Howard Porter: Comic Artist Booklet

Colors · Inking · Lettering By: Matthew Clark

Biography Howard Porter is an and eventually find work American comic artist for h imself in the industry. born and raised in Porter temporarily southern Connecticut. left comics to work in Porter attended and banking, doing graph ic graduated from Paier design work for Credit College of Art in Suisse First Boston. He Connecticut where he left that job in 2003 to majored in illustration. open an artists’studio One of h is teachers there with comics artist Ron was Frank McLaughlin. Garney. Porter returned McLaughlin also worked as to comics that year with a comic book inker and he a six-issue run of Marvel began to give Porter work C o m i c s ’ Fa nta s t i c Fo u r , assisting him in his inking reuniting with writer Waid. jobs which led Porter to assist other inkers Porter has worked for both Marvel and DC Comics in various roles including Penciller, Colorist, Inker, Cover Colorist,and Cover Artist. 1 | Porter

Howard Porter His portfolio includes work for many titles including... Justice League of America The Flash Batman The Ray The Trials of Shazam! Superman Scooby Apocalypse He-Man and the Master of the Universe The Amazing Spider-Man Porter | 2

The Origin Story Howard Porter’s career began by inking the backgro unds for some of the top artists of the industry such as Dick Girodano, Frank McLaughlin, and Mike DeCarlo. His artworkhas graced the pages of DC Comics since his work on The Ray in 1994 with writer Christopher Priest. Porter goes on to Porter eventually became work on acclaimed a penciller, and h is first series such as major run on a title JLA with Grant came with DC Comics’ Morrison and The Ray (1994–1995), The Flash with where he worked with Geoff Johns. writerChristopher Priest. Shortly afterward, Porter 3 | Porter worked on DC’s crossover event Underworld Unleashed, with writer Mark Waid, followed by the Justice League of America relaunch, JLA (1997–2000), with writer Grant Morrison and inker John Dell.

Volume two of “The Ray” was porter’s first title as a professional comic artist. The series ran for 29 issues. In July 2004, Porter signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC, and began as regular penciller on The Flash, with writer Geoff Johns and inker John Livesay. Then, in 2006 DC 4 announced Porter would pencil the limited series T h e Tr i a l s o f S h a z a m ! , collaborating with writer Judd Winick. Porter |

The end??? In 2006, Porter was Fe b r ua ry 2 0 0 7 to working on his most March, and issue seven recent title when h is was also a month late. career had to be put on These troubles were hold. Porter was using a compounded when he digital painting approach suffered a severe thumb for the first time in h is injury on h is drawing professional work. This hand which required an technique meant he did orthopedic cast and not have assistance from permanently limited an inker or colorist, and his feeling. Porter he began having trouble was replaced by Mauro meeting his deadlines Cascioli as he went into for pu blication. The fifth an unsure recovery. issue was delayed from Unable to draw, he worked as a school bus driver until his return in late 2008. 5 | Porter

evolution of style Porter’s process includes work is more painterly both tradtional and and relies less heavily digital techniques and on ink but instead media. The aesthetic color variation to and style of his work show definition. evolved greatly after Porter | 6 the injury. His newer

notable Works The JLA “Justice League of America” 1990s series is one of themost notable titles in Porter’s portfolio. In Porter’s early days It launched in January at DC, the biggest title 1997 and ran for nine he has contirubted years with a total of to is Volume One of 126 issues. He worked the Justice League of on this series as a America “JLA” relaunch penciller, covr artist, from the 1990s. inker and colorist. 7 | Porter

Arguably the biggest gig “Flash War”, “Flash: since his comeback in Ye a r O n e ” , a n d t h e 2008 is his contribution finale of the series, to Volume Five of “The Flash” series. This “Flash:Finish Line” all of volume concluded as did wh ich were bestsellers Howard’s sonctract with at the time of release. that creative team. In the five years, he acted as a cover artist, then was promoted to the postion of every artistic role for later issues. He was completing the cover art, pencilling, inking and coloring every page. He worked on such arcs as From the Modern age of DC Comics, his most consistent and aruguaby most successful is the current run of The Flash, which began in 2016. Porter | 8

The future looks bright Since his run on The has sincebeen asked Flash ended back in to contribute to many 2019, Porter has grown titles jumping from his portolfio by working different creative teams on more titles than ever and drawing characters before. He still acts as a from all over the DC penciller, inker, colorist Universe. Some of and cover artist at DC these series include... Comics. His process has also evolved to the point Batman where now he works on with digital techniques DCeased and media for h is books. The most common role Deathstroke for Porter currently is as a cover artist. The Green Arrow bestselling arcs on “The Flash” elevated Justice League his career and Porter of America Aquaman Injustice Flashpoint Beyond to be continued... 9 | Porter

references Porter, Howard. “Howardporter.net.” HowardPorter.net. Squarespace, 2012. htt p : / / w w w . h o wa rd p o rte r . n et / . “Howard Porter.” DC, October 30, 2018. htt p s : / / w w w . d c . c o m / ta l e nt / h o wa rd - p o rte r . Infinite, Dc Universe. “Explore the Multiverse.” DC UNIVERSE INFINITE. Warner Bros. Entertainment. Accessed December 15, 2022. htt ps : / / w w w . d c u n ive rse i nfi n ite . c o m / . htt ps : / / c o m i cs . h a . c o m / it m / o r ig i n a l - c o m i c - a rt / c o ve rs / h o wa rd - p o rte r - a n d - ro b e rt - j o n e s - t h e - ra y - 1 2 - c ove r - o r ig i n a l - a rt - d c - 1 9 9 5 - / a / 7 2 1 2 - 9 5 3 3 2 . s “Flash by Howard Porter.” Welcome to C o m i c A rt Fa n s ! A c c e s s e d D e c e m b e r 1 5 , 2022. https://w w w.com ica rtfans.com/ gallerypiece.asp?piece=173807. “JLA by Grant Morrison Omnibus HC (JUN200542).” JUN200542 - JLA BY GRANT MORRISON OMNIBUS HC - Previews World. Accessed December 15, 2022. https://www. previewsworld.com/Catalog/JU N200542. P o r t e r , H o w a r d . “ F l a s h Ye a r O n e C o v e r . ” Tw i t t e r . Tw itt e r , M a r c h 2 0 , 2 0 1 9 . htt p s : / / t w itt e r . c o m / m r h o wa rd p o rte r / s tat u s / 1 1 0 8 3 9 0 6 6 6 6 7 2 0 0 5 1 2 1 . Goldfield, Ray. “Review - Flashpoint beyond #5: The Madness of Martha Wayne.” GeekDad, September 3, 2022. https://geekdad. com/2022/09/review-flashpoint-beyond- 5-the-madness-of-martha-wayne/. “Howard Porter - Amazing Spider-Man (1996).” W e l c o m e t o C o m i c A rt Fa n s ! A c c e s s e d D e c e m b e r 15, 2022. https://w w w.com ica rtfans.com/ gallerypiece.asp?piece=1077910. Porter | 10