With today's DC Comics re-release this week of the 2001’s Green Lantern: Willworld limited series, readers are getting a second chance to glimpse one of comics rising stars whose life was cut tragically short.
Artist Seth Fisher was one of several hot talents that burst on the comic scene at the turn of the century, and his work with writer J.M. DeMatteis on Green Lantern: Willworld set the tone for his career to come. Originally published as a limited series, Willworld told an untold adventure of a then-new Hal Jordan exploring a psychedelic world that is part alien and part M.C. Escher. Fisher’s art proved to be a perfect fit, mixing the inventive environments with the creative possibilities of a Green Lantern ring’s energy constructs.
Although Green Lantern: Willworld was his first major project, he’d done some minor work before in the late 90s on DC’s Big Book Of.. and a sadly uncollected two-issue series titled Happydale: Devils in the Desert from Vertigo. In the early 2000s Fisher began balancing a career in comics with work in animation and video games, but continued to do highly regarded short runs and one-shots such as 2002’s The Flash: Time Flies and a story in a 2005 issue of Spider-Man Unlimited with Locke & Key scribe Joe Hill. His next major project was a run on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight with writer/artist (and friend) J.H. Williams III. His last worked proved to be one of his most dynamic yet, as 2006’s Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big In Japan mixed the artist’s formidable talents with his own love of Japan, where he had been living for a few years. Tragically, Fisher’s life and career were cut short in January 2006 after he fell from a seven-story roof in Osaka, Japan.
Fisher’s family have kept up the artist’s website at www.floweringnose.com to celebrate his career, and the diversity of work both in and out of comics are a testament to the caliber of talent he possessed and his potential cut short by his tragic death. Here's a sampling of some of the work he created over the course of his career:
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The Flash: Time Flies and his run on Legends of the Dark Knight were both excellent. I’m excited to pick up Willworld today at the store.
I remember being out with @PraxJarvin and @comicbookchris in New York and I saw the hardcover for ‘Willworld’ in….Jim Hanley’s Universe I believe. They both said it was a great book and I should give it a shot. So when I got back from the trip it was the first thing I read and I couldn’t put the book down. What an amazing artist Seth Fisher was. It’s literally nothing like I’ve seen before and it’s just too hard to describe his type of style. I guess he is a mix of a surreal artist with a dab of cartoony style. (Like Dali being an animator)
Iron Man/Fantastic Four: Big in Japan is my favorite work of his. Now I havent read the Flash story he did, or the Vertigo stuff that isn’t collected. But from what I have read that FF book is my favorite. It has so many incredible designs and moments in it that gives me shivers today. That one page of the enormous Kajiu monster’s foot landing on Earth is the best sense of scale I ever looked at. I so wish his life wasn’t so cut tragically short cause he could’ve done so much in today’s market.
Great time to do an article on him Chris, thanks.
Also, maybe with all of these ‘DC Presents’ and ‘Vertigo Ressurected’ books coming out maybe DC will re-release ‘Flash: Time Flies’ and his ‘Tokyo Pop’ book as well? I really hope the sales for WillWorld this week warrants that.
wow, what a great talent. I wasn’t following comics during his career span, but i’ll def look for his work, and that mini GL trade thats coming out.
Big in Japan had some of the most gorgeous art i’ve ever seen in modern comics. will have to pick up willworld
Thank you Chris. I always felt that he was never recognized for the awesome artist he was. His style is like a combination of Ryp, Darrow and Moebius… but at the same time all his own.
The books he was involved with were always a sure shot. His works were enjoyed 3x more than others, because you could spend 3x as much time examining his pages. Every square inch of each page was loaded.
GL Willworld #1 was my POW. Not “new” well screw the rules it is still my pick.
Matthew
I appreciate this guy’s artwork so much, and loved it in the FF/Iron Man. I made an extra trip to a shop today and saw it on the shelves and instinctly picked it up, not even worrying about price. Great artist.
Seth is one of my favorite comic talents of all time. I own all his superhero work and sought it out only two years ago. It’s sad whenever someone lost especially to suicide. Its unfortunate we lost someone from the comic community at such a young age with so much talent, however were lucky for the work he had given us. I love every single page of his there is always so much going on, and his works deserves many viewings. R.I.P.!
I’m glad Seth is getting some much-deserved love these days with the re-release of GL: Willworld. His art just blew my mind from the moment I first saw it in the amazing Vertigo Pop! Tokyo mini and the couple of issues of Doom Patrol that he did (2002). Soon after that I hunted down copies of GL:Willworld and Flash: Time Flies on eBay.
I still pull out his work from time to time and just shake my head in disbelief. He definitely had that classic Moebius vibe — and so much more.
I was very shaken when I heard that he had died. @halik, I thought his fall was accidental.
Fisher is one of my biggest artistic influences. Such a great talent, just whimsical magical stuff. You can see his love of art and life in everything he drew…on every page he drew. I’m lucky enough to own a page from his batman run.
Halik, I don’t hink anyone knows if Seth committed suicide or not. His family doubts it and suspects he might have been examining his fear of heights (which his family said he was known to do…confront his fears about things) or they suspect he just fell on accident…over a shorter Japanese railing?
I wish DC would collect willword, flash time flies, and the Batman run in an absolute edition. He also had nice work in Happydale and Vertigo Pop Tokyo that would fill an absolute edtion nicely. His detailed art deserves to be appreciated in a larger format.
RIP Seth Fisher.
@NickPitarra: Strong words man.
Also, I was saying this the other day, and not just cause you decided to comment here, but I saw a lot of your work and it reminds me a lot of Fisher. There’s a bit of Darrow in there as well, but when I saw that short in SHIELD Infinity it was like seeing Fisher come back to life again.
I really respect your work (off topic but psyched for Red Wing) and intentional or not thanks for keeping Fisher’s name alive.
i agree he was quite moebius-y
I never really picked up any books by Seth Fisher but holy cow, what a mistake that is! This is some awesome art! What a talented individual…
Some of that art looks similar to Janet Lee. I wonder if he was a major influence.
I see the Moebius comparison, but I get a strong Geof Darrow vibe from this, personally. Either way, this guy is amazing.
Great artwork, but what is Batman doing in that first picture?!
@SpectralNinja He just slammed into the window
Man that Batman on the lampost is so good. There’s certainly a darrow to it but I think his faces are a bit more cartoony and expressive. Kind of like a Wieringo and Darrow hybrid.
Willworld costs $8. It’s a crime this wasn’t on EVERYONE’S pull list this week. I Hate Green Lantern yet love this book. Buy it, get someone else in the store to buy it, and maybe DC wll throw his other stuff into another 100 page spectacular.
The LOTDK story is basically Mr Freeze YEAR ONE. Awesome art, and JH Williams III’s story is rather good. But the art made the book.