Chris Sprouse (born July 30, 1966) 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 ...

comics artist 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 g ...

. Sprouse has worked for multiple publishers and has won two

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 ...

s for his work on ''

Tom Strong ''Tom Strong'' is a comic book created by writer Alan Moore and artist Chris Sprouse, initially published bi-monthly by America's Best Comics, an imprint of DC Comics' Wildstorm division. Tom Strong, the title character, is a "science hero", wi ...

'', a series he created with writer

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

Early life

Chris Sprouse was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the age of 3 he moved with his family to New Delhi, India where he first discovered comics as he was unable to play outside due to the dangerous amount of snakes in the house yard. When he was 6, his family returned to the United States to

Dale City, Virginia Dale City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located 25 miles south west of Washington, D.C. It is an annex of Woodbridge, Virginia. As of 2017, the total population was 73,384. The community is ...

, where he continued to read and draw comics. Before his debut in comics, Sprouse drew a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

entitled ''Ber-Mander'' for the school newspaper (''The Hyphen'') while attending

Gar-Field Senior High School Gar-Field Senior High School is a senior high school in Woodbridge in unincorporated Prince William County, Virginia, USA, with students in grades 9 through 12. Established in 1953, it was originally located at 15941 Cardinal Drive until the ...

in Woodbridge. After graduating in 1984, Sprouse attended

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

where he studied graphic design.

Career

Sprouse launched his career in mainstream comics in 1989, his first credited work being a

Chemical King Chemical King is the name of two characters in the DC Comics universe. The first was Mr. Lambert, who was murdered under the direction of Alfred Stryker in " The Case of the Chemical Syndicate", the feature story of ''Detective Comics'' #27. The s ...

story 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 ...

'' vol. 2 #47 (Feb. 1990). His next assignments were a

Two-Face Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character was created by Bob Kane and first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942). As one of Batman's ...

story for '' Batman Annual'' #14 (1990) and the '' Hammerlocke''

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

. He drew insert posters for the ''

War of the Gods ''War of the Gods'' is an album by soul singer Billy Paul. The album was produced by Gamble & Huff, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and arranged by Bobby Martin (producer), Bobby Martin and Lenny Pakula. Released in 1973, the album reached number 12 o ...

'' limited series in 1991. Following that, Sprouse drew the ''Legionnaires'' series featuring teenaged versions of the ''

Legion of Super-Heroes The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino, the Legion is a group of superpowered beings living in the 30th and 31st c ...

''. He later illustrated a number of one-shots and fill-in issues before illustrating a

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

mini-series, ''

Splinter of the Mind's Eye ''Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' is a 1978 science-fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to the film '' Star Wars'' (1977). Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, the book was written with the in ...

'', for

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 ...

. He then worked for

Extreme Studios Awesome Comics or Awesome Entertainment (also known as Awesome-Hyperwerks when briefly joined with Hyperwerks, Hyperwerks Entertainment) was an American comic book studio formed in 1997 by Rob Liefeld following his expulsion from Image Comics, a c ...

as the regular penciller of ''

New Men New men is a term referring to various groups of the socially upwardly mobile in England during the House of Lancaster, House of York and Tudor periods. The term may refer to the new aristocracy, or the enriched gentry. It is used by some h ...

'', and in 1997–1998, Sprouse drew several issues of '' Supreme'', scripted by

for the same publisher. After ''Supreme'' ended, he and Moore created ''

'' for

America's Best Comics America's Best Comics (ABC) is a comic book publishing brand. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of WildStorm, an idea proposed to Moore by WildStorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics. History ''America's Best ...

, for which Sprouse won two

s in 2000, for Best Single Issue and Best Serialized Story. Sprouse was the penciller and co-creator on the 2004 ''

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

'' mini-series, written by

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

and published by

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 ...

. In 2007, ''Ocean'' was optioned for film. In 2006, he began pencilling Wildstorm's ''

Midnighter Midnighter is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books first published by WildStorm and later DC Comics once it absorbed the former. The character was created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Bryan Hitch. The character made his ...

ongoing series In comics, an ongoing series is a series that runs indefinitely. This is in contrast to limited series (a series intended to end after a certain number of issues thus limited), a one shot (a comic book which is not a part of an ongoing series), ...

, a spin-off of '' The Authority''. He was the artist on the first issue of '' Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne'' with

Grant Morrison Grant Morrison, MBE (born 31 January 1960) is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, w ...

as writer. In 2011, Sprouse worked with writer

Peter Hogan Peter Hogan is an English writer and comics writer, best known for ''Resident Alien'', which he co-created with artist Steve Parkhouse. Hogan began his comics career as editor of cult British comic ''Revolver'' in 1990–1991, before workin ...

on the ''Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril'' limited series. Sprouse drew ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics ...

'' #14 (Jan. 2013) which featured an "appearance" by

Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson ( or ; born October 5, 1958) is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a po ...

. In 2014, Sprouse drew the second issue of

's ''

The Multiversity ''The Multiversity'' is a two-issue limited series combined with seven interrelated one-shots set in the DC Multiverse in The New 52, a collection of universes seen in publications by DC Comics. The one-shots in the series were written by Grant M ...

'' limited series. Other works include ''

Batman '66 ''Batman '66'' is a superhero comic book series published by DC Comics featuring Batman as a continuation of the 1966–68 television series starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin. The series was written primarily by Jeff Parker ...

'', '' Fairest: In All the Land'', ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

'', ''

Sensation Comics ''Sensation Comics'' is the title of an American comic book anthology series published by DC Comics that ran for 109 issues between 1942 and 1952. For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman, a character which had been introduced in ''Al ...

Featuring Wonder Woman'', ''

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and L ...

'', and '' Thors''.

Bibliography

Awesome Comics

* ''Alan Moore's Awesome Universe Handbook'' #1 (1999) * ''Judgment Day Omega'' #2 (1997) * ''Judgment Day: Sourcebook'' #1 (1997) * '' Supreme'' #50, 52a, 52b, 53–56 (1997–1998) * ''Supreme the Return'' #1 (1999)

Dark Horse Comics

* ''Star Wars:

'' #1–4 (1996)

DC Comics

* ''

'' vol. 2 #14–18 (2013) * '' Batman Annual'' #14 (1990) * '' Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' #27 (1992) * ''Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight'' vol. 2 #10 (2013) * ''

'' #9 (2014) * '' Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne'' #1 (2010) * '' Hammerlocke'' #1–9 (1992–1993) * ''

Human Target The Human Target is the name of two fictional character (arts), characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first is Fred Venable, while the second is private investigator and bodyguard Christopher Chance who assumes the identit ...

'' #1, 3, 5 (2010) * '' Justice League America Annual'' #5 (1991) * ''

Justice League Europe ''Justice League Europe'' (''JLE'') is a comic book series published by DC Comics that was a spin-off of the comic book '' Justice League America'' (which was then named ''Justice League International'' (vol. 1) for issues #7 to #25). ''Justice ...

'' #13 (1990) * ''

Justice League Quarterly ''Justice League Quarterly'' (''JLQ'') was a quarterly American comic book series published by DC Comics from Winter 1990 to Winter 1994; it lasted 17 issues. It had a variable cast, pulling from the Justice League membership. The title centred o ...

'' #1 (1990) * ''

'' vol. 4 #8, 33, 41 (1990–1993) * ''Legionnaires'' #1–6, 9–12 (1993–1994) * ''

: The Society of Super-Heroes: Conquerors of the Counter-World '' #1 (2014) * ''

'' vol. 2 #47 (1990) * ''

Spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

'' #7 (2007) * ''

Starman ''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy. Background ''StarMan'' was first published ...

'' vol. 2 #14, 24 (1995–1996) * ''

Transmetropolitan ''Transmetropolitan'' is a cyberpunk transhumanist comic book series written by Warren Ellis and co-created and designed by Darick Robertson; it was published by the American company DC Comics in 1997–2002. The series was originally part of th ...

: Filth of the City'' #1 (2001) * ''

Who's Who in the DC Universe ''Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe'' (1985–87), usually referred to simply as ''Who's Who'', is the umbrella title for a number of comic book series which DC Comics published to catalogue the wide variety of fictional cha ...

'' #1, 3, 6, 8, 11–13, 16 (1990–1992) * ''Who's Who in the DC Universe Update 1993'' #1 (1992)

America's Best Comics

* ''ABC: A-Z, Tom Strong and Jack B. Quick'' #1 (2005) * ''

Special'' #1 (2001) * ''Many Worlds of Tesla Strong'' #1 (2003) * ''

'' #1–18, 23–24, 35–36 (1999–2006) * ''Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril'' #1–6 (2013–2014) * ''Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom'' #1–6 (2010–2011)

Wildstorm

* '' The Authority'' #11 (2009) * '' Ex Machina Special'' #1–2 (2006) * ''

Global Frequency ''Global Frequency'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), limited series created and written by Warren Ellis and published by Wildstorm, Wildstorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics. It is a science-fiction series set in the prese ...

'' #8 (2003) * ''

'' #1–3, 5, 10 (2007) * ''

Number of the Beast The number of the beast ( grc-koi, Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου, ) is associated with the Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of ...

'' #1–8 (2008) * ''

'' #1–6 (2004–2005) * ''

WildC.A.T.s Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi. Publication history The team first appeared in August 1992 in the first issue of their eponymo ...

'' #11 (2009)

IDW Publishing

* ''

Rocketeer The Rocketeer is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Pacific Comics. Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, the character first appeared in 1982 and is an homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes f ...

Adventures'' #3 (2012)

Image Comics

* ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...

'' #1 (1998)

Malibu Comics

* ''

Sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventiona ...

'' #4 (1994) * ''

Ultraverse The Ultraverse is a defunct comic book imprint published by the American company Malibu Comics which is currently owned by Marvel Comics. The Ultraverse is a shared universe in which a variety of characters – known within the comics as Ultras � ...

Origins'' #1 (1994)

Marvel Comics

* ''

Black Panther A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical rosettes are also present. They have been d ...

'' vol. 6 #5–8 (2016–2017) * ''Captain America Annual'' #1 (2018) * ''Battlezones: Dream Team 2'' #1 (1996) * ''Dream Team'' #1 (1995) * ''

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

s'' #1–4 (2015–2016) * ''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X ...

'' #304 (1993)

References

External links

*
Chris Sprouse
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics

at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprouse, Chris 1966 births 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists American comics artists Artists from Ohio Artists from Virginia DC Comics people James Madison University alumni Living people Marvel Comics people People from Charlottesville, Virginia People from Dale City, Virginia

Early life

Career

Bibliography

Awesome Comics

Dark Horse Comics

DC Comics

America's Best Comics

Wildstorm

IDW Publishing

Image Comics

Malibu Comics

Marvel Comics

References

Further reading

External links