Justin Ponsor: An Ending and A Beginning

Danger Girl Special #1
February 2000

After a long battle with cancer, Justin passed away earlier this week. Even though I wasn't close to him toward the end, he meant a lot to me. When we were both a lot younger, we worked together in a church for a few years. Awhile back we reconnected via Facebook, and corresponded for a time. But then, as so often happens, we drifted apart again. It saddened me that that occurred, but, well, that's life.

I'll post more on Justin when I can. There's so much more to say about this guy who worked his way up the ladder of the comics industry, and became a top tier colorist for Marvel. But for now, I thought I'd share this comic he worked on when he worked for Wildstorm. He started at the bottom, helping out other artists on various titles. This represents one of the first times that Wildstorm recognized the significance of his contribution with an official credit. 

I don't know anything about Danger Girl. I wasn't really into comics when this came out. Nor were my wife and I attending the same church as his family anymore. But when his mother mentioned in a Christmas card that Justin was working in the comics industry, I marched into my local shop, and asked, "Do you have anything by Justin Ponsor?" The man showed me this comic. It was already bagged and boarded, and the price tag was higher than the issue price. But that didn't matter. I had a comic by Justin!

Sadly, like I said, I just wasn't into comics back then. I don't think I ever read it. I just slipped it into my collection, and forgot about it. 

After we reconnected on Facebook, one of the first things I did was pull out this comic and read it. It gave us something to chat about. A few months later, Justin kindly sent me a representative sample of his work, from his years at Crossgen (where he went after he worked at Wildstorm), and his time at Marvel. Needless to say, his work blew me away.

The comics industry is a highly competitive field. Many come into the industry, work at it for a few years, and then move on to other things. All too often, capable artists get shoved to the sidelines, and forced to restart their lives in other fields. I wonder if Justin knew back then, or could even have imagined, that he'd not only find the staying power that others lacked, but eventually contribute to titles like Spider-Man, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy?

Dragon Dave