Denys Cowan


Denys Cowan is an American comics artist, television producer, media executive and one of the co-founders of Milestone Media.

Early life

Denys Cowan was first inspired by superheroes as a child from reruns of the 1950s TV show Adventures of Superman with George Reeves. He did not yet know what a comic book was, and would not learn about them until the third grade. After Cowan's mother died, he moved in with his grandparents, and attended school in that district, where he met a future fellow comics creator, Derek Dingle, who drew comics with his brother. Dingle showed Cowan his first comic book, an issue of Jack Kirby's New Gods. Cowan attended the High School of Art and Design in New York City. One day in the school lunchroom, the 14-year-old Cowan met someone who worked for artist and Deathlok creator Rich Buckler. This led Cowan to pay a visit one day after school to Buckler's studio, where Buckler hired Cowan as his assistant. For a year, Cowan performed a number of tasks, including running errands, cleaning the studio, looking up references, for which Buckler paid him in the music albums that he had played in his studio, which increased Cowan's appreciation for music.

Career

Cowan's first published comics work was a three-page story in Weird War Tales #93 for DC Comics. He was one of the contributors to the DC Challenge limited series in 1986. Cowan gained prominence as the primary artist on The Question, a comic book series written by Dennis O'Neil and published by DC beginning in February 1987. His other comics credits include the Batman story arc "Blind Justice" in Detective Comics #598–600 with writer Sam Hamm, which introduced the character Henri Ducard. Cowan was the penciller on the latter half of the 1990 Deathlok miniseries, published by Marvel Comics, which was written by Dwayne McDuffie and Gregory Wright as well as on the subsequent regular title of the same name.
Cowan and writer Dwayne McDuffie collaborated on a Prince comic book in 1991. Cowan co-founded Milestone Media in 1993 with McDuffie, Michael Davis, and Derek Dingle, and later worked as a producer on Static Shock, an animated series based on Milestone character Static.
As senior vice president of animation at BET, Cowan was responsible for the creation, development and production of animated programming for the entire network. This included the development and production of the premiere season of The Boondocks.
Serving as senior vice President of Motown Animation and Filmworks, he created and developed a number of shows with Fox, ABC, Disney, and Nickelodeon.
Cowan drew the cover art of the GZA/Genius of the Wu-Tang Clan's album Liquid Swords.

Awards

Cowan and inker Rick Magyar were nominated for an Eisner Award as "Best Art Team" in both 1988 and 1989 for their work on The Question.
Cowan received an Inkpot Award at San Diego Comic-Con in 2013.

Regular penciller

  • Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #49–51 –
  • Superman #357–358 –
  • The Flash #297–299 –
  • The Flash #301–302 –
  • Power Man and Iron Fist #80–84, #86–90, #92–93
  • The Vigilante #24–26 –
  • Teen Titans Spotlight #1–2 –
  • The Question #1–19, #21–36
  • The Question Annual #1–2
  • Doctor Zero #1–4
  • Black Panther vol. 2 #1–4 –
  • Detective Comics #598–600
  • The Question Quarterly #1–5
  • Deathlok #3–4 –
  • Green Arrow #39, #41–43
  • Nightcat #1 –
  • Green Arrow #46–48
  • Prince: Alter Ego –
  • Deathlok vol. 2 #1–7, #9–13, #15
  • Deathlok Annual #1 –
  • Moon Knight: Divided We Fall –
  • Lobo: Blazing Chain of Love #1
  • Hardware #1–7, #11, #13, #16–18
  • Xombi #0
  • Frank #1–2, #4 –
  • Long Hot Summer #1–3 –
  • Batman: The Ultimate Evil #1–2
  • Total Justice #1–3 –
  • Steel #34–52
  • "Waking Nightmare!" All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant #1 –
  • Fight for Tomorrow #1–6
  • Black Panther/Captain America: Flags of Our Fathers #1–4
  • Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1–7
  • Convergence: Batman and Robin #1–2
  • Convergence Detective Comics #1–2
  • The Black Racer and Shilo Norman Special #1
  • Black Lightning / Hong Kong Phooey #1

    Fill-in penciller

  • "Ultimate Weapon." Weird War Tales #93
  • "Diplomatic Immunity." Mystery in Space #115
  • "Batman's Rogues Gallery." The Best of DC #14
  • "The Idol of Millions." House of Mystery #297
  • "Bushido." Unknown Soldier #256
  • "The Worship of False Idols." Moon Knight #17 –
  • Flash Force 2000 –
  • Marvel Age #20
  • "Final Transactions, Part 3: Threats and Promises.Sabre #12 –
  • Vigilante Annual #1
  • The Vigilante #19
  • Heroes Against Hunger #1 –
  • DC Comics Presents #90
  • The Vigilante #27
  • 'Mazing Man #5 –
  • Batman Annual #10
  • DC Challenge #12 –
  • V #17–18
  • The Vigilante #36
  • Batman #403
  • Electric Warrior #9 –
  • Marvel Age Annual #4
  • Sable #5
  • Iron Man #241
  • The Shadow Strikes #3
  • Clive Barker's Hellraiser #9
  • Clive Barker's Hellraiser #12 –
  • "The Big Applesauce." Marvel Fanfare #60 –
  • Static #14
  • Hardware #25
  • Hardware #32
  • Blood Syndicate #32
  • Hardware #36
  • Superman: The Man of Steel #54
  • Wolverine vol. 2 #123–124
  • "Outsiders." The Rampaging Hulk vol. 2 #1
  • Silver Surfer vol. 3 #143
  • Silver Surfer vol. 3 #146