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Early in life Eric showed interest in drawing and in creating stories. At six years of age he discovered the series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum (and others) and decided to continue the Oz series with his own books. He began with amatuer efforts, producing several illustrated manuscripts during the next decade. After graduation from Novato (California) High School, he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. On the day after graduation, he received his first professional comics assignment, lettering an issue of the comic book Warp, published by First Comics.
In 1986 the first volume in Shanower's series of graphic novels continuing the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, The Enchanted Apples of Oz, was published by First Comics. Four more volumes in the series followed, the final one published by Dark Horse Comics in 1992. A collection of all five Oz graphic novels, Adventures in Oz, was issued by IDW Publishing in 2006. Although Eric sometimes is determined to get out of Oz altogether, this hasn't happened so far. After the Oz graphic novel series, Eric's Oz projects have included writing and illustrating a children's novel The Giant Garden of Oz (1993) and a collection of short stories The Salt Sorcerer of Oz and Other Stories (2003).
In 1991 Eric began research for Age of Bronze, his comics retelling of the Trojan War legend. Age of Bronze began publication from Image Comics in 1998. This retelling of the Trojan War draws upon the long literary and artistic traditions of the Greek myth, beginning with Homer's Iliad, while incorporating archaeological findings from the Aegean Late Bronze Age. Age of Bronze has won the Will Eisner Comics Industry Award for Best Writer/Artist in both 2001 and 2003. The series has been nominated for several other awards, including an Ignatz (Small Press Expo) and a National Cartoonists Society Division Award. The American Journal of Archaeology, among many, has favorably reviewed Age of Bronze. The second collected volume, Age of Bronze: Sacrifice, was selected as one of the Best Books of the Year (2004) by the editors of Publishers Weekly.
Eric has published many other projects including An Accidental Death (nominated for two Eisner Awards) and Prez: Smells Like Teen President with writer Ed Brubaker, The Elsewhere Prince with Moebius (Jean Giraud) and Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier, Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor in which he illustrated Ellison's introductions to comics adapatations of the writer's stories. In 1994 Shanower founded Hungry Tiger Press with his partner David Maxine and served as co-publisher through 2002.
Shanower continues to write and draw Age of Bronze as well as illustrate comics, books, and other media. After spending much of the 1990s in New Haven, CT, and Bloomfield, NJ, he and David Maxine currently live in San Diego, California, with their dog, a Boston terrier named Road.
Eric's activities, aside from drawing comics and illustrations, include reading, swimming, and ballet. He has performed in many theatrical productions over the years. Most recently he appeared in the Ballet Arte of Solana Beach, CA, production of Sleeping Beauty as the king (2006), and in 2004 and 2005 as Mr. Stahlbaum (Clara's father) in Ballet Arte's annual production of The Nutcracker as well as dancing the male Arabian principal in the 2004 production, directed by Sara Viale and Erlends Zieminch. Previously he was seen as Luke in A Man for All Seasons at Nutley Little Theater in Nutley, NJ (1996). His favorite role was the Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, also at Nutley (1995). Memorable for one reason or another have been his roles as Gollum and Smaug in The Hobbit (1984) which also included Christopher Innvar as Gandalf and Margaret Noonan in the cast (Eric dedicated The Enchanted Apples of Oz to these friends), the role of the Regent in Marc Lewis's staging of L. Frank Baum and Frederic Chapin's The Woggle-Bug at several conventions of The International Wizard of Oz Club (1986 and 1987), the role of Romeo in the balcony scene of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with Hazel Robinson as Juliet (1985), and the role of Alan in Babes in Toyland for KT Productions (1995 and 1996).
Age of Bronze | Hungry Tiger Press
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