Dan Jurgens

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Dan Jurgens (at Phoenix Comicon 2017)

Dan Jurgens (born June 27, 1959 in Ortonville , Minnesota ) is an American comic book author and illustrator . Jurgens was particularly known as the driving force and main creator of the 1993 story The Death of Superman , published within the Superman comic series , which describes the death of Supermans and made Jurgens known internationally as "the man who killed Superman". The comic book US- Superman # 75 from January 1993, written and drawn by Jurgens, is considered the best-selling comic book ever with more than ten million copies sold and made Jurgens one thanks to its royalty on this issue and the adaptation of the material in novels, films and the like of the richest visual artists in American pop culture.

Jurgens gained further attention through his science fiction comic Booster Gold and the background story he played a major role in the computer and video game series Tomb Raider .

Life

Youth and education

In his youth, Jurgens worked in his father's household goods store. He then worked as a disc jockey for a few years . During high school , Jurgens began to work artistically and made contact with artists such as Walt Simonson . After earning a diploma at the art school, Jurgens first worked as a graphic designer.

Start of career

Jurgen's career as a professional draftsman began in 1983 when the author Mike Grell arranged for him to work as a writer and draftsman for the adventure comic series Warlord , which Grell had previously supervised. Grell became aware of Jurgens in 1982 during a book signing in a bookstore in Minneapolis when he showed him his portfolio . The series Warlord is about an American fighter pilot who is thrown into a forgotten land through a space portal while flying over the Arctic. Dragons, knights, wizards, dinosaurs and other creatures and beings of fantasy literature live there. Jurgens designed the series from the number # 63 to its discontinuation with # 133 (1988).

In 1986, Jurgens created the comic hero Booster Gold , a failed football star from the 25th century who, after his unsuccessful career caused by a betting scandal, travels with a time machine to the 1980s in order to become a self-proclaimed superhero to fame, honor and above all a lot of money to arrive. He wrote and drew the series of the same name until it was discontinued with issue # 25 (1988). At the same time he created a modern version of Flash Gordon for which he oversaw eight issues.

The Man Who Killed Superman

In 1987 Jurgens was hired for the first time to draw for the series about the hero Superman, in particular he designed the Annual of the Adventures of Superman series . In 1989 he was finally employed as a regular author and draftsman for the series Adventures of Superman (starting with issue # 452), which he oversaw until 1991 together with the ink draftsman Art Thibert . In 1991 he took over the main series Superman , which he wrote and drew until 1995. From 1995 the series was drawn by Ron Frenz , while Jurgens only wrote it. Brett Breeding and Joe Rubinstein worked as ink draftsmen during these years .

During his years as a Superman draftsman, Jurgens came up with numerous new secondary characters, the optical design of which he also developed. For example, he created the villains Hank Henshaw alias Killer-Cyborg and Arclight , the hero Agent Liberty and in particular the monster Doomsday . The latter became known as the "Superman killer" when it killed the title hero of the Supermanseries in a duel in a story briefly called Doomsday (also known as The Death of Superman ). This event generated significant coverage in the US and international media.

Time since 1995

Despite the sometimes negative hype about his person, Jurgens became one of the most highly regarded American comic artists as a result of the "Death of Superman" event and was given the opportunity to design numerous well-known and prestigious series for various publishers. Jurgens wrote and drew for the series Aquaman , Justice League , Metal Men , Teen Titans (all DC Comics ), Captain America , Thor (both Marvel Comics ) and Aliens ( Dark Horse Comics ). In 1995 he was in charge of the major DC vs. Marvel , a four-part miniseries jointly published by the two publishers. In 1996 he arranged Superman's wedding to his everlasting love Lois Lane . In 1999 he finished his work on the Superman series with issue # 150. He was succeeded as a writer by the screenwriter Jeph Loeb , known for films such as Three Men and a Baby and Teen Wolf .

From 1999 to 2001 Jurgens wrote 21 issues of the Tomb Raider: The Series series for the image studio Top Cow Productions , which illuminate the background story of the computer game heroine Lara Croft . Since then he has u. a. worked on series like Captain America and Hulk (as Inker , both Marvel) and Nightwing and Firestorm (both DC). In 2007 it was announced that from 2008 Jurgens and Geoff Johns would oversee a new edition of the Booster Gold series that he designed in the 1980s . With one interruption, he worked on the series until 2011.

Jurgens was involved in the restart of the DC universe ( The New 52 ) from 2011 , u. a. at Green Arrow and Justice League International .

With DC Rebirth (2016), the rebirth of the DC universe before The New 52 , Jurgens took over the Action Comics series , which returned to the original numbering and continued with the number # 957.

Private

Jurgens lives in Edina , Minnesota with his wife Ann Jurgens and their children Quinn and Seth .

Artistic style

Jurgens refers to illustrators such as Neal Adams , John Buscema , Jack Kirby , Mike Grell , Dave Cockrum , John Byrne , Mike Mignola , Jim Starlin , Chris Bachalo and George Pérez as artistic role models .

bibliography

Dark Horse Comics

  • Superman vs. Aliens (1995)

DC Comics

  • Adventures of Superman
  • Armageddon 2001 # 1 and 2
  • Armageddon 2001 (1991)
  • Batman
  • Batman: Shadow of the Bat # 6
  • Booster gold
  • Firestorm
  • Infinite Crisis: Secret Files and Origins 2006
  • Justice League America (2nd series)
  • Metal men
  • Nightwing
  • Sun Devils
  • Superman
  • Superman / Doomsday: Hunter / Prey # 1-3 (1994)
  • Superman: The Doomsday Wars # 1-3 (1998)
  • Superman: Day of Doom (2002)
  • Tales of the Legions of Superheroes
  • Teen Titans (2nd series) # 1-24
  • Warlord
  • Zero Hour # 4-0 (1994)

Marvel Comics

  • Captain America (3rd series) # 25–50 (Author), # 33–50 (Artist)
  • Daredevil
  • Hulk
  • Thor (2nd series) # 1-79 (Author); Annual 1999; Annual 2000

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jurgens, Dan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American comic book writer and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Ortonville , Minnesota