Paul Ryan | |
---|---|
Paul Ryan at That's Entertainment comic shop, Worcester, Massachusetts in 2006
|
|
Born |
Massachusetts |
September 23, 1949
Died | March 7, 2016 | (aged 66)
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Artist |
Notable works
|
D.P. 7 Fantastic Four The Amazing Spider-Man The Phantom |
www |
Paul Ryan (September 23, 1949 – March 7, 2016) was an American comic artist. Ryan worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comic book titles. He is best known for his 1991 to 1996 run as penciler on Fantastic Four, which represents his longest association with an individual comic book series. From 2005 until his death in 2016, Ryan penciled and inked the daily newspaper comic strip The Phantom for King Features Syndicate.
Paul Ryan was born in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1949. He attended St. Polycarp Grammar School in Somerville, and graduated from St. Mary of the Annunciation High School in 1967. He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design.
After graduation Ryan enlisted in the United States National Guard and was assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey for Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) in automotive mechanics. He later attended Massachusetts Military Academy in Wakefield, Massachusetts for officer training. Ryan was a member of his National Guard pistol team, studied karate and fencing in his younger days, and at one time took up archery and weight training.
As a young man, Ryan found a job in the Graphics Department of Metcalf & Eddy Engineering in Boston, where he worked for 11 years.
According to a 2007 interview, "Ryan began his training [for a career in comic art] as a child, growing up in Somerville. He'd park himself in front of the television each night to watch George Reeves in the Adventures of Superman." Ryan began drawing one-page comic stories in grade school, inspired by his love of comics to create his own. He has said that as a youngster in the Silver Age, he was influenced by the work of Wayne Boring and Curt Swan on Superman. In 1961, Ryan became a big fan of the Fantastic Four of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, having "bought the first issue at the tender age of 11." He has acknowledged that even as a youth he studied the work of Hal Foster, Sy Barry, Dan Barry, and Mac Raboy, adding "I'm pretty much influenced by anybody whose work I admire."