For this artist, it’s all about the story telling

They might seem like opposite ends of the art spectrum: oil paintings and comic book drawings, but Mike Manley divides his week between both, and says his love of storytelling is a thread that joins them. He’s the artist for the serial comic strip Judge Parker, also draws for Marvel and DC comics, and paints in a narrative realist style.

“To me, there can be a story anywhere, if I’m looking and really paying attention. You can tell stories in the form of a comic strip or comic book, or you can tell narratives as a painter,” he asserts. “I find that I tell personal stories in my fine art and broader, universal stories when I’m drawing something like Superman or Batman.”

The Cover to the Convergence Justice League International issue by Mike Manley