Darwyn Cooke was a cartoonist and animator who won an Eisner Award. Cooke changed vocations after working as a magazine art director and graphic designer for several years, contributing to series such as Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Men in Black: The Series. Cooke was then asked by DC Comics to write and illustrate Batman: Ego, a project he had previously offered unsuccessfully. The title's critical success prompted writer Ed Brubaker to revive the Catwoman series. Cooke then spent several years writing and painting The New Frontier, an ambitious epic. He was also the co-writer of Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre and the writer/artist of Before Watchmen: Minutemen.