Ethan Van Sciver

Ethan Daniel Van Sciver[1] (/ˌvænˈskaɪvər/) (born September 3, 1974)[2] is an American comics artist and social media personality. He is known for illustrating or drawing covers for a number of superhero titles in the 2000s, primarily for DC Comics, including Green Lantern and The Flash: Rebirth, and New X-Men for Marvel Comics. In the late 2010s he became known for his "ComicArtistPro Secrets" channel on YouTube, through which he became a central figure in Comicsgate.

Ethan Van Sciver
Van Sciver in October 2010
BornEthan Daniel Van Sciver
(1974-09-03) September 3, 1974
Utah, United States
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works
Green Lantern: Rebirth
The Flash: Rebirth
"Sinestro Corps War"
www.youtube.com/user/fascistfrog

Early life

Ethan Van Sciver was born September 3, 1974[2] in Utah. He and his younger brother, alternative cartoonist Noah Van Sciver,[3] grew up in southern New Jersey.[1]

Van Sciver decided on a career in the comic-book field after seeing the 1978 movie Superman as a child, but only began to read comics intently with John Byrne's The Man of Steel in 1986.[4] He cites Chris Claremont and Jon Bogdanove's Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men (1987) as a strong influence.[4]

Career

While in high school, Van Sciver did various art-related jobs, which included painting murals of Native Americans, drawing caricatures for mall customers, illustrating children's books, and airbrushing t-shirts.[1]

Van Sciver's first comics work was published in 1994, writing and drawing what he later called "a horrible little character called Cyberfrog",[4] published by Hall of Heroes and later Harris Comics.[1][5]

Mainstream publishers

His first work for DC Comics was in 1998,[5] which led to him being hired in 1999 as the artist on the series Impulse, with writer Todd Dezago.[5] This was followed in 2001 by the first of what would become several collaborations with writer Geoff Johns, on the superhero-horror one-shot The Flash: Iron Heights.[4]

Ethan Van Sciver drawing at Comicon fest, Athens, 2008

Van Sciver was hired by Marvel Comics in 2001 to work on New X-Men, a retitled and revamped series (beginning with #114) written by Grant Morrison.[5] The series' primary artist Frank Quitely was not expected to illustrate the necessary twelve issues per year, so Van Sciver was scheduled to illustrate two issues per year, which expanded to more issues as Igor Kordey was also hired as a semi-regular artist.[4] Van Sciver drew a total of four issues. In issue #133 of this series, Morrison and Van Sciver co-created the character Dust, a Sunni Muslim mutant who can transform into sand.[6]

Returning to work primarily for DC, Van Sciver worked with Johns on the six-issue miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004) which restored the Silver Age character Hal Jordan as the publisher's primary Green Lantern. They then worked together on an ongoing series featuring the character.[7] During this time Van Sciver was one of the artists who contributed to a series of instructional books for amateur comics artists, published by Wizard magazine.

In 2006, Van Sciver penciled the cover art for metal band Winger's fourth studio album. The cover art was also sold as a poster called "Guardian of Freedom".

Johns, Van Sciver, Dave Gibbons, Ivan Reis, and others produced "Sinestro Corps War", a high-profile 11-issue story appearing in DC's two Green Lantern monthly series in 2007.[8][9] Van Sciver and Johns produced the six-issue mini-series The Flash: Rebirth (2009) which – like the earlier Green Lantern mini-series – reintroduced the Silver Age character Barry Allen as the Flash.[10] The same year, he drew variant covers for DC's crossover storyline Blackest Night.[5] In 2011, as part of DC's "New 52" initiative, he was the artist – and co-writer with Gail Simone – of The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men.[5] Starting in 2016, as part of the "DC Rebirth" relaunch of DC's titles, Van Sciver drew issues of the Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps series.[11]

Social media, independent publishing

In 2017, he penciled illustrations for 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, a self-help book by Canadian psychologist and social activist Jordan Peterson.

That year he also began a YouTube channel called ComicArtistPro Secrets, which originally featured demonstrations of illustration tools and techniques, but has since focused on commentary about comics, other comics creators, and fan culture.[12][13] Through it, Van Sciver became a central figure in Comicsgate, a movement which objects to certain "political" themes in current mainstream superhero comics,[14] but which has been criticized as a harassment campaign against those who produce them.[15][16] Van Sciver has also been a prominent figure in the Fandom Menace, a Star Wars fan movement with similar goals and methods to Comicsgate.[17]

No longer employed by DC, in 2018 Van Sciver announced that he would instead produce his own comics,[18] and in 2019 he published Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney featuring his early character Cyberfrog, for which he had raised over $500,000 through crowdfunding.[19] A campaign in 2020 raised over $1 million for a follow-up Cyberfrog: Rekt Planet, promised to ship in 2021.[20]

Awards and recognition

Personal life

As of August 2005, Van Sciver resided in Orlando, Florida.[1]

He is a Republican[23] and a former Mormon.[24][25][26]

Bibliography

As artist unless otherwise noted.

Non-fiction
  • My Struggle (2007), sketches
  • 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson (2018), illustrations

Splatto Comics
  • Jawbreakers:Lost Souls TPB (2019), cover art
  • Jawbreakers: GØD-K1NG TPB (2019), cover art

ALL CAPS Comics
  • Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney (2019), artist and writer
  • Cyberfrog: The Diary of Heather Swain (2019), artist and writer
  • Cyberfrog: Unfrogettable Tales #1-2 (2020), artist and writer

DC Comics

Hall of Heroes
  • CyberFrog #1–2 (1994), writer/artist
  • Fuzzy Buzzard and Friends (April, 1995), writer/artist

Harris Comics
  • CyberFrog Vol 2 #0–4 (1996), writer/artist
    • CyberFrog : Censored #1 (1996) one-shot, writer/artist
    • CyberFrog: Reservoir Frog #1–2 (1996) miniseries, writer/artist
    • CyberFrog vs Creed #1 (1997); CyberFrog (co-writer/artist)
    • CyberFrog: 3rd Anniversary #1–2 (1997) Special miniseries, writer/artist
    • CyberFrog: The Origin - Ashcan Preview #1 (1997) one-shot, writer/artist
    • CyberFrog: Amphibionix #1 (2001) one-shot, writer/artist
  • Vampirella: Crossover Gallery #1 (1997)
  • Vampirella / Shadowhawk: Creatures of the Night (1995) #1

Marvel Comics
  • Deadpool Classics TPB The Day the World Got Ill #20
  • Heroes Reborn: Remnants 1
  • Heroes Reborn: The Return TPB 1
  • New X-Men GN-TPB 1–4
  • New X-Men Omnibus (HC) 1
  • X-Men (II) • New X-Men (I) • X-Men Legacy (I) #117–118, 123, 133
  • Heroes Reborn Remnants #1 (2000)
  • Heroes Reborn The Return #1 (1997)
  • New X-Men #117–118, 123, 133 (2001–2002)
  • Weapon X Omnibus (HC): The Return #1
  • Weapon X TPB (I) #1
  • Weapon X: The Draft – Wild Child (2002)
  • Wolverine #179 (2002)

Cover work
  • Heroes Reborn Remnants #1
  • New X-Men TPB By Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection 2
  • X-Men (II) • New X-Men (I) • X-Men Legacy (I) #124–125, 128, 130–131, 134, 146

WildStorm
  • Claw of the Conquered #1a, 1b (2006–2007) (cover artist)

Wizard
  • Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 01 "The Best of Basic Training: Volume 1". 2005. ISBN 0976287404. (co-writer)
  • Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 02 "Heroic Anatomy". 2005. ISBN 0976287455. (co-writer)
  • Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 03 "Character Creation". 2005. ISBN 0976287471. (co-writer)
  • Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 04 "Storytelling". 2005. ISBN 0977861309. (co-writer)
gollark: You seemed to complain when I said this about your ownership some time ago.
gollark: Okay, opinion generated.
gollark: Generating opinion. Please wait while I try and find screenshots or something because bad memory.
gollark: Yes. DO NOT excessively discretion. Not that I think moderation is good as a terminal goal in any case.
gollark: Hmm. Perhaps.

References
  1. Storniolo, Mike (August 13, 2005). "Ethan Van Sciver: In Brightest Day..." Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved October 2, 2008. (No date on article; date appears in the website's articles listing.)
  2. Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Archived from the original on October 30, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  3. "Noah Van Sciver". Lambiek Comiclopedia. April 14, 2012. Archived from the original on June 28, 2016.
  4. Collins, Sean T. (July 21, 2008). "CCI: Spotlight on Ethan Van Sciver". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  5. Ethan Van Sciver at the Grand Comics Database
  6. Strömberg, Fredrik (2014). "Race and Ethnicity". In Booker, M. Keith (ed.). Comics Through Time. 4. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 1710. ISBN 9780313397509.
  7. Cowsill, Alan; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "2000s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Geoff Johns' story was beautifully brought to life by penciller Ethan Van Sciver.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  8. Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 330
  9. "Top 25 Comic Battles - #6 The Sinestro Corps War". Comic Book Resources. 2008. Archived from the original on December 4, 2009.
  10. Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 337: "Writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver...joined forces again to relaunch Barry Allen as the Flash."
  11. Marston, George (April 5, 2016). "Rebirth Brings Hal Back to the Green Lantern Corps". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Hal Jordan will be flying with a familiar co-pilot as recent Green Lantern writer Robert Venditti will continue to write his adventures in the new ongoing series Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Also joining him is classic Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver.
  12. Krishna, Rachael (March 22, 2018). "There's An Online Harassment Campaign Underway Against People Advocating For Diversity In Comics". Buzzfeed. Archived from the original on July 18, 2018.
  13. Elbein, Asher (April 2, 2018). "#Comicsgate: How an Anti-Diversity Harassment Campaign in Comics Got Ugly—and Profitable". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018.
  14. "Ethan Van Sciver talks Comicsgate, the industry and his love of cybernetic amphibians". Culture of Gaming. 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  15. Riesman, Abraham. "Comicsgate Is a Nightmare Tearing Comics Fandom Apart — So What Happens Next?". Vulture. Archived from the original on 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
  16. "There's An Online Harassment Campaign Underway Against People Advocating For Diversity In Comics Called #Comicsgate". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 2018-10-14. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  17. "Daisy Ridley Doesn't Think Disgruntled 'Star Wars' Fans Need to Be So Vicious". Movieweb. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  18. Arrant, Chris (June 13, 2018). "Ethan Van Sciver Exits DC Comics". Newsarama. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018.
  19. "Ethan Van Sciver's CYBERFROG:BLOODHONEY Comic Book". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  20. "Ethan Van Sciver's CYBERFROG 2: REKT PLANET". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  21. "Inkwell Awards Ambassadors". Inkwell Awards. March 22, 2011.
  22. "2008 Eisner Nominations Announced". Comic Book Resources. April 14, 2008. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018.
  23. Johnston, Rich (August 14, 2017). "No, Ethan Van Sciver Is Not A Nazi". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018.
  24. Van Sciver, Ethan. "(Untitled)". Twitter. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  25. Van Sciver, Ethan (January 29, 2018). "(Untitled)". Twitter. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  26. Van Sciver, Ethan (October 27, 2016). "(Untitled)". Twitter. Retrieved August 17, 2020.

Interviews
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