Chris Samnee

Early life Chris Samnee grew up in De Soto, a nearby suburb of St. Louis. His earliest exposure to superheroes came through the Super Friends cartoon. He was not aware of the print source material for those cartoons until his grandmother began buying him three-packs of comics from a grocery store. His first comic book was a Batman book that he read when he was five or six years old, and that became his favorite character. He began copying the work of 80s artists whose work he was exposed to, like Tom Mandrake, Jim Aparo and Alan Davis. He would also research those who influenced these artists, such as comic strip artist Milton Caniff, whom Samnee read in an interview in Comics Journal was an influence on Aparo, and Frank Robbins. Samnee's grandmother further encouraged Samnee to expand his reading to the Dick Tracy comic strips found in a collection at a local library. By his mid-teens he was also heavily interested in Japanese manga and anime.

Samnee was about 10 years old when he realized he wanted to produce comics for a living. He convinced his parents to drive him an hour and a half to the airport Holiday Inn, where local comics conventions were held, and where he would bombard writers and artists with questions on how to produce comics and break into the industry. One particularly helpful creator was Conan artist Mike Doherty, who advised him on what to draw, and gave him some 11 x 14 Marvel Comics illustration board to draw on. Samnee was so in awe of holding professional board with the Marvel logo printed on it that he could not bring himself to draw on it, and in a 2013 interview, indicated that he still had it. The ongoing series launched in July 2020 with a prelude volume and proceeded to a monthly format in August 2020.

In 2021, Samnee launched a creator-owned fantasy series titled Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, co-written with his wife, Laura Samnee, and drawn by Samnee himself, and published by Oni Press.

Techniques and materials Samnee uses 300 series two-ply Strathmore Bristol board. He does not use non-photo blue pencils or any other equipment purchased at specialty stores for preliminary sketching, but uses .9 mm mechanical pencils that he purchases from Target. For inking he formerly used a sable hair Rafael 8404 number 3, 4, and 5, but found that he was able to produce convention sketches more quickly with implements that could be easily stored in pencil bags or pencil boxes, like brush pens, which eliminated the need to clean brushes and the worry about spilling ink. He eventually began using these tools for his professional work as well. The brush pens he uses include Zebra and Kuretake models, though most of his work is with a Pentel color brush, whose synthetic hair and refillable, squeezable barrel allows Samnee to controls the amount of ink on the brush. According to Samnee, this implement feels similar to a dipped brush, but does not require cleaning, and allows him the convenience to work wherever he wants.

Personal life In June 2013 Samnee took a paternity leave during the production of Daredevil (Vol 3) #28 and 29 so that he and his wife could spend time with their new baby.

Nominations 2006 Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award (for Capote in Kansas)