J.H. Williams III grew up in the Bay Area of California where his obsession with comics began. His love for Micronauts toys prompted him to check out the comic by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden. An addict was born. First he was drawn in by the stories and then the art of the books he was picking up. He started noticing names attached to these books and realized people actually did this for a living. Then, at the ripe old age of 8 he decided comics would be his life..err..career. Drawing every day and getting critiques at conventions from working professionals, he honed his craft and eventually with a helpful nudge from Howard Chaykin started getting work.
J.H. has been a professional comic book creator since 1991. The bulk of his career has been with DC Comics, the great and powerful. Earliest work includes a mini-series, DEATHWISH for the Milestone imprint, BATMAN, STARMAN, an Elseworlds graphic novel JUSTICE RIDERS, among numerous others. Also part of his early career was a very personal project, CHASE which he co-created and co-wrote in addition to his art chores.
His work on Chase led to working with Howard Chaykin on THE SON OF SUPERMAN graphic novel. And brought an offer he couldn’t refuse, PROMETHEA with Alan Moore. The 32 issues of Promethea were at times daunting, but J.H. enjoys a challenge and was very grateful for the experience. Promethea earned numerous nominations and awards for all involved including an Eisner win for J.H. and company for Best Single Issue in 2001 and a Best Artist win at the 2006 Harvey’s.
Other notable works are Desolation Jones with Warren Ellis, the BATMAN: SNOW MINI-SERIES he co-wrote with his writing partner on Chase, D. Curtis Johnson, as well as SEVEN SOLDIERS OF VICTORY and BATMAN: THE BLACK GLOVE with Grant Morrison.
More recently Williams teamed with the immensely talented Greg Rucka on BATWOMAN: ELEGY. This endeavor became a remarkable run for both J.H. and Mr. Rucka. Highlighting the success of the series were multiple nominations and awards, most notably a GLAAD award win in 2010 for Outstanding Comic Book and Eisner win for J.H. in both the Best Cover Artist and Best Penciller/Inker categories. Over the pond J.H. garnered 3 Eagle Award wins for his work.
Currently Williams is the artist and co-writer on the BATWOMAN ongoing series with his (writing) partner Haden Blackman. He decided to take on the challenge of continuing the story out of devotion to this compelling character and its fans.
J.H. lives in Central California with his adoring wife, a houseful of cats and an ever expanding comic book collection.
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