Darryl Banks is an American

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 ...

artist. He worked on one of the first painted comic books, ''Cyberpunk'', and teamed with the writer Mark Ellis to revamp the long-running '' The Justice Machine'' series for two publishers,

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

and

Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

Early life

Columbus Eastmoor High School Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo (surname), Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus ...

Graduate was born to parents Father Aubrey and Mother Mary Banks (Fowler). A competent artist from central Ohio. He always loved art but decided in high school that he wanted to pursue a career in comics. Darryl Banks studied at the

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a Private college, private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in dow ...

in Ohio.'' Wizard'' #41 (January 1995). pp 122-123.

Comics

After Banks graduated from college, he sent copious samples of his art to

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 ...

and

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 ...

, and went to comics conventions to show his work to publishers. On the advice of friends, he began sending samples to smaller, independent companies. Eventually,

Innovation Publishing Innovation Publishing (also known as Innovation Books and the Innovative Corporation) was an American comic book company based in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was co-founded by David Campiti in 1988 after writing a business proposal and raising ...

offered him his first jobs: a two-part ''Cyberpunk'' story, followed by a run on ''Justice Machine''. At Millennium, Banks produced a three-issue mini-series based on

The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...

TV series and a comics adaptation of

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...

with ''The Monarch of Armageddon''. Banks then went to work for DC Comics, illustrating ''

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 then became the penciler on ''

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

'' vol. 3, starting with the "

Emerald Twilight "Emerald Twilight" is a 1994 comic book story told in ''Green Lantern'' (vol. 3) #48–50, written by Ron Marz, drawn by Darryl Banks and published by DC Comics. The story introduced a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, who gained a significant fan f ...

" storyline. Banks drew most of the issues from #50 through #142. Along with co-creating

Kyle Rayner Kyle Rayner (), one of the characters known as Green Lantern, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is depicted as being associated with the Green Lantern Corps, an extraterrestrial police force of ...

, he was responsible for designing costumes for

Parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

Grayven Grayven is a supervillain published by DC Comics. He first appeared in ''Green Lantern'' (vol. 3) #74 (June 1996), and was created by Ron Marz and Darryl Banks, making him one of the few New Gods characters not created by Jack Kirby. Fictional ch ...

, Fatality,

Dr. Polaris Doctor Polaris is an alias used by two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first and most prominent is Neal Emerson, a scientist who can manipulate magnetism. Publication history Created by John Broome and ...

, and Dr. Light. As of 1995 Banks was teaching two courses, one on illustration and one in comic book design at his alma mater, the Columbus College of Art and Design.

References

External links

Gallery of Darryl Banks work at Comic Art Community
African-American comics artists American comics artists American costume designers American art educators Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Columbus College of Art and Design faculty 21st-century African-American artists {{US-comics-artist-stub