Teddy Kristiansen Does Deadman!

Teddy Kristiansen is one of my all time favorite comic artists for his fresh, quirky and free style. So when I discovered that he illustrated Deadman, one of my all time favorite heroes, I was ecstatic to say the least!

 I've been in love with Teddy's work since I first saw it in DC's Showcase '94' #8. It was an origin story of Scarface, a Batman villain written by Alan Grant.

cover by equally quirky Ted McKeever

His work is so quirky and fresh. It looks less like a conventional comic book and more like someones personal notebooks. Though as simple as they appear with their quick gestures, they convey so much information and emotion.

Teddy manages not only to capture the essence of the characters and the story, but he also does wonderful page layouts and design work. They are loose in appropriate places and tight in other places. Check out those loose panel boarders.

 

 And his pallet is equally expressive. His cool blues, acrid greens and deep grays are so harmonious and moving they actually add to the telling of the story.

His work looks so effortless. It's deceptively simple and complex at the same time.

I guess I'm not the only one that admires his work because there was a whole comic dedicated to him in DC's Solo series.

It was a particular treat to see that one of the many stories in the book was a Deadman story that was written by Neil Gaiman.
Kristiansen, Gaimen, and Deadman in one story, what a killer combination!

 I had to work at these scans because Teddy's work and the printing of the book are so high quality that my scanner wasn't able to capture all the nuances and colors, so I left the images large and did what I could to adjust the color as close as possible to the printed version.
I guess we should also thank DC comics and specifically Mark Chiarello for giving Teddy his own book and doing such a good job on it. With this project, Wednesday Comics and Batman Black And White, Mark as an editor has really earned my love and respect.