Collection: Joe Quesada Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Joe Quesada born in New York City January 12, 1962 is an American comic book editor, writer and artist. He became known in the 1990's for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom. He later worked on numerous books for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, such as Batman: Sword of Azrael and X-Factor, before forming his own company, Event Comics, where Joe Quesada published his creator-owned character, Ash. In 1998 he became an editor of Marvel Comics' Marvel Knights line, before becoming editor-in-chief of the company in 2000. He was named Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment in 2010 and left his editor-in-chief role in January 2011, being replaced by Axel Alonso. Joe Quesada was, at his retirement, the longest-serving Marvel editor-in-chief other than Stan Lee.

Joe Quesada became an ardent fan of Comic Books with The Amazing Spider-Man, which he began reading around issue #98, the last issue of a historic anti-drug story line, which garnered his father's approval. As the character resonated with him (in part because both grew up in Queens), Spider-Man remains a character he particularly enjoys drawing. Joe Quesada majored in illustration at the School of Visual Arts,[5] from which he graduated with a BFA in 1984. Though he had drifted away from comics, having come to think of them as a child's medium, his interest in them was renewed at age 25 when a friend who learned of his interest in art showed him Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns gained renown in the comic book industry by drawing several Valiant Comics titles. His first widely distributed works were for Valiant Comics, specifically penciled interiors and covers for Ninjak, Solar, Man of the Atom and others. His art was heavily influenced by Alex Toth, Mike Mignola and Alphonse Mucha. At DC Comics, he and writer Jack C. Harris co-created an updated version of the Golden Age character the Ray. Joe Quesada co-created the character Azrael with writer Dennis O'Neil in the Batman: Sword of Azrael miniseries in 1992.

In 1998, Marvel Comics, which had just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, asked Joe Quesada to work for Marvel in a more exclusive capacity, and contracted him and his partners to produce a line of Marvel books dubbed Marvel Knights. As editor of Marvel Knights, he worked on a number of low-profile characters such as Daredevil, Punisher, The Inhumans and Black Panther, encouraging experimentation and using his contacts in the independent comics world to bring in creators such as David W. Mack, Mike Oeming, Brian Michael Bendis, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. He also illustrated a Daredevil story written by film director Kevin Smith. The success of these series saved Marvel Comics from going out of business and launched Joe Quesada into the Editor-in-Chief seat and then Chief Creative Officer in 2010. In the mid-2000's, he imposed a moratorium on the practice of creatively bringing back characters thought to be dead, known as "dead is dead", a short lived policy. In a January 2008 interview in which he was questioned about numerous characters that had since been resurrected, he clarified that the policy was for writers to exercise forethought and caution before killing off characters or resurrecting them, so that such plots were not produced too frequently or without gravitas, and not that it be entirely prohibited. While at the helm of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada was involved in the creation of three successful Marvel imprints: Marvel Knights, aimed at older readers, with Jimmy Palmiotti, MAX, aimed at adult readers, with Brian Michael Bendis, and Ultimate, aimed at teen readers, with Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Millar.

 Joe Quesada stepped down as editor-in-chief on January 4, 2011, and was replaced by Axel Alonso. He later elaborated on this decision in a 2011 interview with Visual Arts Journal, a publication of his Alma Mater, the School of Visual Arts, by saying that he always viewed the editor in chief position as a finite one that he would leave after he accomplished what he had set out to, and that the then recent purchase of Marvel by Disney opened up opportunities he wanted to explore. Quesada contrasted his former editor in chief role as one in which he was solely focused on rebuilding Marvel's editorial division and overseeing its comics content, with his Chief Creative Officer role as one in which he would be involved creatively with several divisions. In 2016 Quesada designed a poster for Marvel's third Netflix TV series, Luke Cage. The poster debuted at that July's San Diego Comic-Con, while the series was scheduled to premiere September 20. The artwork of Joe Quesada is currently credited in 10,245 separate Comic Book issues.