Duursema with her husband, fellow comics artistTom Mandrake
Jan Duursema's first published comics work appeared inHeavy Metal vol. 3 #3 (July 1979).[3] She drew several stories forDC Comics'Sgt. Rock title beginning in 1980.[3] With writerPaul Kupperberg, she co-created theArion character inThe Warlord #55 (March 1982)[4] and theArion, Lord of Atlantis series was launched in November 1982. Duursema was one of the artists ofWonder Woman #300 (Feb. 1983).[5] She provided artwork to theStar Ace role-playing game fromPacesetter Ltd.[6] Her first work forMarvel Comics, as well as her first work on theStar Wars franchise, appeared inStar Wars #92 (Feb. 1985).[3] Back at DC, she was one of the contributors to theDC Challenge limited series in 1986[7] and drew theAdvanced Dungeons and Dragons comic book series for three years.[3] She briefly worked withJohn Ostrander on theHawkworld series in 1992[3] and again the following year when the title was cancelled and relaunched asHawkman.[8]
Duursema is married to fellow comic book artistTom Mandrake, whom she met while both were students atThe Kubert School. Their wedding was held on the school's grounds.[13] The couple have two children: Jack Moses Mandrake[14] and Sian Mandrake,[15] who is also a Kubert School-trained comics illustrator.[16]
^Wallace, Dan (2008), "Arion, Lord of Atlantis", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.),The DC Comics Encyclopedia, London, United Kingdom:Dorling Kindersley, p. 24,ISBN978-0-7566-4119-1
^Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1980s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.).DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom:Dorling Kindersley. p. 200.ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9.The Amazing Amazon was joined by a host of DC's greatest heroes to celebrate her 300th issue in a seventy-two-page blockbuster...Written by Roy and Dann Thomas, and penciled by Gene Colan, Ross Andru, Jan Duursema, Dick Giordano, Keith Pollard, Keith Giffen, and Rich Buckler.
^Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 260: "Chicago had a guardian angel with armored wings in Hawkman's latest adventures by writer John Ostrander and artist Jan Duursema."
^Cronin, Brian (April 17, 2008)."Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #151".CBR.com. Archived fromthe original on January 26, 2012. RetrievedMarch 11, 2012.[Joe] Corroney, on his website, introduced a new Jedi Knight, Ur-Sema Du, as a tribute to Duursema.
^Contino, Jennifer (2001)."Creepy Concepts". Sequential Tart. Archived fromthe original on September 24, 2015. RetrievedMarch 11, 2012.Jan and I met at the Kubert School, in fact Joe [Kubert] let us get married in the back yard. That would be the back yard of the Baker mansion, the original location of the school.
