iFanboy Upstarts: Felix Ruiz

Most comic artists start out as someone else. What I’m saying is that, generally, when comic artists start that climb to becoming a professional comics creator they take inspiration from their favorite artists. Jim Lee’s early work was an amalgam of Art Adams and John Byrne, while Marc Silvestri patterned himself more after the fantasy work of John Buscema. The iconic and supremely unique Bill Sienkiewicz got his start in the late 70s with a style very similar to Neal Adams’ before he found his own wavelength. This week’s iFanboy Upstart is joining that pantheon by paying tribute and homage to Sienkiewicz in both style and signature.

Palencia-based artist Felix Ruiz bounced around the comics scene of Spain for years doing a variety of work from humor to horror, but it wasn’t  until he turned his attention to America that he started making a name for himself. After doing a variety of samples for Marvel including a interesting looking Wolverine spread, Ruiz got a shot in 2010 drawing a spin-off miniseries to Agents of Atlas entitled Marvel Boy: The Uranian. Ruiz’ work hit like a bomb for people that read it, showing himself to be more than just a rookie artist but someone with years under his belt and an admitted adoration of Sienkiewicz, even going  so far as to pattern his own signature after his idol’s.  After finishing that series early, Ruiz was tapped to bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Agent Phil Coulson to comics for the first time in the movie-continuity comic Iron Man 2: Phil Coulson, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Joe Casey — a pairing I’d love to see more of someday. After a quick stint as a fill-in artist for Marvel Zombies 5, Ruiz was paired with Brian Reed to do what would become a series of Halo miniseries, from Halo: Fall fo Reach – Boot Camp to a sequel subtitled Covenant and then a final installment with Invasion.

Finishing up his Halo trilogy in 2012, Ruiz then jumped over to Marvel’s X-Offices to pen the four-issue finale of the most recent New Mutants series by Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett. In what was art coincidence, part fate and maybe just a little bit of editorial brilliance, Ruiz was following in the footsteps of his idol Bill Sienkiewicz who worked on the series in 1984 and 1985. After that, Ruiz was tapped to take over Wolverine MAX from Connor Willumsen who departed the series after its first issue. Ruiz also stepped in ably in this month’s Astonishing X-Men, helping Gabriel Hernandez Walta get the book out on time.

Although Ruiz is firmly entrenched at Marvel, he’s still waiting for that chance to step out on his own to the comics readership at large. I could see him stepping in to a high-profile Marvel book as one of a group of rotating artists, but what would be really imaginative for him and others would be if DC were to take notice and put Walta on one of their books to help spur a creative resurgence. Where would you like to see Ruiz next, iFanbase?