He left Uncanny X-Men in 1997 to work on his own series Battle Chasers for Wildstorm Comics’ creator-owned Cliffhanger imprint. Joe then went on to work in the video game industry. Starting with the start-up company Tri-Lunar, he created concept art on a game called Dragonkind which was canceled when Tri-Lunar went out of business. He then went to work for Realm Interactive, another start-up company, on Trade Wars: Dark Millennium. When Realm Interactive was acquired by NCsoft, he continued to contribute to the game as it evolved into Exarch, and was eventually released as Dungeon Runners. During this time, he would occasionally contribute cover artwork for gaming magazines and comic books.

Madureira returned to the comic book industry as the artist on Marvel’s The Ultimates 3, with writer Jeph Loeb. After leaving NCsoft, Madureira founded Vigil Games with several other ex-NCsoft employees. Vigil was acquired by THQ in March 2006. Madureira was dubbed one of the ten most influential comic artists of all time in the May 2002 issue of Wizard magazine. His inclusion was instantly contested by many comic book readers, as this list did not include many artists who are considered to have had a far more profound influence on the comics industry over a much longer period of time. Dreamwave Productions founder Pat Lee claimed of Madureira, “When people think of the late ’90s in comics, they will think of Joe Madureira.”

Madureira remarked his early style was heavily influenced by Arthur Adams in an interview with Wizard Magazine, but his style evolved into one more influenced by manga and anime. In interviews, Madureira has mentioned that series such as Ghost in the Shell and Bastard!! are among his favorites. His run on X-Men helped fuel interest in the United States towards Japanese entertainment during the late 1990s.

Check out his breathtaking and stylized work at a comic shop near you!

Reviews–

DC: Justice Society of America #6

The crossover storyline with the Justice League of America, The Lightning Saga, continues and I’m ready for it to be over. It’s not that it’s that bad but it’s not very good either. There are some great characters here but the storyline just seems a bit contrived. But isn’t that a sweet cover of Damage by Alex Ross though?….Grade: C-

Marvel: Silent War #5

This mini-series has been awesome and with one more issue to go I can’t wait to see the outcome. Writer David Hine puts forth a great issue 5 with the Inhumans attacking the Pentagon and the Mighty Avengers trying to defend it. Frazier Irving’s art is something to marvel at in it’s beauty and uniqueness as he renders some fantastic battle scenes. You should have been picking this up from the start if you haven’t. A great read that has some of the most interesting characters of the Marvel Universe….Grade A

Marvel: Silver Surfer: Requiem #1

This mini-series deals with the impending death of the Silver Surfer. Yes, the mighty herald of Galactus is at an end and the Surfer is out to set his affairs in order in a manner of speaking. Personally I’ve never really cared all that much about the Surfer but writer J. Michael Straczynski in this first issue makes you care about the character. Esad Ribic’s painted art is amazing and makes this book a real gem….Grade: A-

Previews–

Vertigo: Exterminators #18

The second part of Showdown at Scatshot has Stretch setting out to discover who framed him for the casino robbery. Stretch, who is one of the standout characters of this series, finally gets to be front and center and the first issue of this storyline was great. Hopefully the second is as well.

Marvel: Uncanny X-men 487

The X-men are a house divided as half of their crew are stranded in deep space and the others are on Earth. The latter have to deal with an attack in the Morlock tunnels but have help with a guest appearance by Storm of the Fantastic Four (if you didn’t know she was with the FF you know now). Ed Brubaker continues with the writing but the great Salvador Larroca is the new artist dealing out the pretty pretty art.

Until next time….Peace—