Introduction
Paul Smith (born September 4, 1953) is an American comic book artist, known for his work on The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, American Flagg!, Nexus, GrimJack and his creator-owned book, Leave It to Chance
Early life
Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but only lived there three days. His father was a U.S. Naval aviator, and the family moved several times during his childhood. As a young comics fan, Smith particularly admired the work of Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man and Neal Adams on Batman.
Career
Smith had no formal art training aside from some courses in airbrushing. He first came to attention at Marvel Comics in the early 1980s, where he filled in on a variety of Marvel titles, including Marvel Fanfare #4, cover dated September 1982, doing the final chapter of an X-Men story, and Doctor Strange #56, cover dated December 1982, pencilling a re-telling of his origin. The following month began his run on The Uncanny X-Men, then the biggest selling US comic. He drew that series from #165 - #175 (with the exception of #171), replacing Dave Cockrum. His cover for issue #173 would prove influential. When editing the 1985 anthology book Heroes for Hope, which was intended to benefit famine relief in Africa, editor Ann Nocenti asked artist Arthur Adams to pattern his cover of that book after Smith's rendition of The Uncanny X-Men #173. This in turn prompted Bob Budiansky to have Adams produce a Wolverine poster with the same type of pose. The image, inked by Terry Austin, became not only a bestselling poster, but an iconic life-size standee for comics shops.
A few months after leaving The Uncanny X-Men, Smith returned as the regular artist on Doctor Strange. He worked on that series from #65 - #73, drawing seven of those issues. Smith's brief run on X-Men left a large impact, and most of it was later reprinted in the From The Ashes trade paperback. Eventually his entire X-Men run was reprinted in Essential X-Men Vol. 4. He bookended the Marvel Fanfare series, pencilling a short Daredevil story in issue #1, and writing, drawing and lettering a sequel to that Daredevil tale in #60, the final issue of the book. Smith would briefly revisit the X-Men, drawing the X-Men / Alpha Flight limited series as well as a brief stint on the X-Men spin-off X-Factor. Since the mid-1980s Smith has worked as an artist on a range of comics titles, including work for the X-Men stable.
Perhaps his best-known work outside of the X-Men are The Golden Age and the young adults comic Leave It to Chance, both collaborations with writer James Robinson. Smith has also contributed art to a number of First Comics titles including American Flagg!, Nexus, and GrimJack.
Among Smith's most recent work is the Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame limited series written by Akira Yoshida.
Selected works
Interiors
- Amazing High Adventure 2 (Marvel Comics)
- American Flagg! 47, 48 (First Comics)
- Batman Annual 9 (DC Comics)
- Bizarre Adventures 34 (Marvel Comics)
- Buck Rogers 1 (TSR)
- Code Name: Danger 3
- Doctor Strange 54, 56, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71-73 (Marvel Comics)
- The Falcon 1 (Marvel Comics)
- The Golden Age 1-4 (DC Comics)
- GrimJack 24 (First Comics)
- Hero Alliance Annual 1 (Innovation)
- Howard The Duck 32 (Marvel Comics)
- Iron Lantern 1 (Amalgam Comics)
- Iron Man 145, 159, Annual 10 (Marvel Comics)
- Leave It To Chance 1-13 (Image Comics)
- Magnus Robot Fighter Yearbook 1 (Valiant)
- Marvels Comics Fantastic Four 1 (Marvel Comics)
- Marvel Fanfare 1, 4, 32, 45, 60 (Marvel Comics)
- Nexus 37, 38, 43, 44, 49, 51-55
- The Spirit 17-21 (DC Comics)
- Starman 69 (DC Comics)
- Sun Runners 2-4 (Eclipse Comics)
- Uncanny X-Men 165-170, 172-175, 278 (Marvel Comics)
- Wild Times; Grifter 1 (Wildstorm )
- X-Factor 43-46, 48, 49 (Marvel Comics)
- X-Men And Alpha Flight 1, 2 (Marvel Comics)
- X-Men Forever 6, 10 (Marvel Comics)