Jamie McKelvie is a British cartoonist and illustrator, known for his both work on books such as Phonogram, Young Avengers and The Wicked + The Divine, and his approach to comic character design.
Career
Since 2003, McKelvie has collaborated with Kieron Gillen on a number of works.This started with a comic strip for PlayStation Official Magazine – UK, entitled Save Point, which ran for at least three years.[1]The Guardian highlighted that Gillen and McKelvie "met in 2003 at a convention where Gillen was selling his first photocopied comics".[2] Their first comic book together was Phonogram, a six-issue series in 2006, which was followed by two sequel series in 2008 and 2015 with Matt Wilson.[3][4]
His first creator-owned series as both writer and artist, Suburban Glamour, was published in 2008, with Guy Major and Matthew Wilson as colourists.He has done various work for Marvel Comics, including a run on Defenders with Matt Fraction, and the X-Men: Season One graphic novel with Dennis Hopeless.
McKelvie's artwork also graces the covers of the Art Brut album Brilliant! Tragic! and the single "Lost Weekend",[8][9][10] and of two novels by writer Mur Lafferty.[11] He has illustrated prints and tour posters for the band Chvrches and his art was animated in their music video for the new version of "Bury It" (2016) featuring Hayley Williams.[12][13]
Character design
McKelvie has redesigned a number of characters' costumes, including the 2012 redesign of long-time character Carol Danvers, for a relaunch of the character as the new Captain Marvel,[14] and in late 2013, the design for Kamala Khan's outfit when she becomes Ms Marvel.[15] In 2016, he designed the costumes for the time-displaced original five X-Men seen in X-Men: Blue (2017).[16] In 2023, he redesigned Kamala's costume after she joined the X-Men.[17][18] He has also made available his personal takes on Wonder Woman,[19]Iron Man[20] and Cyclops.[21]
McKelvie has said that he emphasises practicality when creating his Marvel designs, stating that he considers the "message a [...] character's design is putting across",[22] and specifically for Ms. Marvel, the design reflects "the Captain Marvel legacy, and also her story and her background".[23] For the time-displaced X-Men, McKelvie commented that he "wanted to reference past incarnations of the characters, while at the same time coming up with something new and cohesive for the team".[16]
Works
Comics
Interior work
"Loss" (with writer Amber Benson, in Four Letter Worlds, 144 pages, Image Comics, April 2005, ISBN 1-58240-439-9)
Long Hot Summer (with Eric Stephenson, graphic novel, 96 pages, Image Comics, September 2005, ISBN 1-58240-559-X)
X-Force/Cable: Messiah War (collects X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1–3, Cable #11–15, X-Force #14–16, X-Force/Cable: Messiah War One-Shot and X-Men: Future History – The Messiah War Sourcebook, tpb, 336 pages, ISBN 0785131736)
Gotham Gazette (part, with writer Fabian Nicieza, issues Batman Dead? No. 1 and Batman Alive? No. 1, DC Comics): collected within:
Batman: Battle for the Cowl (collects Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1, Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1–3, Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? #1, tpb, 160 pages, ISBN 1-4012-2416-4)
X-Force/Cable: Messiah War (collects X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1–3, Cable #11–15, X-Force #14–16, X-Force/Cable: Messiah War One-Shot and X-Men: Future History – The Messiah War Sourcebook, tpb, 336 pages, ISBN 0785131736)
Gotham Gazette (part, with writer Fabian Nicieza, issues Batman Dead? No. 1 and Batman Alive? No. 1, DC Comics): collected within:
Batman: Battle for the Cowl (collects Gotham Gazette: Batman Dead? #1, Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1–3, Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive? #1, tpb, 160 pages, ISBN 1-4012-2416-4)
