Ron Frenz

Frenz began working for Marvel Comics in the early 1980s. Frenz's early work includes such titles as Ka-Zar the Savage, Star Wars,^[2] The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, and Marvel Saga.^[3] His first credited story for Marvel was published in Ka-Zar the Savage #16 (July 1982).^[4]

Frenz has a history of working on comic book series in which the characters were not in their original costumes/identities. Spider-Man wore his black costume, Thor took on a new secret identity and look, and Superman changed costumes and powers while Frenz was the regular artist on their titles.^[5]

Frenz became the regular artist on The Amazing Spider-Man in 1984 and the stories he pencilled included "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" in issue #248 (Jan. 1984)^[6][7] and the first appearance of Spider-Man's black costume in issue #252 (May 1984).^[8] Among the new characters introduced during his run were the Puma in issue #256 (Sept. 1984)^[9] and Silver Sable in #265 (June 1985).^[10] Frenz and Tom DeFalco revealed that the "black suit" was an alien creature in issue #258 (Nov. 1984).^[11] Frenz drew The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18 (1984), a story written by Stan Lee, which featured the wedding of Spider-Man supporting characters J. Jonah Jameson and Marla Madison.^[12] Frenz had originally been brought onto the series as a short-term substitute for John Romita Jr., but was retained when it became apparent that he meshed well with series writer DeFalco. Frenz recounted:

Initially, I was hired to only do six issues, while Romita, Jr. went off to get X-Men up and running. And he was supposed to come back and do both X-Men and The Amazing Spider-Man. And six issues in, I found out from [editor] Danny Fingeroth that JR had come into the office and said he'd seen the stuff that Tom and I were doing, and Danny said, "Yeah, I'm really happy with what they're doing." And JR said, "You are, aren't you?" And Danny said, "Yeah, I think they're really gelling as a team." And JR said, "If you're really happy with these guys, give it to them." And the first time I met JR, I thanked him for my run on Spider-Man.^[13]

Jim Owsley, editor of the Spider-Man titles at the time, has noted that "Frenz was passionate about Spider-Man, verging on fanatical."^[14] In 1986, Frenz and DeFalco were removed from The Amazing Spider-Man by Owsley.^[13][14] Frenz and DeFalco became the creative team on Thor in 1987^[4] and introduced the Eric Masterson character in Thor #391 (May 1988).^[15] Eric Masterson later became the superhero known as Thunderstrike and received his own series by DeFalco and Frenz in 1993.^[16]

In 1995, Frenz moved to DC Comics and became the artist on Superman.^[4] The following year, he was one of the many creators who contributed to the Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot wherein the title character married Lois Lane.^[17] Superman received a new costume, designed by Frenz himself, and new superpowers in Superman vol. 2 #123 (May 1997).^[18] Frenz drew part of the Superman Red/Superman Blue one-shot which launched the storyline of the same name which ran through the various Superman titles.^[19]

Frenz returned to Marvel with the Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives limited series, written by Roger Stern, in 1997.^[20] DeFalco and Frenz reunited and introduced Spider-Girl in What If ...? vol. 2 #105 (Feb. 1998).^[21] Spider-Girl became an ongoing series in October 1998^[22] and ran until issue #100 (Sept. 2006).^[23] A new series, The Amazing Spider-Girl, was launched the following December,^[24] Frenz drew all 30 issues until the series' cancellation in 2009.^[25]

On June 4, 2009, Ron Frenz was the recipient of the 2009 Nemo Award for Excellence in the Cartoon Arts.^[26]

In 2017, Ron Frenz and long-time inking collaborator Sal Buscema began working on The Blue Baron, written by Darin Henry and published by Sitcomics.^[27] In 2021, Frenz also started to pencil another Sitcomics title: The Heroes Union.

He rejoined Tom DeFalco to co-create and pencil The R.I.G.H.T. Project for Apex Comic Group, again inked by Sal Buscema.^[28] The one-shot comicbook was crowdfunded via Indiegogo and sent to its backers in February 2022.