Kelley Jones

Kelley Jones (born July 23, 1962) is an American comics artist best known for his work on ''Batman'' with writer Doug Moench and on '' The Sandman'' with writer Neil Gaiman.

Early life

Kelley Jones was born in Sacramento, California and grew up in Citrus Heights. He began reading comic books when "My brother came home one day, with a stack of comics (from school)...He had in there '' Marvel Collectors' Item Classics'' and ''Marvel's Greatest Comics'', something along those lines, and they were reprints of the '61, '62, '63 period. They knocked me OUT!" In 1979, Jones met artist Marshall Rogers at a San Francisco comics convention. After reviewing Jones' artwork, Rogers praised it and told him "You will make a great Batman artist someday. If you keep doing this, I can see you doing a ''great'' Batman!"

Career

Kelley Jones entered the comics industry as an inker for Marvel Comics with his first published work appearing in ''Micronauts'' #52 (May 1983). He penciled issue #59 (Aug. 1984) and when the series was relaunched as ''Micronauts: The New Voyages'' in October 1984, he continued penciling the series through most of its 20-issue run. At DC Comics, Jones redesigned Deadman, making the character look thin and skeletal. Deadman's face, formerly drawn to resemble a normal human's head with pale white skin, now looked like a skull. In 1990 and 1991, he drew several issues of Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman'' series with contributions to the " Dream Country" and "Season of Mists" story arcs. Jones and inker John Beatty collaborated with writer Doug Moench on a series of Batman tales including ''Batman: Dark Joker – The Wild'' and the vampire Batman trilogy beginning with '' Batman & Dracula: Red Rain''. Jones drew the covers for many of the chapters of the " Batman: Knightfall" crossover storyline. He became the penciler of ''Batman'' with issue #515 (Feb. 1995) and worked on such story arcs as " Contagion". Moench and Jones co-created the Ogre in ''Batman'' #535 (Oct. 1996).

He illustrated ''The Crusades'' for Vertigo (2000–2001) and the four-issue mini-series ''Conan: The Book of Thoth'' for Dark Horse Comics with writers Kurt Busiek and Len Wein in 2006. Since 1997, Jones has also produced a number of works as a writer-artist for Dark Horse, including several miniseries and one-shots starring his creation ''The Hammer'' (1997–1999): the one-shot '' ZombieWorld: Eat Your Heart Out'' (1998) and the four-issue miniseries ''The 13th Son'' (2005–2006). In 2008, Jones returned to Batman, this time in a twelve-issue series titled ''Batman: Gotham After Midnight'', written by Steve Niles. In 2009, he illustrated the ''Batman: The Unseen'' five-issue series, re-teaming with Moench. In 2014, he provided artwork for "The Pale Man", part of " Batman: Endgame" focusing on a group of serial killers and an Arkham nurse who are forced into telling "a story" by the Joker. Jones drew part of the fourth and final issue of the ''Frankenstein Alive, Alive!'' limited series for IDW Publishing. The series' original artist, Bernie Wrightson, was unable to complete it due to ill health before his death.

In 2015, Len Wein asked Jones to collaborate on ''Convergence: Swamp Thing'' and its success led to the two of them working together on a Swamp Thing miniseries, ''The Dead Don't Die''. That series was also a success and an additional series was commissioned. The project was halted due to Wein's death.

Jones later illustrated ''Lobo vs. Roadrunner'', followed by 2018's ''Justice League America Annual''. He returned to working on Batman in 2018, illustrating ''Batman: Kings of Fear'', a six-part miniseries.

In 2019, Kelley Jones unveils having worked on illustrations for the new ''Creepshow'' series as well as his 12-page comic book adaptation of " The Raft", that Marvel asked him to work on for accompanying the release of the ''Creepshow 2'' movie, in 1987.

Awards

Kelley Jones was nominated for both a Harvey Award and an Eisner Award for his work on ''Deadman: Love after Death'' and again in 1990 for ''Batman: Red Rain''. The latter work won him a Diamond Gem Award for best artist in 1990.

Jones won an Eisner in 1991 for best run for ''The Sandman'' arc "Season of Mist".

Jones won the best artist at both the Rondo Awards and from MTV in 2008 for his work on ''Batman: Gotham after Midnight''.

Jones was presented with an Inkpot Award in 2014.

Bibliography

Dark Horse Comics

* '' Aliens: Hive'' #1–4 (1992)
* ''The Hammer'' #1–4 (1997–1998)
* ''The Hammer: The Outsider'' #1–3 (1999)
* ''The Hammer: Uncle Alex'' #1 (1998)
* ''The 13th Son'' #1–4 (2005–2006)
* '' Conan: The Book of Thoth'' #1–4 (2006)

DC Comics

* ''Action Comics Weekly'' #618–621, 623, 625–626 (Deadman serial) (1988)
* '' Aquaman'' #34 (2018)
* ''Batman'' #515–519, 521–525, 527–532, 535–552 (1995–1998)
* ''Batman'' vol. 2 #35 (2014)
* '' Batman & Dracula: Red Rain'' HC (1991)
* ''Batman Annual'' #27 (2009)
* ''Batman Black and White'' #3 (2021)
* ''Batman: Bloodstorm'' HC (1994)
* ''Batman: Crimson Mist'' HC (1999)
* ''Batman: Dark Joker – The Wild'' HC (1993)
* ''Batman: Gotham After Midnight'' #1–12 (2008–2009)
* ''Batman: Haunted Gotham'' #1–4 (2000)
* ''Batman: Kings of Fear'' #1–6 (2018–2019)
* ''Batman: Unseen'' #1–5 (2009–2010)
* ''The Books of Magic Annual'' #3 (1999)
* ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' #19 (2008)
* ''Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Red Rain'' #1 (2008)
* ''Crusades'' #1–20 (2001–2002)
* ''Crusades: Urban Decree'' #1 (2001)
* ''DC Infinite Halloween Special'' #1 (2007)
* ''DCU Halloween Special '09'' #1 (2009)
* ''Deadman Exorcism'' #1–2 (1992–1993)
* ''Deadman: Love After Death'' #1–2 (1989–1990)
* ''Detective Comics'' #1000 (2019)
* ''Detective Comics Annual'' #11 (2009)
* ''Doom Patrol'' vol. 2 #36 (1990)
* '' Flinch'' #3 (1999)
* ''Harley Quinn Annual'' #1 (2014)
* ''Joker's Asylum II: Clayface'' #1 (2010)
* '' Manhunter'' #3–4 (1988)
* ''The New Teen Titans'' vol. 2 #47, ''Annual'' #4 (1988)
* '' The Sandman'' #17–18, 22–24, 26–27 (1990–1991)
* '' Sleepy Hollow'' #1 (2000)
* ''Spectre'' vol. 3 #16 (inker) (1994)
* ''Superman/Batman'' #65 (2009)
* ''Swamp Thing'' vol. 2 #94, 100 (1990)
* ''Swamp Thing'' vol. 6 #1–6 (2016)
* ''Swamp Thing Winter Special'' #1 (2018)

IDW Publishing

* ''Frankenstein Alive, Alive!'' #4 (2018)

Marvel Comics

* ''Air Raiders'' #1–5 (1987–1988)
* ''Comet Man'' #1–6 (1987)
* ''Dino-Riders'' #1–3 (1989)
* ''The Incredible Hulk'' vol. 2 #368 (inker) (1990)
* ''Magneto'' #1–4 (1996–1997)
* ''Marc Spector: Moon Knight'' #42 (inker) (1992)
* '' Marvel Comics Presents'' #50–53 (1990)
* ''Micronauts'' #54–58 (inker); #59 (1983–1984)
* ''Micronauts: The New Voyages'' #1–6, 8–16, 18, 20 (1984–1986)
* ''Rom'' #54 (inker) (1984)
* ''Spider-Man 2099'' #9 (1993)
* '' Venom: The Madness'' #1–3 (1993–1994)
* '' What If?'' #47 (1984)
* ''X-Men and the Micronauts'' #1–4 (1984)

References

External links

*

Kelley Jones
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics


at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kelley
1962 births
20th-century American artists
21st-century American artists
American comics artists
Artists from Sacramento, California
DC Comics people
Inkpot Award winners
Living people
Marvel Comics people
People from Citrus Heights, California