Sandy Carruthers is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artist best known for his work as the first illustrator of the original ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are government agents dressed in dark suits, who question, interrogate, harass, and threaten unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses to keep them silent about what they have ...

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 ...

series, and as creator of the webcomic series, ''Canadiana: the New Spirit of Canada''.

Early life and education

Carruthers was born on May 11, 1962, in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

. He trained at Holland College between 1979–1981 in its Commercial Design Program, where he later taught full-time for 25 years until he retired in 2017. He also attended

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology, is a public polytechnic institute partnered with private Canadian College of Technology and Trades operating campuses ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, taking its Illustration program, and took a correspondence course with The Joe Kubert School.

Career

Carruthers first started working in comics at Malibu Graphics including the illustration of '' The Men in Black,'' written by Lowell Cunningham, which would later be adapted into the ''Men in Black'' movie franchise. He also worked on ''

Captain Canuck Captain Canuck is a Canadian comics, Canadian comic book superhero. Created by cartoonist Ron Leishman and artist/writer Richard Comely, the original Captain Canuck first appeared in ''Captain Canuck'' #1 (July 1975). The series was the first suc ...

''. He worked as the Editorial Cartoonist for the '' Charlottetown Guardian'' newspaper. He published a book of his editorial cartoons entitled ''Sh-It Happened''. He has worked on several graphic novels for Graphic Universe, a division of

Lerner Publishing Group Lerner Publishing Group, based in Minneapolis in the United States, U.S. state of Minnesota since its founding in 1959, is one of the largest private sector, independently owned children's literature, children's book publishers in the United Stat ...

(

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

) including ''Yu the Great'', written by Paul D. Storrie, ''Sunjata: Warrior King of Mali'' (a 13th-century West African story), written by Justine and Ron Fontes. He also illustrated three graphic novels in the style of

interactive storytelling Interactive storytelling (also known as interactive drama) is a form of digital entertainment in which the storyline is not predetermined. The author creates the setting, characters, and situation which the narrative must address, but the user ( ...

: ''Terror in Ghost Mansion'' (Paul D. Storrie, writer), "School of Evil" (Marie P. Croall, writer) and "Peril at Summerland Park" (Paul D. Storrie, writer). Beginning in 2004, he worked on the webcomic ''Canadiana'', also known as the ''New Spirit of Canada''. It drew heavily on the traditions of the superhero genre, centred on the adventures and personal life of the titular female superhero. Penciller Jeff Alward and scripter Mark Shainblum (known for '' Northguard'' and ''Angloman'') and artist Brenda Hickey have also worked on the series. Carruthers has worked with the Charlton NEO group: a revival effort to bring back

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...

. His art can be found in ''Charlton Arrow'' # 1, 2, and 3 with the reworking of ''Spookman'' (with writer Roger McKenzie and editor Mort Todd), a public-domain character created by Pat Boyette in 1968. He illustrated "Travest: Spirit Talker''",'' a western he and Roger McKenzie co-created for ''Charlton Wild Frontier'' #1, and a horror story "Skin in the Game" with writer Paul Kupperberg. He has worked with writer Nicola R. White and illustrator Kara Brauen as both colorist and letterer on the comic book series ''Wild Rose''. In September, 2018, Carruthers started (with fellow comic creators Robert Doan and Greg Webster)''Sandstone Comics'', a small publishing house in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

References

External links

Sandy Carruthers official site
with some of his work. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carruthers, Sandy Canadian comics artists Canadian webcomic creators 1962 births Living people Sheridan College alumni Canadian illustrators Canadian graphic novelists