The comic industry is home to many exceptional artists whose unique illustrative styles breathe new life into often classic characters. One such illustrator has brought his distinct style to such titles as Green Lantern and The Flash: Rebirth. Ethan Daniel Van Sciver was born on September 3, 1974 and grew up in southern New Jersey. After seeing the 1978 movie Superman and reading John Byrne’s The Man of Steel comic series countless times, Van Sciver was determined to land a career in the comic book field. Throughout high school, Van Sciver was involved in all sorts of different art forms including drawing murals of Native Americans, working as a caricaturist at the mall and illustrating about 12 children’s books.
When he was 19, Van Sciver entered the comic industry with “a horrible little character called Cyberfrog.” Written and drawn by him, this character was published by Hall of Heroes and, later, Harris Comics. Along with creator owned Cyberfrog series, Van Sciver’s first major work for DC Comics was working alongside writer Todd Dezago on the series Impulse. He later provided work for Marvel Comics, working primarily in collaboration with writer Geoff Johns. They partnered on the superhero-horror one-shot The Flash: Iron Heights, in an approach he described as “taking well-known, maybe well-worn superhero concepts, make them scary, make them upsetting in some way.”
He later produced several issues of Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, after initially serving as a fill-in artist for regular series artist Frank Quitely. In New X-Men #133, Van Sciver helped create the character Dust, which has been praised as a respectful, albeit somewhat Americanized, portrayal of a Muslim in comics. Later on, Van Sciver teamed up with Johns to bring Hal Jordan back to the DC Universe in the six-issue miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth. The pair then relaunched the Green Lantern title itself, diving into the mythos of the character's backstory. The 2007 story “Sinestro Corps War,” produced by Van Sciver, Johns, Dave Gibbons, and Ivan Reis, set the stage for a complete overhaul of the Lantern Corps.
Along with Green Lantern, Van Sciver also worked on Justice League of America, the miniseries The Flash: Rebirth, the company crossover storyline Blackest Night, and Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Van Sciver later launched his own YouTube channel, Comic Artist Pro Secrets, where he teaches fans how to draw, does Portfolio reviews for up and coming artists and interviews different writers and artists. More recently, Van Sciver lended his considerable talents illustrating the main cover The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #48. This edition, featuring a crossover between Green Lantern and the Flash, is currently a Featured Item in Diamond Comic Distributors’ PREVIEWS catalog.
More information on the The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #48, which includes additional covers by Ryan Sook and Georges Jeanty, can be found on Scoop.