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.

Biography

In 1979, Richard Bruning opened a design firm in

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 ...

, called Abraxas Studios. In the early 1980s, on staff at Capital Comics, 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 and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

for such publications as ''

Nexus NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border ...

'', ''

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 by ...

'' 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 for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, 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 A design director is a position usually found within the software development, web development, product design, advertising, Mass media, media, automotive or entertainment industry, entertainment industries, but may be useful in other product focus ...

. For the next five years he supervised and/or contributed to the design of titles including '' Watchmen'' 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''. He designed the branding of and logo design for DC's Vertigo (comics) 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

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. In 1990, he left DC to form

Brainstorm Unlimited Brainstorm generally refers to brainstorming, a group or individual creativity exercise. The term originally referred to a state of temporary insanity, gaining prominence when it was used in the defense of Harry Kendall Thaw against charges that h ...

, 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 interdiscip ...

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,

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" flav ...

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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'' adv ...

'' 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 ...

. 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 know ...

headed by his wife, Karen Berger. 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 Karen Berger.

Writing

In 1990, Bruning wrote the

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'' Adam Strange: 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 unive ...

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 F ...

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 the ...

, 1987 * '' Adam Strange: 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 pia ...

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 story, origin stories of the publisher's various characters. Publication history ''Secret Origins'' was first published as a One-shot ( ...

'' #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