Rick Leonardi (born August 9, 1957) is an American comic book illustrator who has worked for various series for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including Cloak and Dagger, The Uncanny X-Men, The New Mutants, Spider-Man 2099, Nightwing, Batgirl, Green Lantern Versus Aliens and Superman. He has worked on feature film tie-in comics such as Star Wars: General Grievous and Superman Returns Prequel #3.
Early life
Rick Leonardi was born August 9, 1957 in Philadelphia, and grew up in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1979 and started drawing for Marvel Comics the following year.
Career
Rick Leonardi's first published comics artwork appeared in Thor #303 (Jan. 1981). He collaborated with writer Bill Mantlo on two limited series: Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Nov. 1982-Feb. 1983) and Cloak and Dagger (Oct. 1983-Jan. 1984). Leonardi's well-known works in the 1980s include various fill-in issues of The Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants.
He is credited, along with fellow illustrator Mike Zeck, of designing the black-and-white costume to which Spider-Man switched during the 1984 Secret Wars miniseries, and later wore for a time. According to the Spider-Man 1/2 special, the costume began as a design by Zeck that Leonardi embellished. The plot that developed as a result of Spider-Man's acquisition of the costume led to the creation of the Spider-Man villain known as Venom although in a 2007 Comic Book Resources story, fan Randy Schueller claims to have devised a version of a black costume for Spider-Man in a story idea that he was paid for. Leonardi and writer Tom DeFalco created the Rose in The Amazing Spider-Man #253 (June 1984). Chris Claremont and Leonardi introduced the fictional country of Genosha in Uncanny X-Men #235 (Oct. 1988). From 1992 to 1994, Leonardi was the regular penciler for the first 25 issues of Spider-Man 2099 with writer Peter David. Leonardi later launched the Fantastic Four 2099 series with Karl Kesel. Leonardi drew the 2000 intercompany crossover miniseries Green Lantern Versus Aliens. He drew one of the tie-in one-shots for the Sentry limited series in 2001.
His subsequent series work includes runs on Nightwing, on which he was the regular penciler for issues #71-84 from 2002 to 2003, and on Batgirl, of which he drew issues #45-52 from 2003 to 2004. Subsequent miniseries he drew include Star Wars: General Grievous in 2005, and the 2006 movie tie-in, Superman Returns Prequel #3. He followed up that with other superhero titles such as Superman #665 and #668 (2007), JLA: Classified #43 (November 2007), Witchblade #112 (January 2008), and the 2008 miniseries DC Universe: Decisions. Leonardi drew the Vigilante series that debuted from DC in December 2008.
Bibliography
Dark Horse Comics
- Dark Horse Comics #1-2 (1992)
- Green Lantern Versus Aliens #1-4 (2000)
DC Comics
- Adam Strange Special #1 (2008)
- Batgirl #45-47, 49-50, 52, 54 (2003-2004)
- Batman #400 (1986)
- Birds of Prey #39-41 (2002)
- Booster Gold vol. 2 #47 (2011)
- DC Universe: Decisions #1, 3 (2008)
- Fables #113 (2012)
- JLA: Classified #42-46 (2007-2008)
- Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5 #47 (2008)
- Legion Worlds #4 (2001)
- New Teen Titans vol. 2 #22 (1986)
- Nightwing #57, 59, 71-75, 78-81, 83-84 (2001-2003)
- Nightwing: Our Worlds at War #1 (2001)
- Secret Origins #20 (Batgirl) (1987)
- Showcase '96 #7 (1996)
- Sovereign Seven Annual #2 (1996)
- Suicide Squad vol. 3 #23 (2013)
- Supergirl vol. 5 #27 (2008)
- Superman #665, 668-670, 712 (2007-2011)
- Superman Returns Prequel #3 (2006)
- Vigilante vol. 2 #1-4, 7-10, 12 (2009-2010)
Event Comics
- Painkiller Jane #1-5
Marvel Comics
- The Amazing Spider-Man # 228, 253-254, 279, 282 (1982-1986)
- Cable/Machine Man '98 #1 (1998)
- Classic X-Men #37 (1989)
- Cloak and Dagger #1-4 (1983)
- Cloak and Dagger vol. 2 #1-4, 6 (1985-1986)
- Cloak and Dagger vol. 3 #12-16 (1990-1991)
- Daredevil #248-249, 277 (1987-1990)
- Excalibur #19 (1990)
- Excalibur: Air Apparent #1 (1992)
- Excalibur: XX Crossing #1 (1992)
- Fantastic Four 2099 #1 (1996)
- Generation X #24 (1997)
- Giant-Size X-Men #4 (2005)
- Impossible Man #2 (1991)
- The Incredible Hulk Annual #10 (1981)
- Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) (1989); #101-106 (Ghost Rider/Doctor Strange) (1992)
- Marvel Fanfare #14, 19 (1984-1985)
- Marvel Holiday Special #4-5 (1995-1997)
- New Mutants #38, 52-53, 78 (1986-1989)
- New Thunderbolts #96-97 (2006)
- Phoenix Resurrection: Revelations #1 (1995)
- Rampaging Hulk vol. 2 #1-3, 5-6 (1998-1999)
- Sentry/Spider-Man #1 (2001)
- Sleepwalker #4 (1991)
- The Spectacular Spider-Man # 52, 71 (1981-1982)
- Spider-Man #17 (1991)
- Spider-Man 2099 #1-8, 10-13, 15-17, 19-20, 22-25 (1992-1994)
- Spider-Man/Spider-Man 2099 #1 (1996)
- Tales of the Marvel Universe #1 (1997)
- Thor #303, 309 (1981)
- Uncanny X-Men #201, 212, 228, 231, 235, 237, 252 (1986-1989)
- Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1-4 (1982-1983)
- Warlock and the Infinity Watch #3-4 (1992)
- X-Man #31 (1997)
- X-Men '99 Annual #1 (1999)
- X-Men: True Friends #1-3 (1999)
New Paradigm Studios
- Watson and Holmes #1
References
External links
- Rick Leonardi at the Comic Book DB
- Rick Leonardi at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Rick Leonardi at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators