BIOGRAPHY:

Darwyn Cooke (1962- ), born in Toronto, Canada, arrived late into the comic industry. During his twenties he was a magazine art director, graphic designer, commercial production designer and editorial illustrator. At age 30 he decided to chuck it all in due to, "the stress of the job and the absolute moral bankruptcy of it... You're paid to lie." He decided to get back to his true loves: animation and comic books.

After founding and leading the award winning Brotherhood Animation Company he spotted an ad in The Comics Journal placed by Warner Brothers looking for artists to work on the Batman and Superman TV animated shows. This resulted in him spending three years in Los Angeles working for Bruce Timm on The Batman/Superman Adventures and later Batman Beyond. This was followed with a brief stint as Director on Men In Black: The Animated Series.

During his time in animation Darwyn developed a proposal for Batman: Ego, a self contained story which he wrote and drew, which finally saw print in 2000 and he has been working in comics ever since.

Interviews:
A Spirited Life (2006)
Newsarama (2005)
The Pulse (2005)
Comic Book Artist Vol 2 #3 (2004)
Silver Bullet Comic Books (2004)
Newsarama (2002)
Critical Eye (1999)

Reviews:
iComics: New Frontier
The Fourth Rail: New Frontier
iComics: Catwoman

The New Frontier
DC, 2004
"New Frontier is the story of the original Justice League members and how they came to be, told against the historic backdrop of the time period they were introduced- the 1950's. The high concept bite is The Right Stuff for superheroes. The goal is to try to successfully reflect the essence of what it means to be a hero. New Frontier is set in the Fifties because it's the era when the characters and ideas were fresh and new. The best example is Hal Jordan; he was created as a character who reflected his time- test pilots were the NBA stars of their day. The broader reason the story fits so well into this era is it really is the last gasp of white America's innocence. It is the time just before the JFK assassination, Vietnam, and Civil Rights issues stripped America of its faith in itself and its leaders. In other words, the last era in which a classic hero could still emerge."
Darwyn Cooke, from the Newsarama interview.

Catwoman: Selina's Big Score
DC, 2002
A mob train full of unmarked cash. A crew of professional thieves to take it down. Selina Kyle figured it was the perfect crime. But she was wrong. Dead wrong.

"Best graphic novel 2002. Cooke delivers comics single greatest heist story."
Wizard

Catwoman: The Dark End Of The Street
DC, 2002
Last seen at deaths door, Selina Kyle has disappeared and is assumed dead. But the mysterious circumstances of her death draw the attention of a certain roughneck private eye - Slam Bradley.

"... a story in the old school pulp, vein with hard boiled narration, sleazy characters and a secret agenda for everyone involved."
www.thefourthrail.com

Batman: Ego
DC, 2000
"... I was trying to find one Batman story that would allow me to do everything I thought was cool with the character (which is a tall order for any story to hold). I can't remember what the exact inspiration for the concept was, but I came up with this idea - What if you separate Bruce Wayne from Batman and they were able to have a conversation about what the fuck their life was all about and what was wrong with them?... Artistically it was troublesome because I was caught between the Bruce look in the Warners show...and then wanting to draw it more of my own way... It's not like I'm ashamed of Ego when I see it. I just look at it and go, Well, I wasn't quite there yet."
Darwyn Cooke, speaking in interview, Comic Book Artist Vol 2 #3

Graphic Novels:
The New Frontier Vol 2 (2005)
The New Frontier Vol 1 (2005)
Catwoman: Selina's Big Score (2002)
Catwoman: The Dark End Of The Street (2002)
Batman: Ego (2000)

Other Comic Work...
The New Frontier #1-6 (2004)
Wolverine/Doop #1-2 (2003)
Witchblade: Animated #1 (2003)
Spider-Man's Tangled Web #21 (2003)
Spider-Man's Tangled Web #11 (2002)

Short Stories In...
JSA All Stars #3 (2003)
Marvel Double Shot #3 (2003)
X-Force #124 (2002)
X-Static: Good Omens #1 (2002)
Legion Worlds #2 (2001)
Batman: Gotham Nights #23 (2000)