Pia Jasmin Guerra is an American-born Canadian

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 and

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current ...

, best known for her work as co-creator and lead

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 ...

on the

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

title '' Y: The Last Man''. She has worked in the comics industry since the 1990s, and has also contributed to ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten'', along with DC and Marvel comics. Guerra regularly does cartoons for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''MAD'' Magazine and The Nib. She is the author of the

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) ...

editorial cartoon book, ''Me The People''.

Early life

Guerra was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...

, to a Finnish mother and Chilean father. At the age of 10, Guerra's cousin visited from Queens and introduced her to comics by leaving his issue of ''

The 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 ...

'' #129 on a coffee table in her house. After reading the comic, Guerra continued to read comics thereafter. As a self-taught artist, Guerra was always interested in art, but she planned to pursue other careers, such as medicine. In high school, Guerra attended comic conventions and began to consider pursuing a career in comics. As her plans shifted, Guerra made the decision to forgo secondary education and instead focus on pursuing a career in comics.

Career

During her early career, Guerra did voice over work and worked on many different video games and video game manuals. In 1998, Guerra created storyboards for Boeing Employee's Credit Union and Microsoft Studios. Before creating '' Y: The Last Man'', Guerra contacted Brian K. Vaughan, and they arranged to meet in San Diego. Guerra's first major project was the

title '' Y: The Last Man'', which she co-created with Brian Vaughan and pencilled for. Guerra has worked on various independent titles since the mid-1990s, though ''Y: The Last Man'' is known as her "big break" in the comics industry. In 2005, Guerra worked as a penciller on Marvel's ''Spider-Man: Unlimited''. In the late 2000s, Guerra contributed to a ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' comic entitled ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten'' (published by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic ...

and written by UK writer

Tony Lee Tony Lee is a British comics writer, screenwriter, audio playwright, and novelist. Early life Born in 1970, Tony Lee attended Hayes Manor School, now Rosedale College. Career A #1 ''New York Times'' bestselling writer, Lee has written for ...

), and to a '' Torchwood'' series (for '' Torchwood Magazine'') written by Gareth David-Lloyd. She has co-written two issues of ''

Simpsons Comics The following is a list of comic book series published by Bongo Comics based on the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The first comic strips based on ''The Simpsons'' appeared in 1991 in the magazine ''Simpsons Illustrated'' (n ...

'' for

Bongo Comics Bongo Comics Group was a comic book publishing company founded in 1993 by Matt Groening along with Steve & Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison. It published comics related to the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'', as well a ...

with Ian Boothby. From 2013 to 2015, she worked on five comic book covers, including a variant cover for ''Black Canary''. In the late 2010s, Guerra turned to editorial cartooning. She has done cartoons for the online page '' The Nib'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and ''

''. Following the February 2018

mass shooting A mass shooting is a violent crime in which one or more attackers use a firearm to Gun violence, kill or injure multiple individuals in rapid succession. There is no widely accepted specific definition, and different organizations tracking su ...

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a State school, public Secondary school, high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. Established in 1990 as part of the Broward County Public Schools district and named after the writer Marjory Stonem ...

Parkland, Florida Parkland is a city in northern Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Miami and located north of the city. As of the 2020 census, the population of Parkland was 34,670. Parkland is part of the Miami metropolitan area, which ...

, she posted a widely shared cartoon on Twitter depicting school staffer Aaron Feis, who had died protecting students, being led in the afterlife to a hero's welcome from those who had been killed. Guerra told ''

'' that the cartoon was a direct response to her feelings of helplessness in the face of yet another mass shooting. In April 2022, Guerra was reported among the contributors to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, ''Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds'', a project spearheaded by

Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Guerra was a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

finalist in the category Illustrated Reporting and Commentary in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Personal life

Guerra currently resides in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada, and is married to writer and comedian Ian Boothby, with whom she does cartoons for '' Go Comics'', ''

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

'' and ''

the New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. Since February 2021, they have collaborated on the daily, one panel comic ''Mannequin on the Moon''.

Bibliography

*Card Illustrator: '' Rage'' ( White Wolf and

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...

, 1998) *Card Illustrator: '' Legend of the Five Rings'' (Paul Allen,

'','' Timm, 2000) *Co-creator and Penciller:'' Y: The Last Man'' (with Brian K. Vaughan,

, 2002–2008) *Penciller: ''Heroes Anonymous'' #2 ( Scott M. Gimple,

, 2003) *Penciller: '' Spider-man Unlimited'' #10 (Maria-Emiko Macuaga and Marc Sumerak,

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

, 2005) *Co-writer and Penciller: ''Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror'' #13 (with Ian Boothby,

, 2007) *Penciller and Inker: ''Doctor Who: The Forgotten'' (

, 2008–) *Cover artist: ''Elephantmen'' #64 (Richard Starkings, Image Comics, 2015) *Artist: ''

Black Canary Black Canary is the name of two superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As one of the earliest female superheroes in the DC Comics universe, the character has made numerous appearances in prominent team-up titles, ...

'' #4 (Brenden Fletcher,

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 ...

, 2015) *Contributor
La BD Est Charlie
( Glénat Editions, 2015)

Awards

*2006 Joe Shuster Award: Outstanding Comic Book Artist * 2008

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 ...

: Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team (with

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 ...

José Marzán, Jr., for ''Y: The Last Man'')

Nominations

*2003

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 a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

: Best New Series (with Brian K. Vaughan and José Marzán, Jr., for '' Y: The Last Man'') * 2005 Prix Du Scenario Award from the Angoulême International Comics Festival: Best Script (with Brian K. Vaughan for '' Y: The Last Man)'' * 2008 Spike TV's Scream Award: Best Comic Book Artist * 2009

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

: Best Graphic Story (with Brian K. Vaughan and José Marzán, Jr., for ''Y: The Last Man''; Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores)

Notes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerra, Pia Artists from Hoboken, New Jersey Canadian comics artists Canadian female comics artists Canadian editorial cartoonists Canadian people of Chilean descent Canadian people of Finnish descent Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian storyboard artists Canadian women editorial cartoonists Eisner Award winners for Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team Joe Shuster Award winners for Outstanding Artist Living people Role-playing game artists The New Yorker people Year of birth missing (living people)