American comics artist and penciller
James H. Williams III (born 1965), usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is an American comics artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as Chase, Promethea, Desolation Jones, Batwoman, and The Sandman: Overture.
Career
Williams' early work includes penciling the four-issue miniseries, Deathwish (1994–1995) from Milestone Media. Deathwish was written by Maddie Blaustein and inked by Jimmy Palmiotti.
He was one of the artists on the Shade limited series which spun off from the Starman series.[4] Williams gained prominence as the artist on the short-lived (ten issues, 1997–1998) Chase title from DC Comics, where he worked with writer Dan Curtis Johnson.[5] The character had been introduced earlier in Batman #550 (Jan. 1998).[6]
Williams collaborated with inker Mick Gray on two DC Elseworlds graphic novels, Justice Riders, written by Chuck Dixon, and Son of Superman, written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman. Williams' next major work was for WildStorm's America's Best Comics with writer Alan Moore on Promethea (32 issues, 1999–2005).[7]
In mid–2005, Williams and writer Warren Ellis launched the Desolation Jones series,[8] and Williams illustrated the two "bookend" issues of Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers project. In 2007, he worked with Morrison on another project, a three-part story in Batman #667–669.[9] Williams drew Jonah Hex #35[10] and has stated an interest in doing more, saying "I certainly want to do more issues myself or even a graphic novel if the opportunity and schedule presented itself."[11] Williams became the regular artist on Detective Comics with writer Greg Rucka in June 2009, with the title focusing on Rucka's Batwoman character[12] due to the absence of Batman in the aftermath of "Batman R.I.P." and Final Crisis.[13] Williams returned as artist and co-writer of the new Batwoman series, accompanied by co-author W. Haden Blackman.[14][15] Batwoman received a GLAAD Media Award in the category of "Outstanding Comic Book" at the 23rd GLAAD Media Awards in June 2012.[16]
In July 2012, DC announced that Williams would be the artist for Neil Gaiman's Sandman prequel series, The Sandman: Overture, to be released October 30, 2013.[17][18] That same month, as part of the San Diego Comic-Con, Williams was one of six artists who, along with DC co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, participated in the production of "Heroic Proportions", an episode of the Syfy reality television competition series Face Off, in which special effects artists were tasked to create a new superhero, with Williams and the other DC artists on hand to help them develop their ideas. The winning entry's character, Infernal Core by Anthony Kosar, was featured in Justice League Dark #16 (March 2013),[19][20] which was published January 30, 2013.[21] The episode premiered on January 22, 2013, as the second episode of the fourth season.[22]
Both Williams and Blackman resigned from the Batwoman title in September 2013 due to differences with DC's editorial decisions.[23][24][25]
In September 2020, DC Comics announced that Williams would be among the creators of a revived Batman: Black and White anthology series to debut on December 8, 2020.[26] He also provided the variant cover.
