Brent Anderson
Author of Astro City Vol. 01: Life in the Big City
About the Author
Image credit: Brent Anderson
Works by Brent Anderson
Astro City Vol. 06: The Dark Age, Book One: Brothers and Other Strangers (2009) — Illustrator — 198 copies, 7 reviews
Astro City Vol. 07: The Dark Age, Book Two: Brothers in Arms (2011) — Illustrator — 141 copies, 2 reviews
Astro City (1995-1996) #3 — Penciller — 3 copies
Avengers (Vol.3) #51 — Illustrator — 3 copies
Astro City (1996-2000) #2 — Illustrator — 1 copy
Somerset Holmes 03 — Illustrator — 1 copy
Associated Works
9-11: The World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember (2002) — Illustrator — 256 copies, 1 review
The Big Book of the Weird Wild West: How the West was Really Won! (Factoid Books) (1998) — Illustrator — 117 copies
The Big Book of Little Criminals: 63 True Tales of the World's Most Incompetent Jailbirds! (1996) — Illustrator — 102 copies
Orbit: The Best of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (Graphic Science Fiction, No 1) (1990) — Illustrator — 15 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Anderson, Brent Eric
- Birthdate
- 1955-06-15
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- Comic Book Illustrator
- Short biography
- Brent Anderson was born in San Jose, California. A child of the 50s, his favorite comics --on the rare occasions he was allowed to read them --were Archie, Stumbo the Giant, Hot Stuff, and Dennis the Menace. His mother favored classical children's literature.
In junior high school Brent discovered the wonderful pantheon of characters in Marvel Comics. The Fantastic Four were his favorite. "They were a family who had super-powers and helped each other out. I wanted to be part of a family like that," he says. Brent began writing and drawing his own comics on school binder paper, creating a pantheon of his own that included Radium the Robot and the Chameleon.
His professional career took off in 1979. Ka-zar the Savage, written by Bruce Jones, was his first regular series. The X-Men graphic novel "God Loves, Man Kills" followed. Since then he has created an impressive list of notable series, including the innovative cinematic comic, Somerset Holmes, the heroic space-opera, Strikeforce Morituri, the award-winning Astro City, and Spinworld.
He is currently working on Astro City: The Dark Age Book One, a four-issue story arc for DC/Wildstorm and J. Michael Straczynski's Rising Stars: Untouchable spin-off series covering the life story of Laurel Darkhaven, Special assassin, written by Fiona Avery. Work continues on a 200-plus page graphic novel, Jar of Ashes, written by Shirley Johnston. Sample pages will be posted on this site as work progresses.
In the meantime, Brent has posted a much shorter story called "The Hero" on the site. Brent originally created "The Hero" in San Diego, California in the late 80s for T.A.G. Rag, a never-published collection of stories written and drawn by a collective of great people who called themselves the "Tuesday Art Group" (T.A.G.). T.A.G. would get together every Tuesday to talk about comics, discuss movies, play a version of Hacky Sack they had dubbed "Squoob" (don't ask), and to suffer rehearsals of Brent's comics art seminar presentations.
The incident related in "The Hero" truly happened (insofar as Brent's admittedly imperfect memory can recall it) and was printed in Streetwise published by TwoMorrows Publications in 2000. He's allowed it to be reprinted it here on his official web site for those of you who never saw Streetwise. Check it out.
Brent's work is well known for its focus on character. "My greatest joy in drawing comics comes when I've added nuance to a character with just the right expression and illustrated a scene that captures the perfect moment of mood. When the characters come to life I feel alive. That's why I've dedicated my professional life to creating comics."
Brent currently lives in northern California with one cat, his wife, Shirley and his ten-year old son, who is already creating a pantheon of comic characters of his own. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- San Jose, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- California, USA
Members
Reviews
Life Despite Superheroes
I never particularly enjoyed superhero comics, but as a youngster, the two that I enjoyed were "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen." Their deconstruction of superheroes and the superhero genre was novel. Those style of those two comics, with first-person narrative and moral challenges, were then copied and hacked to death.
Rather than deconstructed the superhero genre, "Astro City" comics try to construct it by placing heroes in a living, breathing world show more where life goes on not because of their heroic actions but despite their heroic actions. The focus of Busiek's best stories is on the citizens who look up at the heroes briefly and then carry on with their daily work. They are irritated by the distractions superheroes cause or, perhaps, they are themselves super-powered folk who use their abilities to further their careers rather than save lives.
In "Astro City: The Dark Age," Charles and Royal struggle with their relationship to superheroes in Astro City. Their strained relationship is centered on their mutual distrust of superheroes and villains. Superheroes come and go throughout the book in a rather blasé manner as Charles and Royal evolve. The two books in the series unfold slowly over the course of about twenty years with flashbacks and shifting narrative perspectives.
Because of the dull, repetitive stories in the superhero genre, I have ignored it. However, I was attracted by the lovely and often incongruous painted covers of "Astro City." Fortunately, the stories were equally interesting and equally engaging. show less
I never particularly enjoyed superhero comics, but as a youngster, the two that I enjoyed were "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" and "Watchmen." Their deconstruction of superheroes and the superhero genre was novel. Those style of those two comics, with first-person narrative and moral challenges, were then copied and hacked to death.
Rather than deconstructed the superhero genre, "Astro City" comics try to construct it by placing heroes in a living, breathing world show more where life goes on not because of their heroic actions but despite their heroic actions. The focus of Busiek's best stories is on the citizens who look up at the heroes briefly and then carry on with their daily work. They are irritated by the distractions superheroes cause or, perhaps, they are themselves super-powered folk who use their abilities to further their careers rather than save lives.
In "Astro City: The Dark Age," Charles and Royal struggle with their relationship to superheroes in Astro City. Their strained relationship is centered on their mutual distrust of superheroes and villains. Superheroes come and go throughout the book in a rather blasé manner as Charles and Royal evolve. The two books in the series unfold slowly over the course of about twenty years with flashbacks and shifting narrative perspectives.
Because of the dull, repetitive stories in the superhero genre, I have ignored it. However, I was attracted by the lovely and often incongruous painted covers of "Astro City." Fortunately, the stories were equally interesting and equally engaging. show less
The X-Men franchise has exploded since its inception. Every year we witness series, after series, of new orientations and mythologies gracing pop culture with the adventures of Charles Xavier's maverick do-gooders who live in a flawed world fearful of their powers.
So what makes God Loves, Man Kills one of the most cardinal texts in the entire X universe? Hints can be gauged when one learns that the 2003 X2 film derived fundamental inspiration from it. Here's the answer, the X-Men live in a show more world plagued by the fear of its very protectors. What happens when this fear is cultivated, heightened and finally unleashed against mutant kind and that too in the name of religion? God Loves, Man Kills answers this pointed query in all its visceral glory. The chief antagonist here is not some superhuman rogue but Reverend William Stryker; a common man of the cloth armed with a Bible and inspired by a Vendetta against Mutantkind.
While many critics have argued that the ending is highly anticlimactic, I believe it sticks firmly to the highly symbolic nature of the story. What Claremont has done is that he has transposed our fears of racial differences within the X-verse and amplified them for our own observation. God Loves, Man Kills is one for the history books. show less
So what makes God Loves, Man Kills one of the most cardinal texts in the entire X universe? Hints can be gauged when one learns that the 2003 X2 film derived fundamental inspiration from it. Here's the answer, the X-Men live in a show more world plagued by the fear of its very protectors. What happens when this fear is cultivated, heightened and finally unleashed against mutant kind and that too in the name of religion? God Loves, Man Kills answers this pointed query in all its visceral glory. The chief antagonist here is not some superhuman rogue but Reverend William Stryker; a common man of the cloth armed with a Bible and inspired by a Vendetta against Mutantkind.
While many critics have argued that the ending is highly anticlimactic, I believe it sticks firmly to the highly symbolic nature of the story. What Claremont has done is that he has transposed our fears of racial differences within the X-verse and amplified them for our own observation. God Loves, Man Kills is one for the history books. show less
Astro City is a metropolis filled by a multitude of superheroes and dastardly villains. It’s a place where Busiek explores the genre, the cracks in between the stories and how real people would fit into and react to such a world.
Confession is the 2nd in the series but I think can be taken standalone. We follow young Brian Kinney running from his past to become something big in the city and so he does.. sidekick to mysterious The Confessor.
It’s another great multilayered tale with show more luscious artwork. A tale of sidekicks and their teachers, of what it means to be a hero and if we can ever recognise those that are. It's a commentary on popularist politics, a fun superhero fight to save the world and an intriguing mystery.
Personal preference means I preferred the short story approach in Volume 1. However there is an extra separate story at the end of book, a lovely heart-rending story of loss and the comfort of memory. Gets extra brownie points for that.
Highly recommend this series to even non superhero fans. show less
Confession is the 2nd in the series but I think can be taken standalone. We follow young Brian Kinney running from his past to become something big in the city and so he does.. sidekick to mysterious The Confessor.
It’s another great multilayered tale with show more luscious artwork. A tale of sidekicks and their teachers, of what it means to be a hero and if we can ever recognise those that are. It's a commentary on popularist politics, a fun superhero fight to save the world and an intriguing mystery.
Personal preference means I preferred the short story approach in Volume 1. However there is an extra separate story at the end of book, a lovely heart-rending story of loss and the comfort of memory. Gets extra brownie points for that.
Highly recommend this series to even non superhero fans. show less
I'm more into horror, fantasy and humorous graphic novels, but boy do I love this superhero series. I'd rather read Astro City than any other superhero books, except maybe PS238, which is also a sideways approach to the genre.
The POV in this series is often a regular Joe, and the regular Joes in Dark Age are two brothers, one a cop and one a criminal who both resent the "Masks." The transition from one point of view to the other was seamless, thanks to the color-coded speech bubbles, and show more their motivations for choosing their different paths are conveyed sympathetically on both sides.
If I knew more about comic book history, I would have proof of this, but I have a feeling that as the story moved over the course of about 20 years, the types of superheroes emerging in the 60s and 70s paralleled what was happening in comic books in reality during those decades. And that's pretty cool.
I'm looking forward to Dark Age part 2. show less
The POV in this series is often a regular Joe, and the regular Joes in Dark Age are two brothers, one a cop and one a criminal who both resent the "Masks." The transition from one point of view to the other was seamless, thanks to the color-coded speech bubbles, and show more their motivations for choosing their different paths are conveyed sympathetically on both sides.
If I knew more about comic book history, I would have proof of this, but I have a feeling that as the story moved over the course of about 20 years, the types of superheroes emerging in the 60s and 70s paralleled what was happening in comic books in reality during those decades. And that's pretty cool.
I'm looking forward to Dark Age part 2. show less
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- 49
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- Rating
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