Phil Jimenez

Phil Jimenez

Phil Jimenez
Born Philip Jimenez
(1970-07-12) July 12, 1970
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works
 Wonder Woman
Infinite Crisis
The Invisibles
New X-Men
Astonishing X-Men

Phil Jimenez (born July 12, 1970,[1] in Los Angeles, California) is an American comic book artist and writer, known for his work as writer/artist on Wonder Woman from 2000 to 2003, as one of the five pencilers of the 2005-2006 miniseries Infinite Crisis, and his collaborations with writer Grant Morrison on New X-Men and The Invisibles.[2]

Early life

Phil Jimenez was born and raised in Los Angeles and later Orange County, California. He moved to New York City to attend college at the School of Visual Arts,[3][4] where he majored in cartooning. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991.[5]

Career

Jimenez with Tim Gunn at Midtown Comics Times Square in Manhattan, for the September 9, 2009 signing of Models, Inc., the first issue of which features Jimenez's illustration of Gunn on the cover, the art for which Gunn is holding in the photo.

After graduating from SVA, Jimenez was hired by DC Comics Creative Director Neal Pozner at age 21,[3] with his first published work illustrating four pages in the 1991 miniseries War of the Gods.[6] Pozner was HIV-positive when he and Jimenez started dating, and was hesitant about dating someone younger and HIV-negative. Nonetheless, Jimenez became both Pozner's partner and caretaker, saying:

Neal Pozner was my first editor, and he was probably my greatest mentor at DC Comics. He was an incredibly talented man, with some very strong opinions about the way things should be done. I developed a crush on him the minute I met him, and I wanted to know more about him, and I wanted to be with him all the time. So I'd hang out with him at work, in the offices, far later than I had any reason to. I would buy clothes I couldn't afford to impress him. And eventually, I mustered the nerve to ask him on a date. And he was 15 years older than I was. And he had been my boss. And so, against his better judgement, he said yes. And it actually ended up being a really wonderful relationship.[3]

Following Neal Pozner's death in 1994, Jimenez wrote and illustrated the 1996 DC miniseries, Tempest, based on a character from Pozner's late-1980s Aquaman series. In the last issue, Jimenez dedicated the miniseries to Pozner, and wrote an editorial page in which he came out publicly for the first time. "It got over 150 letters," he says, "including the classic letter from the kid in Iowa: 'I didn't know there was anyone else like me.' That's what counts. It meant a lot to people."[7][8]

Much of Jimenez's work is related to works by George Pérez, whose art strongly influenced Jimenez.[6][9] Jimenez has worked on several Teen Titans-related series (some issues of the ongoing series New Titans and Team Titans, and the miniseries JLA/Titans,[10] The Return of Donna Troy and Tempest), was the main artist of Infinite Crisis, a sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths, and did a long run as writer/artist of Wonder Woman beginning with issue #164 (Jan. 2001).[11] (Perez had worked on the series in the late 1980s to early 1990s). Perez and Jimenez would also co-write a 2-part story together in Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) issues #168-169 in 2001. Jimenez would leave as series writer/artist with issue #188 in March 2003. Jimenez and Pérez also have worked together in 2005-2006 in the miniseries Infinite Crisis (where Jimenez was the main penciller, and Pérez drew some sequences and covers for the series) and DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy (written by Jimenez and inked by Pérez).

Jimenez is also known for his work on various titles for DC Entertainment's "mature readers" imprint, Vertigo, including Swamp Thing, The Invisibles with acclaimed writer Grant Morrison, and his own creator-owned series, the sci-fi/fantasy mashup Otherworld. In 2003, Jimenez drew several story arcs of Morrison's popular New X-Men run.

It was announced at the 2007 San Diego ComicCon that Jimenez had signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics. He was one of the four artists working on Marvel's flagship title, The Amazing Spider-Man, the company's sole Spider-Man title, in which Marvel upped its frequency of publication to three issues monthly, and inaugurated the series with the "back to basics" story arc "Brand New Day" at the beginning of 2008. His first work on Spider-Man was in the Free Comic Book Day 2007: Spider-Man #1 (June 2007) comic book, with writer Dan Slott, which served as a prelude to "Brand New Day".[12] During his run, Jimenez drew the cover for The Amazing Spider-Man #583, featuring Barack Obama.[13]

He appeared at the White House for the National Design Awards to present original art to First Lady Michelle Obama.[14]

In 2009 Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada announced that Jimenez would take over the art chores on Astonishing X-Men beginning with Issue #31.[15] In 2010 Jimenez co-wrote the book The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia with John Wells for Del Rey Books.[16] He later returned to DC Comics, illustrating a brief stint on Adventure Comics featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Fairest, a spin-off of Bill Willingham's book Fables.

Jimenez appeared in a panel discussion on diversity in sci-fi/fantasy fandom in March 19, 2015 episode of the Comedy Central humor and commentary program The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, along with Marvel Comics' director of content and character Sana Amanat, hip-hop artist Jean Grae and comedian Mike Lawrence. During the discussion, Jimenez commented, "It feels strange to me that we would partition race, gender and nerd as if they were distinct things...All human beings are this combination of experiences and ideologies...Everybody's get some nerd in them. But the idea that, somehow, being a nerd is separate from one’s religious or moral or political beliefs is strange to me. We all bring everything to our decision-making on a daily basis."[17]

Other work

Jimenez supervising a June 12, 2011 figure drawing class at the LGBT Center in Manhattan.

Jimenez teaches a life drawing course as part of the undergraduate cartooning program at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he himself once studied.[5][18] He has also held figure drawing classes outside of SVA, at places such as the LGBT Center in the West Village.[19]

Jimenez provided sketches seen in the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man. In scenes in which Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire, is seen creating sketches of his costume, the close-ups of his hands are actually those of Jimenez.[8][20]

Jimenez created art for the first permanent AIDS awareness exhibit at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry,[4][21] His art has appeared on album covers, and in editorial magazines.[22] His artwork has been featured in mainstream publications such as TV Guide,[23][24] and he himself has been profiled or recognized in Entertainment Weekly,[4] The Advocate,[8] Instinct magazine[22] and Out magazine.[4][20]

Awards and recognition

Personal life

Jimenez came out as gay in 1992, and his first public relationship was with Neal Pozner, who hired him at DC that same year.[26][27]

Bibliography

Interior work

DC

Marvel

Covers only

Preceded by
Marv Wolfman		 Team Titans writer
1993–1994 		Succeeded by
Cancelled
Preceded by
Ben Raab		 Wonder Woman writer
2001–2003 		Succeeded by
Walt Simonson

References

  1. ↑ Miller, John Jackson. "Comics Industry Birthdays", Comics Buyer's Guide, June 10, 2005. Accessed January 1, 2011. WebCitation archive.
  2. ↑ Irvine, Alex (2008). "The Invisibles". In Dougall, Alastair. The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 92–97. ISBN 0-7566-4122-5. OCLC 213309015.
  3. 1 2 3 A Cartoonist's Life, In the Life. January 2007.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Phil Jimenez at Prism Comics, Accessed November 10, 2010.
  5. 1 2 Bussmann, Christopher. "What's in Store" Visual Arts Journal: School of Visual Arts Magazine vol. 18, no. 2; Fall 2010; Page 11
  6. 1 2 Mangels, Andy (August 2006). "Phil Jimenez Chats About the Many Lives of Donna Troy". Back Issue! (TwoMorrows Publishing) (17): 67–69.
  7. ↑ "Not Just Invisible". Planetout.com. 2000. Archived from the original on March 13, 2002. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 Kim, Chuck (May 14, 2002), "Drawn to Spider-Man", The Advocate
  9. ↑ Simmons, Scott. "Phil Jimenez Talks About The Invisibles," Heroes & Dragons (February 1997).
  10. ↑ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1990s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 285. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Writer Devin Grayson and artist/co-plotter Phil Jimenez revived another stalled DC property in the JLA/Titans miniseries.
  11. ↑ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 298: "The 'Gods of Gotham' storyline marked the start of Phil Jimenez's run on the series as artist and writer (with J. M. DeMatteis on board as co-scripter for the first arc)."
  12. ↑ Brady, Matt (July 27, 2007). "SDCC '07: Phil Jimenez/Marc Guggenheim Sign Exclusive with Marvel". Newsarama. Retrieved February 9, 2009. Retrieved from Archive 27 March 2014.
  13. ↑ George, Richard (January 7, 2009). "Barack Obama Meets Spider-Man". IGN.
  14. ↑ http://outlookcolumbus.com/2011/10/interview-drawing-inspiration-with-phil-jimenez/
  15. ↑ Quesada, Joe. "Cup O' Q&A!" Comic Book Resources June 19, 2009
  16. ↑ Jimenez, Phil (2010). The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. Del Rey Books. ISBN 0-345-50107-1.
  17. ↑ Melrose, Kevin (March 20, 2015). "Sana Amanat and Phil Jimenez tackle fandom and diversity on 'The Nightly Show'". Comic Book Resources.
  18. ↑ Undergraduate Cartooning Faculty at the School of Visual Arts; Accessed July 25, 2010
  19. ↑ "DRAW! With Phil Jimenez!", Geeks OUT, 2011
  20. 1 2 "Brooklyn Book Fair Guests" New York Comic Con, Accessed November 10, 2010.
  21. 1 2 "Phil Jimenez Named One of Instinct Magazine's "25 Leading Men" of 2006!" Prism Comics, October 25, 2006
  22. 1 2 3 Life Without Fair Courts Illustration Contest Judges, Lambda Legal, Accessed November 10, 2010.
  23. ↑ TV Guide, November 8, 2007, cover illustration
  24. ↑ Parkin, J.K. "TV Guide’s ‘Heroes’ covers", Newsarama, November 6, 2007
  25. ↑ "Inkwell Awards Ambassadors"
  26. ↑ "Not Just Invisible". PlanetOut.com (Internet Archive). Archived from the original on 2002-03-13. Retrieved 2002-03-13.
  27. ↑ Hays, Matthew. "Secret identities" Montreal Mirror Archives, November 11–17, 2004, Accessed February 9, 2009.
  28. ↑ Barack Obama cover. Barack Obama cover.

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