Klaus Janson (born January 23, 1952)[1][2] is an American comics artist, working regularly for Marvel Comics and DC Comics and sporadically for independent companies.While he is best known as an inker, Janson has frequently worked as a penciller and colorist.
Early life
Klaus Janson was born in Coburg, West Germany.[3] He emigrated to the United States in 1957, settling with his family in Connecticut,[3] where he lived in Bridgeport from 1957 to 1972.[4]
When Janson was young, his mother threw away his
Spider-Man
collection.
Janson then became interested in the premiering character Daredevil, who was not popular among Janson's friends.[5]
After a short stint as assistant to Dick Giordano in the early 1970s,[7] Janson's first credited comics artwork was published by Marvel Comics in Jungle Action #6 (Sept. 1973).[8] Janson came to prominence as the inker over Sal Buscema's pencils on The Defenders. Since then he has freelanced on most of the major titles at Marvel and DC. In 1975 he began a long run as inker on Daredevil, running from #124 (Aug. 1975) to #196 (July 1983).With #171 the series went from bi-monthly to monthly; unable to handle the increased workload, then-writer/penciler Frank Miller began increasingly relying on Janson for the artwork, sending him looser and looser pencils beginning with #173.[9] By issue #185, Miller had virtually relinquished his role as Daredevil's artist, and was providing only rough layouts for Janson to pencil, ink, and color.[9] After Miller's departure, Janson drew the series by himself for four issues.
Janson began working for DC Comics in the early 1980s and inked Gene Colan's pencils on Detective Comics and Jemm, Son of Saturn.[8] Janson was one of the artists on Superman #400 (Oct. 1984)[10] and was one of the contributors to the DC Challenge limited series.[11] His collaboration with Miller on Daredevil would soon be eclipsed by a second collaboration between them, on Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986.[12] Janson has frequently pencilled and inked for various Batman titles, including the first Detective Comics Annual with writer Dennis O'Neil,[13]
Janson and writer Mike Baron introduced the character Microchip as an ally of the Punisher in The Punisher #4 (November 1987).[18] In 1993, Janson drew a three-part story featuring Electro for Spider-Man #38–40.[19] Janson inked the early issues of The Sensational Spider-Man which had been written and penciled by Dan Jurgens.[20] Janson's work as an inker and occasional penciler at Marvel Comics includes collaborations with John Romita Jr. on Wolverine, The Amazing Spider-Man and Black Panther.His other work includes Batman: Death and the Maidens,[21]World War Hulk, Battlestar Galactica
Janson has taught sequential storytelling at the School of Visual Arts in New York City since the 1990s[24] and has written both The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics and The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics. Janson also holds annual seminars at Marvel for the editorial staff and their up-and-coming artists, and taught short courses on comics storytelling for the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art.[7]
In 2015, Janson was the Guest of Honor at the 2015 Inkwell Awards Awards Ceremony at HeroesCon.[25]
9.Philippe Cordier. Seeing Red: Dissecting Daredevil's Defining Years Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, April 2007^
10.Frankie Addiego. Superman #400 Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, December 2013^
11.Robert Greenberger. It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time: A Look at the DC Challenge! Back Issue!, TwoMorrows Publishing, August 2017^
12.Matthew K. Manning. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Dorling Kindersley, 2010^
13.Matthew K. Manning. Batman: A Visual History Dorling Kindersley, 2014^
14.Manning "1990s" in Dougall, p. 186: "Grant Morrison stepped up to the plate to pen [Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight's] next five-issue storyline, illustrated by Klaus Janson."^
15.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 259: "'Knightfall' was a nineteen-part crossover event that passed through the pages of...the Showcase '93 Two-Face feature scripted by Doug Moench and drawn by Klaus Janson."^
16.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 267: "Fans were also treated to a companion special entitled Batman-Spawn...by writers Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon, and Alan Grant, and artist Klaus Janson."^
17.Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 283: "The seventeen-part 'Cataclysm' storyline showed a Gotham City devastated by an earthquake."^
18.Tom DeFalco. Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History Dorling Kindersley, 2008^
19.Alan Cowsill. Spider-Man Chronicle Celebrating 50 Years of Web-Slinging Dorling Kindersley, 2012^
20.Cowsill "1990s" in Gilbert (2012), p. 224: "The new Spidey title felt fresh and exciting...Issue #0, written and penciled by Dan Jurgens, with Klaus Janson inking, provided a quick recap for latecomers."^
21.Manning "2000s" in Dougall, p. 269: "Writer Greg Rucka and artist Klaus Janson created this series that delved into the family tree of [Ra's al Ghul]."^
In 2010, he inked Romita Jr.'s pencils on The Avengers.[8] and in 2014 the two artists collaborated on Superman.[22] Janson was one of the artists on The Dark Knight III: The Master Race which was co-written by Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello.[23]
Blood and Glory: Punisher/Captain America #1–3 (1992)
