Merge:Mark Bagley

Mark Bagley (born August 7, 1957) is an American comic book artist for Marvel Comics. He has worked on titles such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Thunderbolts, New Warriors, and Ultimate Spider-Man.

He is perhaps best known for his work on Spider-Man licensed merchandise.

Early life
Mark Bagley was born to a military family in Frankfurt, Germany. He had always wanted to break into the comic book business and at 18 he joined the military so that he could qualify for the GI Bill and go to art school.

After his work in the military and art school, he continued trying to break into the comic industry but ended up working for Lockheed Martin making technical drawings.

Marvel Tryout Contest
In 1986, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter created the Marvel Try-out book to draw new talent into the comic book industry. The contest involved a deconstructed comic book in which contestants could complete the comic and submit it to Marvel. The winner would be awarded a professional assignment with Marvel.

At 27 years old, Mark Bagley entered the contest and won first place for penciling. This led to a series of low profile penciling jobs including jobs for Marvel's New Universe line and backup stories in Captain America.

The New Warriors
In 1990, Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz created a team of teenage superheroes called the New Warriors. Given the positive fan reaction, Marvel created a new series based on these heroes and assigned Bagley and Fabian Nicieza to the title.

Though not an instant success, the title rose in fame to become one of Marvel's more successful titles in the 1990s.

The Amazing Spider-Man
A couple of years into the New Warriors run, New Warriors editor Danny Fingeroth became responsible for the Spider-Man line of titles. At the same time, Erik Larsen vacated his spot as penciler on Spider-Man's flagship title The Amazing Spider-Man.

Fingeroth decided to take a chance on Bagley, who was a relatively inexperienced artist to be assigned what is arguably Marvel's flagship title. After a rough start Bagley hit his stride on Spider-Man and eventually grew to be considered the definitive Spider-Man artist of the late 90s. His artwork was used extensively for licensed material appearing on everything from plates and cups to credit cards.

Bagley also holds the distinction of being the artist on Marvel's first web-based comic book, featuring Spider-Man, which appeared on Marvel's official web site.

Thunderbolts
After working on Spider-Man for several years, Bagley began to feel burnt out on Spider-Man. Needing a change, he next collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek on a new team of superheroes, the Thunderbolts. The concept behind the Thunderbolts was that of a team of super villains who posed as superheroes in order to gain the public's trust. As the title progressed, some of the villains began to realize they enjoyed the role of a hero and no longer wanted to be villains.

The title enjoyed modest success and though its sales did decline over time, the decline was so slow and the fan base was so dedicated that the title continued to be published even after Bagley left the title in 2001 (at issue 50).

Ultimate Spider-Man
Bill Jemas, publisher at Marvel in the year 2000, was looking to relaunch Marvel's primary franchises in a way that would make them accessible to younger readers. Designed as a 6-issue mini series, Ultimate Spider-Man would be a title that began the Spider-Man mythos from the beginning set in modern times. Marvel wanted Bagley on the title from the beginning but, still being burnt out from his earlier run, he resisted.

Eventually though, he (reluctantly) agreed and was assigned Ultimate Spider-Man with writer Brian Michael Bendis. The title was an instant hit and soon turned from a limited series to an ongoing series by Bendis and Bagley.

As of August 2006, Bagley is still drawing Ultimate Spider-Man with Bendis and they are fast approaching the record set by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of longest running creative team on a Marvel comic.

On August 16th, 2006, Comic Shop News reported that Bagley will leave USM after issue #110. 

Licensing
Ever since his initial run on Spider-Man, Mark Bagley has been the preeminent artist for Spider-Man material. It is now rare that you'll find licensed material that does not have Bagley art on it.