Tony Akins
Encyclopedia
Tony Akins is a DC
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
.
Matthew Sturges
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
.
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
(100 Bullets
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
for NOW Comics
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
.
At Dark Horse
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
(Tales of the Jedi
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
.
Tony Akins (born November 1, 1960) is a DC
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
.
Matthew Sturges
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
.
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
(100 Bullets
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
for NOW Comics
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
.
At Dark Horse
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
(Tales of the Jedi
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
.
Tony Akins (born November 1, 1960) is a DC
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
.
Matthew Sturges
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
.
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
(100 Bullets
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
for NOW Comics
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
.
At Dark Horse
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
(Tales of the Jedi
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
.
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...
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables was a spin-off of the comic book Fables, both of which were published by DC Comics as part of that company's Vertigo imprint. It shows the adventures of Jack Horner after his exile from Fabletown. A preview of the series was shown in Fables #50, and the series itself debuted in July...
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
Fables (comics)
Fables is a comic book series created by writer Bill Willingham, published by DC Comics's Vertigo imprint beginning in 2002. The series deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their Homelands by "The...
.
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels.-Biography:Sturges is best known for the Eisner-award nominated Jack of Fables from DC/Vertigo...
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
House of Mystery (Vertigo)
House of Mystery is an occult and horror-themed comic book anthology series based on the classic House of Mystery series that ran from 1951 to 1983...
.
Biography
Akins is a Chicago native of Afro-Caribbean/Irish ancestry. His father, Douglas Akins, was a sign painter, graphic designer and pioneering African American cartoonist at the Chicago DefenderChicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Comico Comics
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel...
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo.-Career:...
(100 Bullets
100 Bullets
100 Bullets is an Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso. It was published in the USA by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint and initially ran for one hundred issues...
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
Terminator (comics)
Terminator, in comics, may refer to:* Terminator , one of the names used by the DC Comics character Deathstroke* Terminator , a member of Marvel Comics' Spaceknights...
for NOW Comics
NOW Comics
NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comics books....
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
Rust (comics)
Rust is a fictional character in the Marvel universe, and was a member of the mutant political group called the Resistants. He made his first appearance in Captain America #350.-Fictional character biography:...
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
Nexus (comics)
Nexus is an American comic book series created by writer Mike Baron and penciler Steve Rude in 1981. The series is a combination of the superhero and science fiction genres, set 500 years in the future.-Publication history:...
.
At Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
Aliens (comic book)
The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe.Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features...
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
Star Wars (comics)
Comic books based on Star Wars have been published by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.-Marvel:The Marvel published a series of Star Wars comic books from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and 3 annuals....
(Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi is a series of comic books that are published by Dark Horse Comics and are part of the fictional Star Wars Expanded Universe. They cover the Great Sith War and the Great Hyperspace War and remain the earliest chronological Star Wars stories.The first books released covered the...
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising is a two-part story arc in the Tales of the Jedi series of comic books written by Tom Veitch. The first issue was published on 17 December 1997 by Dark Horse Comics...
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
Andrew Vachss
Andrew Henry Vachss is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths...
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
.
Awards
Jack of Fables was nominated for several Eisner Awards its first year out including "Best New Series".Tony Akins (born November 1, 1960) is a DC
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...
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables was a spin-off of the comic book Fables, both of which were published by DC Comics as part of that company's Vertigo imprint. It shows the adventures of Jack Horner after his exile from Fabletown. A preview of the series was shown in Fables #50, and the series itself debuted in July...
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
Fables (comics)
Fables is a comic book series created by writer Bill Willingham, published by DC Comics's Vertigo imprint beginning in 2002. The series deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their Homelands by "The...
.
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels.-Biography:Sturges is best known for the Eisner-award nominated Jack of Fables from DC/Vertigo...
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
House of Mystery (Vertigo)
House of Mystery is an occult and horror-themed comic book anthology series based on the classic House of Mystery series that ran from 1951 to 1983...
.
Biography
Akins is a Chicago native of Afro-Caribbean/Irish ancestry. His father, Douglas Akins, was a sign painter, graphic designer and pioneering African American cartoonist at the Chicago DefenderChicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Comico Comics
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel...
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo.-Career:...
(100 Bullets
100 Bullets
100 Bullets is an Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso. It was published in the USA by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint and initially ran for one hundred issues...
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
Terminator (comics)
Terminator, in comics, may refer to:* Terminator , one of the names used by the DC Comics character Deathstroke* Terminator , a member of Marvel Comics' Spaceknights...
for NOW Comics
NOW Comics
NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comics books....
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
Rust (comics)
Rust is a fictional character in the Marvel universe, and was a member of the mutant political group called the Resistants. He made his first appearance in Captain America #350.-Fictional character biography:...
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
Nexus (comics)
Nexus is an American comic book series created by writer Mike Baron and penciler Steve Rude in 1981. The series is a combination of the superhero and science fiction genres, set 500 years in the future.-Publication history:...
.
At Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
Aliens (comic book)
The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe.Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features...
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
Star Wars (comics)
Comic books based on Star Wars have been published by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.-Marvel:The Marvel published a series of Star Wars comic books from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and 3 annuals....
(Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi is a series of comic books that are published by Dark Horse Comics and are part of the fictional Star Wars Expanded Universe. They cover the Great Sith War and the Great Hyperspace War and remain the earliest chronological Star Wars stories.The first books released covered the...
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising is a two-part story arc in the Tales of the Jedi series of comic books written by Tom Veitch. The first issue was published on 17 December 1997 by Dark Horse Comics...
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
Andrew Vachss
Andrew Henry Vachss is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths...
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
.
Awards
Jack of Fables was nominated for several Eisner Awards its first year out including "Best New Series".Tony Akins (born November 1, 1960) is a DC
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...
/Vertigo contributing artist on the current series Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables
Jack of Fables was a spin-off of the comic book Fables, both of which were published by DC Comics as part of that company's Vertigo imprint. It shows the adventures of Jack Horner after his exile from Fabletown. A preview of the series was shown in Fables #50, and the series itself debuted in July...
which is under the Vertigo imprint at DC Comics. Jack of Fables is the spin-off title from writer Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
's multiple Eisner Award-winning series, Fables
Fables (comics)
Fables is a comic book series created by writer Bill Willingham, published by DC Comics's Vertigo imprint beginning in 2002. The series deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their Homelands by "The...
.
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges
Matthew Sturges is an American writer of comics and fantasy novels.-Biography:Sturges is best known for the Eisner-award nominated Jack of Fables from DC/Vertigo...
is co-writer on Jack of Fables. Akins is the regular penciller on the series since its beginning. Russ Braun is the series alternate penciller. Akins has also inked parts of the series he has pencilled (Gary Does Denmark), along with parts of Vertigo's House of Mystery
House of Mystery (Vertigo)
House of Mystery is an occult and horror-themed comic book anthology series based on the classic House of Mystery series that ran from 1951 to 1983...
.
Biography
Akins is a Chicago native of Afro-Caribbean/Irish ancestry. His father, Douglas Akins, was a sign painter, graphic designer and pioneering African American cartoonist at the Chicago DefenderChicago Defender
The Chicago Defender is a Chicago based newspaper founded in 1905 by an African American for primarily African American readers.In just three years from 1919–1922 the Defender also attracted the writing talents of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks....
through the 1940s to 1960s before becoming the paper's Society Editor. Educational information on Akins is limited. Although in interviews he has stated that he is autodidactic. He has association with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago through its Co-Op program. He also taught at the School in the early 1990s.
Some information leads to a long-time founding membership with the "statiCCreeps", a shadow-guild of artist/creators that pioneered a hybrid of Japanese manga in mainstream American comics during the late 1980s to early 1990s. The only published work by Akins that shows evidence of this is in Comico Comics
Comico Comics
Comico: The Comic Company was an American comic book publisher, headquartered in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Its best-known comics include the Robotech adaptations, the Jonny Quest continuation written by co-creator Doug Wildey, and Matt Wagner's Mage: The Hero Discovered and Grendel...
Red Dragon which was written by Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello
Brian Azzarello is an American comic book writer. He came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo.-Career:...
(100 Bullets
100 Bullets
100 Bullets is an Eisner and Harvey Award-winning comic book written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso. It was published in the USA by DC Comics under its Vertigo imprint and initially ran for one hundred issues...
) in 1992. At Comico Akins also worked on Elementals, another Bill Willingham creation, as penciller and cover artist.
Akins drew the first comic book adaption of Terminator
Terminator (comics)
Terminator, in comics, may refer to:* Terminator , one of the names used by the DC Comics character Deathstroke* Terminator , a member of Marvel Comics' Spaceknights...
for NOW Comics
NOW Comics
NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comics books....
after a critically acclaim stint on Rust
Rust (comics)
Rust is a fictional character in the Marvel universe, and was a member of the mutant political group called the Resistants. He made his first appearance in Captain America #350.-Fictional character biography:...
with writer Fred Schiller. For First Publishing (also in Chicago) he works on titles such as Mundan's Bar and one of a rarefied cadre of guest artists on the venerable Mike Baron/Steve Rude series Nexus
Nexus (comics)
Nexus is an American comic book series created by writer Mike Baron and penciler Steve Rude in 1981. The series is a combination of the superhero and science fiction genres, set 500 years in the future.-Publication history:...
.
At Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
Akins worked across licensed sci-fi titles from Aliens
Aliens (comic book)
The Aliens comic books were first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1988 and set in the Alien fictional universe.Some stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's Aliens, the first mini-series features...
(Colonial Marines) to Star Wars
Star Wars (comics)
Comic books based on Star Wars have been published by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.-Marvel:The Marvel published a series of Star Wars comic books from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and 3 annuals....
(Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi
Tales of the Jedi is a series of comic books that are published by Dark Horse Comics and are part of the fictional Star Wars Expanded Universe. They cover the Great Sith War and the Great Hyperspace War and remain the earliest chronological Star Wars stories.The first books released covered the...
: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising is a two-part story arc in the Tales of the Jedi series of comic books written by Tom Veitch. The first issue was published on 17 December 1997 by Dark Horse Comics...
) and pencilled the adaptation of Andrew Vachss
Andrew Vachss
Andrew Henry Vachss is an American crime fiction author, child protection consultant, and attorney exclusively representing children and youths...
story "Warlord" (the only play written by Vachss) in the Hardboilded series for Dark Horse. The use of light sabers to cut through metal barriers can be seen in his work on ToJ, prior to the film sequels and the first re-articulation of joint anatomy on the creature form Alien.
According to interviews and podcast, Akins left comics shortly afterwards and returned storyboarding to ride out the "bust" in the comic book industry.
He returned to comics with Fables #22 as a guest artist. Landed on Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
: Papa Midnight, a limited series for Vertigo, then returned to Fables for "War Stories" (which can be found in the Mean Season trade paperback
Trade paperback (comics)
In comics, a trade paperback is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles...
) before the start-up of Jack of Fables.
Akins is known for contribution designs for tech and mecha to the works of Alex Ross
Alex Ross
Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross is an American comic book painter, illustrator, and plotter. He is praised for his realistic, human depictions of classic comic book characters. Since the 1990s he has done work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics Nelson Alexander "Alex" Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an...
.
Awards
Jack of Fables was nominated for several Eisner Awards its first year out including "Best New Series".