Denys Cowan (; born January 30, 1961) 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 ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

, media executive and one of the co-founders of

Milestone Media Milestone Media Company LLC is the media company which created the Milestone Comics line, which were published and distributed by DC Comics. Milestone Media created the source material that was adapted as the '' Static Shock'' animated series. T ...

Early life

Denys Cowan was first inspired by superheroes as a child from reruns of the 1950s TV show '' Adventures of Superman'' with George Reeves. He did not yet know what a comic book was, and would not learn about them until the third grade. After Cowan's mother died, he moved in with his grandparents, and attended school in that district, where he met a future fellow comics creator, Derek Dingle, who drew comics with his brother. Dingle showed Cowan his first comic book, an issue of

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

's ''

New Gods The New Gods are a fictional extraterrestrial race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in ''New Gods'' ...

''.Cowan, Denys (December 2018). "How I broken into comics with...Denys Cowan", ''DC Nation'' #5, Page 2, DC Comics (

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

). Cowan attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City. One day in the school lunchroom, the 14-year-old Cowan met someone who worked for artist and Deathlok creator

Rich Buckler Rich Buckler (February 6, 1949 – May 19, 2017) was an Americans, American comics artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' in the mid-1970s and for creating the character Deat ...

. This led Cowan to pay a visit one day after school to Buckler's studio, where Buckler hired Cowan as his assistant. For a year, Cowan performed a number of tasks, including running errands, cleaning the studio, looking up references, for which Buckler paid him in the music albums that he had played in his studio, which increased Cowan's appreciation for music.

Career

Cowan's first published comics work was a three-page story in '' Weird War Tales'' #93 (Nov. 1980) for

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 ...

. He was one of the contributors to the '' DC Challenge'' limited series in 1986. Cowan gained prominence as the primary artist on '' The Question'', a comic book series written by

Dennis O'Neil Dennis "Denny" Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until h ...

and published by DC beginning in February 1987. His other comics credits include the

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 ...

story arc "Blind Justice" in ''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...

'' #598–600 (March–May 1989) with writer Sam Hamm, which introduced the character Henri Ducard. Cowan was the penciller on the latter half of the 1990 '' Deathlok'' miniseries, published by

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 ...

, which was written by Dwayne McDuffie and Gregory Wright as well as on the subsequent regular title of the same name. Cowan and writer Dwayne McDuffie collaborated on a

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

comic book in 1991. Cowan co-founded

in 1993 with McDuffie, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle, and later worked as a producer on '' Static Shock'', an animated series based on Milestone character Static. As senior vice president of animation at BET, Cowan was responsible for the creation, development and production of animated programming for the entire network. This included the development and production of the premiere season of ''

The Boondocks Boondocks are remote, usually brushy areas. Boondocks may also refer to: * The Boondocks (comic strip), ''The Boondocks'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Aaron McGruder ** The Boondocks (TV series), ''The Boondocks'' (TV series), the television s ...

''. Serving as senior vice President of Motown Animation and Filmworks, he created and developed a number of shows with Fox, ABC,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. Cowan drew the cover art of the GZA/Genius of the

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

's album ''

Liquid Swords ''Liquid Swords'' is the second solo studio album by the American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member GZA, released on November 7, 1995, by Geffen Records. Recording sessions for the album began midway through 1995 at producer RZA's basement studio ...

''.

Awards

Cowan and inker Rick Magyar were nominated for an

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 ...

as "Best Art Team" in both 1988 and 1989 for their work on ''The Question''. Cowan received an

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at Comic-Con Internati ...

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

in 2013.

Bibliography

Regular penciller

*''

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'' #49–51 (Marvel Comics, December 1980 – February 1981) – ( White Tiger backup) *''

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 ...

'' #357–358 (DC Comics, March–April 1981) – (Superman 2020 backup) *''

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 ...

'' #297–299 (DC Comics, May–July 1981) – (

Firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...

backup) *''The Flash'' #301–302 (DC Comics, September–October 1981) – (Firestorm backup) *'' Power Man and Iron Fist'' #80–84, #86–90, #92–93 (Marvel Comics, April–August 1982, October 1982 – February 1983, October 1982 – February 1983) *''The Vigilante'' #24–26 (DC Comics, December 1985 – February 1986) – (backup) *'' Teen Titans Spotlight'' #1–2 (DC Comics, August–September 1986) – ( Starfire story) *'' The Question'' #1–19, #21–36 (DC Comics, February 1987 – August 1988, November 1988 – April 1990) *''The Question Annual'' #1–2 (DC Comics, 1987–1988) *''Doctor Zero'' #1–4 (Marvel Comics/Epic, April–October 1988) *''

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. 2 #1–4 (Marvel Comics, July–October 1988) – (limited series) *''

'' #598–600 (DC Comics, March–May 1989) *''The Question Quarterly'' #1–5 (DC Comics, Autumn 1990–Spring 1992) *'' Deathlok'' #3–4 (Marvel Comics, September–October 1990) – (limited series) *''

Green Arrow Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' No. 73 on September 19, 1941 (cover dated November 1941), th ...

'' #39, #41–43 (DC Comics, November 1990, December 1990 – February 1991) *''Nightcat'' #1 (Marvel Comics, April 1991) – (one-shot) *''Green Arrow'' #46–48 (DC Comics, May–June 1991) *'' Prince: Alter Ego'' (DC Comics/Piranha Music,1991) – (one-shot) *''Deathlok'' vol. 2 #1–7, #9–13, #15 (Marvel Comics, July 1991 – January 1992, March–July 1992, September 1992) *''Deathlok Annual'' #1 (Marvel Comics, 1992) – (pencils and inks) *'' Moon Knight: Divided We Fall'' (Marvel Comics, 1992) – (one-shot) *'' Lobo: Blazing Chain of Love'' #1 (DC Comics, September 1992) *'' Hardware'' #1–7, #11, #13, #16–18 (DC Comics/Milestone, April 1993 – September 1993, January 1994, March 1994, June–August 1994) *'' Xombi'' #0 (DC Comics/Milestone, January 1994) *''Frank'' #1–2, #4 (Harvey Comics, March–May 1994, July 1994) – (mini-series) *''Long Hot Summer'' #1–3 (DC Comics/Milestone, July–September 1995) – (mini-series) *'' Batman: The Ultimate Evil'' #1–2 (DC Comics, December 1995) *'' Total Justice'' #1–3 (DC Comics, October–November 1996) – (mini-series) *''

Steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

'' #34–52 (DC Comics, January 1997 – July 1998) *"Waking Nightmare!" '' All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant'' #1 (DC Comics, September 1998) – (

Justice Society of America The Justice Society of America (JSA) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was conceived by editor Sheldon Mayer and writer Gardner Fox during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It first appeared in '' ...

story) *'' Fight for Tomorrow'' #1–6 (DC Comics/Vertigo, November 2002 – April 2003) *''Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers'' #1–4 (Marvel Comics, Jun–Sep 2010) *''Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child'' #1–7 (DC Comics/Vertigo, May 2012 – November 2012) *''

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

: Batman and Robin'' #1–2 (DC Comics, June 2015 – July 2015) *''Convergence Detective Comics'' #1–2 (DC Comics, June 2015 – July 2015) *''The Black Racer and Shilo Norman Special'' #1 (DC Comics, October 2017) *'' Black Lightning / Hong Kong Phooey'' #1 (DC Comics, July 2018)

Fill-in penciller

*"Ultimate Weapon." '' Weird War Tales'' #93 (DC Comics, November 1980) *"Diplomatic Immunity." ''

Mystery in Space ''Mystery in Space'' is the name of two science fiction American comic book series published by DC Comics, and of a standalone Vertigo anthology released in 2012. The first series ran for 110 issues from 1951 to 1966, with a further seven issues ...

'' #115 (DC Comics, January 1981) *"Batman's Rogues Gallery." '' The Best of DC'' #14 (DC Comics, July 1981) *"The Idol of Millions." '' House of Mystery'' #297 (DC Comics, October 1981) *"Bushido." '' Unknown Soldier'' #256 (DC Comics, October 1981) *"The Worship of False Idols." ''

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 ...

'' #17 (Marvel Comics, March 1982) – (Marc Spector backup) *''Flash Force 2000'' (DC Comics, November 1984) – ( insert in various comic books)List of DC Comics containing th
''Flash Force 2000''
insert at the Grand Comics Database *'' Marvel Age'' #20 (Marvel Comics, November 1984) *"Final Transactions, Part 3: Threats and Promises.''

Sabre A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such a ...

'' #12 (Eclipse Comics, January 1985) – (Crimson Dawn backup) *'' Vigilante Annual'' #1 (DC Comics, 1985) *''The Vigilante'' #19 (DC Comics, July 1985) *'' Heroes Against Hunger'' #1 (DC Comics, January 1986) – (two pages) *''

DC Comics Presents ''DC Comics Presents'' is a comic book series published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 which ran for 97 issues and four ''Annual''s. It featured team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters in the DC Universe. A recurring bac ...

'' #90 (DC Comics, February 1986) *''The Vigilante'' #27 (DC Comics, March 1986) *'' 'Mazing Man'' #5 (DC Comics, May 1986) – (three pages) *'' Batman Annual'' #10 (DC Comics, 1986) *'' DC Challenge'' #12 (DC Comics, October 1986) – (four pages) *'' V'' #17–18 (DC Comics, June–July 1986) *''The Vigilante'' #36 (DC Comics, December 1986) *''Batman'' #403 (DC Comics, January 1987) *''

Electric Warrior ''Electric Warrior'' is the second studio album by English rock band T. Rex and their sixth since their 1968 debut as Tyrannosaurus Rex, released on 24 September 1971, by Fly Records in the United Kingdom and Reprise Records in the United St ...

'' #9 (DC Comics, January 1987) – (backup) *''Marvel Age Annual'' #4 (Marvel Comics, January 1988) *''

Sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...

'' #5 (First Comics, July 1988) *''

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 ...

'' #241 (Marvel Comics, April 1989) *'' The Shadow Strikes'' #3 (DC Comics, November 1989) *'' Clive Barker's Hellraiser'' #9 (Marvel Comics/Epic,1991) *''Clive Barker's Hellraiser'' #12 (Marvel Comics/Epic,1992) – (pencils, inks, and colors) *"The Big Applesauce." ''

Marvel Fanfare ''Marvel Fanfare'' was an anthology comic book series published by American company Marvel Comics. It was a showcase title featuring a variety of characters from the Marvel universe. Volume one ''Marvel Fanfare'' featured characters and setting ...

'' #60 (Marvel Comics, January 1992) – (

story) *'' Static'' #14 (DC Comics/Milestone, August 1994) *'' Hardware'' #25 (DC Comics/Milestone, March 1995) *''Hardware'' #32 (DC Comics/Milestone, October 1995) *'' Blood Syndicate'' #32 (DC Comics/Milestone, November 1995) *''Hardware'' #36 (DC Comics/Milestone, February 1996) *'' Superman: The Man of Steel'' #54 (DC Comics, March 1996) *''

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

'' vol. 2 #123–124 (Marvel Comics, April–May 1998) *"Outsiders." '' The Rampaging Hulk'' vol. 2 #1 (Marvel Comics, August 1998) *''

Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first a ...

'' vol. 3 #143 (Marvel Comics, September 1998) *''Silver Surfer'' vol. 3 #146 (Marvel Comics, November 1998)

References

External links

*
Denys Cowan
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
Denys Cowan
in a Dewar's advertisement at

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Denys 1961 births Living people 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists African-American comics artists American album-cover and concert-poster artists American comics artists Artists from New York City DC Comics people High School of Art and Design alumni Inkpot Award winners Marvel Comics people Role-playing game artists Television producers from New York City