Phoenix grew up in
Brockley,
south London, his parents Joe and
Sybil Phoenix having migrated to the UK from
Guyana in about 1958. He studied typography at university, and in the 1990s was a
letterer for most of the UK's comics publishers, including
Escape,
Fleetway,
Dark Horse UK,
Toxic, and
Acme Press. He also lettered graphic novels for
Gollancz and
Methuen. He self-published several comics during this time as part of the
Fast Fiction collective begun by
Paul Gravett, before working as a professional artist and writer for UK and US comics companies. Phoenix's first collaboration was with
Glenn Dakin on
Sinister Romance, a humour title they jointly wrote, drew, and edited. Four issues were published by
Harrier Comics' New Wave imprint. Phoenix has since collaborated as artist and/or writer with
Andi Watson,
Matt Wagner,
Alan Moore, Chris Reynolds,
Chris Webster,
Eddie Campbell,
Rian Hughes,
Gordon Rennie,
Warren Ellis,
Grant Morrison,
Paul Grist,
Evan Dorkin,
Oscar Zarate,
José Muñoz, Carl Flint,
Ian Carney, Jake Carney, Zach Howard, Annie Caulfield, and
Steve May. With co-writer Ian Carney, Phoenix created an anthology comic called
SugarBuzz, published by
Slave Labor Graphics, featuring a cast of more than 50 characters. The most popular was
Pants Ant, who was featured in an animated cartoon for
The Cartoon Network; and the ''
Where's It At, Sugar Kat?'' series, which was also optioned for film and TV projects by
Walt Disney inc. Phoenix was one of the first Western comics creators to appear in
Kodansha's weekly
manga anthology
Comics Morning magazine in Japan, producing a mystery detective strip called
The Liberty Cat. His work has also appeared in numerous anthologies and book collections including
Grendel: Black White and Red (with writer
Matt Wagner),
The Big Book of Death and
The Big Book of Weirdos, ''It's Dark in London
edited by Oscar Zarate, The Brighton Book
and Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman''. Phoenix shares a studio in London known as
Detonator with two comics writer/artists,
Ed "ILYA" Hillyer and JAKe. == Art style ==