Joe Bennett profile picture

Profile: Joe Bennett

Posted

I’m continuing my series on POC creators this week, to help get the names of my favorite creators of color out there into the brains of my readers! The most direct way to support these comic creators is to go buy their books. You can go on Comixology, but also check out your local comic shops, they’ll be more than happy to help you find whatever comics you’re looking for. There are also resources at the bottom of this post that could use your help in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Joe Bennett

Penciler, Inker

Brazilian-born Joe Bennett is easily my favorite artist of last year. He got his start working on Brazilian horror comics in the early ’90s, but quickly broke into the mainstream on the Marvel series Nightmare in 1994. He quickly proved himself to be a valuable addition to various Marvel titles, ranging from Iron Man and Amazing Spider-Man to Conan and the X-Men: Tales From The Age Of Apocalypse one-shot.

Eventually, he got noticed by DC as well, working for both publishers (as well as scattered work with Valiant and Image) until he signed an three-year exclusive contract with DC in 2005. Recently, he’s been working as much as ever, making a huge impact with the ongoing Immortal Hulk series, which is one of my favorite series ever written, Hulk or otherwise.

His style is body horror that would make Kronenberg drool. His way of drawing these twisting, tortuous forms of human bodies is as unique as it is disturbing. When he works on a book, the art is definitely not secondary, but a necessary component of the story-telling. If you like horror comics, you’re probably already familiar with him, as he’s made a huge impact on horror books for the past 20 years. He doesn’t show any signs of slowing down either, so make sure to pick up some of his past stuff before the slew of comics he’ll be sure to pencil this year!

You can find incredible examples of his work here: https://www.deviantart.com/comicsofjoebennett.

Resources

Here are a few organizations and communities that could use your help: