse drew the second issue of

's ''

The Multiversity ''The Multiversity'' is a two-issue Limited series (comics), limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shot (comics), one-shots set in the Multiverse (DC Comics), DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publicatio ...

'' limited series. Other works include '' Batman '66'', '' Fairest: In All the Land'', ''

The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...

'', ''

Sensation Comics ''Sensation Comics'' is the title of an American comic book comics anthology, anthology series published by DC Comics that ran for 109 issues from 1942 to 1952. For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman, a character which had been int ...

Featuring Wonder Woman'', '' Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'', and '' Thors''.

Bibliography

Awesome Comics

* ''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

* ''Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' #1–4 (1996)

DC Comics

* ''

'' vol. 2 #14–18 (2013) * '' Batman Annual'' #14 (1990) * '' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' #27 (1992) * ''Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' vol. 2 #10 (2013) * '' Batman '66'' #9 (2014) * '' Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne'' #1 (2010) * '' Hammerlocke'' #1–9 (1992–1993) * '' Human Target'' #1, 3, 5 (2010) * '' Justice League America Annual'' #5 (1991) * '' Justice League Europe'' #13 (1990) * '' Justice League Quarterly'' #1 (1990) * ''

'' vol. 4 #8, 33, 41 (1990–1993) * ''Legionnaires'' #1–6, 9–12 (1993–1994) * ''

: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World '' #1 (2014) * ''

'' vol. 2 #47 (1990) * '' Spirit'' #7 (2007) * '' Starman'' vol. 2 #14, 24 (1995–1996) * ''

Transmetropolitan ''Transmetropolitan'' is a cyberpunk transhumanist comic book series written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Darick Robertson; it was published by the American company DC Comics in 1997–2002. The series was originally part of the short-lived DC C ...

: Filth of the City'' #1 (2001) * '' Who's Who in the DC Universe'' #1, 3, 6, 8, 11–13, 16 (1990–1992) * ''Who's Who in the DC Universe Update 1993'' #1 (1992)

America's Best Comics

* ''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

* '' The Authority'' #11 (2009) * '' Ex Machina Special'' #1–2 (2006) * '' Global Frequency'' #8 (2003) * ''

'' #1–3, 5, 10 (2007) * ''

Number of the Beast The number of the beast (, ) is associated with the The Beast (Revelation), Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of ...

'' #1–8 (2008) * ''

'' #1–6 (2004–2005) * '' WildC.A.T.s'' #11 (2009)

IDW Publishing

* '' Rocketeer Adventures'' #3 (2012)

Image Comics

* '' WildC.A.T.s/ Aliens'' #1 (1998)

Malibu Comics

* '' Sludge'' #4 (1994) * '' Ultraverse Origins'' #1 (1994)

Marvel Comics

* ''

Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...

'' vol. 6 #5–8 (2016–2017) * ''Captain America Annual'' #1 (2018) * ''Battlezones: Dream Team 2'' #1 (1996) * ''Dream Team'' #1 (1995) * ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

s'' #1–4 (2015–2016) * ''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the List of X-Men comics, X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of super ...

'' #304 (1993)

References

External links

*
Chris Sprouse
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprouse, Chris 1966 births 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists American comics artists Artists from Ohio Artists from Virginia DC Comics people James Madison University alumni Living people Marvel Comics people People from Charlottesville, Virginia People from Dale City, Virginia