In the late 2010s, his "ComicArtistPro Secrets" channel on YouTube focused on right-wing social commentary, through which he became a central figure in Comicsgate.
Van Sciver decided on a career in the comic-book field after seeing the 1978 movie Superman as a child, but only began to read comics intently with John Byrne's The Man of Steel in 1986. He cites Chris Claremont and Jon Bogdanove's Fantastic Four vs. the X-Men (1987) as a strong influence.[6]
Career
While in high school, Van Sciver did various art-related jobs, which included painting murals of Native Americans, drawing caricatures for mall customers, illustrating children's books, and airbrushing t-shirts.[1][5]
Van Sciver's first comics work was published in 1994, writing and drawing what he later called "a horrible little character called Cyberfrog",[6] published by Hall of Heroes and later Harris Comics.[1][7]
Mainstream publishers
His first work for DC Comics was in 1998,[7] which led to him being hired in 1999 as the artist on the series Impulse, with writer Todd Dezago.[7] This was followed in 2001 by the first of what would become several collaborations with writer Geoff Johns, on the superhero-horror one-shot The Flash: Iron Heights.[6]
Ethan Van Sciver drawing at Comicon fest, Athens, 2008
Van Sciver was hired by Marvel Comics in 2001 to work on New X-Men, a retitled and revamped series (beginning with #114) written by Grant Morrison.[7] The series' primary artist Frank Quitely was not expected to illustrate the necessary twelve issues per year, so Van Sciver was scheduled to illustrate two issues per year, which expanded to more issues as Igor Kordey was also hired as a semi-regular artist.[6] Van Sciver drew a total of four issues. In issue #133 of this series, Morrison and Van Sciver co-created the character Dust, a Sunni Muslimmutant who can transform into sand.[8]
Returning to work primarily for DC, Van Sciver worked with Johns on the six-issue miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004) which restored the Silver Age character Hal Jordan as the publisher's primary Green Lantern. They then worked together on an ongoing series featuring the character.[9] During this time Van Sciver was one of the artists who contributed to a series of instructional books for amateur comics artists, published by Wizard magazine.[10][11][12][13]
In 2006, Van Sciver penciled the cover art for metal band Winger's fourth studio album. The cover art was also sold as a poster called "Guardian of Freedom".[14]
In 2017, Van Sciver penciled illustrations for 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, a self-help book by Canadian psychologist and social activist Jordan Peterson.[22] No longer employed by DC, in 2018 Van Sciver announced that he would instead produce his own comics,[23] and in 2019 he published Cyberfrog: Bloodhoney featuring his early character Cyberfrog, for which he had raised over $500,000 through crowdfunding.[24] A campaign in 2020 raised over $1 million for a follow-up Cyberfrog: Rekt Planet, promised to ship in 2021.[25]
Political commentary
In 2017, Van Sciver began a YouTube channel called ComicArtistPro Secrets, which originally featured demonstrations of illustration tools and techniques, but which later focused on commentary about comics, other comics creators, and fan culture.[26][27] Through that channel, Van Sciver became a central figure in Comicsgate, a movement whose members oppose what they see as forced political themes and anti-consumer practices in current mainstream superhero comics,[28][29] such as cultural diversity and progressive politics. The movement has been criticized for harassment tactics in online campaigns against those who produce these comics and work in the industry.[30][31][32] Van Sciver faced criticism over an announced collaboration with cartoonist Dave Sim, whose views about women have been described by critics as misogynistic. Van Sciver initially defended Sim's past relationship with a 14-year-old girl, likening it to that of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, until he learned more details about Sim's relationship with her, and cancelled the project.[33]
Van Sciver has also been a prominent figure in the Fandom Menace, a Star Wars fan movement with similar goals and methods to Comicsgate.[34][35] In 2018, Van Sciver expressed his displeasure at the direction that the franchise had taken by producing a video of himself opening and destroying action figures of The Last Jedi character Rose Tico.[36]
Following the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, in which eight people, including six Asian women, were killed,[37] Van Sciver referenced the incident during a livestream group discussion on film director Zack Snyder, commenting, "He'll never stop me from killing Chinese people, ever. I don't care how many movies he makes. Give me a Tommy Gun and line them up against the wall, as the great Stan Lee once said."[35][38]
In March 2023, Van Sciver publicly criticized actor Pedro Pascal for not having defended his Mandalorian co-star Gina Carano[39][40] when Lucasfilm fired her from that series in 2021[41] for comments that were interpreted as a comparison of treatment of American conservatives to Jews in Nazi Germany.[42][43][44] During the March 12, 2023 telecast of the 95th Academy Awards, Van Sciver reacted to the appearance of Pascal, who is Chilean-American, presenting an award with actress Elizabeth Olsen, by tweeting a screenshot of them with the caption "Oh, it’s this asshole. Thanks for standing behind Gina, you flabby coward."[39][40][45] The tweet drew backlash from Chilean Twitter users, resulting in thousands of comments critical of Van Sciver's original tweet. Van Sciver responded to this by posting recipes and other phrases in Spanish, and tweeting the following day, "I seem to have pissed off Chile last night. Lmfao. My bad."[39][40][46]
Personal life
As of August 2005, Van Sciver resided in Orlando, Florida,[1] where he lived for several years. As of May 2015 he lived in North Carolina, but was in the process of moving back to New Jersey to be with his girlfriend Andrea, whom he met when he was 18.[5]
New X-Men TPB By Grant Morrison Ultimate Collection 2
New X-Men #124–125, 128, 130–131, 134, 146
Isom #2 Cover B by Rippaverse Comics
WildStorm
Claw of the Conquered #1a, 1b (2006–2007) (cover artist)
Wizard
Entertainment, Wizard (2005). Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 01 "The Best of Basic Training: Volume 1". Wizard Entertainment. ISBN0976287404. (co-writer)
Entertainment, Wizard (2005). Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 02 "Heroic Anatomy". Wizard Entertainment. ISBN0976287455. (co-writer)
Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 03 "Character Creation". Wizard. 2005. ISBN0976287471. (co-writer)
Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 04 "Storytelling". Wizard Entertainment. 2005. ISBN0977861309. (co-writer)
^Strömberg, Fredrik (2014). "Race and Ethnicity". In Booker, M. Keith (ed.). Comics Through Time. Vol. 4. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood. p. 1710. ISBN9780313397509.
^Cowsill, Alan (2010). "2000s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 315. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. Geoff Johns' story was beautifully brought to life by penciller Ethan Van Sciver.
^Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 01 "The Best of Basic Training: Volume 1". Los Angeles, California: Wizard Entertainment. 2005. ISBN0976287404.
^Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 02 "Heroic Anatomy". Los Angeles, California: Wizard Entertainment. 2005. ISBN0976287455.
^Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 03 "Character Creation". Los Angeles, California: Wizard Entertainment. 2005. ISBN0976287471.
^Wizard How to Draw - TPB vol. 04 "Storytelling". Los Angeles, California: Wizard Entertainment. 2005. ISBN0977861309.
^Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 337: "Writer Geoff Johns and artist Ethan Van Sciver...joined forces again to relaunch Barry Allen as the Flash."
^Marston, George (April 5, 2016). "Rebirth Brings Hal Back to the Green Lantern Corps". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Hal Jordan will be flying with a familiar co-pilot as recent Green Lantern writer Robert Venditti will continue to write his adventures in the new ongoing series Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps. Also joining him is classic Green Lantern artist Ethan Van Sciver.
^Johnston, Rich (January 11, 2019). "A New Year's Ballad of Dave Sim and Ethan Van Sciver". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved April 20, 2019. Van Sciver had no idea however, it seems. Initially, he compared the situation to that of Elvis and Priscilla Presley...Upon further review and investigation, I'm just going to write CYBERFROG REKT PLANET my damn self.
