Ronald Wimberly (born April 28, 1979) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. He has published several graphic novels, as well as shorter works for '' The New Yorker'',

DC/Vertigo Vertigo Comics, also known as DC Vertigo or simply Vertigo, was an imprint of American comic book publisher DC Comics started by editor Karen Berger in 1993. Vertigo's purpose was to publish comics with adult content, such as nudity, drug us ...

, Nike, Marvel, Hill and Wang, and Dark Horse Comics. Wimberly was the 2016 Columbus Museum of Art comics resident, and was a two-time resident cartoonist at

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a communes of France, commune, the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Charente Departments of France, department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern Franc ...

's Maison des Auteurs. He is the recipient of the 2008

Glyph Comics Award The Glyph Comics Awards is for the best comics made by people of color from the last calendar year. The goal is to award the People of Color for their awesome work in the comics industry and also to inspire young writers from diverse backgrounds t ...

, and has been nominated for two Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.

Early life and education

Ronald Wimberly was born on April 28, 1979, and raised in and around Washington, D.C. He studied illustration in Brooklyn at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

from 1997 to 2001, and now lives and works in New York City.

Career

Wimberly's first professional published work was ''Gratuitous Ninja: Tangerine'' which was published in the 2004 Dark Horse Comics anthology ''Strip Search''. Wimberly quickly established a reputation as a cartoonist and storyteller with a particular interest in physical action and human anatomy, and in stories exploring narrative subjectivity. By 2007, he had worked for various companies as an artist and designer on a number of titles, including ''Swamp Thing'', ''Lucifer'', '' Metal Hurlant'', ''Deadman'' and '' Dark Horse Presents''. In 2007, Wimberly illustrated his first book-length project, '' Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm'', a collaborative graphic memoir written by the hip hop artist Percy Carey (better known as MF Grimm), and released by DC/Vertigo. ''Sentences'' was nominated for two 2008 Eisner Awards, and received two 2008 Glyph Awards (for Best Story and Best Cover). In 2012, Wimberly created, wrote and illustrated his first solo graphic novel, '' Prince of Cats'', a modern urban remix of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. It was released by DC/Vertigo to wide acclaim, and later come out in a hardcover edition from

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 ...

. Following a stint on Marvel's ''

She-Hulk She-Hulk (Jennifer "Jen" Walters) is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk'' #1 (cov ...

'', Wimberly wrote and illustrated a comic for The Nib entitled "Lighten Up," in which he analyzed the approach to race, skin color, and continuity by the Marvel Comics editorial team, as well as the comics industry in general. The strip was widely read and discussed, and was nominated for a Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best Digital Comic. In 2016,

announced an ongoing partnership with Wimberly that included the new edition of ''Prince of Cats'', 2017's ''Black History In Its Own Words'', and several other forthcoming projects. In 2018 ''Prince of Cats'' was optioned for cinematic adaptation by Legendary Entertainment, and is now in development by screenwriter Selwyn Hinds with actor Lakeith Stanfield attached to star. Wimberly has also created ''LAAB'', an ongoing newspaper-format art magazine, a "pop-culture dialectic". Wimberly's forthcoming books include ''Slave Punk'' and ''Sunset Park'' for Image Comics, and the ongoing project ''LAAB Magazine'' for Beehive Books.

Awards and honors

* 2008 –

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

nominee for Best Reality-Based Work (for ''Sentences'') * 2008 –

Glyph Award The Glyph Comics Awards is for the best comics made by people of color from the last calendar year. The goal is to award the People of Color for their awesome work in the comics industry and also to inspire young writers from diverse backgrounds ...

for Best Cover (for ''Sentences'') * 2008 –

for Best Story (for ''Sentences'') * 2016 –

nominee for Best Digital Comic (for "Lighten Up") * 2015 – Angoulême Maison Des Auteurs Cartoonist In Residence * 2016 – Angoulême Maison Des Auteurs Cartoonist In Residence * 2016 – Graphic Novel Residency - Columbus Museum of Art * 2019 ''–''

nominee for ''LAAB Magazine'' No. 0: Dark Matter, edited by Ronald Wimberly and

Josh O'Neill Josh is a masculine given name, frequently a diminutive (hypocorism) of the given names Joshua (name), Joshua or Joseph, though since the 1970s, it has increasingly become a full name on its own. It may refer to: People A–J * "Josh", an early ...

(

Beehive Books A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus ''Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature d ...

) * 2020 –

nominee for''LAAB Magazine, vol. 4: This Was Your Life,'' edited by Ronald Wimberly and Josh O’Neill (Beehive Books)

Bibliography

* * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wimberly, Ronald 1979 births Living people 21st-century American artists African-American comics creators American cartoonists American male artists Artists from Washington, D.C. Artists from New York City The New Yorker people Pratt Institute alumni 21st-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American people