Jonathan Luna (born December 10, 1978) and Joshua Luna (born January 9, 1981[1]), professionally known as the Luna Brothers, are Filipino-Americancomics creators known for their creator-owned books. They first achieved significant success with the series Ultra and Girls.[2] They are also known for their book The Sword,[2][3] and for providing the art for Marvel Comics' Spider-Woman: Origin.
Although early in their career they wrote and drew together, later Joshua primarily scripted the dialogue, and Jonathan did the art.
The Lunas spent most of their childhood overseas, living on military bases in Iceland and Italy.[6] In their teens they were enthusiastic fans of fellow Filipino comics creator Whilce Portacio, and his creation, Wetworks.[5] They returned to the United States in their late teens,[6] attending Savannah College of Art and Design, where they earned Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees.[5] Jonathan graduated in 2001, and Joshua in 2003. Their interest in the comics medium was reignited when they noticed works such as Garth Ennis's Preacher, which inspired them to work in mature genres other than superheroes, as typified by the material published by Vertigo Comics.[1]
The Luna brothers sent UltratoImage Comics publisher Erik Larsen as a blind submission, which consisted of a synopsis and five-page sequence.[1] Image published Ultra as a miniseries between 2004 and 2005.
Girls was also published by Image between May 2005 and April 2007. In October 2007, the brothers created a limited series, again for Image, titled The Sword.[7][8] Joshua Luna worked a solo miniseries, Whispers, at Image in January 2012.[9]
Similarly, Jonathan Luna pursued his own project for Image, teaming with fellow writer Sarah Vaughn on Alex + Ada, which was released in 2013,[10] and won a Special Prometheus Award in 2016.[11]
The Lunas have expressed a preference for working on their own creations, but have stated that if given the opportunity, would like to work on Superman, Supergirl, Batman and Spider-Man.[5] Joshua has also expressed an interest in one day feature film screenwriting.[1]
In 2006, a pilot episode was made for a proposed Ultra television series. The pilot was produced by Barbara Hall. It featured Lena Headey as Ultra (renamed Penny Penalosa) and Peter Dinklage and was directed by Helen Shaver. While CBS and the CW expressed an interest in the series, neither decided to carry it.[citation needed]
Early in their career they shared both writing and art duties in their work, as seen in the first several issues of Girls, which they have described as a transition point in their collaborative process. Today, they both collaborate on plots, but Joshua primarily scripts the dialogue, and Jonathan does all the art.[1]
When illustrating their work, Jonathan Luna uses 14 x 17 Strathmore bristol board, which he cuts into 11 x 17 pieces on which to draw. He draws using a 2H pencil, and after inking his pencils with a Micron pen, he edits his line work on a graphics tablet.[1]
^Richardson, Walter (January 13, 2012). "Review: Whispers #1". Multiversity Comics. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
