Gene Ha

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Gene Ha
Eisner Awards
Inkpot Award (2019)[1]

Gene Ha is an

comics artist and writer best known for his work on books such as Top 10 and Top 10: The Forty-Niners, with Alan Moore and Zander Cannon, for America's Best Comics, the Batman graphic novel Fortunate Son, with Gerard Jones, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, among others. He has also drawn Global Frequency and has drawn covers for Wizard and Marvel Comics
.

He was awarded the 1994

Eisner Awards
, in 2000, 2001, 2006, and 2008.

Early life

Ha was born in Chicago and raised in

Jewish creators from the 1930s, both of whom were children of immigrants struggling to fit into America.[2]

Ha cites as his influences numerous creators from the 1980s, such as

Walter Simonson, Alan Moore, and most importantly Matt Wagner, whose Mage series Ha says is still "epic" to him, and its main characters "personal archetypes".[2]

Ha took few classes in art, as he was only interested in drawing as a means of creating comics, and South Bend offered little in the way of education in realistic drawing. He began to truly understand graphic arts when working on his high school newspaper, The Clay Colonial, winning the Most Valuable Staffer Award, which was unusual for an artist. After high school, Ha attended the College for Creative Studies. In his last semester he sent drawing samples to Marvel and DC. Although he received a harshly critical response from Marvel, DC was interested and sent him a sample script.[2]

Career

Ha's first published comics work was in

Cable
. He would draw that miniseries' sequel as well, Askani'son.

Ha was one of the artists on the

Wildstorm. He would draw that series' twelve issues which ran until late 2001. Moore and Ha collaborated on the Top 10: The Forty-Niners graphic novel prequel published in 2005.[6]

In 2002 Ha wrote "The Stronghold", an

Marvel Knights Double Shot #4, which represented his first published comics writing.[4]

In 2006, Ha was set to serve as artist on the first four issues of a relaunch of Wildstorm's The Authority, with writer Grant Morrison. Ha drew two issues, but the project stalled after the second issue, as DC needed Morrison to concentrate his efforts on Batman rather than on Wildstorm projects.[7]

In a December 2013 interview, Ha announced a sabbatical from work for hire comics and expressed his desire to focus on creator-owned projects.[8]

In June 2015,

portal fiction story, it depicts sisters Abbie and Mae, recently reunited following Abbie's disappearance eight years earlier into a fantasy world of monsters, who have followed her back to her world in pursuit of her.[4][9] The series holds a 7.8 out of 10 rating at the review aggregator website Comic Book Round Up, based on 35 reviews.[10]

In April 2022, Ha illustrated the second issue of Wonder Woman Historia: the Amazons[11]. Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, the three-issue limited series takes place before the birth of Diana and tells of the creation of the Amazons and how Hippolyta became their queen. The first Wonder Woman Historia: the Amazons issue was illustrated by Phil Jimenez and the third by Nicola Scott; an omnibus edition of the comics miniseries was released in June 2023.[12]

Techniques and materials

The variant cover for Justice League of America #11 (Sept. 2007) by Ha

Once Ha obtains a script, he makes "tiny" thumbnail sketches of each page, and then makes layout sketches on reduced copies of comic art board, two per page. It is at this stage that he works out the light/dark balance of the page. Though he says about 90% of his artwork are done without photo reference, he will sometimes photograph his friends posing as the central characters, or use a full length mirror to draw himself. He renders minor characters from his imagination. Irrespective of how much sunlight he has on a given day, he prefers to use a 500W incandescent photo lamp, though he believes a 500W halogen lamp is also adequate. He prefers to use a

Photoshop.[2]

To effect his current

ink wash style of shading and inking, he uses a variety of warm grey Copic markers with wide and brush tips, in particular a 9W Copic Sketch brush marker. For outlines and precise shading effects he will use a variety of pencils, most notably a 2B pencil, and for highlights and corrections, he will use white chalk pencils and white gouache paint. He also uses Staedtler Mars technical pens.[2]

When not doing painted covers, he also uses a

Photoshop to finish his work.[2]

Personal life

Ha and his wife Lisa live in Berwyn, Illinois.[7]

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Bibliography

Dark Horse Comics

  • Mae #1–4 (2016)
  • Oktane #1–4 (1995)
  • The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest #8 (1997)

DC Comics

America's Best Comics

Vertigo

WildStorm

Malibu Comics

Marvel Comics

References

  1. ^ Inkpot Award
  2. ^ a b c d e f Ha, Gene (2003). "Questions". GeneHa.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  3. ^ Gene Ha at the Grand Comics Database
  4. ^
    Willingham, Bill "Come What Mae". Mae #1 (May 2016). Dark Horse Comics
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. The Shade...nabbed his first miniseries in April [1997], courtesy of writer James Robinson and artists Gene Ha, J. H. Williams III, Bret Blevins, and Michael Zulli. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  6. ^ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 320: "A graphic novel prequel to the award-winning Top 10 series, The Forty-Niners proved to be one of the best books of the year. Writer Alan Moore and artist Gene Ha continued the high-quality work of the original."
  7. ^ a b Ha, Gene (June 13, 2008). "Wikipedia Me". GeneHa.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012.
  8. ^ Arrant, Chris (December 1, 2013). "CBR Sunday Conversation: Gene Ha". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
  9. ^ Ching, Albert (June 23, 2015). "Exclusive: Dark Horse Picks Up Gene Ha's Kickstarter-Funded Mae". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 12, 2017. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Gene Ha's Mae has found a home at Dark Horse Comics.
  10. ^ "Mae". Comic Book Round Up. n.d. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017.
  11. ^ DeConnick, Kelly Sue (April 5, 2022). "Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons: Book Two". DC Comics.
  12. ^ DeConnick, Kelly Sue (June 6, 2023). "Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons". DC Comics.
  13. San Diego Comic-Con International. 2013. Archived
    from the original on October 30, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
  14. ^ a b c "2000s Eisner Award Recipients". San Diego Comic-Con International. 2013. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved December 21, 2013.
  15. ^ a b "2006 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. n.d. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2011.
  16. ^ "1999 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. n.d. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gene Ha.
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