| James Vance | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1953-04-02)April 2, 1953 Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | June 5, 2017(2017-06-05) (aged 64) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Area | Writer |
Notable works | Kings in Disguise On the Ropes |
| Collaborators | Dan Burr |
| Awards | Harvey Award, 1989 Eisner Award, 1989 |
James Vance (April 2, 1953 – June 5, 2017) was an American comic book writer, author and playwright, best known for his work fromKitchen Sink Press and in particular the laudedKings in Disguise.
Vance's introduction into comics writing came in 1988, with hisKitchen Sink-published limited series,Kings in Disguise, later collected byW. W. Norton, with an introduction by the legendaryAlan Moore, who calls it:
This work, with art byDan Burr, earned both aHarvey Award and anEisner Award (both 1989) for best new series, as well as anotherEisner Award forBest Single Issue (also 1989). It also made the list of the one hundred best comic book stories of all time.[2]
In 2013, Vance and Burr publishedOn the Ropes, the long-awaited sequel toKings in Disguise.On the Ropes was positively reviewed by, among others, theLos Angeles Times,[3]Publishers Weekly,[4] and writerAlan Moore.[5]
Vance also wroteNeil Gaiman'sMr. Hero the Newmatic Man forTekno Comix in the mid-1990s, and was co-editor ofAlan Moore andMelinda Gebbie'sLost Girls as originally serialised byKitchen Sink Press. He has also contributed scripts towards comics featuringThe Crow, and theDark Horse Comics-published licensed propertiesAliens andPredator.
Vance was married to cartoonistKate Worley for the last ten years of her life before she succumbed to cancer[6] in 2004. After Worley's death, Vance edited and completed (with artistReed Waller) the final chapters of herOmaha the Cat Dancer strip, which were serialized inSizzle magazine.[7] He died on June 5, 2017, from cancer.[8]
Comics work includes:
In addition to his 1989 Eisner and Harvey Awards wins (withDan Burr), Vance was also a 1990 Eisner-nominee with Burr forKings in Disguise, and a 1991-nominee as best writer.[9]
