Jim Valentino

Jim Valentino, born October 28, 1952, is an American comics writer, penciler, editor, and publisher whose career spans more than four decades. He first drew widespread attention with his run on Marvel's *Guardians of the Galaxy* between 1990 and 1992, a tenure that solidified his reputation as a capable storyteller working within the superhero genre.

In 1992, Valentino became one of the founding members of Image Comics, the landmark creator-owned publisher that reshaped the industry's relationship between companies and the artists who work for them. At Image he launched *ShadowHawk*, a superhero vigilante series, and later produced *A Touch of Silver* (1997), a semi-autobiographical black-and-white work that showed a more personal dimension to his craft. His catalogue also includes contributions to titles such as *normalman*, *What If...?*, and *Supreme*.

From 1999 to 2003, Valentino served as Image's publisher, a role in which he actively broadened the company's creative range. Among the talents he brought to the imprint during that period was Robert Kirkman, who went on to co-create *The Walking Dead*, one of the most commercially and critically successful comics of the modern era. That curatorial legacy may prove as enduring as Valentino's own work on the page, marking him as a figure who shaped the medium both as a creator and as an advocate for creator ownership.