Joshua Middleton

Joshua Middleton (sometimes credited as Josh Middleton) is a comic book artist currently signed exclusive to DC Comics. He was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2004 for his cover artwork for Marvel Comics. Middleton is one of the few artists in American mainstream comics who does everything from pencils to coloring by himself, instead of splitting the work between multiple people.

Career

Middleton started his career as a comic book artist in 2000 as penciler for CrossGen's Meridian, but was fired from the title, to be replaced by Steve McNiven, after the first six issues, when he posted company internal information, harsh comments and personal insults about CrossGen president Mark Alessi on the Wizard World message board under the alias bigdad.^[1] He then joined Com.X, planning to release his creator-owned series Sky Between Branches there, but only did a preview issue in early 2002, along with some other work for the publisher. After contributing covers and short stories to X-Men Unlimited beginning in late 2002, he signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics in 2003 and worked as cover artist on New Mutants and created NYX with Joe Quesada as writer, but left the title, which was frequently late due to Quesada missing deadlines on the scripts, after four issues in 2004 when his contract with Marvel ran out. Following his stint at Marvel he signed exclusively with DC Comics in 2004. His first DC series was Superman/Shazam: First Thunder, a miniseries that launched in September 2005. Middleton stated that First Thunder would be his "first and probably last foray into mainstream men-in-tights".^[2] It has also been hinted that he might publish Sky Between Branches at DC. As of issue 4, Josh has taken over the role as cover artist for the Vertigo series American Virgin.

Bibliography

Sequentials

• Meridian #1–6 (CrossGen, 2000). Covers and interiors.
• Primal, interiors (Com.X, 2002). One part comic for the PS2 videogame produced by Com.X.
• Sky Between Branches #0 (Com.X, 2002). Story, interiors and cover. Some sketches were also published in the Comicon Special: 2002 Com.X Sketchbook (2002)
• X-Men Unlimited #37 (Marvel, 2002). Only some pages on a "jam" issue drawn by several artists.
• X-Men Unlimited #42 (Marvel, 2003). Only a 4-page Dani Moonstar short story
• NYX #1–4 (Marvel, 2003–2004). Covers and interiors.
• Street Fighter #11 (Udon, 2004). Short back-up story (Cammy vs. Rose) and alternate cover.
• Wildstorm Winter Special (DC/Wildstorm, 2004). Short Zealot story.
• Superman/Shazam: First Thunder #1–4 (DC Comics, 2005–2006). Covers and interiors.
• Fables #53 (DC/Vertigo, 2006). Only a 3-page Backup story.
• Outsiders Five of a Kind #4: Metamorpho/Aquaman (DC, 2007). Cover and Interior

Covers only

• X-Men Unlimited #40, 47, and 49 (Marvel, 2003)
• New Mutants vol. 2 #1–6 (Marvel, 2003)
• NYX #5-7 (Marvel, 2004)
• Runaways #11-12 (Marvel, 2004)
• Mr. Majestic #1 (variant cover) (DC/Wildstorm, 2005)
• Serenity: Those Left Behind #3 (Dark Horse Comics, 2005). Middleton drew one of the three alternate covers of the issue. Each issue of the miniseries had 3 different covers, each featuring a different character, illustrated by a different artist.
• Gotham Central #36 (DC Comics, 2006). A cover featuring Batman.
• American Virgin #4–14 (DC Comics, 2006-2007). Regular cover artist for the title since issue #4 until #14.

References

External links

• Joshua Middleton Online (Official website)
• Joshua Middleton's Blog
• Joshua Milddleton on Marvel.com