Paul Ryan (cartoonist)

DePaul made reference in a 2017 interview to the "magnificent work Paul did for so many years, and for way less money than he was worth"; citing an example of Ryan's best work, DePaul said "Paul’s art was especially well done in the 'Voyaging Canoe', night scenes at sea, in the fog, that can’t be easy to pull off."

Ryan's last Phantom strip was released on Saturday, May 28, 2016.

Ryan continued as the artist for The Phantom daily comic strips until his death at the age of 66. He died unexpectedly on March 7, 2016, at his home in Hudson, Massachusetts.

Mike Manley was named to succeed Ryan on The Phantom beginning with the strip dated May 30, 2016. Ryan was several weeks ahead on the strip at the time of his death.

The administrator of The Phantom fan site Chronicle Chamber marked his passing, and reminisced about meeting Ryan at the 2014 Supanova Con in Sydney, Australia, where he was the guest of honor at the Lee Falk Memorial Bengali Explorer’s Club dinner: "My overwhelming memory of Paul was just how great a bloke he was. He listened to everyone who wanted to talk to him, he kindly signed all the stuff that was thrown at him and he was incredibly generous and honest in the tales he told about working on The Phantom. The highlight for me was watching Paul create some Phantom artwork live. It was amazing and something I’ll never forget."

One of the many highlights of Ryan's time on The Phantom is the daily adventure that ran from August 24, 2009, until May 7, 2011. Called by DePaul in its entirety "The Death of Diana Palmer Walker", this epic storyline is considered the longest in duration of all The Phantom newspaper plots. The recurring villain of the tale, Chatu, a.k.a. the Python, is a ruthless terrorist who seeks revenge on his nemesis by striking at someone close to the Phantom. Frew Publications, known for publishing a long-running reprint series of The Phantom, presented the entire story as "The Python Strikes Back" in one 140-page comic book (issue number 1602).

According to a 2007 interview, "Ryan began his training [for a career in comic art] as a child, growing up in Somerville. He'd park himself in front of the television each night to watch George Reeves in the Adventures of Superman." Ryan began drawing one-page comic stories in grade school, inspired by his love of comics to create his own. He has said that as a youngster in the Silver Age, he was influenced by the work of Wayne Boring and Curt Swan on Superman. In 1961, Ryan became a big fan of the Fantastic Four of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, having "bought the first issue at the tender age of 11." He has acknowledged that even as a youth he studied the work of Hal Foster, Sy Barry, Dan Barry, and Mac Raboy, adding "I'm pretty much influenced by anybody whose work I admire."

In 2005 then-current artist George Olesen announced his retirement. Jay Kennedy, editor-in-chief at King Features Syndicate, chose Ryan to assume the artist's role on the daily strips, beginning with those published in January of that year (Ryan had been the artist on King's Amazing Spider-Man strip a decade earlier). Then in October 2006 Graham Nolan, artist on The Phantom Sunday Strip, announced his intended departure from the series. Once again Kennedy called upon Ryan, who agreed to add the Sunday strip to his duties for King Features. His first Sunday appeared in newspapers on April 1, 2007. Ryan later wished to cut his workload and on July 31, 2011, Eduardo Barreto took over as artist for the Sunday strip. Following Barreto's sudden death in late 2011, Ryan returned to the Sunday feature briefly until a replacement, Terry Beatty, was found.

Ryan's involvement with The Phantom began when a fan bidding on one of Ryan's eBay auctions in 2001 contacted him, and asked if he had ever considered working for a comics company outside the U.S. This fan had been an intern at Egmont Publishing, which produces The Phantom (Fantomen) comic in Sweden. Ryan told him he was interested, and was given the appropriate contact information. Soon, the publisher had samples from Ryan, and he quickly signed him on to Team Fantomen. Ryan became a regular contributor of covers and finished interior art to Fantomen for the next five years, a job which would position him well for his next major assignment.

Ryan briefly returned to Marvel in 1999, teaming again with writer Tom DeFalco, this time on the Fantastic Five. The turn of the Millennium found Ryan working with Wildstorm, penciling one of the Left Behind graphic novels, and working with Crossgen as a fill-in artist on such titles as Ruse and Crux. Crossgen's recruitment of Ryan and other notable talent led DC Comics to consider that upstart publisher a significant threat in the comic book market.

Shortly after Paul Ryan left Marvel, he moved over to DC Comics where he became the artist on Superman: The Man of Tomorrow and The Flash. That same year, he was one of the many creators who contributed to the Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot wherein the title character married Lois Lane. Ryan drew part of the Superman Red/Superman Blue one-shot which launched the storyline of the same name which ran through the various Superman titles. He penciled a Superman Annual and various Batman titles, as well as several fill-in assignments on other Superman titles. With writers Grant Morrison and Mark Millar, Ryan introduced the Jakeem Thunder character in The Flash vol. 2 #134 (Feb. 1998).

Of all his work for Marvel, Paul Ryan is most strongly associated with the Fantastic Four for his long run on their flagship title. Ryan said that when he was first offered the art assignment he actually declined, because he was reluctant to give up the Avengers to clear time in his schedule. He continued to think about the opportunity over a weekend, and finally concluded that he couldn't turn down the job of drawing his favorite Marvel title. Partnering with writer Tom DeFalco, and sometimes receiving a co-plotting credit, his first issue was #356 (Sept. 1991) and his last #414 (July 1996). He trailed only Jack Kirby and John Byrne in total number of Fantastic Four issues drawn. His run on Fantastic Four was ended abruptly by the Heroes Reborn event. Ryan recalled that he learned of his losing the F.F. and Jim Lee's taking over the title through the internet, and said, "This whole situation left a bad feeling with me toward Marvel. I was cast adrift after 11 years of loyal exclusivity."

Ryan penciled the first six issues of Quasar in 1989–90, and also worked on a significant run of The Avengers. Recalling Ryan's work on the latter title, writer Jason Versaggi said that Ryan's "draft work seemed to seamlessly transition from the end of John Buscema's stints on those books in the ‘90s.”

In 1987 Ryan drew The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 which featured the wedding of Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and Mary Jane Watson. Recalling years later his reaction to being assigned the wedding issue, Ryan admitted, "I was terrified! Excited, but knowing the historic and financial significance of this story for Marvel Comics, I couldn’t help but be a little nervous. Considering that I had only been in the business a minute and a half I should never have been given that assignment. Jim Shooter really took a chance with me. He asked. I accepted. He handed me the plot. I hope I didn’t disappoint him."

In 1986, writer Mark Gruenwald and Ryan co-created D.P. 7 for Marvel's New Universe imprint. The series featured a then-uncommonly realistic view of what consequences could arise from having paranormal abilities. D.P. 7 has been called "a clear forerunner - both in tone and content - of the television series Heroes."

Soon, Ryan was getting assignments of his own, starting with inking The Thing #27 (September 1985) and then moving on to penciling Iron Man #202, Squadron Supreme, The Eternals, and a Thor graphic novel.

The remaining stories from Bullseye ended up in the hands of Bill Black of Americomics in Florida, and Black published "BREED" in Starmasters #1 (March 1984). This brought Ryan to the attention of comic book stores in the Boston area. When Marvel artist Bob Layton moved to Boston and needed an assistant, the employees at these stores recommended Paul Ryan to Layton. Ryan worked for Layton for a year doing his backgrounds, and through him met the editors and staff at Marvel. Layton is said to have played a vital role in Ryan's development. Ryan said that his only formal training in comics came in that 1983-1984 span, working as Bob Layton's assistant while also preparing his penciling samples for Marvel. By this time Ryan, having taken a circuitous route toward a career in comic art, was in his middle 30s.

In 1983, in response to a general "open audition" offer from Charlton Comics, Ryan was finally prompted to write and draw his first full-scale comics story, which he titled "BREED". Charlton had recently instituted a program whereby they would publish the best of the work submitted by aspiring comic book artists in Charlton Bullseye. Payment would be in the form of 50 contributor copies of the printed piece. The artist would then have published work to show Marvel Comics or DC Comics in the hopes of landing a job with the "Big Two." Charlton accepted Ryan's story, encouraging him that a career in comics was within reach, but the title was cancelled before "BREED" saw print.

Paul Ryan (September 23, 1949 – March 7, 2016) was an American comic artist. Ryan worked extensively for Marvel Comics and DC Comics on a number of super-hero comic book titles. He is best known for his 1991 to 1996 run as penciler on Fantastic Four, which represents his longest association with an individual comic book series. From 2005 until his death in 2016, Ryan penciled and inked the daily newspaper comic strip The Phantom for King Features Syndicate.

Paul Ryan was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1949. He attended St. Polycarp Grammar School in Somerville, and graduated from St. Mary of the Annunciation High School in 1967. He graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1971 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design.

The Phantom comic strip began as a weekday newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, with a color Sunday strip added in May 1939. It was originally written by creator Lee Falk, and when Falk died in 1999, Tony DePaul took over the writing duties. Paul Ryan was one of the several artists who have illustrated the character's comic strip adventures over the decades.

Tony DePaul, the writer of The Phantom, collaborated with Ryan on the strip for twelve years. He wrote of his last phone conversation with Ryan, who had called to make sure he interpreted a panel the way DePaul had intended in his script. DePaul lauded the ardent professionalism of his late partner, and stated that "Paul considered it a privilege to work on a classic character created by the great Lee Falk, in 1936. He and I thought exactly alike in that regard."

In the weeks after Ryan's death, Frew Publications declared The Phantom issue number 1748 to be a "Paul Ryan Tribute" issue. This issue was Frew's first comic book to have the interior printed in color. In addition to a full-length adventure drawn by Ryan, the issue contained photographs from his 2014 visit to Australia and several remembrances. Publisher Dudley Hogarth therein attributed the following quote to Ryan: "My heroes have always been men of action. Some of them wore a mask. Some rode a horse. Some had an animal companion. A few carried a gun. Fewer still operated from a secret cave. One hero, in particular, combined all of these elements and more. He was the Phantom! If someone had told me when I was ten years old, that I would one day be the Phantom strip artist, I would not have believed them. Those things happen to other people not to me. Life is good!"