John Beatty (illustrator)
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John R. Beatty (born May 6, 1961, in
Whitesburg, Kentucky Whitesburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Letcher County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,139 at the 2010 census and an estimated 1,875 in 2018. It was named for C. White, a state politician. Geography Whitesbu ...
) is an American illustrator who has worked for
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
and
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 ...
, primarily as an
inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...
.


Biography

Beatty was born in
Letcher County, Kentucky Letcher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,548. Its county seat is Whitesburg. The county, founded in 1842, is named for Robert P. Letcher, Governor of Kentucky from 1840 to ...
; he lived there for less than a year when his family moved to
Holly Hill, Florida Holly Hill is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,659 at the 2010 census. Holly Hill's city limits lie entirely on the Florida mainland, unlike the larger cities on either side of it, Daytona Beach and Ormond ...
, a small city located between
Daytona Beach Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...
and
Ormond Beach Ormond Beach is a city in central Florida in Volusia County. The population was 43,080 at the 2020 census. Ormond Beach lies directly north of Daytona Beach and is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL Metropolitan ...
. As a child, discovered and fell in love with the comic strips '' Dennis the Menace'' and ''
Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...
''. It wasn't until later that Beatty discovered
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
comic books when a friend who lived up the street sold him a box of comics for $20.00. Beatty's goal was to become a comic book artist. By the time he was 15 years old Beatty had made his first "professional sell," as he was hired by Camelot Publishing to do cartoons for computer instruction manuals. This gig turned into after-school employment during Beatty's high school years. He graduated from Mainland Senior High School in 1979. Not long after his discovery of the world of
fanzines A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
, Beatty wrote and drew a short comic story starring the hero "Crime Smasher," which was printed in Tim Corrigan's ''Super Hero Comics''.
Jerry Ordway Jeremiah Ordway (born November 28, 1957) is an American writer, penciller, inker and painter of comic books. He is known for his inking work on a wide variety of DC Comics titles, including the continuity-redefining ''Crisis on Infinite Earths' ...
had a story published in the same issue, and Ordway was also starting up his own self-published comic book, titled ''OK Comics!'' Soon Beatty and Ordway began communicating through the mail. Beatty also connected with artist
Mike Zeck Michael J. Zeck (born September 6, 1949), is an American comics artist. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics on such series as ''Captain America'', ''Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars'', '' Master of Kung-Fu'', and ''The Punisher'' as wel ...
, through the "pro-zine" ''
Rocket's Blast Comicollector ''Rocket's Blast Comicollector'' (''RBCC'') was a comics advertising fanzine published from 1964 to 1983. The result of a merger with a similar publication, ''RBCCs purpose was to bring fans together for the purpose of adding to their comic book c ...
''. Zeck encouraged Beatty, and even sent xeroxed pencils of his work to Beatty, so he could ink samples for practice and critiques. Beatty had, for a couple of years, been going to
OrlandoCon OrlandoCon, also known as O'Con, was a long-running comic book fan convention which was held annually between 1974 and 1996 in Orlando, Florida. The first comic book convention held in the Orlando area, OrlandoCon billed itself as a "Central Florid ...
, an annual comic book convention held in
Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
. Beatty and his long-time friend Craig Zablo (creator of Stallonezone, a
Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
fansite A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee about a celebrity, thing, or particular cultural phenomenon. Fansites may offer specialized information on the subject (e.g., episode listings, bi ...
), would go to OrlandoCon and make a weekend of it. On this particular occasion, Beatty took some art samples to show professional attendees, comics artists such as
Pat Broderick Pat Broderick (born November 26, 1953) is an American comics artist, known for his work on the ''Micronauts'' and ''Alpha Flight'' for Marvel Comics, and ''Legion of Super-Heroes'', ''Captain Atom'' and ''Green Lantern'' for DC Comics. Broderick a ...
and Bob McLeod (who were living on the west coast of Florida in Tampa). This was also the con where Beatty met
AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.
publisher and artist
Bill Black William Patton Black Jr. (September 17, 1926 – October 21, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader who is noted as one of the pioneers of rock and roll. He played in Elvis Presley's early trio. Black later formed Bill Black's Combo. Ear ...
. Beatty showed samples to Black and was offered inking work on the spot; he would get to ink Black's pencils at a rate of $7.00 per page. Beatty's career began to take shape: Bob McLeod tagged him to start doing some assistant work, such as filling in blacks and erasing pages; he also occasionally drew backgrounds for McLeod's pages. It was now 1980. Beatty went to the annual MiamiCon and showed
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
' editor-in-chief
Jim Shooter James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comic ...
new samples of his work. (Shooter had reviewed Beatty's work the previous year and said Beatty was not quite ready.) Shooter looked over Beatty's art and said: "If you can come up to New York, I'll give you a paid tryout to work on." In July 1980, Beatty made the journey, and with the help of Mike Zeck got some gigs from both Marvel and DC. Beatty spent twenty years inking titles such as ''
Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
'', ''
The Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...
'', ''
Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'' for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written ...
'', '' The Nam'', '' The Adventures of Superman'', ''
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
'', '' JLA'', and many more. Beatty has also worked for the
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 ...
Licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
Department, where
style guide A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gene ...
art is created. This art is used for many things, including package design, clothing, and other licensed products that DC supplies its vendors.


Bibliography

Comics work includes: *''
New Mutants The New Mutants are a group of fictional mutant superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically us ...
'' vol. 1 #50 (inker) *''
Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
'' vol. 1 #265, 267–283, 286–289, 321–323, 326,327 vol.3 #5 *''
Secret Wars ''Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars'', commonly known as ''Secret Wars'' for short, is a twelve-issue American comic book Fictional crossover, crossover limited series published from May 1984 to April 1985 by Marvel Comics. The series was written ...
'' # 1-12 *''
Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...
'' # 1-5 *'' Venom: The Madness'' (1993-1994)


Notes


References

* *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatty, John 1961 births Living people People from Whitesburg, Kentucky American comics artists Comics inkers People from Holly Hill, Florida