James Vance (April 2, 1953 – June 5, 2017) was an American comic book writer, author and playwright, best known for his work from Kitchen Sink Press and in particular the lauded Kings in Disguise.

Biography

Vance's introduction into comics writing came in 1988, with his Kitchen Sink-published limited series, Kings in Disguise, later collected by W. W. Norton, with an introduction by the legendary Alan Moore, who calls it:

"One of the most moving and compelling human stories to emerge out of the graphic story medium."^[1]

This work, with art by Dan Burr, earned both a Harvey Award and an Eisner Award (both 1989) for best new series, as well as another Eisner Award for Best Single Issue (also 1989). It also made the list of the one hundred best comic book stories of all time.^[2]

In 2013, Vance and Burr published On the Ropes, the long-awaited sequel to Kings in Disguise. On the Ropes was positively reviewed by, among others, the Los Angeles Times,^[3] Publishers Weekly,^[4] and writer Alan Moore.^[5]

Vance also wrote Neil Gaiman's Mr. Hero the Newmatic Man for Tekno Comix in the mid-1990s, and was co-editor of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls as originally serialised by Kitchen Sink Press. He has also contributed scripts towards comics featuring The Crow, and the Dark Horse Comics-published licensed properties Aliens and Predator.

Vance was married to cartoonist Kate Worley for the last ten years of her life before she succumbed to cancer^[6] in 2004. After Worley's death, Vance edited and completed (with artist Reed Waller) the final chapters of her Omaha the Cat Dancer strip, which were serialized in Sizzle magazine.^[7] He died on June 5, 2017, from cancer.^[8]