Bob McLeod (comics)


Bob McLeod is an American comics artist best known for co-creating the New Mutants with writer Chris Claremont.

Early life

McLeod was born in Tampa, Florida. He was educated at Auburn University and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

Career

Bob McLeod began his career working in the production department of Marvel Comics in 1973 on a recommendation from Neal Adams. He began penciling and inking for Marvel's Crazy Magazine, doing several movie satires and the "Teen Hulk" strip. He was a member of The Crusty Bunkers inkers while working at Adams' Continuity Studios, and became an inker at Marvel and DC Comics on many series, including The Incredible Hulk, Conan the Barbarian, Legion of Super Heroes, Detective Comics, Wonder Woman, and The New Titans, as well as penciling Star Wars and several Spider-Man fill-ins for Marvel.
McLeod drew the graphic novel and the first three issues of New Mutants and inked a number of subsequent issues. The graphic novel's production overlapped with his honeymoon, and ended up missing its shipping slot because editor Louise Simonson choose to keep her promise to McLeod that he could ink it himself. In a 2008 interview, McLeod looked back on The New Mutants as "one of the most frustrating experiences of my career", recounting having to ink the graphic novel while on his honeymoon and later give up doing pencils on the regular series because he could not keep up with the monthly pace at the time and felt he was producing substandard work. In 1987, he inked Mike Zeck's pencils on the "Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline in the Spider-Man titles. At DC Comics, he was the artist on Superman in Action Comics in the early 1990s including the "Dark Knight Over Metropolis" storyarc. McLeod helped writer Louise Simonson and artist Jon Bogdanove launch a new Superman title, in July 1991. With writer Roger Stern, McLeod contributed to such Superman tales as the 1991 story wherein Clark Kent finally revealed his identity as Superman to Lois Lane and the "Panic in the Sky" crossover in 1992.
There were several issues of The Phantom comic book drawn by McLeod for the Swedish publisher Egmont. He has written and illustrated a children's book, Superhero ABC, which was published by HarperCollins in 2006 and received starred reviews from School Library Journal and ABA Booklist. He also edited TwoMorrows Publishing's Rough Stuff magazine which featured interviews and art by top creators in the comics field. McLeod currently teaches part-time at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and works on various commercial projects.
McLeod was the keynote speaker for the 2012 Inkwell Awards Awards Ceremony at HeroesCon. In 2018, McLeod received the Inkwell Awards Joe Sinnott Hall of Fame Award for his many years of inking.

DC Comics