Chris Sprouse isn’t one of the flashy artists who work on a professional basis in comics but his solid, clear, crisp linework with his statuesque anatomies are the epitome of excellent comic book storytelling. The first work I saw by him was in 1993: Legionnaires, the spin-off of the teen version of the Legion of Super Heroes (part of the Keith Giffen ‘Five Years Later’ revamp), where his buoyant and bright art was the perfect choice. Previously, he had worked for DC on various things, including Hammerlocke, and he worked on various one-shots for various publishers after that.

His work at Awesome Comics on New Men led to him working with Alan Moore on his excellent Supreme series (a vast improvement on some of the more Imagey artists who had been working on the series). This, in turn, led to his working with Moore on his new ABC line, with his delightful run on Tom Strong – Sprouse’s work set the tone for the pulp throwback, with the way he drew elongated bodies and the fabulous architecture of Millennium City.

Since then, he worked on Ocean, the sci-fi action mini-series with Warren Ellis (which is being turned into a film), started the Midnighter solo series with Garth Ennis, two of the Ex Machina specials by Brian K Vaughan, the 8-part series Number of the Beast with Scott Beatty at Wildstorm, among various other issues for the big two. You don’t get to work with Moore, Ellis and Ennis without being able to bring the goods.

You can see more of his art at the Comic Art Community [LINK]. As always, there is a list of his books at the Comic Book Database [LINK]. He has a blog with his wife where he occasionally posts pencils, sketches and finished art [LINK], and there is a specific blog dedicated to selling his art, which contains a lot of interior art [LINK].