Brent Anderson (comics)
Brent Anderson (born June 15, 1955, in San Jose, California) is an American comics artist known for his work on "" 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. In 1981, "Ka-Zar The Savage", written by Bruce Jones, became Anderson's first regular series. The "" graphic novel followed, as well as artwork on a number of Marvel Comics series, including the heroic space-opera "". 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 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." Brent Anderson (comics) Brent