Ernesto "Ernie" Chan (July 27, 1940 â€" May 16, 2012), born and sometimes credited as Ernie Chua, was a Filipino-American comic book artist, known for work published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including many Marvel issues of series featuring Conan the Barbarian. Chan also had a long tenure on Batman and Detective Comics. Other than his work on Batman, Chan primarily focused on non-superhero characters, staying mostly in the genres of horror, war, and swords-and-sorcery.
Biography
Ernie Chan was born Ernie Chua due to what he called "a typographical error on my birth certificate that I had to use until I had a chance to change it to 'Chan' when I got my [U.S.] citizenship in '76." He migrated to the United States in 1970, and became a citizen in 1976. For a number of years, he worked under the name Ernie Chua, but he was later credited as Ernie Chan. He studied with John Buscema, and also worked with him as the inker on Conan during the 1970s. He also inked the art of Buscema's brother Sal on The Incredible Hulk.
Chan broke into American comics in 1972 with DC, as a penciler on horror/mystery titles like Ghosts, House of Mystery, and The Unexpected. By 1974, he was working regularly for Marvel on Conan the Barbarian. From 1975â€"1976, Chan worked exclusively for DC, including the artwork for Claw the Unconquered, written by David Michelinie. Under the name Chua, he was DC Comic's primary cover artist from approximately 1975 to 1977.
Chan pencilled several issues of Conan and Doctor Strange, and worked on Kull the Destroyer in 1977 and Power Man in the 1980s. From about 1978 onward, he worked almost exclusively for Marvel, in the 1980s focusing on Conan.
In 2002, he retired except for commissioned artwork, but returned to comics to draw writer Andrew Zar's adult-oriented webcomic The Vat #1 in 2009.
Chan was based in Oakland, California, and had three children; his daughter Cleo Caron Chan was born April 25, 1978. Ernie Chan died in mid-May 2012 after a nearly yearlong battle with cancer.
Bibliography
Comics work (interior pencil art, except where noted) includes:
DC
- Adventure Comics (Spectre) #437-438; (Seven Soldiers of Victory) #441 (1975)
- Batman #262-264, 267, 269-270, 273-283 (1975â€"77)
- Captain Carrot #18 (1983)
- Claw the Unconquered #1-7 (1975â€"76)
- Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (then, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion) #4, 8 (1972)
- DC Special Series (The Unexpected) #4 (1977)
- Detective Comics (Elongated Man) #444; (Batman) #447-449, 451-453, 456, 460-466 (1975â€"76)
- G.I. Combat #209 (1978)
- Ghosts #4, 10-11, 14, 21, 27, 30, 70 (1972â€"78)
- House of Mystery #203, 251, 254-257, 290 (1972â€"81)
- House of Secrets #117, 124, 126, 129, 133, 137, 141, 143-144, 147-148 (1974â€"77)
- Joker #3 (1975)
- Jonah Hex #6-9 (1977â€"78)
- Kamandi #49 (1977)
- Sandman #2-3 (1975)
- Secret Society of Super-Villains #4 (1976)
- Secrets of Haunted House #1, 5 (1975)
- Secrets of Sinister House #16 (1974)
- Superman (Fabulous World of Krypton) #282 (1974)
- Swamp Thing #24 (1976)
- Tales of Ghost Castle #3 (1975)
- Teen Titans (Lilith) #43 (1973)
- The Unexpected #134, 146, 149, 151, 170, 182, 188 (1972â€"78)
- Weird Mystery Tales #14 (1974)
- Weird War Tales #17, 24, 26, 29-30, 42, 44, 49, 53-54, 58-59 (1973â€"78)
- Witching Hour #40, 62 (1974â€"76)
- World's Finest Comics (Superman & Batman) #242 (1976)
Marvel
- Chamber of Chills #3 (1973)
- Conan the Barbarian (full art): #87, Annual #9-11 (1978); (inks over other artists pencils): #26-36, 40-43, 70-86, 88-118, 131, 134, 142, 144, 147-153, 156-157, 168, 175, 177-178, 181-185, 187-190, 249-250, 252, 254 (1973â€"92), 275
- Doc Savage #8 (1977)
- Haunt of Horror #1 (1974)
- King Conan #5, 10 (1981â€"82)
- Kull the Conqueror, vol. 2, #4 (1984)
- Kull the Destroyer (previously Kull the Conqueror, vol. 1) #21-29 (1977â€"78)
- Marvel Comics Presents #65 (1990)
- Marvel Two-in-One #35-36 (1978)
- Power Man and Iron Fist #94-100 (1983)
- Savage Sword of Conan #29, 35, 59, 68-69, 71, 76, 87, 111, 113, 116, 119, 122-123, 125, 137, 155, 158, 160-161, 164, 173, 177, 179, 183, 185, 187, 211-212, 214, 227 (1978â€"94)
- Spider-Woman #29 (1980)
- Tales of the Zombie #4 (1974)
- Thor #336 (1983)
DarkBrain
- The Vat
References
External links
- Official website Archived July 10, 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- Ernie Chan at the Comic Book DB
- Ernie Chua at the Comic Book DB
