Fan Friday on a Wednesday Creator Spotlight: Becky Cloonan

My first experience of the work of Becky Cloonan was during her collaboration with Brian Wood on Conan the Barbarian at Dark Horse. There was something about her style that really suited the character and story being told. It's safe to say that from this point on I was hooked.

From this point onward I would regularly check her blog for posts and updates on titles and projects she was working on. It's no surprise to me that Becky has seen a rapid rise from both her independent work and work for hire. It was from researching this I found she had previously worked with Brian Wood on a Vertigo title, Demo, along with another Vertigo project with a different collaborator on American Virgin.

Becky Cloonan has worked with some of the biggest names in the biz right now, with Scott Snyder on Batman, the first female artist to do so, and his creator owned work American Vampire contributing to an Anthology issue peppered with other great creators. She has also worked with Kieron Gillen on his and Jamie McKelvie's critically acclaimed Young Avengers. Not to mention her most recent project alongside Gerard Way at Dark Horse, True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. And from conventions it appears to me that these aren't just collaborators or work for the sake of hire jobs, these are people who she is friends with and people she enjoys collaborating with.

But for me her biggest success story has been her creator owned work. I first came across this by accident while checking her blog, to be truthful the first I saw was The Mire which was in fact her second creator owned title after Wolves, and although not available from the UK at that time I grabbed myself a couple of copies from her online store. It was safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed both these titles, and it obviously wasn't just me as she went on to win an Eisner for her comic The Mire. In between all her "mainstream" projects she continued working on her next creator owned issue in Demeter which is my favourite to date, and once again I believe nominated for an Eisner! I immediately grabbed myself a regular copy and silk screen printed copy.

If you happen to be a fan of Becky's work from reading the main stream titles you are in luck as she has released a collection of the three titles in one place, By Chance or Providence, which while with limited stock should be available from any reputable comic store, however the moment I saw this on Twitter I pre-ordered mine from her online store and received the good news yesterday that it has been shipped and is on its way. Speaking of which as you will see at the bottom of this post Becky Cloonan is currently touring to promote the book and doing signings at various locations and GOSH! Comics, a fine establishment in London, has a launch party and event in London this Friday, 23-05-2014. I'm hoping to get along to that and if your a fan I recommend you should too.

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