Comic Book Day: Amanda Conner, Artist Extraordinaire

The Silk Spectre writer/illustrator is definitely one to watch.

Based on her artwork alone, we were predisposed towards liking Amanda Conner. With powerhouse runs on Painkiller Jane, Power Girl, Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre and two, count ’em, two hardcover tomes of her collected artwork under her belt, Conner’s work tends to speak for itself. Unless she’s writing it, in which case she’s technically doing the speaking. Did we mention that she’s multitalented? Because she is. And nice too, which we were fortunate enough to learn when we sat down with her at Wondercon. 

Though she is, perhaps, best known for her work on Power Girl, which she illustrated with her partner Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, we first realized that we wanted to sit down and speak with Conner when we sat down with her Before Watchmen co-pilot Darwyn Cooke. In that interview, Cooke revealed that he wasn’t comfortable signing on to co-write Silk Spectre until Amanda was attached, saying, “I felt like…I could do this if Amanda did it with me because of her ability, her talent and the fact that I wanted the female voices to sound authentic, so once they were comfortable with that, I was committed. I think there’s definitely an unexpected and wonderful story here, plus it was a chance to work with Amanda, who’s one of my tops.” The end result was one of our tops; together, Cooke and Conner managed to create one of the most dynamic books in the entire Before Watchmen line, which is saying something once you consider the talent involved. (If you’re reading this, please don’t get jealous, Len Wein – we love you too.)

A master of capturing expression and form, Conner’s next artistic endeavors will take her firmly into the uncharted waters of the creator-owned sphere as she collaborates with Palmiotti and Tieri on the soon-to-be Kickstarted Captain Brooklyn, a superhero tale for the average blue collar Brooklynite. In addition, she, Palmiotti and Gray are carving their own creative path vis-a-vis PaperFilms, their collaborative production company that tackles everything from television to film to comics and beyond. But don’t take it from us? Head on over to Nerdist.com to read our complete interview with one of the comic book industry’s biggest stars on the rise.

Forward to a Buddy Invite a Buddy