LEE, JIM 361
(the Comics Code famously objected to his work on Green Lantern), but it perfectly
complements the arcane lavish detail of the period setting, and his angular, edgy style
recalls the artwork seen in Victorian advertisements, parodies of which are littered
throughout the series.
In 2003 a fi lm was released based on the comic, directed by Stephen Norrington and
starring Sean Connery. It was a critical and commercial failure, with widely reported
clashes between star and director. Th e result was a muddled, incoherent adaptation that
captured nothing of the intelligence of Moore’s writing or the edgy style of O’Neill’s
artwork.
Chris Murray
LEE, JIM (1964–). Jim Lee is a Korean American comics artist, writer, editor and
executive. Arguably the most popular and commercially successful artist in Anglo
American comics of the last 20 years, Lee is best known for drawing Marvel’s X-Men
characters and for co-founding Image Comics. Lee’s pencil style, particularly when
inked by longtime collaborator Scott Williams, stands in the tradition of John Byrne
and Arthur Adams, combining fi ne linework and attention to detail with fl ashy visu-
als and liberal splash pages. Following Lee’s rise to popularity, numerous artists have
attempted to imitate his style.
Lee’s fi rst published work, inks on the small-press comic Samurai Santa #1, came out
in 1985. Lee received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Princeton University in
1986, but decided he wanted to be a professional comics artist. He was soon hired by
Marvel, after showing his work to editor Archie Goodwin. From 1987 through 1990,
Lee mainly worked on Alpha Flight and Punisher Wa r J o u r n a l. In 1989, he also drew
four issues of Uncanny X-Men, however, and, as a result, was made the series’ regular art-
ist by editor Bob Harras in 1990. In 1991 Lee’s popularity led to the launch of X-Men, a
second fl agship title that Lee was now plotting as well as penciling, and whose debut issue
is still considered the best-selling American comic book since World War II. Although
Lee was granted greater creative control than usual, he left Marvel in 1992. He joined
Rob Liefeld, To d d M c F a r l a n e, and other Marvel artists who wanted to work on their
own characters to found Image Comics.
At Image, Lee established his own studio, WildStorm Productions, and created or
co-created series such as WildC.A.T.s, StormWatch and Gen 13, to great initial success.
In 1996 and 1997, Marvel outsourced some of its major properties to WildStorm, in
order to kickstart them creatively and commercially; it worked, and a new Fantastic
Four series, drawn by Lee himself, became the most successful of the “Heroes Reborn”
titles. Lee went on to launch Divine Right at Image, a 12-part series that he both wrote
and drew, but he failed to match his earlier commercial successes.
Lee left Image in 1998, selling WildStorm Productions to DC Comics, including
its sub-labels—Homage Comics, Cliff hanger! and Alan Moore’s then-forthcoming
America’s Best Comics—and all of his own characters. Lee himself has stayed on as
the editorial director of WildStorm, which DC continues to maintain as a publishing
