| Pia Guerra | |
|---|---|
 Pia Guerra at the Vancouver Comicon, March 2006 | |
| Born | Pia Jasmin Guerra Hoboken,New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Area(s) | Artist, pencils |
Notable works | Y: The Last Man series |
| Awards | Eisner Award,Harvey Award,Joe Shuster Award |
| http://www.hellkitty.com | |
Pia Jasmin Guerra is an American-born Canadiancomic book artist andeditorial cartoonist, best known for her work as co-creator and leadpenciller on theVertigo titleY: The Last Man.[1] She has worked in the comics industry since the 1990s, and has also contributed toDoctor Who: The Forgotten, along with DC and Marvel comics.[2][3] Guerra regularly does cartoons forThe New Yorker,MAD Magazine andThe Nib. She is the author of theImage Comics editorial cartoon book,Me The People.
Guerra was born inHoboken, New Jersey, to aFinnish mother andChilean father.[4] At the age of 10, Guerra's cousin visited from Queens and introduced her to comics by leaving his issue ofThe Uncanny X-Men #129 on a coffee table in her house. After reading the comic, Guerra continued to read comics thereafter. As a self-taught artist, Guerra was always interested in art, but she planned to pursue other careers, such as medicine.[5]
In high school, Guerra attended comic conventions and began to consider pursuing a career in comics. As her plans shifted, Guerra made the decision to forgo secondary education and instead focus on pursuing a career in comics.[5]
During her early career, Guerra did voice over work and worked on many different video games and video game manuals. In 1998, Guerra created storyboards forBoeing Employee's Credit Union andMicrosoft Studios.[2] Before creatingY: The Last Man, Guerra contactedBrian K. Vaughan, and they arranged to meet in San Diego.[5]
Guerra's first major project was theVertigo titleY: The Last Man, which she co-created with Brian Vaughan and pencilled for.[2] Guerra has worked on various independent titles since the mid-1990s, thoughY: The Last Man is known as her "big break" in the comics industry.[6]
In 2005, Guerra worked as a penciller onMarvel'sSpider-Man: Unlimited.[2] In the late 2000s, Guerra contributed to aDoctor Who comic entitledDoctor Who: The Forgotten (published byIDW Publishing and written by UK writerTony Lee),[7] and to aTorchwood series (forTorchwood Magazine) written byGareth David-Lloyd. She has co-written two issues ofSimpsons Comics forBongo Comics withIan Boothby.[2]
From 2013 to 2015, she worked on five comic book covers, including a variant cover forBlack Canary.[2]
In the late 2010s, Guerra turned toeditorial cartooning. She has done cartoons for the online pageThe Nib,The Washington Post andThe New Yorker.[8] Following the February 2018mass shooting atMarjory Stoneman Douglas High School inParkland, Florida, she posted a widely shared cartoon on Twitter depicting school staffer Aaron Feis, who had died protecting students, being led in the afterlife to a hero's welcome from those who had been killed. Guerra toldThe Washington Post that the cartoon was a direct response to her feelings of helplessness in the face of yet another mass shooting.[9][10]
In April 2022, Guerra was reported among the contributors toOperation USA's benefit anthology book,Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded byIDW Publishing Special Projects EditorScott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[11]
Guerra was aPulitzer Prize finalist in the categoryIllustrated Reporting and Commentary in2023.
Guerra currently resides inVancouver, Canada, and is married to writer and comedianIan Boothby, with whom she does cartoons forGo Comics,Instagram andthe New Yorker.[12] Since February 2021, they have collaborated on the daily, one panel comicMannequin on the Moon.[13]
