Mike Lilly
Encyclopedia
Mike Lilly is a comic book
artist who freelances for major comic-book publishers on such titles as Annihilation Conquest Quasar
, Vampirella
, Nightwing
, Batman
, Detective Comics
, Marvel Knights
, Punisher
, Catwoman
, Green Lantern
, X-Men Unlimited
, and Dungeons & Dragons
.
produced the creator owned World War II
pulp adventure, The Mercury Chronicles.
He has collaborated with the interior design company Kreiss Enterprises. Lilly designed life size panels to depict an entire comic book story installed onto the walls of designer Loren Kreiss's New York City apartment. This pop-art piece was featured in The New York Times Real Estate section, The Financial Times
Style section, Ocean Drive Magazine, Wizard Magazine and The New York Post
.
Lilly is most known in the Star Wars
community for his Star Wars Heritage original art sketch cards from Topps
, Inc. Lilly’s original art sketch cards can also be seen for the Revenge of the Sith trading card line, The Lord of the Rings
Evolution and Masterpieces series, Frankenstein
from Universal
, The Vintage Poster Collection sketch cards from Breygent, The Complete Avengers
from Marvel Comics
/Rittenhouse Archives and DC Legacy archive editions from DC Comics
.
Lilly has also illustrated educational comics for Scholastic (Macbeth
, Arabian Nights, Treasure Island
, The Sword in the Stone
, Jane Eyre), and Simon and Schuster, as well as medical comics for GlaxoSmithKline
and financial comics for Solomon Smith-Barney.
From 2002 to 2005, Lilly worked on a number of Batman-related titles for DC Comics
, including Batman Special #1, Detective Comics
#788-798 and Nightwing
#82, 85 and 94 - 97. From 2005 - 2006, Lilly illustrated the Vampirella
Revelations miniseries for Harris Comics.
In 2007 Lilly illustrated the Annihilation: Conquest: Quasar miniseries for Marvel Comics
.
In 2008 Lilly signed an exclusive contract with Dynamite Entertainment
, for whom he did work on Black Terror
, and hoped to do work on Red Sonja
, Zorro
and Lone Ranger.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
artist who freelances for major comic-book publishers on such titles as Annihilation Conquest Quasar
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
, Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
, Nightwing
Dick Grayson
Dick Grayson is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and illustrator Jerry Robinson, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940....
, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, Detective Comics
Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
, Marvel Knights
Marvel Knights
Marvel Knights is an imprint of Marvel Worldwide, Inc. that contains material taking place within the mainstream Marvel Universe .-Production:...
, Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
, Catwoman
Catwoman
Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics' Batman franchise. Historically a supervillain, the character was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane's cousin, Ruth Steel...
, Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
, X-Men Unlimited
X-Men Unlimited
-Volume 1:The purpose of this title was to run stories that fit between the main X-Men comics. The stories included all characters from the X-titles, and the issues were collections of short stories...
, and Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
.
Career
In 2005 Lilly and writer Vito DelsanteVito Delsante
Vito Delsante is a U.S. comic book writer. He has published stories in several U.S. comic books, and has worked on such characters as Batman, Wolverine from the X-Men, and Scooby Doo.-Overview:...
produced the creator owned World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
pulp adventure, The Mercury Chronicles.
He has collaborated with the interior design company Kreiss Enterprises. Lilly designed life size panels to depict an entire comic book story installed onto the walls of designer Loren Kreiss's New York City apartment. This pop-art piece was featured in The New York Times Real Estate section, The Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
Style section, Ocean Drive Magazine, Wizard Magazine and The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
.
Lilly is most known in the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
community for his Star Wars Heritage original art sketch cards from Topps
Topps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
, Inc. Lilly’s original art sketch cards can also be seen for the Revenge of the Sith trading card line, The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
Evolution and Masterpieces series, Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
from Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, The Vintage Poster Collection sketch cards from Breygent, The Complete Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
from Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
/Rittenhouse Archives and DC Legacy archive editions from DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
.
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, Arabian Nights, Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...
, Jane Eyre), and Simon and Schuster, as well as medical comics for GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
and financial comics for Solomon Smith-Barney.
From 2002 to 2005, Lilly worked on a number of Batman-related titles for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, including Batman Special #1, Detective Comics
Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
#788-798 and Nightwing
Nightwing
Nightwing is a name that has been used by several fictional characters in the DC Comics Universe. It was conceived as a Kryptonian analogue to the character of Batman, with Nightwing's frequent partner Flamebird based on Robin...
#82, 85 and 94 - 97. From 2005 - 2006, Lilly illustrated the Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
Revelations miniseries for Harris Comics.
In 2007 Lilly illustrated the Annihilation: Conquest: Quasar miniseries for Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
In 2008 Lilly signed an exclusive contract with Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment
Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book company that primarily publishes licensed franchises of adaptations of other media. These include adaptations of film properties such as Army of Darkness, Terminator and RoboCop, literary properties such as Zorro, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in...
, for whom he did work on Black Terror
Black Terror
The Black Terror is a fictional comic book superhero who originally appeared in Exciting Comics #9, published by Nedor Comics in January 1941. Some Black Terror stories were written by Patricia Highsmith before she became an acclaimed novelist...
, and hoped to do work on Red Sonja
Red Sonja
Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword, is a fictional character, a high fantasy sword and sorcery heroine created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, and loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's 1934 short story "The Shadow of the Vulture"...
, Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
and Lone Ranger.
Interviews
- Vampirella Revelations Interview - artist's thoughts on the acclaimed Vampirella Revelations Mini-Series with T.J. Dietsch.
- Mike Lilly Exposed! - Alvaro's Comic Boards Mike Lilly interview with Randy Burtis.
External links
- Mike Lilly.Com - Official website
- Mike Lilly's ComicSpace - artist's Comic Space site
- SIN Studios Online.com - official Strength In Numbers Studios website