Becky Cloonan

Becky Cloonan
Cloonan at the 2011 New York Comic Con
BornRebecca Cloonan
June 23
Pisa, Italy
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Artist
Notable works
Channel Zero: Jennie One
Demo
Flight
nebuli
East Coast Rising
American Virgin
Pixu: The Mark of Evil
AwardsInkpot Award (2023)[1]
beckycloonan.net

Becky Cloonan (born 23 June) is an American comic book creator, known for work published by Tokyopop and Vertigo. In 2012 she became the first female artist to draw the main Batman title for DC Comics.[2]

Early life

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Becky Cloonan was born in Pisa, Italy.[3] She attended New York's School of Visual Arts.[4]

Career

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Cloonan and her friends produced a comics anthology that they called Meathaus.[5]

Cloonan created minicomics as a member of the Meathaus collective before collaborating with Brian Wood on Channel Zero: Jennie One[6] in 2003. Since then, her profile (and workload) has steadily risen; her best-known work to date has been the twelve-issue comics series Demo (2004), also with Wood. Wizard named Demo its 2004 Indie of the Year.[7] The series was also nominated for two Eisner Awards in 2005, for Best Limited Series and Best Single Issue or One-Shot (the latter of which was for Demo #7, "One Shot, Don't Miss").[8]

Cloonan's first solo graphic novel, East Coast Rising Volume 1, was released by Tokyopop in 2006. East Coast Rising: Volume 1 marked Cloonan's third Eisner Award nomination in 2007, this time for Best New Series.[9] She also collaborated with writer Steven T. Seagle on the Vertigo Comics series American Virgin, which was cancelled with the 23rd issue.[10] In 2012 she became the first woman to draw the main Batman title.[2]

In 2013, she did the art for the series The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, which is written by Gerard Way[11] and Shaun Simon. In 2014/2015, she also co-created and did cover art and stories for Gotham Academy from DC Comics.[12]

In 2015, she was voted #3 of the top 50 female comics artists of all time.[13] She was also one of only two creators to make the list as both writer and artist, voted #14 among all-time top writers.[14]

In 2017, Cloonan was one of several artists participating in the Pow! Wow! Worcester festival, the purpose of which was to bring large public murals to buildings throughout Worcester, Massachusetts. Cloonan painted her mural, which she completed on Labor Day, on the building housing the comic shop That's Entertainment.[15]

In July 2021, DC Comics announced that Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad would co-write Batgirls, a new series which would focus on Barbara Gordon's mentorship of Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.[16][17] The debut issue was released on December 14, 2021, and garnered a positive review from Dustin Holland of CBR.com.[18]

In 2024, Cloonan won the Eisner Award for Best New Series [19]for her work with Tula Lotay on Somna: A Bed Time Story published by DSTLRY

Bibliography

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Self-published work

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  • Meathaus #6-8 (w/a, anthology, Meathaus Press, 2002–2006)
  • nebuli (w/a, with Vasilis Lolos, 2006)
  • 5 (w/a, with Rafael Grampá, Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon and Vasilis Lolos, 2007)
  • MINIS (w/a, collection of original mini-comics, 2007)
  • Bury Your Treasure (w/a, collection of illustrations, 2008)
  • Pixu #1-2 (w/a, with Gabriel Bá, Fábio Moon and Vasilis Lolos, 2008) collected as Pixu: the Mark of Evil (hc, Dark Horse, 128 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-59582-340-9; hc, 2015, ISBN 1-61655-813-X)
  • By Chance or Providence: Stories by Becky Cloonan (hc, 108 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-9851962-3-8; tpb, Image, 2017, ISBN 1-5343-0186-0) collects:
  • Black Church (as editor, w/a: Andy Belanger, 2012)

Dark Horse Comics

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DC Comics and Vertigo

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Marvel Comics

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Other publishers

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Covers only

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References

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Inline citations

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  1. ^ 2023 Inkpot Award Recipients
  2. ^ a b Beck, Laura (February 8, 2013). "Meet the First Lady to Draw Batman Since His Inception in 1939" Archived 2017-09-10 at the Wayback Machine. Jezebel.
  3. ^ "Stats" Archived 2013-01-22 at archive.today. Estrigious. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Wolk, Douglas (July 27, 2009). "Gerard Way Talks New Comic 'Fabulous Killjoys,' Next My Chemical Romance Album". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  5. ^ Gale, Robert L. (September 2000). Thaxter, Celia (29 June 1835–26 August 1894), poet and essayist. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601619.
  6. ^ Orcutt, Darby (2012-03-29). "Book Review: Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History, and Cataloging". Library Resources & Technical Services. 56 (2): 116–117. doi:10.5860/lrts.56n2.116. ISSN 0024-2527.
  7. ^ "Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan Announce "Demo" Rights Reversion". CBR.com. September 24, 2007. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "2005 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  9. ^ "2007 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
  10. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "American Virgin", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 22–24, ISBN 978-0-7566-4122-1, OCLC 213309015
  11. ^ "Heroes Con: 2011: Becky Cloonan Talks Gerard Way's 'Killjoys'". MTV Geek!. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  12. ^ "Art Reveal Interview DC Comics Gotham Academy Becky Cloonan". The Mary Sue. 2014-08-21. Retrieved 2019-02-26.
  13. ^ "Top 25 Female Comic Book Artists #3-1 - CBR". www.cbr.com. 31 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Top 25 Female Comic Book Writers #15-11 - CBR". CBR.com. 27 March 2015.
  15. ^ "Cover Story: The Return of POW! WOW! Worcester". Worcester Magazine.
  16. ^ Terror, Jude (December 10, 2021). "Batgirls #1 Preview: Now With Three Batgirls". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  17. ^ Holland, Dustin (December 8, 2021). "Batgirls: Cloonan, Conrad & Corona Tease the Perfect Villain for Barbara Gordon". CBR.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  18. ^ Holland, Dustin (December 9, 2021). "DC's Batgirls #1 Comic Review". CBR.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  19. ^ Puc, Samantha (July 26, 2024). "SDCC '24: Announcing the 2024 Eisner Award winners". Comics Beat.
  20. ^ Richards, Dave (August 11, 2011). "EXCLUSIVE: Spencer & Cloonan Go to Hell in "Victor Von Doom"". CBR.
  21. ^ Ching, Albert (November 4, 2011). "Spencer & Cloonan's VICTOR VON DOOM Canceled Before Release". Newsarama.
  22. ^ Cloonan, Becky. "Ink and Thunder: East Coast Rising".

Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Becky Cloonan.
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