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Fans of comics may not know the name of our focus for the week, but we know you’ve seen her work. Jo Chen is an Eisner Award-nominated artist who jumped into the American comic scene in 2000 when she became the title artist on DC/Wildstorm’s Racer X miniseries.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chen emigrated to the United States in 1994 although she had been working in Taiwan’s comic scene professionally for years. Her first full series, The Other Side of the Mirror, ran in the publication Star Girls from 1998 through 1999 and later was collected in two volumes that eventually saw American release in 2007 through Tokyopop.

When Chen arrived in the US, the manga style was just starting to emerge as a staple aesthetic in American comics and her work in popular titles such as Dreamwave’s Darkminds Macropolis and DC/Wildstorm’s Robotech: Love and War established her as a go-to artist for a dynamic feel to pull in new American readers.


photo by Bill Edwards
The next step in Chen’s career gained her a wide following among American comic readers. Starting in 2003, Chen was hired both by DC and Marvel Comics to work as a cover artist for several high profile titles including Robin, The Taskmaster and – most famously – Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways, which launched as part of Marvel’s Tsunami imprint to pull in young readers from the manga audience. Her painted style was eye-catching and had cross-over appeal that earned her fans from both mainstream comic and traditional manga audiences.

Since Runaways, Chen hasn’t slowed down, continuing to work as an in-demand cover artist for Dark Horse, Marvel and Radical Publishing. Her art has also started flowing into game promotion and production; some of her work for UDON showed up in Street Fighter promotional material and her current work as a concept artist for the upcoming XBOX Fable III.

Jo Chen’s main site: http://jo-chen.com/main-data/jo.html
Jo Chen’s deviantART account: http://jo-chen.deviantart.com/

Official Facebook Page: Become a fan!

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