Linda Medley (born May 17, 1964 in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

) 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 ...

author and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

, known for her '' Castle Waiting'' series of

comic books 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 ...

and

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

Biography and early career

Born in

, Medley now lives in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. Before embarking on '' Castle Waiting'', Medley worked in the comics industry as a

penciller A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations. In the American comic book industry, the penciller is the first step ...

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. After the penciller creates a drawing with pencil, the inker interprets this drawing by outlining and embellishing ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

, and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. Her pencilling work includes stints on

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 ...

' '' Justice League America'' (1991) and ''

Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appear ...

'' (1993), as well as the '' Galactic Girl Guides'' for Tundra Press. As a colorist, Medley worked for

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

in 1994–1995, most consistently on '' Deathblow''. She colored DC's '' Batman and Robin Adventures'' for two years spanning 1995–1997. A freelance illustrator since 1985, Medley has illustrated

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s for Putnam, Grosset & Dunlap, Houghton-Mifflin, and Western Publishing. Her paintings have appeared on the covers of

Paradox Press Paradox Press was a division of DC Comics formed in 1993 after editor Mark Nevelow departed from Piranha Press. Under the initial editorship of Andy Helfer, Andrew Helfer and Bronwyn Carlton, the imprint was renamed. Paradox was best known for pu ...

's ''Family Man'',

Howard Cruse Howard Cruse (May 2, 1944 – November 26, 2019) was an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics. First coming to attention in the 1970s, during the underground comix movement with ''Barefootz'', he ...

's '' Stuck Rubber Baby'', and

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

's ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' magazine.

''Castle Waiting''

''Castle Waiting'' tells the story of an isolated, abandoned castle and its eccentric inhabitants. Medley illustrates ''Castle Waiting'' in a style reminiscent of the work of

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

and William Heath Robinson. Medley conceived of ''Castle Waiting'' in 1984, when she was studying folklore and children's book illustration in college. Intending to do her own take on some of

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

's fairy tales, Medley found herself most interested in the unexplained pasts—and their often unresolved fates—of the tales' background characters.Medley, Linda. afterword to ''Castle Waiting: The Curse of Brambly Hedge'' (Olio Press, 1996). The first ''Castle Waiting'' publication was ''Castle Waiting: The Curse of Brambly Hedge'', which was self-published by Medley with a 1996 grant from the Xeric Foundation. Medley self-published seven issues of an ongoing ''Castle Waiting'' series in 1997–98. In 1999, Medley self-published a ''Castle Waiting'' hiatus issue. Jeff Smith's

Cartoon Books Jeff Smith (born February 27, 1960) is an American cartoonist. He is best known as the creator of the self-publishing, self-published comic book series ''Bone (comics), Bone''. Early life Jeff Smith was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania to Willi ...

started publishing ''Castle Waiting'' (volume two; 4 issues) in 2000. In 2001, Medley went back to self-publishing and put out five more issues of the title. In 2006,

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

began publishing ''Castle Waiting'', and as of April 2009, fifteen new issues have been published by them. Medley is currently working on a series of nine graphic novels based on

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

's '' Wizard of Oz'' books.

Awards

Medley was a 1996 Xeric Award recipient. In 1996, she was an

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

nominee for Outstanding Anthology or Collection. In 1996, she was 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 ...

nominee for Best Writer/Artist; and in 1998, she won two Eisner Awards, for Best Ongoing Story (''Castle Waiting'') and for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition. Also in 1998, Medley was a Lulu Award nominee for Lulu of the Year.

Notes

References

External links

Medley bio and art samples at Lambiek.net's Comiclopedia

Fan site with an extensive bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medley, Linda 1964 births Living people American female comics artists American female comics writers Comics colorists Writers from Stockton, California Writers from Seattle Eisner Award winners for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition American illustrators American women illustrators American children's book illustrators American women children's book illustrators 20th-century American women painters 21st-century American women painters Artists from California American comics writers American graphic novelists 20th-century American women sculptors 21st-century American women sculptors 21st-century American sculptors