Frank Quitely

Vincent Patrick Deighan (born 1968), better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as '' New X-Men'', ''We3'', '' All-Star Superman'', and '' Batman and Robin'', as well as his work with Mark Millar on '' The Authority'' and '' Jupiter's Legacy''.

Early life

Deighan was raised in Rutherglen, although attended St. Bride's High School in East Kilbride (as his father worked there as a PE teacher). He studied at the Glasgow School of Art but did not complete his course in fine art, drawing and painting.

Career

Deighan worked up the Scottish underground comics title '' Electric Soup'' in 1990, writing and drawing ''The Greens'', a parody of ''The Broons'' strip published by D. C. Thomson. It was in working on this book that he adopted the pseudonym of Frank Quitely (a spoonerism of "quite frankly"), as he did not want his family to know it was his work, worried that they may have found it upsetting.

Initially ''Electric Soup'' was only distributed locally in Glasgow, then it was picked up by John Brown Publishing for widespread national UK distribution. This brought Quitely's work to the attention of ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' editor David Bishop. He was given work on '' Shimura'', written by Robbie Morrison, and '' Missionary Man'', by Gordon Rennie, quickly rising to prominence. He drew various stories in Paradox Press' series of ''The Big Book Of'' graphic novels, as well as work in ''Dark Horse Presents'' for Dark Horse Comics.

His first major work in American comics was ''Flex Mentallo'' in 1996, a ''Doom Patrol'' spin-off written by fellow Glaswegian Grant Morrison for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. Initially he worked on strips for anthology titles such as ''Weird War Tales'', and drew three issues of Jamie Delano's '' 2020 Visions'', as well as various covers for DC. He later drew his first full length graphic novel, '' Batman: The Scottish Connection'', with writer Alan Grant in which The Greens make a cameo appearance. Quitely and Grant worked on a one-shot titled '' Lobo: The Hand-to-Hand Job'' later retitled as ''It's a Man's World''. Although Quitely did all the pencils, the story was not released.

2000 saw Quitely and Morrison collaborate again, on '' JLA: Earth 2''. The graphic novel was met with positive critical response, and later that year Quitely took over from Bryan Hitch as artist on '' The Authority'', with Mark Millar as writer.

Quitely left ''The Authority'' to draw '' New X-Men''. Quitely illustrated a Destiny story for Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman: Endless Nights'' hardcover graphic novel in 2003. After leaving ''New X-Men'', Quitely drew the mini-series ''We3'' in 2004, again in collaboration with Morrison. He shared the 2005 Best Penciller/Inker or Penciller/Inker Team Eisner Award in a tie with artist John Cassaday for his work on the book. That same year, he and Morrison were nominated for Best Limited Series for that book, and Quitely additionally was nominated for the Best Cover Artist Eisner for both ''We3'' and '' Bite Club''. He wrote and drew new instalments of ''The Greens'' for the Scottish underground comic '' Northern Lightz'', and in 2005 Morrison and Quitely designed a series of tarot cards for ''Intensive Care'', an album by popstar Robbie Williams.

In December 2004, Quitely signed to a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics, where he illustrated '' All-Star Superman''. The twelve issue series, yet another collaboration with Morrison, began publication in November 2005. Quitely and Morrison's work on the series won them the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2006, with Quitely collecting another nomination for Best Penciller/Inker. The series won Best Continuing Series in 2007 and 2009. In 2008 Quitely illustrated the cover for the debut issue of Scottish underground comic ''Wasted''.

In early 2009, Frank Quitely collaborated with the Scottish rock band The Phantom Band in designing artwork for a limited edition 7" single for their song "The Howling", which plays on Quitely's interest in occultism and esoterica. This was released as a limited run collector's pressing by Glasgow's Chemikal Underground Records. That same year, Quitely again teamed with Morrison, illustrated the first three issues of '' Batman and Robin'' title, which debuted in June 2009 after the "Battle for the Cowl" storyline. He provided covers through issue No. 16. Quitely was one of the artists of ''Batman'' No. 700 (Aug. 2010).

On 9 April 2011, Quitely was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set two Guinness World Records, the "Fastest Production of a Comic Book" and "Most Contributors to a Comic Book". With Guinness officials on hand to monitor their progress, writer Mark Millar began work at 9 AM scripting a 20-page black and white '' Superior'' comic book, with Quitely and the other artists appearing on stage throughout the day to work on the pencils, inks, and lettering, including Dave Gibbons, John Romita Jr., Jock, Adi Granov, Doug Braithwaite, Ian Churchill, Olivier Coipel, Duncan Fegredo, Simon Furman, David Lafuente

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