James Vance
(1953–2017)
Writer/Editor, Tulsa
James Vance is a writer, editor and journalist who has worked in the fine and popular arts since the 1970s. He was born in Tulsa and attended the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.
His first work in the comics’ field—the graphic novel, Kings in Disguise—received Harvey and Eisner Awards in 1989. He subsequently has written scripts for Kitchen Sink Press, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics and Big Entertainment.
As editor-in-chief for Kitchen Sink Press, he supervised books collecting the work of Al Capp, Li’l Abner; V.T. Hamlin, Alley Oop; Harvey Kurtzman, MAD Magazine; and other legendary cartoonists. He was co-editor of the monumental two-volume book, The Comic Strip Century.
In the mid-1990s, while living in Minnesota, Vance met and married fellow writer Kate Worley. The two then moved to Tulsa where they continued to write for comics and other media, both separately and as collaborators until Kate’s untimely death in 2004 from lung cancer.
In collaboration with his late wife Kate Worley, Vance has written a novel for the mystery market. Working with artist Reed Waller, he shepherded Kate’s all-new conclusion to the popular Omaha the Cat Dancer comic series into print.