Paul Smith

Paul Smith (born September 4, 1953) is an American comic book artist, known for his work on The Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, American Flagg!, Nexus, GrimJack and his creator-owned book, Leave It to Chance.

During his 1983 run on The Uncanny X-Men, Smith's work on issue 173 of that series would prove influential in two ways: It featured the debut of the punk look for the X-Men leader Storm, and Smith's cover of that issue would influence both a latter comic book cover and a best-selling poster and retailer standee by artist Arthur Adams.

Early life Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but only lived there three days. His father was a U.S. Naval aviator, and the family moved several times during his childhood. As a young comics fan, Smith particularly admired the work of Steve Ditko on The Amazing Spider-Man and Neal Adams on Batman.

Career Smith had no formal art training aside from some courses in airbrushing. He began his career as an animation artist on Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings. In the early 1980s, he filled in on a variety of Marvel Comics titles, including Marvel Fanfare #4, cover dated September 1982, doing the final chapter of an X-Men story. Both issues of the series were 48 pages long and featured wraparound covers drawn by Smith. He was scheduled to pencil a Spider-Man graphic novel, a collaboration with Bob Layton, once his run on Doctor Strange concluded, but it was never completed.

His other works include The Golden Age and the young adults comic Leave It to Chance, both collaborations with writer James Robinson. Smith has also contributed art to a number of First Comics titles including American Flagg!, Nexus, and GrimJack.

In 2005 Smith drew the Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame limited series written by Akira Yoshida.

Selected interior comics work Amazing High Adventure 2 (Marvel Comics) American Flagg! 47, 48 (First Comics) Batman Annual 9 (DC Comics) Bizarre Adventures 34 (Marvel Comics) Buck Rogers 1 (TSR) Code Name: Danger 3 Doctor Strange 54, 56, 65, 66, 68, 69, 71–73 (Marvel Comics) The Falcon 1 (Marvel Comics) The Golden Age 1–4 (DC Comics) GrimJack 24 (First Comics) Hero Alliance Annual 1 (Innovation Publishing) Howard the Duck 32 (Marvel Comics) Iron Lantern 1 (Amalgam Comics) Iron Man 159, 245, Annual 10 (Marvel Comics) Leave It To Chance 1–13 (Image Comics) Magnus Robot Fighter Yearbook 1 (Valiant Comics) Marvels Comics Fantastic Four 1 (Marvel Comics) Marvel Fanfare 1, 4, 32, 45, 60 (Marvel Comics) Nexus 37-38, 43-44, 49, 51–55 The Spirit 17–21 (DC Comics) Starman 69 (DC Comics) Sun Runners 2–4 (Mike Mahogany back up strip only) (Eclipse Comics) Uncanny X-Men 165–170, 172–175, 278 (Marvel Comics) Wild Times; Grifter 1 (WildStorm) X-Factor 43–46, 48, 49 (Marvel Comics) X-Men and Alpha Flight 1, 2 (Marvel Comics) X-Men Forever 6, 10 (Marvel Comics)