Timothy Truman Explained

Birth Date:9 February 1956
Birth Place:Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, United States
Area:Penciller, inker, writer
Awards:Haxtur Award 1991

Timothy Truman (born February 9, 1956)[1] is an American writer, artist and musician. He is best known for his stories and Wild West-style comic book art, and in particular, for his work on Grimjack (with John Ostrander), Scout, and the reinvention of Jonah Hex, with Joe R. Lansdale.

Biography

Truman was born in 1956 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.[2] After graduating from Gauley Bridge High School in 1974, he attended the Columbus College of Art and Design while also attending West Virginia University. From 1979 to 1981 he attended The Kubert School in New Jersey.[3]

He currently lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and was an instructor at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design from 2003 to 2006.[4]

Roleplaying games

After graduation, he moved to New York City and worked in the fantasy role-playing game industry for a few years providing illustrations for various companies, including working for TSR, Inc. as a staff illustrator.

Along with Flint Henry, Truman co-authored Rifts Dimension Book 1: Wormwood (1993), which author Shannon Appelcline states was "critically acclaimed for the vibrant backgrounds".[5]

In 2015, Truman contributed, among other artists, to bring inner illustrations to the tabletop role-playing game , first published in 2016 by British company Modiphius Entertainment.

Comics

Truman's first professional comics work was a series of backup stories in DC Comics' Sgt. Rock title published from 1981 to 1983.[6] [7] His first major work was Grimjack with writer John Ostrander,[8] for the independent comics company First Comics. Grimjack first appeared in Starslayer #10 (November 1983), before moving to his own series after issue #18 (July 1984), and continued for 81 issues.

In 1985, he created Scout, which was followed by Scout: War Shaman, a futuristic western. A year later, he relaunched the Hillman characters Airboy and The Heap for Eclipse Comics.[9] He also developed The Prowler, a Shadow type character, and adapted The Spider for Eclipse.

At DC Comics he created Hawkworld, a reinvention of Hawkman in 1989.[10] An ongoing series with the same name was launched the following year.[11] With author Joe R. Lansdale, he reinterpreted Jonah Hex as a horror western. In it, their creation of villain Edgar Autumn elicited a lawsuit from musician Edgar Winter.[12]

Truman was chosen by Dark Horse Comics to illustrate a newly completed Tarzan novel and wrote a story arc for the comic book. He also wrote nearly the entire run of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for Valiant Comics. For the defunct science fiction imprint of DC, Helix, he created The Black Lamb. He also worked on a typical pulp adventure Guns of the Dragon, featuring Enemy Ace and Bat Lash and scripted a Creature Commandos limited series.[13] At Dark Horse Comics, he wrote Star Wars, Conan, and Conan The Cimmerian.[14]

New Projects

In 2018 Truman launched a successful Kickstarter campaign, Scout Marauder, to expand on the storyline of his beloved character Scout. The promotion was a success, raising over $44,000.00 from supporters. The campaign was projected to be completed in February 2019. As of July 2024, the project is still in production.[15] [16] [17] [18]

West Virginia

Truman's work, Wilderness: The True Story of Simon Girty, Renegade was a two-volume black and white graphic novel depicting the American settler's western frontier.

Tecumseh! a graphic novel based on the Chillicothe Ohio Outdoor Theater Production is a colored graphic novel that shows the play from beginning to end. It renewed interest in the warrior in Appalachia.

Music

A longtime fan and musician, Truman has integrated his love of music into comics and illustration. While working for Eclipse Comics, Truman included a Flexi disc recording inside Scout #19 (May 1987) that provided a soundtrack to one of the scenes in the comic. He also released an album through Eclipse Records with his band The Dixie Pistols entitled Marauder. The album included a short comic book featuring the wedding of Emanuel Santanna that took place between the first series Scout and the second series Scout: War Shaman.

While writing the biography of one of his favorite guitarists, Carlos Santana, for Rock-It Comics, Truman found out that the musician had been a longtime fan of his comic, Scout, whose main character, Emanuel Santanna, is the namesake of the famous guitarist. Naming the characters after favorite musicians was a common convention that Truman used throughout the Scout series.

Truman has also had a long relationship with the band the Grateful Dead creating artwork for CD covers, tour posters, limited-edition T-shirts and a color comics page in each issue of the Grateful Dead Almanac.

Truman built a recording studio in his home and while producing recording sessions for Cherokee singer/songwriter Terry Strongheart, they decided to form a new band with some of Truman's friends and Strongheart's daughter called the Terry Strongheart Band. Two CDs have been recorded, the first entitled Tears and the follow-up Indian School.

Truman provided illustrations for the posthumous Rory Gallagher release Kickback City (2013).[19] [20] Truman said he first heard Gallagher's music in 1973 while a junior in high school.[21]

Timothy Truman is often confused with the music composer Tim Truman[22] who wrote the theme to Melrose Place and composed the score to Miami Vice's final season among other important contributions to the music industry in movies and television.

Bibliography

Avatar Press

Bantam Spectra

Dark Horse Comics

DC Comics

Helix

Vertigo

Eclipse Comics

First Comics

IDW Publishing

Innovation Publishing

Marvel Comics

Epic Comics

Topps Comics

Valiant Comics

TSR

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Miller. John Jackson. John Jackson Miller. Comics Industry Birthdays. Comics Buyer's Guide. June 10, 2005. Iola, Wisconsin. https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays. February 18, 2011. dead. mdy-all.
  2. Miller, Donald (January 23, 1996). "Frontier Roundtable", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. B9.
  3. Fox, Margalit (August 23, 2012). "Joe Kubert Sept. 18, 1926 – Aug. 12, 2012: Comic-book artist explored war and violence", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p. D5.
  4. Web site: About the Artist. Timothy. Truman. n.d.. Truman Studio. https://web.archive.org/web/20160331061012/http://www.trumanstudio.citymax.com/page/page/1764173.htm. March 31, 2016. live. mdy-all.
  5. Book: Appelcline, Shannon. Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. 2011. Swindon, United Kingdom. 978-1-907702-58-7. 160.
  6. Web site: Timothy Truman. 2016. Lambiek Comiclopedia. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305104521/https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/truman_timothy.htm. March 5, 2016. live. mdy-all. A 1981 Kubert School graduate, Timothy Truman is an original artist of both mainstream and independent comic books. He began his career doing backup stories in DC's Sgt. Rock..
  7. and
  8. Kapalka, Jeff (March 13, 2005). "Second-string heroes get second chance", The Post-Standard, p. 27.
  9. Web site: Airboy. Don. Markstein. 2010. Don Markstein's Toonopedia. https://archive.today/20111025163954/http://www.toonopedia.com/airboy.htm. October 25, 2011. live. mdy-all. In 1986, Eclipse Enterprises...acquired Hillman's characters and brought out a new Airboy series. The character was brought up to date (including moving him out of his original time frame) by scripter Chuck Dixon...and artist Tim Truman..
  10. Book: Manning. Matthew K.. Dolan. Hannah, ed.. 1980s. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. 2010. London, United Kingdom. 978-0-7566-6742-9. 240. Writer/artist Timothy Truman fashioned the three-issue prestige format limited series Hawkworld in a quest to revamp Hawkman..
  11. Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 247: "In June [1990], Timothy Truman's Hawkworld was expanded into an ongoing series, featuring the scripts of John Ostrander and the art of Graham Nolan."
  12. Web site: The Winter Brothers vs. Jonah Hex Goes Supreme. Matt. Brady. January 25, 2003. Newsarama. https://web.archive.org/web/20090214190443/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=2841. February 14, 2009. dead. mdy-all. The matter began in 1996, when the Winter Brothers filed suit against Lansdale, Truman and Glanzman, writer, penciller, and inker, respectively, of DC’s Jonah Hex: Riders of the Worm and Such..
  13. Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 295: "The Creature Commandos returned to service thanks to writer Timothy Truman and artist Scot Eaton."
  14. Web site: Tim Truman talks Conan the Cimmerian. Emmett. Furey. June 25, 2008. Comic Book Resources. https://web.archive.org/web/20150906014901/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16923. September 6, 2015. live. mdy-all.
  15. Web site: "How Far We've Come Since the 1980s!": An Interview with Tim Truman . May 18, 2018 .
  16. Web site: Tim Truman's Scout is Back! Scout: Marauder Kicks off a New Graphic Novel Series . June 7, 2018 .
  17. Web site: Kickstarting Scout: Marauder . June 11, 2018 .
  18. Web site: Scout: Marauder Catalog .
  19. Seaman. Duncan. Album review: Kickback City by Rory Gallagher. Yorkshire Evening Post. Leeds, United Kingdom. Yorkshire Post Newspapers. November 29, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20160515031018/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/whats-on/music/album-review-kickback-city-by-rory-gallagher-1-6286047. May 15, 2016. live. mdy-all. Drawing on Gallagher’s passion from crime novels, this triple CD comes housed in a hardback book that includes The Lie Factory, a new novella by bestselling author Ian Rankin, illustrations by DC Comics graphic artist Timothy Truman and audio book version narrated by Hollywood actor Aidan Quinn..
  20. (November 24, 2013). "Rebus author in tribute to legend Rory", Belfast Telegraph, p. 33.
  21. Dex, Robert (September 11, 2013). "Rankin writes novella inspired by icon Rory's music ", Irish Independent, p. 2.
  22. Scout: War Shaman #14 (June 1989), where the letters page shows several examples of this
  23. Web site: 1991 Haxtur Awards. Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. https://web.archive.org/web/20160331014242/http://hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/haxtur91.php. March 31, 2016. live.