Amanda Conner is an Irish American comic book artist and commercial art illustrator. She began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics and Marvel Comics, before moving on contribute work for Claypool Comics' Soulsearchers and Company and Harris Comics' Vampirella in the 1990s. Her 2000s work includes Mad magazine, and DC Comics characters as Power Girl and Atlee.
Her other published work includes illustrations for The New York Times and Revolver magazine, advertising work for products such as Arm & Hammer, Playskool, and design work for ABC's Nightline, commercials for A&E.'s Biography magazine.
The daughter of artist parents Al and Eulala and sister to Ezra, Conner was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Florida and Connecticut. She studied at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. She married Steve Conte, with whom she opened a Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey comic-book store called Funny Books in 1992. They eventually divorced, and Conner relocated to Brooklyn, New York.
Conner began illustrating small projects for Marvel Comics (including a story starring the second Yellowjacket in Solo Avengers #12, November 1988), Last Gasp (Strip AIDS U.S.A. in 1988), and Archie Comics (stories for Archie and Bayou Billy in 1989-90).
Eventually for Marvel she penciled issues of the company's licensed series based on the Mattel doll Barbie and on the Walt Disney Company animated television series Gargoyles. In the 1990s, she drew such series as Soulsearchers and Company for Claypool Comics, and Excalibur and writer Steve Gerber's one-shot Suburban Jersey Ninja She-Devils for Marvel. During this time, she met and worked with Marvel editor and artist Jimmy Palmiotti, whom she is currently in a long-term relationship with; the two have occasionally teamed on projects, one penciling while the other inks.
For Harris Comics' Vampirella, also known as Vampirella Monthly, Conner drafted some of the first issues, collaborating with writers Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Warren Ellis. In a similar vein, she illustrated the intercompany crossover Painkiller Jane vs. The Darkness (Event Comics / Top Cow) and went on to work on Painkiller Jane #0 (the origin story). She also wrote and illustrated a story for "Kid Death and Fluffy, and penciled stories for Topps Comics.
Other comic-book credits include Lois Lane, Knockout, and Birds of Prey for DC Comics as well as Two-Step with writer Warren Ellis for the Cliffhanger! imprint of WildStorm Comics (owned by DC Comics); X-Men Unlimited for Marvel; Gatecrasher, which she co-created for Black Bull Comics; and The Pro, a creator-owned book for Image Comics with Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. In 2005, she illustrated the origin of Power Girl in JSA Classified #1-4. As a special treat she also pencilled a Blade comic to go with the special DVD-edition.
Her art has appeared on ABC'S Nightline, and in The New York Times and Mad Magazine. Conner has also done character designs for film and television, and is featured in a Biography magazine commercial on A&E. She does spot illustrations in Revolver magazine each month. Her commercial art work includes illustrations for the New York City advertising agencies Kornhauser & Calene, and Kidvertisers, for such accounts as Arm & Hammer, Playskool, and Nickelodeon.
Conner did modeling/art reference work for the Marvel miniseries Elektra: Assassin in the 1980s, and for artist Joe Jusko's Punisher / Painkiller Jane in 2000. Conner was in the wedding party for writer Kurt Busiek.
Conner, Palmiotti, and writer Justin Gray work together via their multimedia entertainment company PaperFilms. They collaborated on the Terra miniseries, which premiered in November 2009, and the first 12 issues of the Powergirl ongoing series, which were published between 2009 and 2010, both of which Conner penciled. Following her departure from Power Girl, Conner wrote and pencilled a story published in Wonder Woman #600, which featured a team-up between Power Girl, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl.
