| Mike Manley | |
|---|---|
 Manley in April 2016 | |
| Born | Michael Manley (1961-10-19)October 19, 1961 (age 64) |
| Area | Penciller,Inker |
Notable works | Darkhawk,The Phantom andJudge Parker |
| Official website | |
Michael Manley (born October 19, 1961)[1] is an American artist, most notable as acomic stripcartoonist andcomic bookinker andpenciller. Manley currently draws two syndicated comic strips,Judge Parker andThe Phantom. He is also known for co-creating theMarvel Comics characterDarkhawk.[2]
Manley was born inDetroit, Michigan.[3]
Manley's grandfather was a commercial artist, and Manley was therefore aware as a child that one could make a living at drawing. He says he always liked comics and cartooning, and recalls being impressed whenThe Wonderful World of Disney showed theanimation artists working behind the scenes.
As a youth in Michigan, Manley visited acomic book store every day after school, and became a serious collector and reader. By the time he was a teenager, Manley had decided he wanted to be a comic book artist or animator or illustrator.
"Frank Frazetta seemed to be able to do everything, so he was my role model," Manley said. "How could you escape him, he so influenced the art world that you would still get influenced by him through other artists who were influenced by him even if somehow you never knew his art."
Acommercial art class in high school inAnn Arbor enabled Manley to assemble a portfolio, which led to his start in commercial printing at age fifteen. He attendedWashtenaw Community College, but found the art education he was receiving there to be unsatisfying. At age twenty-one, Manley began working for theDetroit Metro Times as art director. Two years after, he had his first comic book art assignment atDC Comics.
He cites other artists in addition to Frazetta as inspiration:Alex Raymond,Stan Drake,Leonard Starr,John Prentice, andAl Williamson. In his late twenties, Manley would have the opportunity to work for a brief but intensely formative time alongside Williamson, in that artist'sHonesdale, Pennsylvania studio.[4][5]
Manley lives inUpper Darby Township, Pennsylvania just outside Philadelphia.[6]
Mike Manley has worked as an artist for major publishers such asMarvel Comics,DC Comics, andDark Horse Comics. Manley, with writersDanny Fingeroth andTom DeFalco, co-created in 1991 theDarkhawk series, which he drew for the first half of its run.[7] He has also contributed to other comic book titles such asBatman,Quasar,Captain America,Marvel Universe,[7] andThe Power of Shazam!.[8] His extensive bibliography in comic books includes a large number of short runs and fill-in issues on a wide variety of titles.
In his run on theBatman series, Manley was one of the artists ofBatman #500 in which the characterAzrael replaced Bruce Wayne as Batman.[9] He drew the series during the "KnightsEnd" storyline[10] and theZero Hour: Crisis in Time crossover.[11]
In 1995, Manley formed Action Planet Inc. as a home to publish his own comics and ideas, starting with the anthologyAction Planet Comics, featuring his character Monsterman.[3] In early 1996 he founded ActionPlanet.com, which has grown to include his award-winning on-line web comic,G.I.R.L. Patrol.
In 2007, while primarily working as an art teacher, Manley illustrated a newSecret Agent Corrigan story for the Swedish publisherEgmont Publishing. Manley's mentor Al Williamson had famously drawn the character's syndicated strip.
Concurrently with some of his time at Marvel Comics, between 1985 and 1990, Manley illustrated children's books utilizing licensed characters. ForMacmillan Publishing, he illustrated books in theirRaggedy Ann and Andy series. ForGolden Books andWestern Publishing he worked on several children's fun and activity books, withBarbie,He-Man,Captain Power,Tiny Toons,Ghost Busters and theMuppets as some of the characters featured.
In 1989 Manley worked forWest End Games onrole-playing game books in theStar Wars line.[12]
In 1996 Manley moved into the animation field, first working as astoryboard artist onSuperman: The Animated Series forKids' WB. The first of the seven episodes that included his work featuredLobo, and was titled "The Main Man, Part 2". Manley also worked on the storyboards team for three episodes ofThe New Batman Adventures between 1997 and 1998.
Throughout the 2000s, Manley created storyboards as a freelance artist on TV cartoons such as:Samurai Jack (on which series he also received two writing credits);Kim Possible;The Fairly OddParents;The Venture Brothers;Growing Up Creepie; andThe Secret Saturdays. Other projects in this period included:Spy Groove forMTV;[3]Todd McFarlane's Spawn for HBO; ABC'sOne Saturday Morning;Clerks: The Animated Series, based on theKevin Smith movie; andJustice League: The New Frontier.
Between 1998 and 2001, Manley was a background key designer forSuperman: The Animated Series (nine episodes, following his time as a storyboard artist on that series), and background key designer then background designer onBatman Beyond (thirty-three episodes overall).
He is also credited as character designer on eight episodes ofBatman: The Brave and the Bold between 2008 and 2009.[13]
While working in both comics and animation, Manley created and editedDraw! Magazine, a twice Eisner-nominated "how-to" magazine published byTwoMorrows Publishing. The magazine features step-by-step demos and articles on artists working in comics, cartooning, and animation. Manley also co-produced a how-to DVD along with Danny Fingeroth,How to Create Comics from Script to Print, also distributed by TwoMorrows.
In 2000, Manley started a new career as an art teacher. He taught in the animation department at theDelaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) until 2009 and became a senior lecturer at theUniversity of the Arts in Philadelphia. Manley then enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, finishing hiscertificate in painting on his way toward completing his master's degree.
Manley was hired to draw the serial newspaper comic stripJudge Parker for four weeks beginning March 15, 2010, filling in for regular artistEduardo Barreto during an illness.[14] The syndicate essentially held a "two-man tryout" for Barreto's replacement, with Manley's audition following John Heebink's; Manley was offered the full-time job after he turned in his second week of art for the strip. Manley and Heebink had known each other since high school.[4] Manley draws the strip for all seven days of the week.
In late March 2016, it was announced that Manley would succeedPaul Ryan, who had died unexpectedly, as artist onThe Phantom daily strips (the Sundays would continue to be drawn by the incumbent,Terry Beatty). Manley's tenure began with the strip dated May 30, 2016.[15] Manley noted that he and Paul Ryan are numbered among a small and notable group of artists who have professionally drawn the adventures of both Batman and The Phantom. The others have beenJim Aparo, Terry Beatty,Don Newton,Carmine Infantino (as a ghost forSy Barry),Joe Giella (ghosting forBob Kane) andGraham Nolan.[16]
The choice of Manley to take on the Phantom received an endorsement fromComic Strip of the Day.com: "He's one of the few who has found a way to maintain some detail in an ever-shrinking print medium that has driven most artists to a simplified style that works better in shrinky-dink mode than when the comics are read on line, at least on a real computer with a real monitor."[17]
Darkhawk was created by editor Tom DeFalco and artist Mike Manley with scripts by Danny Fingeroth.
Writer Jerry Ordway chronicled the further adventures of Billy Batson, the World's Mightiest Mortal, in the new ongoing effortThe Power of Shazam!, alongside artists Mike Manley and Peter Krause.
[Bruce] Wayne finally reclaimed his Batman costume and defeated Azrael in a climactic battle in the Batcave, ending this saga by writers Doug Moench, Alan Grant, Chuck Dixon, Jo Duffy, and Dennis O'Neil and artists Mike Manley, Bret Blevins, Graham Nolan, Ron Wagner, Tom Grummett, Jim Balent, Ray Kryssing, and Barry Kitson.
| Preceded by | Alpha Flight inker 1989–1991 | Succeeded by Chris Ivy |
| Preceded by | Quasar penciller 1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by n/a | Darkhawk penciller 1991–1993 | Succeeded by Tod Smith |
| Preceded by n/a | Deathlok inker 1991–1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Batman penciller 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by n/a | Power of Shazam inker 1995–1997 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
