# Brent Anderson (comics)

Brent Anderson (born June 15, 1955) is an American comics artist known for his work on X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills and the comic book series Astro City.

## Early life

In junior high school, Brent Anderson discovered the pantheon of characters in Marvel Comics. The first Marvel comic he read was Fantastic Four #69, "By Ben Betrayed" (Dec. 1967), "They were a family who had super-powers and helped each other out. I wanted to be part of a family like that," he says. Anderson began writing and drawing his own comics on school binder paper, creating a pantheon of his own that included "Radium the Robot" and "The Chameleon". After doing fanzine illustrations, Anderson's first professional comics work appeared in the mid-1970s in independent/underground publications such as All-Slug, Tesserae, and Venture.

## Career

Anderson was one of several artists to draw the comics adaptation of Xanadu in Marvel Super Special #17 (Summer 1980). In 1981, Ka-Zar The Savage, written by Bruce Jones, became Anderson's first regular series. The X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills graphic novel followed, as well as artwork on a number of Marvel Comics series, including the heroic space-opera Strikeforce: Morituri. During this period, Anderson was active doing artwork for independent publishers Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics, including the innovative cinematic comic Somerset Holmes.
In 1995, Anderson co-created with writer Kurt Busiek and cover artist Alex Ross, the award-winning Astro City. Other work included J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars: Untouchable spin-off series written by Fiona Avery covering the life story of special assassin Laurel Darkhaven. Work continues on a 200-plus page graphic novel, Jar of Ashes, written by Shirley Johnston. Anderson worked with writer Marv Wolfman on a one-shot featuring Green Lantern and Plastic Man entitled Green Lantern/Plastic Man: Weapons of Mass Deception, released in December 2010. A Phantom Stranger ongoing series written by Dan DiDio and drawn by Anderson began in September 2012. In June 2013, Busiek and Anderson relaunched their Astro City series as part of DC's Vertigo line. The ongoing Astro City series concluded as of issue #52 in 2018.
In April 2022, Anderson was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing 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. Anderson and Kurt Busiek teamed up to contribute a new Astro City story to the anthology, which will harbor themes relevant to the events in Ukraine.

## Art style

Anderson's work fits into the category of "realism" defined by Neal Adams, one of Anderson's many artistic influences. Anderson's work is known for its focus on character. "My greatest joy in drawing comics comes when I've added nuance to a character with just the right expression and illustrated a scene that captures the perfect moment of mood. When the characters come to life I feel alive. That's why I've dedicated my professional life to creating comics."

## Awards

* Inkpot Award, 1985
* Eisner Award
** Best New Series, 1996
** Best Single Issue, 1996, 1997, 1998
** Best Continuing Series, 1997, 1998
** Best Serial Story, 1998
* Harvey Award
** Best New Series, 1996
** Best Single Issue or Story, 1996
** Best Graphic Album, previously released work, 1997
* Don Thompson Award
** Best Achievement by Penciler, 1996
** Favorite Single Creative Team (with Kurt Busiek), 1998