Paolo Rivera Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1981 -

Paolo Rivera is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book artist. He is known for illustrating the Mythos series of one-shots and several issues of Spider-Man as well as his recent collaboration with writer Mark Waid, his father/inker Joe Rivera and colorist Javier Rodríguez on Daredevil. Although gaining acclaim and recognition through his early fully painted works, he has since moved on to more traditional comics process of pencilling, inking, and coloring (with some occasional sculpting).[1][2]

Rivera was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was the valedictorian of Mainland High School class of 1999, and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003. While at RISD, he studied under comic book artist and writer David Mazzucchelli and spent his junior year studying in Rome.[3]

By his senior year at RISD, Rivera was already creating covers and pin-ups for writer Jim Krueger, whom he had previously met at MegaCon in Orlando, Florida while still in high school.[3] Together they worked on a number of personal projects and pitches including Children of the Left Hand (the story of Mary-Shelly, which presented a younger take on Frankenstein’s Monster; 2 covers, 6 pages of interior art and 1 poster were completed) and various other covers and pin-ups none of which were ultimately released.[4]

Thanks in part to Krueger, Rivera began to work for Marvel Comics in 2002. His first interior work was an 11-page painted Dr. Doom story in Marvel Double Shot #2. Since then Rivera has worked primarily for Marvel, even signing an exclusive contract in 2008.[2][5]

Upon the expiration of the contract and after ten years of almost exclusive work for Marvel, Rivera announced his departure from the company.
“ So why am I leaving? The short answer: ownership. With the exception of just a few published pieces of art (which belong to other companies), Marvel owns the copyrights to my entire professional portfolio. And why shouldn't they? I was, of course, compensated fairly for it, and for that I’m grateful — but the sum total of that work is not enough to support me in the distant future. My page rate is essentially the same as when I started at 21, so I've decided to invest in myself. What I create in the next decade needs to pay dividends when my vision gets blurry and my hands start to shake (and who knows what else). Now is the time to make that choice, while I’m still young, possess "great power," but have few responsibilities.[6] ”

Among his upcoming projects are The Valiant, a millennia-spanning event for the revived Valiant Entertainment[7] and a yet-unnamed sci-fi graphic novel for 2016.[6]