Comic Art Friday: A birthday stroll through the Isherwood
Today, Comic Art Friday extends a Happy Birthday shout-out to one of our favorite comic artists, the tremendously talented Geof Isherwood.
Geof is what I like to call a triple-dipper in the comics field — an artist who’s equally well-known (and equally adept) as a penciler and as an inker, and who’s also a writer.
His artistic credits include penciling stints on such series as Power Man and Iron Fist, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Dazzler, Thor, Web of Spider-Man, Swords of the Swashbucklers, myriad Conan titles, and the two series with which Geof is most closely associated — Marvel’s Doctor Strange and DC’s Suicide Squad.
As an inker, Geof has embellished the pencils of such artists as Wayne Vansant (The ‘Nam), Val Semeiks (Conan the Barbarian), Marc Silvestri (Conan the King), and Luke McDonnell (Suicide Squad).
Titles Geof has written include Marvel’s Doctor Strange and Justice, and his own creation, Lincoln-16.
Geof’s art possesses a strikingly cinematic quality, which makes sense if you know that in addition to his work in comics, Geof is highly sought after as a storyboard artist for motion pictures. He’s helped frame the vision of such renowned directors as Darren Aronofsky, Richard Donner, Renny Harlin, Chazz Palminteri, and Bryan Singer.
When I began collecting comic art, Geof’s drawings were among the first I acquired. His commissions enliven several of my theme galleries, especially Common Elements, for which he has created four pieces to date.
I love Geof’s work for his meticulous detail, his expressive characters, and his boundless sense of life and presence that infuses everything he draws or inks.
Recently, Geof branched out into the field of online comics. His exquisitely illustrated fantasy series, Lani the Leopard Queen, can be viewed at the Zuda Comics site.
Geof’s beloved wife and collaborator, Sonja Skarstedt, passed away earlier this year after a battle with cancer. I can’t help but believe that Sonja’s muse lives on, in each line and brush stroke of her husband’s art.
Happy birthday, Geof. Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful spirit — and your amazing art — with me.
And that’s your Comic Art Friday.
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SwanShadow Thinks Out Loud 
December 4, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Thanks for this posting, Michael, I really appreciate it. 2009 has been a year I would never have imagined, to lose Sonja that way. And just last week my #1 cat Ubi passed away early in the morning while lying next to me on the couch. He has a stroke the evening before, and I stayed with him through the night. I guess I was used to doing that…
You’ve been a great long-distance friend, and continue to fight your own battle side-by-side with Karla (and Kayla). Unless someone has lived that they can’t know what it is like, I and admire your continuing resolve. The world certainly becomes a smaller place during these times.
Keep up the good fight…
Geof
December 5, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Geof: You’re welcome, my friend. I appreciate your kind spirit even more than I appreciate your monumental talents as an artist. Considering how much I love your art, that’s saying something.
I hope that this coming year will provide you with as many joys as this current one has hardships. You are often in my thoughts, and always in my prayers.
One of these days, we’ll get together in person, and think back on it all.