Álvaro Araújo Lourenço do Rio (19 May 1962 – 31 January 2012) – known professionally as Al Rio – was a Brazilian comic book artist, best known for his " good girl" illustration work, particularly on the American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series ''

Gen¹³ ''Gen¹³'' is a superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was published by WildStorm under the Image Comics banner, which went on to become an imprint (trade name ...

'' and ''

DV8 ''DV8'' is a comic book published by Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of Gen-Active people (Called DV8, or referred to as "The Deviants"), initially living in New York City under the supervision of Ivana Baiul, who se ...

'', published by

Wildstorm Comics Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wildst ...

Early life

Al Rio was born in

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

, in northeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Career

Rio began his professional art career in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

in the early 1990s, illustrating books for a local English school. After then working as animation director for the same company, Rio became an animator for

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, working on such properties as the syndicated '' ''Aladdin''''

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...

. In the early 1990s he joined the art agency Glass House Graphics. Known primarily for his

work, he drew for

— particularly on ''

'' and ''

'', for which he is best known —

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

Chaos Comics Chaos! Comics was a comic book publisher that operated from 1993 until 2002, mostly focusing on horror comics. Their titles included ''Lady Death'', ''Purgatori'', ''Evil Ernie'', ''Chastity'', ''Jade'', '' Bad Kitty'', and ''Lady Demon''. Chaos! ...

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

Zenescope Entertainment Zenescope Entertainment is a comic book and graphic novel publisher headquartered in Horsham, Pennsylvania, United States, co-founded by Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco in 2005. Zenescope publishes full-color action, fantasy and horror titles. Unde ...

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included '' ...

Crossgen Cross Generation Entertainment or CrossGen was an American comic book publisher and entertainment company that operated from 1998 to 2004. The company's assets were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2004, and designated to Disney Publishing ...

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

, and

Amazing Comics This is a list of manga magazines or published in Japan. The majority of manga magazines are categorized into one of five demographics, which correspond to the age and gender of their readership: * '' Kodomo'' – aimed at young children. * '' ...

. Titles he worked on include ''Dungeon Siege'', '' Grimm Fairy Tales'', ''

Avengelyne Avengelyne h-van'-jah-leenis a fictional Image Universe comic book character created by Rob Liefeld and Cathy Christian. Avengelyne is an angel who fights the forces of evil and often finds herself face-to-face with demons and monsters. Publica ...

'', ''Voodoo'', ''Grifter and the Mask'', ''Secret Files'', '' WildC.A.T.S.'', ''

X-Men Unlimited ''X-Men Unlimited'' was the title of three comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The purpose of this title was to run stories that fit between the main X-Men comics. The stories included all characters (heroes and villains) from the X-tit ...

'', ''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

'', ''Star Wars - A New Hope'', ''

Purgatori Purgatori is a fictional comic book character, created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes. A crimson-skinned, winged vampire goddess, she first appeared in ''Evil Ernie: Revenge'' #1 (October 1994), published by Chaos! Comics. She ha ...

'', ''

Titan A.E. ''Titan A.E.'' is a 2000 American animated science fiction film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, and starring Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, John Leguizamo, Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo and Drew Barrymore. Its title refers to the spacecraft ...

'', ''Exposure'', ''

Knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

'', '' Mystic'', ''Peter Parker - Spider-Man'', ''

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

'', '' Threshold'', and ''Ana - Jungle Girl''. He was especially known for his "

good girl art Good Girl Art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

Personal life and death

Rio died January 31, 2012. According to his art agency (Glass House Graphics, which Rio joined in the mid-1990s), the apparent cause was suicide by hanging. His funeral was held at Cemitério São João Batista in

. He was survived by his wife, Zilda, and three children: Renan, Andrielle and Isabelly.

Legacy

In July 2013, it was announced that producer

Kevin VanHook Kevin VanHook (born June 24, 1965) is an American comic book writer, comic book artist, visual effects supervisor, and filmmaker. Career In comics, VanHook is best known creating the character Bloodshot for Valiant Comics. He also wrote the ' ...

was developing a television series based on ''Exposure'', the

Red Giant Entertainment Red Giant Entertainment, Inc. is a Florida-headquartered comic book publisher and "transmedia" entertainment company established in 2005. Red Giant was founded by Benny R. Powell, former marketing writer for Priceline.com. Other key players in ...

comic book series that Rio created with agent

David Campiti David Campiti (born May 9, 1958) is an American animation producer, comic book writer, talent agent, and co-founder of Innovation Publishing. As CEO of Glass House Graphics, Campiti oversees an international animation studio and agency of illustra ...

References

External links