Joe Madureira

Jose Madureira (born December 3, 1974, in Philadelphia; pronounced|mædəˈrærə), often simply called Joe Mad ["Look Who's Talking!"; Interview with Jeph Loeb; "The Ultimates 3" #1; February 2008; Page 46.] , is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' "Uncanny X-Men" and his creator-owned comic book "Battle Chasers".

Biography

In 1991 Marvel hired Madureira, a 16-year-old student at the High School of Art and Design, as an intern. His first published work was an eight-page story for the anthology series "Marvel Comics Presents", starring Northstar. In the next few years, Madureira completed various assignments for Marvel's sprawling X-Men franchise. He became the regular penciler on "Uncanny X-Men" in 1994 and soon rose to become one of the most popular artists in the industry. As the Uncanny X-Men artist, Madureira designed the "Age of Apocalypse" uniforms, new manga-inspired costumes for the regular title (after Onslaught), as well as the Avengers' brief new designs after The Crossing.

He left "Uncanny X-Men" in 1997 to work on his own series "Battle Chasers" for Wildstorm Comics' creator-owned Cliffhanger imprint (before it was sold to DC Comics). Nine issues of the constantly-behind-schedule comic were released. The tenth issue was announced but never published. Madureira chose to abandon its publication, as it was to be the first part of a new storyline which he would not have been able to finish in light of other work to which he had committed.

Joe then went on to work in the video game industry. Starting with the start-up company Tri-Lunar, he created concept art on a game called "Dragonkind" which was canceled when Tri-Lunar went out of business. He then went to work for Realm Interactive, another start-up company, on "Trade Wars: Dark Millennium". When Realm Interactive was acquired by NCsoft, he continued to contribute to the game as it evolved into "Exarch", and was eventually released as Dungeon Runners. During this time, he would occasionally contribute cover artwork for gaming magazines and comic books.

Madureira returned to the comic book industry as the artist on Marvel's "The Ultimates 3", with writer Jeph Loeb. [ [http://www.newsarama.com/forums/showthread.php?s=7f5fe4b57f18372c6168d7dec6893052&threadid=42045 WIZARD: LOEB & MAD ON ULTIMATES v3 - NEWSARAMA ] ] In late July 2007, the cover done by Joe Mad was featured on IGN. [ [http://comics.ign.com/articles/807/807739p1.html IGN: Exclusive: Ultimates 3 Debut Part One ] ]

After leaving NCsoft, Madureira founded Vigil Games with several other ex-NCsoft employees. Vigil was acquired by THQ in March 2006.

Impact

Madureira was dubbed one of the ten most influential comic artists of all time in the May 2002 issue of "Wizard" magazine. His inclusion was instantly contested by many comic book readers, as this list did not include many artists who are considered to have had a far more profound influence on the comics industry over a much longer period of time such as Hergé, Moebius and Katsuhiro Ōtomo. Dreamwave Productions founder Pat Lee claimed of Madureira, "When people think of the late '90s in comics, they will think of Joe Madureira."Fact|date=December 2007

The Ultimates 3

In December 2007, the first issue (in a series of five) of The Ultimates 3 was published, with Joe Madureira doing pencils, Christian Lichtner doing coloring, and written by Jeph Loeb.

The second issue was published in January 2008, the third issue released on February 20, 2008. Ultimates 3 #4 came out on June 25, 2008.

Darksiders: Wrath of War

In July 2007, the game Darksiders was announced, being made by Vigil Games with Joe Madureira as creative director. It follows War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, on his quest to find out who prematurely triggered the apocalypse. [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/864/864546p1.html IGN: Darksiders: Wrath of War Preview; http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/864/864546p1.html] ] It is set to release on Xbox 360 and PS3 in early 2009. [ [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/880/880251p1.html IGN: Darksiders: How the World Ends;http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/880/880251p1.html] ]

Inspirations

Interviews

* [http://comics.ign.com/articles/892/892449p1.html IGN Darksiders Interview]
* [http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/showthread.php?t=1871 Art interview]
* [http://www.wizarduniverse.com/022208joemad.html 2008 Wizard World LA Preview Q&A]
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12930 2008 Wizard World LA Ultimates interview]

Selected bibliography

* "Deadpool: The Circle Chase" #1–4 (Marvel Comics, 1993)
* "Uncanny X-Men" #312–313, 316–317, 325–326, 328–330, 332, 334–338, 340–343, 345–348, 350 (Marvel Comics, 1994–1997)
* "Battle Chasers" #0, #1–9 (Cliffhanger, Image Comics, 1998–2001)
* "Excalibur " #57–58
* "Ultimates 3" #1–5

References

* Curtin, Jack. "Steady Costumer." "" #49. September 1995.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://joemadfan.com/e3video/mad2.mpg Video of Madureira sketching]
* [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32681.html Trailer for Darksiders game]
* [http://xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/818226/virgil-games-project/videos/darksidersdoc_060908.html Darksiders Developer Commentary]