User:Shawn Martinbrough/sandbox

Shawn Martinbrough is an American comic book illustrator, born in The Bronx, New York. Shawn’s most known works include DC Entertainment’s Batman title, Detective Comics, with award-winning novelist Greg Rucka, and Marvel Comics’ Luke Cage Noir miniseries with HBO’s “Entourage” writer Mike Benson and The CW Network’s “Supernatural” writer Adam Glass. Shawn’s newest book is the Image Comics crime noir comic, Thief of Thieves, by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

Career A student of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art in New York City, and graduating from The School of Visual Arts, Shawn started illustrating comic books and graphic novels for Marvel Comics with their Hellraiser title, based on the film franchise created by Clive Barker. Shawn’s next work for Marvel was the fully-painted book, Tales of The Marvels: Blockbuster, in which Shawn illustrated the Marvel Comics universe of characters, including The Fantastic Four. Shawn’s work at Marvel was followed by his work at Milestone Media, Inc., the Black-owned comic book and graphic novel publisher with an unprecedented co-publishing deal with DC Comics. Shawn partnered with artist John Paul Leon on Static, Milestone’s popular teen hero and star of the award-winning Warner Bros. animated series, “Static Shock!” After illustrating Batman: The Hill for DC Comics, Shawn was hired to become the illustrator on DC Comics’ flagship title, Detective Comics, drawing the monthly Batman title written by critically-acclaimed novelist Greg Rucka. Shawn’s next work was illustrating for Marvel Comics on their X-Men universe title The Morlocks, written by Geoff Johns, now the Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. After working for Marvel, Shawn illustrated The Losers, the technothriller series from DC Comics’ mature readers line, Vertigo. The Losers became a major motion picture, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Based on Shawn’s large body of work with DC Comics, he was hired to illustrate King James: Into The Fire, an exclusive comic book featuring basketball superstar and entrepreneur LeBron James. The comic book was sponsored by PowerADE, a division of the Coca-Cola company, and DC Comics. His art instruction book, How To Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling, was published in 2007 by Watson-Guptill, an imprint of Random House, the number one book publisher. In 2008, Detective Crispus Allen, a character designed by Shawn during his run on Detective Comics, was featured in “Batman: Gotham Knight”, the direct-to-DVD anthology film of six short animated superhero films set in between the films “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight.” Dark Horse Comics, publisher of the graphic novels behind high-grossing films 300 and Hellboy, hired Shawn to illustrate a story in Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist. The title character was created by author Michael Chabon, appearing in his best-selling novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Marvel invited Shawn back to their stable to illustrate World War Hulk: Frontline, a series showing the effects of The Hulk’s war with The Avengers and the rest of the Marvel universe. Shawn followed up World War Hulk: Frontline by illustrating Luke Cage Noir for Marvel. A miniseries from the “Marvel Noir” line, Shawn worked with television writers Mike Benson and Adam Glass to tell the story of one of Marvel Comics’ first Black heroes, Luke Cage, depicted during the historical period of the Harlem Renaissance. Marvel chose Shawn to work on a special exclusive Captain America comic book to coincide with the release of the Marvel Studios film, “Captain America: The First Avenger”. The graphic novel story had a one million copy print run, and was distributed across the country to various military bases of the United States Armed Forces. Shawn illustrated the final story arc for Marvel Comics’ first Black superhero, the Black Panther, in the long-running series Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive. The Black Panther is one of the newest Marvel heroes slated for possible development as a film from Marvel Studios, with talk of actor Morris Chestnut playing the title role. Robert Kirkman, creator of the hit graphic novel series and AMC Network television show “The Walking Dead”, invited Shawn to illustrate his next graphic novel series, Thief of Thieves. A crime noir book following the exploits of retired thief and conman Conrad Paulson, Shawn’s work has set the tone for the critically-acclaimed bestselling series, which has been optioned by the AMC network for development as a live-action television show.

Film and Media Shawn is one of the founders and co-owners of Verge Entertainment, the New York-based multimedia production company. With Joseph Phillip Illidge, former Batman editor for DC Entertainment, and Milo Stone, videogame developer, Shawn has developed an extensive library of intellectual properties for transmedia development, created for live-action and animated television and film, videogames, graphic novels, and web-based entertainment. Verge Entertainment’s films have appeared in various festivals throughout the country, winning a number of awards, including awards for Best Feature and Editing. Festivals include The American Black Film Festival, The Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, The Washington, DC International Film Festival, The Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, The Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival, and The Palm Beach International Film Festival. Verge Entertainment produced the commercial fund-raiser trailer for the Howard Theatre Restoration Project. From conceiving the idea and creating the storyboards, to shooting on location in Washington, D.C. and handling the production and post-production, Shawn and his partners developed the trailer, which served as an integral marketing element in bringing The Howard Theatre back to life, leading to the theater’s grand reopening in 2012. Shawn appeared in the critically-acclaimed 2012 documentary “Journey to Planet X”, by filmmakers Myles Kane and Josh Koury. Shawn produced storyboards for the feature-length film which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. “Journey to Planet X” chronicled Florida-based amateur filmmakers Eric Swain and Troy Bernier in the quest to produce the science-fiction epic, "Planeta Desconocido," In addition to his storyboarding work for films, Shawn has provided storyboards for various media companies, including The Hershey Company and wireless carrier / technology provider Leap Wireless for their popular brand, Cricket.

Clientele Shawn’s client list includes Coca Cola/POWERade, The Hershey Company, Cricket Wireless, Playboy, Vibe, Bad Boy Entertainment, Penguin Books and McGraw-Hill.

Press Shawn’s work has been covered by The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Daily News, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, AOL, AintItCoolNews.com, Architecture, Publisher's Weekly, The Washington Times, National Public Radio, Sirius/XM Radio, Ebony, Essence, Vibe, The Source and others.

Public Speaking Engagements Shawn has given lectures on his career at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, the University of Michigan, the Savannah College of Art and Design, Prince George's Community College, the Book Expo of America in New York City, and the 100 Black Men of America Conference.

New Projects

Shawn is the co-creator and co-author of The Ren, the upcoming 200-page graphic novel co-written by Joseph Phillip Illidge and illustrated by Grey Williamson. Set in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's, two Black teenage artists fall in love and pursue their dreams of fame, amidst the dangerous war between two criminal empires. The Ren will be published in 2015 by First Second Books, a division of New York City-based publisher, Macmillan.

Bibliography Published works include:

Marvel Comics’ Tales of The Marvels: Blockbuster, with writer Mike Baron DC Comics’ Detective Comics, with novelist Greg Rucka Marvel Comics’ The Morlocks with writer Geoff Johns DC/Vertigo’s The Losers with writer Andy Diggle Random House/Watson-Guptill’s How To Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling Powerade / DC Comics’ King James: Into The Fire, an exclusive comic book featuring LeBron James. Dark Horse Comics’ Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of The Escapist, with writer Kevin McCarthy. Marvel Comics’ World War Hulk: Frontline with writer Paul Jenkins Marvel Comics’ Luke Cage Noir with writers Mike Benson and Adam Glass Marvel Comics’ Bullseye: Perfect Game with novelist Charlie Huston Marvel Comics’Punisher MAX: Hot Rods of Death with novelist Charlie Huston DC/Vertigo’s DMZ with writer Brian Wood Marvel Comics’ Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive with novelist David Liss Marvel Comics’ Captain America: The First Avenger with videogame writer William Harms Thief of Thieves, with writers Robert Kirkman, Nick Spencer, James Asmus, and Andy Diggle