David Yurkovich (born 1964) is an American independent

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

comic books 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 ...

and

graphic novels A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

Career

Yurkovich began self-publishing in 1996 following receipt of a grant from Peter Laird's (''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'') acclaimed

Xeric Foundation The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The Xeric Fou ...

. Titles Yurkovich has written and illustrated include ''Altercations'', ''Haunted'', ''Death by Chocolate'', ''The S.H.O.P.'', and ''The Broccoli Agenda''. Largely out of print, Yurkovich's early work has been published in collected volumes by

Top Shelf Productions Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. Now an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia. Top Shelf pub ...

as ''Less Than Heroes'' (2004) and ''Death by Chocolate: Redux'' (2007) and the self-published ''Altercations: Critical Super-Human Encounters of the 20th Century'' (2014). In May 2006, Yurkovich began work on the Bill Mantlo Project (a.k.a
''The Bill Mantlo Benefit Book''
, as an homage to

Bill Mantlo William Timothy Mantlo (born November 9, 1951) is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: ''Micronauts'' and ''Ro ...

, whom Yurkovich regards as a major influence. The retrospective, published June 2007 b
Sleeping Giant
delves into Mantlo's life and career. It includes interviews with many of Mantlo's former industry colleagues (among them

Marv Wolfman Marvin Arthur Wolfman (born May 13, 1946) is an American comic book and novelization writer. He worked on Marvel Comics's ''The Tomb of Dracula'', for which he and artist Gene Colan created the vampire-slayer Blade, and DC Comics's '' The New Te ...

Ed Hannigan Ed Hannigan (born August 6, 1951) is an Americans, American comics artist, writer, and editor for both Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Career Ed Hannigan's first credited comics story was published in Marvel Comics' Brand licensing, licensed ''Pla ...

Tony Isabella Tony Isabella (born December 22, 1951) is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath; DC Comics' first major African-American superhero, Black Lightning; and as ...

, and

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' and ''The Avengers (co ...

) and an introduction by Mantlo's brother Michael Mantlo. Additionally, the project features previously unpublished fiction by Mantlo, some of which was adapted into sequential form by Yurkovich. Yurkovich produced the project as a benefit book; all proceeds were donated to Bill's brother and caregiver Michael Mantlo, to help toward the costs of maintaining Bill's daily care. An updated print-on-demand edition was released in 2014. Recent projects include a self-published photo graphic novel series, ''Nocturne'' (2010-2011). In January 2012 Yurkovich announced that ''Five Years'', a 350-page graphic novel, was in development and scheduled for a summer 2014 release. The project remains uncompleted. In 2017, Yurkovich wrote the introduction to the Bill Mantlo

White Tiger (Hector Ayala) White Tiger (Hector Ayala) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Bill Mantlo and George Pérez. A Puerto Rican, White Tiger was the first Latin American main character in the hi ...

stories collected in volume 2 of the ''

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Deadly may refer to: * Deadliness, the ability to cause death Arts and entertainment * ''Deadly'', a 2011 novel by Julie Chibbaro * ''Deadly'', a children's book series by Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings * ''Deadly'' (Australian TV series), a ...

Omnibus'' published by

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American show business, entertainment company (law), company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York (state), New York, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment ...

. Yurkovich has written two prose novels, ''Glass Onion'' (2014) and ''Banana Seat Summer'' (2018). In 2017 Yurkovich, along with author/publisher Dianne Pearce, forme
Devil's Party Press, LLC
an independent publishing house that specializes in publishing authors over 40 years of age. Yurkovich serves as co-editor and designer. The company has won several state and national awards including the 2018 Best Short Story Collection by the

National Federation of Press Women The National Federation of Press Women (NFPW) is a United States-based organization of professional women and men pursuing careers in the field of communications, including electronic, broadcast and print journalism, public relations, marketing, adv ...

. In 2020 Pearce and Yurkovich forme
Gravelight Press
as the horror imprint of Devil's Party Press.

External links

The Yurkoverse
American comics writers Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from Delaware Living people 1964 births {{US-comics-creator-stub