iFanboy Upstarts: Neil Googe

Some upstarts burst onto the scene and quickly make a name for themselves, while others take awhile for the comics-buying public at large to take notice. Although Neil Googe co-created the Wildstorm series Welcome To Tranquility with Gail Simone and was the artist the last time DC tried reviving Wildcats, he’s still on the outside looking in when it comes to plum assignments at Marvel, DC or elsewhere. Those that know his work know it’s special, but the problem is getting the rest of the world clued in.

Googe got his start in the late 90s drawing the series Shotgun Mary for Antarctic Press, and was quickly snapped up by his native homeland primary magazine 2000AD for a number of shorts including some focused on Judge Dredd. In 2000 he helped found the independent comics publisher Com.X which later published his own creator-owned series Bazooka Jules, but only did three issues part-time before leaving that for better-paying work-for-hire in 2005. His first jaunt was on DC/Wildstorm’s Majestic, relaunching the series with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning  and crossover star Superman. After almost two years on that title, he was paired with Gail Simone to create the secret stories of a super-hero town in Welcome To Tranquility which ran for a dozen issues. After that, Wildstorm put him in charge of revamping it’s flagship book Wildcats with Christos Gage. Googe worked on that for a dozen issues before leaving the publisher and returning to 2000AD for a series of stories. The artist returned to DC/Wildstorm to provide covers for a second Welcome to Tranquility series in 2010, but by and large Googe has been absent from comics for a few years. A recent one-off stint on the webcomic The Gutters revealed in the credits that he’s working on a World of Warcraft OGN, but nothing else has been said about that project to date.

Googe’s work shows an incredibly clear, detailed line and an artist who’s not afraid to exaggerate to convey emotion. His work is on par with the likes of Invincible‘s Ryan Ottley and Batman Inc.‘s Chris Burnham, so for me it’s only the matter of time before an editor/publisher puts him on the right book to make it click. Look over this sampling of his work and tell us what you think.