Richard Bruning (born February 7, 1953) In print issue #1650 (February 2009), p. 107 is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

and

comics creator developed specialized terminology. Some several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is un ...

Biography

In 1979, Richard Bruning opened a

design firm A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, called Abraxas Studios. In the early 1980s, on staff at

Capital Comics Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin-based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comic Distributors. Under the name Capital Comics, they also published comics from 1981 to 198 ...

, he was editor-in-chief and

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

for such publications as ''

Nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and Border control#Expedited border controls, expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members ...

'', ''

Badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united b ...

'' and ''

Whisper Whispering is an unvoiced mode of phonation in which the vocal cords are abducted so that they do not vibrate; air passes between the arytenoid cartilages to create audible turbulence during speech. Supralaryngeal articulation remains the ...

'' until the company ceased operation in 1984. After a year of

freelancing ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1985 to become DC Comics’ design director. For the next five years he supervised and/or contributed to the design of titles including ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 a ...

'' and '' Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'', as well as editing the DC-produced official sequel to the ITC TV series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'', ''

Shattered Visage ''The Prisoner: Shattered Visage'' is a four-issue comic book mini-series based on ''The Prisoner'', the 1967 television series created by and starring Patrick McGoohan. The name is a reference to Percy Shelley's famous sonnet ''Ozymandias'', whic ...

''. He designed the branding of and logo design for DC's

Vertigo (comics) Vertigo, in comics, may refer an imprint, or a character: * Vertigo (DC Comics), an imprint of DC Comics * Vertigo (Marvel Comics), two Marvel Comics characters * Vertigo (Salem's Seven), another Marvel character * Count Vertigo, a DC Comics superv ...

mature-readers imprint. He also oversaw the development and packaging of

graphic novel 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 ...

s and DC's first

collected editions Collected may refer to: * ''Collected'' (Black 'n Blue album), 2005 * ''Collected'' (Demis Roussos album), 2015 * ''Collected'' (Joe Jackson album), 2010 * ''Collected'' (k-os album), 2007 * ''Collected'' (Limp Bizkit album), 2008 * ''Collec ...

. In 1990, he left DC to form Brainstorm Unlimited, Inc. a freelance

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

and

corporate communications Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favourable point of view among stakeholders on which the company depends. Riel, Cees B.M. van; Fombru ...

firm in New York. The company’s client list included

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

Fine Line Features Fine Line Features (often spelled as FineLine Features) was the specialty films division of New Line Cinema. From 1991 to 2005, under founder and president Ira Deutchman, Fine Line acquired, distributed and marketed films of a more "indie" flavor ...

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

Children’s Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

and others. He also wrote the ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

'' Sunday newspaper strip for

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial c ...

. He returned to DC full-time in 1996 as vice president-

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

. He was promoted to senior vice-president in 2002. He helped create DC's new company logo, known colloquially as the DC Spin, in 2005. In 2010, Bruning left DC to return to freelancing with a primary focus on cartooning. During 2016 he wrote and drew a twice-weekly online comic strip called "Bob! the Presidential Atheist" which dealt with politics, atheism and social issues. Starting in 2017, he became art director for Berger Books, an imprint of

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 ...

headed by his wife,

Karen Berger Karen Berger (; born February 26, 1958) is an American comic book editor. She is best known for her role in helping create DC Comics' Vertigo imprint in 1993 and serving as the line's Executive Editor until 2013. She currently oversees Berger B ...

. Beginning in 2020 he became art director, designer & letterer for Lapid Children's Books.

Personal life

Bruning is married to former-DC Comics senior vice president-Vertigo executive editor

Writing

In 1990, Bruning wrote the

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

Adam Strange Adam Strange is a fictional space adventurer appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by editor Julius Schwartz with a costume designed by Murphy Anderson, he first appeared in ''Showcase (comics), Showcase'' #17 (November ...

: The Man of Two Worlds'', which revived the titular DC

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

character. The three volumes were illustrated by brothers

Andy Kubert Andrew Kubert (; born February 27, 1962) is an American comics artist, letterer and writer. He is the son of Joe Kubert and brother of Adam Kubert, both of whom are also artists, and the uncle of comics editor Katie Kubert. He is a graduate of an ...

and

Adam Kubert Adam Kubert (; born 1959) is an American comics artist known for his work for publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including work on ''Action Comics'', '' Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine'', ''The Incredible Hulk'', ''Ultimate Fantas ...

and collected into book form in 2003. The first issue of the 1999 Vertigo horror anthology ''Flinch'' features his story "Rocketman" with art by

Jim Lee Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey ...

, collected in book form in 2015. He also wrote the Eisner-nominated Best Short Story "Electric China Death" for ''Gangland'' #4, with pencilling and coloring by

Mark Chiarello Mark Chiarello is an American illustrator, art director and comic book editor. Born on Halloween in 1960, he attended Pratt Institute in the 1980's. Career As a comic book illustrator, Chiarello painted the Batman graphic novel Batman/Houdini: T ...

, collected in book form in 2000.

Bibliography

As writer

* "A Sense of Obligation" (with

Kevin Nowlan Kevin Nowlan (born 1958) is an American comics artist who works as a penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer. He has been called "one of the few artists who can be called 'artists's artist'", a master of the various disciplines of comic producti ...

) in '' Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual 3'',

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 ...

, 1987 * ''

: The Man of Two Worlds'' #1-3 (with

Andy Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

and

, DC Comics, March–May 1990) * "Reflections Of A Deep Fantasy" (with Steve Bove, in ''

Secret Origins ''Secret Origins'' is the title of several comic book series published by DC Comics which featured the origin stories of the publisher's various characters. Publication history ''Secret Origins'' was first published as a one-shot in 1961 and c ...

'' #50, DC Comics, August 1990) * "Electric China Death" (with

) in '' Gangland'' #4,

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 ...

, September 1998 * "Rocket-Man" (with

, in '' Flinch'' #1, Vertigo, June 1999)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruning, Richard DC Comics people Living people 1953 births