Whilce Portacio

Whilce Portacio

Whilce Portacio is a Filipino-American comic book artist. Portacio started out as an inker at Marvel Comics in 1985. Over time, he was given assignments as a penciller as well. Portacio became noted for his work on such titles as The Punisher, X-Factor, and the Uncanny X-Men. However, in 1992, Portacio left Marvel to co-found Image Comics with six other high-profile artists. But, Portacio quickly withdrew from his partnership in this enterprise due to his sister's bout with lupus, eventually publishing his title Wetworks through Jim Lee's Wildstorm imprint. Other notable series that Portacio has worked on include Stone and Marvel's controversial Heroes Reborn storyline within Iron Man.

In August, 2000, Whilce fell into a diabetic coma as a result of a failing pancreas. He woke up a week later, thirty pounds lighter, and unable to walk, let alone stand or even draw. It was six months before he was able to pick up a pencil and draw. It would be a year before he was able to draw any semblance of his previous artistry. According to his blog, "My mind could see what I wanted to draw but my hand couldn't accomplish it."

In 2006, Portacio returned to his artistic duties at Wildstorm on Wetworks vol.2, which is being written by Mike Carey. He also began art duties on the new monthly DC Comics series Batman Confidential.