Walter or, usually, Walt Simonson is a comic book writer and artist. After studying geology at another school he went to the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in the early seventies. His thesis project there was The Star Slammers which was published as a black and white promotional comicbook for the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention in Washington D.C. (DisCon II). Some years later he did another version of the series for Epic Comics, the Marvel Comics response to the creator-owned lines of the early eighties.

His first professional comic book work was war stories for DC Comics and other publishers. He did illustrations for the "Queer Lodgings" chapter of the edition of The Hobbit which was supposedly (and mainly) illustrated by stills from the Rankin-Bass television special adaptation, which featured character designs by his friend Lester Abrams. Gray Morrow also did illustrations for that edition. Simonson's breakout illustration job was "Manhunter ," a backup feature in DC's Detective Comics written by Archie Goodwin.

He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles in the 1980s and 1990s such as Thor and X-Factor (the latter being a collaboration with his wife Louise Simonson ). Thor in particular is often cited as a classic, as Simonson took nearly complete control of the series and produced epic, operatic stories that rivaled Jack Kirby's best work with an indepth knowledge of Norse mythology. He also famously transformed Thor into a frog for three issues and introduced the popular supporting character, Beta Ray Bill, a monstrous warrior who unexpectedly proved worthy to wield Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

From 2000 to 2002, he wrote and illustrated Orion for DC.

His distinctive signature consists of his last name, distorted to resemble a dinosaur.

External links

• lambiek.net entry on Walt Simonson