Guice was born in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, on June 27, 1961. Growing up in the 1960s, Guice was fond of "the legendary stop-motion animator and filmmaker"
Ray Harryhausen, whose influence can be seen in some of Guice's work, most notably the
Humanoids project
Olympus.
1980s Guice began his career with
fanzine work and "designing patches and emblems for a small company in North Carolina." On the strength of his fanzine work, (and, Guice believes, at the behest of
Rom writer
Bill Mantlo) Marvel editor
Al Milgrom offered him a tryout on the toy-spin-off title
Micronauts. Referring to
Rom Annual #1 and
Micronauts #48 (Dec. 1982), he remarked that "[b]oth were breaking points for me getting into comics". Guice continued penciling
Micronauts until #58 (May 1984). In July 1983, "The Butch Guice Portfolio" appeared in the pages of
Marvel Fanfare #9, and Guice contributed to
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe,
Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo's
X-Men and the Micronauts four-issue miniseries as well as occasional issues of a number of different titles. In 1984, he drew the Marvel Comics adaptation of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and inked
Dazzler. In 1986, he penciled
X-Factor, while concurrently contributing pencils to
The New Mutants. In mid-1987, he was credited with inks to "
Brian Guice" 's pencils for five issues of
Adventure Publications'
Adventurers, which was written and edited by Scott Behnke. That same year, Guice collaborated on several different titles with writer
Mike Baron, including issues of
First Comics'
Badger,
Nexus and
The Chronicles of Corum. This third
Flash series featured
Wally West after the demise of
Barry Allen in the
Crisis on Infinite Earths series. Guice drew ten of the first eleven issues. In 1988–89, Guice produced a series of covers for the
Quality Comics/
Fleetway 2000 AD reprint-title
2000AD Showcase, while penciling the
Iron Man title for Marvel. In 1989 he became the artist on
Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme.
1990s Guice's cover for
Doctor Strange #15 (March 1990) used
Christian music singer
Amy Grant's likeness without her permission, leading to her management filing a complaint against Marvel Comics, saying the cover gave the appearance she was associating with witchcraft. A US District Court sealed an out-of-court settlement between Grant and Marvel in early 1991, with a consent decree that Marvel did not admit to any liability or wrongdoing. Guice and writer
Walt Simonson co-created the Ahab character in
Fantastic Four Annual #23 (1990). In 1991, Guice took over penciling
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., before moving back to DC. Guice drew
Action Comics #676–711 (April 1992–July 1995) and worked with writers
Roger Stern and
David Michelinie. During this run, Guice and Stern (along with editor
Mike Carlin,
Dan Jurgens,
Louise Simonson and others) were the architects of "
The Death of Superman" storyline, in which Superman died and was resurrected. Stern and Guice incorporated the
Eradicator character into the "Reign of the Supermen" story arc beginning in
The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993). Spinning out of that event, Stern and Guice collaborated on a
Supergirl miniseries. Guice illustrated the four-issue
DC/Marvel: All Access mini-series (December 1996–February 1997) follow-up to the cross-company
DC Versus Marvel/Marvel Versus DC event. He was one of many artists to contribute to the landmark marriage of Superman and
Lois Lane in
Superman: The Wedding Album (December 1996). In May 1997, Guice launched
Resurrection Man with writers
Dan Abnett and
Andy Lanning, pencilling all 27 issues and inking most of them including the special #1,000,000 issue for the
DC One Million event. The series was cancelled in August 1999.
2000s In March 2000, Guice became the artist on
Birds of Prey for issues #15 to #34. In addition, Guice drew a "Robin and Oracle" story in
Batman: Gotham City Secret Files and Origins and the
Universe X Spidey one-shot, from Marvel. After his run on
Birds of Prey, Guice left DC Comics and moved to
Tampa, Florida to work for
CrossGen. He was brought in to launch
Ruse with writer
Mark Waid, in November 2001. Effectively a
Victorian steampunk detective story, although set on an analogue of Earth in the far-distant future, and part of CrossGen's '
Sigilverse'. Guice continued as the penciller of
Ruse until its cancellation with #26 (January 2004). Guice resigned from CrossGen "just prior to the layoffs" and before the remaining staff were released from "exclusivity status". as Guice said in December 2003, while working on Volume One that that book "wraps in March [2004]", which he then "scheduled to start work on volume two almost immediately". In 2007, Guice provided rotating art duties for
The Invincible Iron Man, with issue #19–20's
World War Hulk tie-in issue and became inker on
Captain America for #32–34, and then taking over full duties as of #35. Guice penciled a miniseries taking place in the
Ultimate Universe, entitled
Ultimate Origins written by
Brian Michael Bendis. Bendis wrote of Guice "I've been a fan of his for years and years, and when I saw what he was doing in
Iron Man [with Gage]... I had to have him." Guice was the penciler on the Wildstorm mini-series
Storming Paradise, written by
Chuck Dixon.
Personal life and death Guice and his wife Julie had a daughter named Elizabeth Diane, born in 1988. He died of pneumonia on May 1, 2025, at the age of 63. He was a resident of
Reading, Ohio, at the time of his death. ==Awards==