Asian Comics Artists & Asian Comics Writers

Govindan Aravindan was born on 21 January 1935 in Kottayam, Kerala, India. He was a director and writer, known for Esthappan (1980), Vasthuhara (1991) and Oridathu (1987). He died on 16 March 1991 in Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

Francisco V. Coching was born January 29, 1919, to novelist Gregorio Coching and Juana Vicente, in Pasay City, Metro Manila. He dedicated his life to his family and to the art of writing and illustrating comics novels for four decades. Mostly a self-taught artist, Coching started with pen-and-ink drawings and later graduated to storytelling, via comics illustrations. His father was a novelist for a magazine, and Coching apprenticed under him at first. Under the tutelage of the acclaimed Tony Velasquez, creator of the "Kenkoy" series, Coching's first serious work was "Bing Bigotilyo," created in 1934. This was followed by "Marabini," a creation interrupted by World War II, during which he joined the ROTC Hunters, enlisting in its guerrilla group called the Kamagong Unit. In 1944 Coching met and married Filomena Navales, who became not just his wife but his lifetime assistant.

Coching's seventh creation was "Hagibis," which he created from 1947-1950. Loosely inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan," "Hagibis" proved to be so popular it was made into a film with 'Fernando Poe Sr' (Hagibis (1947)) and Coching followed it up with several sequels. "Hagibis" helped secure his fame as an illustrating artist. From "Hagibis" through "Pedro Penduko" in 1954 to "Thor" in 1962, "Tiagong Lundag" in 1966 and "El Vibora" in 1972, Coching churned out endless sagas of romance and adventure, of heroic exploits and mighty deeds that fed the popular imagination of the Filipino reader and movie-going audience. Coching was very prolific, credited with approximately 60 titles, and his works covered many genres: mystery, fantasy, romance, adventure, mythology, folklore, horror, biography, sex, drama and comedy, for example. Although from time to time he was inspired by foreign works like "Tarzan" and Louis L'Amour's western novels, Coching stuck close to Filipino local color, and today he is considered the "Dean of Filipino illustrators," his name revered in the same league as one reveres Balagtas and even 'José Rizal'.

Coching died in 1998, and his wife and children gave him a tribute at the Pasig Museum (Pasig City), where huge movie posters of Coching-written films and studio stills from LVN Pictures, Sampaguita Studios and Premiere Productions adorned the museum. The lead stars of his works-turned-movies, like Vic Vargas and Cesar Ramirez, attended the tribute. Coching helped to make the "komiks" an effective medium of verbal and visual literacy, thus promoting Filipino as national language.

Marjane Satrapi was born on 22 November 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is a director and actress, known for Persepolis (2007), The Voices (2014) and Chicken with Plums (2011). She is married to Mattias Ripa. She was previously married to Reza.

Alex Nino was born on 1 May 1940 in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. Alex is a writer, known for Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Treasure Planet (2002) and Mulan (1998).

Mars Ravelo was born on 9 October 1916 in Tanza, Cavite, Philippines. He was a writer, known for Darna (2022), Bobby (1958) and Captain Barbell (1986). He died on 12 September 1988.

Clodualdo Del Mundo Sr. is known for Kadenang putik (1960), Kahariang bato (1956) and Eskrimador (1955).

Carlo J. Caparas was born on 14 December 1948 in Pampanga, Philippines. He was a writer and director, known for Bubble's Ativan Gang (1988), Pieta (1983) and Lipa 'Arandia' Massacre: Lord, Deliver Us from Evil (1994). He was married to Donna Villa. He died on 25 May 2024 in the Philippines.

Pablo S. Gomez was born on 25 January 1929. He was a writer and director, known for Water Lily (1958), Batas ng lansangan (2002) and Gilda (1956). He died on 26 December 2010 in Quezon City, Philippines.

Jim Lee is a Korean American comic-book writer and artist. He started his professional career in 1987, as a new artist for Marvel Comics. By the early 1990s, he had become one of the most popular artists in the field. His work on the X-Men broke sales records, and the costumes he designed for various team members defined their looks for at least a decade. In 1992, Lee became a co-founder of Image Comics. From 1992 to 1998, Lee was the owner and publisher of WildStorm Productions. In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. WildStorm continued to exist as a DC imprint from 1998 to 2010, with Lee continuing to run the company. From 2010 to 2020, Lee served as a co-publisher of DC Comics, running the company alongside his then-partner Dan DiDio. In 2020, Lee became DC's sole publisher.

In 1964, Lee was born in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. His family soon moved to the United States, and Lee was primarily raised in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States c. 1976, when he was 12-years-old. He first learned the Korean language in early childhood, and learned English as a secondary language. He was raised in a typical middle-class family.

Lee attended the River Bend Elementary School, located in Chesterfield, Missouri. He received his secondary education at the Saint Louis Country Day School, an all-boys school located in Ladue, Missouri. The school had grades from junior kindergarten to grade 12. Lee's first artistic activity was drawing posters for school plays.

As a school student, Lee reportedly felt as an outsider. He was a middle-class student in an upper-class school with a "preppy" style. His feelings of being an outsider influenced his reading habits. He was interested in comic books about outsider characters. His favorite characters were the X-Men, an entire group of outcasts.

While Lee designed art as a hobby, he was not initially interested in a professional career as an artist. Following his high school graduation, he enrolled at Princeton University to study psychology. He graduated with a psychology degree, but felt reluctant to then attend medical school. He decided to try to become a professional comic book artist, although he lacked professional training at the time.

Lee submitted artwork to various publishers, but nobody was interested in hiring him. A number of professional comics artists advised him to contact editors in person. While attending a comics convention in New York, Lee was introduced to veteran comics writer Archie Goodwin (1937-1998). Goodwin at the time served as an editor for Marvel Comics, and helped Lee to get hired by Marvel.

Lee's first professional assignment was serving as an artist for the series "Alpha Flight", featuring a group of Canadian superheroes. He served as a regular artist for the team book (on-and-off) from issue #53 to issue #64 (December, 1987-November, 1988).. He continued serving as a cover artist for the series until 1990.

His second assignment was becoming an artist for the series "Punisher: War Journal", featuring the lethal vigilante Punisher/Frank Castle. He served as a regular artist from issue #4 to issue #19 (March, 1989-June, 1990). His artwork for the title showcased Lee's inspiration from the works of Frank Miller, Kevin Nowlan, Whilce Portacio, and David Ross. It was also influenced by Lee's affection for Japanese manga.

Lee first got to work in an X-Men title when asked to draw "Uncanny X-Men" #248 (September, 1989). Lee was filling-in for the series' regular artist at the time, Marc Silvestri (1958-). Lee was then asked to draw issues #256-258 (December, 1989-February, 1990), covering a multi-part story that was part of the crossover "Acts of Vengeance". The issues marked the return of the missing character Psylocke/ Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock. In the period since her disappearance, Psylocke had mysteriously lost her original body, acquired a new Asian body, and acquired new ninja skills. Lee got to essentially redesign the character in an entirely new form. He also designed two new costumes for her, including her classic ninja outfit.

Lee was eventually promoted to the position of main artist for "Uncanny X-Men" , at the time one of Marvel's high-profile titles. He served in this position from issue #267 to issue #277 (September, 1990-June, 1991) . He worked with writer Chris Claremont (1950-) and inker Scott Williams. During his run of the title, Lee co-created the Cajun thief Gambit/Remy LeBeau. Created as a new member of the X-Men's supporting cast, Gambit eventually joined the team, and became one of its most popular members.

Lee's art style was enthusiastically received by readers, and he was soon considered one of Marvel's most popular artists. In 1991, Marvel launched a second ongoing X-Men title, simply called "X-Men" vol. 2. Lee served as the title's co-writer and main artist from issue #1 to issue #11 (October, 1991-August, 1992). The fist issue had sales of over 8.1 million copies, becoming the new record holder for best-selling issues.

During his ran on "X-Men" vol. 2, Lee designed new uniforms for the team. This included popular and long-lasting costumes for Cyclops/Scott Summers, Phoenix/Jean Grey, Rogue/Anna Marie, and Storm/Ororo Munroe. These costume designs were later used for "X-Men: The Animated Series" (1992-1997).

Lee created relatively few new characters for the X-Men. Among his creations for the title were Anne Marie Cortez (in issue #1), Fabian Cortez (in issue #1), Chrome/Allen Marc Yuricic (in issue #1), Harry Delgado (in issue #1), Marco Delgado (in issue #1), Nance Winters (in issue #1), Omega Red/Arkady Rossovich (in issue #4), Maverick/Christoph Nord (in issue #5), Janice Hollenbeck (in issue #5), Arthur Barrington (in issue #6), Birdy (in issue #6), Meek (in issue #7), Belladonna/Bella Donna Boudreaux (in issue #8), and Julien Boudreaux (in issue #8).

In the early 1990s, there were tensions within Marvel Comics because of the company's work-for-hire policies. The company heavily merchandised the artwork of their most prominent artists, but compensated these artists with modest royalties. Disgruntled with their relatively meager earnings and their lack of copyright over characters and concepts which they created, a number of these artists eventually broke away from Marvel. Lee was among them. He co-founded Image Comics with his then-partners : Erik Larsen (1962-), Rob Liefeld (1967-), Todd McFarlane (1961-) , Whilce Portacio (1963-), Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino (1952-).

Image Comics devoted itself to publishing creator-owned titles. Each image partner (except Portacio) also established their own company, with each of the 6 companies publishing their titles under the Image banner. These companies were autonomous from any central editorial control, and did not operate as subsidiaries of Image. Lee initially named his company Aegis Entertainment, but quickly renamed it to WildStorm Productions.

WildStorm's initial title was "Wildcats" (sometimes rendered "WildCats" or "WildC.A.T.s"), featuring a team of eponymous superheroes. The characters involved were created by Lee himself and his friend Brandon Choi. The concept of the series involved a centuries-long war between two alien races which secretly lived on Earth, the Kherubim and Daemonites. The Wildcats were mostly composed of Kherubim-human hybrids. The Kherubim were humanoid in appearance, nearly immortal, and rendered nearly sterile over the centuries. Only one in 10,000 Kherubim females was capable of giving birth. Kherubim hybrids were seemingly more fertile than their ancestors. The Daemonites were reptilian in appearance, and they were a parasitic race. They survived by taking over host bodies from various species. They also had various powers, most prominently telepathy.

"Wildcats" was a commercially successful title, and WildStorm was then able to produce more titles. Lee created or co-created such characters as the super-powered soldier and mercenary Deathblow/Michael Cray, the teenage superhero team Gen¹³, and the United Nations-sponsored heroic team Stormwatch. They all starred in their own series.

In 1993, Lee negotiated a deal with Valiant Comics for a crossover series featuring characters from both companies. The result was the then-popular miniseries "Deathmate". As WildStorm expanded, Lee published creator-owned comics by several notable comics professionals.

From 1996 to 1997, Lee was involved with a new Marvel Comics project, called "Heroes Reborn". The concept involved the relaunch of previously defunct Marvel series, featuring classic characters with new origin stories and updated settings. Lee took over the Fantastic Four title as both writer and illustrator, and also served as the new writer for Iron Man/Tony Stark. Meanwhile, Rob Liefeld took over the titles of Captain America and the Avengers.

Lee's two titles proved commercially successful, while Liefeld's titles were controversial. Liefeld left the "Heroes Reborn" project earlier than expected, and Marvel assigned both Captain America and the Avengers to Lee's studio. The project concluded in 1997, though Marvel was initially willing to continue the Heroes Reborn lineup indefinitely. Marvel wanted Lee to personally draw at least one of the ongoing titles, but Lee was unwilling to make a long-term commitment to Marvel.

Following "Heroes Reborn" conclusion, Lee negotiated another deal with Marvel. He was scheduled to serve as a new editor for Marvel, handling relaunched versions of the Defenders, Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange, and Nick Fury. All three titles were scheduled for debuts in December 1997, but this agreement was canceled prematurely.

Returning to WildStorm, Lee published a number of new titles. The most successful among them were "The Authority" and "Planetary". The Authority featured the eponymous superhero team, which operated beyond the constrains of laws and politics. The series was initially handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis (1968-) and Bryan Hitch (1970-). "Planetary" featured alternate versions of characters from many companies and genres, interacting with each other in a shared reality. It was handled by the creative team of Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (1971-).

In this period WildStorm also launched the imprint "America's Best Comics" (ABC) under the control of veteran writer Alan Moore (1953-). The imprint published then-popular series, such as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Promethea", "Tom Strong", "Tomorrow Stories", and "Top 10".

While Lee was prolific as a publisher in the late 1990s, his output as a writer and artist was rather limited. His most notable work in this period was the 12-issue series "Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday" (1997-1999), It featured Lee's new character, novice computer scientist Max Faraday. The concept of the series was that Faraday accidentally downloaded access codes to the Creation Wheel, a millennia-old device that can grant its users with the power of God. He then found himself targeted by people wanting this power for themselves.

In 1998, Lee sold WildStorm to DC Comics. He continued to run the company as an imprint of DC Comics. Meanwhile, he returned to work as an artist. In the early 2000s his most notable work was the 12-issue story arc "Batman: Hush" (October 2002-September 2003). The story arc introduced new super-villain Hush/Thomas Elliot, involved several Batman villains in an elaborate scheme, and explored the romantic relationship of Batman/Bruce Wayne and Catwoman/Selina Kyle. The story arc received critical acclaim.

In 2003, Lee designed the super-villain Sin Tzu, introduced in the beat 'em up video game "Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu", The video game was a spin-off the animated television series "The New Batman Adventures" (1997-1999). It was the last video game based on the DC Animated Universe. Sin Tzu was depicted as an Asian warlord and master strategist. The character was later adapted into the mainstream Batman comics.

Lee's next high-profile comics work was the 12-issue story arc "For Tomorrow" (June 2004-May 2005), featuring Superman. In this story, Superman is puzzled by the mysterious disappearance of 1 million people. Among the victims was his wife Lois Lane, and Superman was struggling with feelings of personal loss and guilt over her fate. The story arc also featured a guest appearance by Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira, and the return of the prominent super-villain General Zod. Lee's artwork in this story arc was highly praised, though the script by Brian Azzarello was met with lukewarm reviews.

Lee next worked on the series "All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder", which lasted for 10 issues (September 2005-August 2008). The series was a new origin story for Robin/Dick Grayson, and also covered the early career of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The first issue of the series was the highest-selling comic book of 2005, and the series in general enjoyed high sales. Lee's artwork was among the series' main selling points, though the script by Frank Miller was poorly received. The series was plagued by schedule delays, as Lee was concurrently involved with designing content for the video game with designing content for the video game "DC Universe Online",

In 2006, Lee was involved with a relaunch of the "Wildcats" series. He provided the artwork for the first issue of "Wildcats" volume 4, which turned out to be the only one published. The series' intended writer Grant Morrison (1960-) was preoccupied with other projects, and never scripted more than one issue. The series was canceled after that.

In February 2010, Lee was appointed as the new co-publisher of DC Comics, sharing duties with Dan DiDio (1959-). In September 2010, the WildStorm imprint was shut down. Several of its characters were later reused by mainstream DC Comics publication.

Lee's first landmark publication as a publisher was "The New 52" event of 2011. DC Comics canceled all of its superhero titles, and then launched 52 new series with #1 issues. The event wiped out the continuity of the DC Universe, and introduced a new continuity. Lee was named as one of the main architects of the event, sharing duties with writer Geoff Johns (1973-).

In 2013, Lee redesigned the Mortal Kombat ninja character Scorpion/Hanzo Hasashi. His version of the character was used in the video game "Injustice: Gods Among Us". Also in 2013, Lee became a member of the Advisory Board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization chartered to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community.

In 2014, the company General Mills commissioned DC Comics to redesign its monster-themed cereals. Lee personally redesigned the character Boo Berry. He commented in an interview that he found "the task of designing a cartoon character" to be more difficult than drawing his typical detailed designs for comics.

Lee was one of the main artists for the miniseries "Batman: Europa", which lasted 4 issues (January-April, 2016). The series featured an adventure of Batman and the Joker entirely set in Europe, and was inspired by Lee's visit of Italy. It is one of the few stories to feature Batman and the Joker as allied to each other, as they team-up against a mysterious new enemy. Their common foe was eventually revealed to be Bane, who wanted to teach them a lesson, about how dependent on each other they were in his view.

Also in 2016, Lee was the main artist for the one-shot publication "Harley Quinn and the Suicide Squad April Fool's Special". Lee was the main artist of the ongoing series "Suicide Squad" vol. 5 from issue #1 to issue #8 (October 2016 to February 2017). His version of the team prominently featured the character Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel.

In June 2018, Geoff Johns stepped down from his position as Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of DC Comics. Lee was named as Johns' replacement in the role, while continuing to serve as a co-publisher. In February 2020, Dan DiDio resigned from his position as co-publisher. Lee became the sole publisher for DC Comics.

By 2021, Lee was 56-years-old. He has been active as a professional comics artist for 34 years. He continues to be a popular comics creator, and does not seem to be considering retirement yet.

Riad Sattouf was born on 5 May 1978 in Paris, France. He is an actor and writer, known for Les beaux gosses (2009), Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (2014) and Esther's Notebooks (2018).

Abdullah Turhan was born in 1931 in Turkey. He was a writer, known for Tolga (1975). He died on 2 March 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Fred Carrillo was born in 1926 in Aklan, Philippines. Fred was a writer, known for The Transformers: The Movie (1986), Eva Dragon (1959) and Dino-Riders (1988). Fred died on 18 August 2005 in California, USA.

Stan Sakai was born on 25 May 1953 in Kyoto, Japan. He is a writer and producer, known for Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles (2022), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).

Geum-San Jo is known for Start-Up (2019).

Soonkki is known for Cheese in the Trap (2018).

Kang Full is known for Parasite (2019), 2036 Apocalypse Earth (2019) and Moving (2023).

Tony DeZuniga was born on 8 November 1932 in the Philippines. He was a writer, known for Jonah Hex (2010), Jonah Hex: Motion Comics (2010) and Die Hard Arcade (1996). He died on 11 May 2012 in Las Piñas City, Philippines.

Rudy Nebres is known for Defenders of the Earth (1986) and My Boyfriend's Back (1993).

Rudy Florese is known for Bart Salamanca (1968).

Hal Santiago was born on 9 August 1941 in the Philippines. Hal was a writer, known for Shanghai Joe (1978). Hal died on 21 February 2021 in the Philippines.

Ernie Chan was born on 27 July 1940 in the Philippines. Ernie was a writer, known for Shadowrun (1994), Black Spider: The Origins of Eric Needham (2021) and X-Men (1992). Ernie died on 16 May 2012 in California, USA.

Ronnie del Carmen joined Pixar Animation Studios in the summer of 2000 during the production of "Finding Nemo" and became a story supervisor on the film. He did production design on the Academy Award®-nominated short film, "One Man Band" and story work on Oscar®-winning, "Ratatouille." Del Carmen was Head of Story on Disney/Pixar's Academy Award winning feature, "Up" and is the co-director of Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out."

Del Carmen also made his directorial debut with the short film "Dug's Special Mission" released on the "Up" DVD and Blu-Ray. In addition to his work on feature and short films he contributed his artistic talents to the illustrating the children's book, "My Name is Dug," written by Kiki Thorpe.

Del Carmen attended the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising. Ronnie moved to the United States in 1989 and served as a storyboard artist for Batman: The Animated Series and then worked for DreamWorks, as a story supervisor.

Whilce Portacio was born on 8 July 1963 in Cavite City, Philippines. He is a writer, known for Marvel Heroes (2013), Marvel Snap (2022) and Istokwa (1996).

Ben Dunn is known for Warrior Nun (2020) and Webcomics Reviews & Interviews (2018).