Comics and illustration
Creator of CARVER: A Paris Story. Comics work for IDW, Z2, Black Mask, and Vertigo, alongside illustration for Filson, AMC, Universal Music Group, Fat Possum Records, and others.
The author
Chris Hunt
Writer. Artist. Storyteller.
Courage Word Brand
From comics to the Code
Chris Hunt is a writer, artist, and the creator of Code of the West—a modern storytelling project rooted in resilience, purpose, and a shared standard of conduct.
The work has changed shape over the years. The throughline has not: draw honestly, tell the story straight, and make something worth carrying forward.
Chris first decided he wanted to make comics at nine years old. That childhood conviction became a working life in drawing and storytelling. His first full-length graphic novel, CARVER: A Paris Story, debuted from Z2 Comics in 2015 and was named IGN’s 2016 Graphic Novel of the Year.
His comics work has included IDW, Z2, Black Mask, and Vertigo. He wrote alongside his friend and mentor Paul Pope after studying under Pope at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Outside comics, Chris illustrated for Filson, AMC, Universal Music Group, Fat Possum Records, and other brands.
Over time, the work widened from illustration into art direction, brand building, and content. As art director at Black Rifle Coffee, Chris helped translate story and identity across a growing company. It taught him how an image can carry a belief—and how a brand only means something when the conduct beneath it is real.
Chris grew up around cowboys and truck drivers, learning “the Code of the West” as an old colloquial standard rather than a formal doctrine. Years later, he returned to those lessons through a personal drawing project. The question underneath the drawings was simple: what can an old code of conduct still give a person living now?
That project became Code of the West—a body of writing, art, interviews, and conversation shared with a community of more than 346,000 people. Chris now lives in Idaho. His forthcoming book, Code of the West: A Frontier Guide for Modern Living, arrives from Andrews McMeel on September 15, 2026.
The work
One road. A few different forms.
Comics, commercial art, brand building, and Code of the West all belong to the same larger practice: making meaning visible.
Art and brand building
A career that widened from the drawing table into creative direction and brand storytelling, including serving as art director at Black Rifle Coffee.
Code of the West
A personal drawing project became an ongoing body of writing, art, conversation, and community—now gathered into a book from Andrews McMeel.
The forthcoming book
A frontier guide for modern living.
Not a costume. Not a retreat into nostalgia. An attempt to recover the useful parts of an old standard—courage, responsibility, freedom, loyalty, and keeping your word—and ask what they require of us now.
Short bio
For hosts, editors, and event introductions.
Chris Hunt is a writer, artist, former art director, and the creator of Code of the West, a modern storytelling project rooted in resilience, purpose, and shared values. After a career spanning comics, commercial illustration, and brand building, he returned to the old Western code he learned growing up and began asking what it could still teach us about conduct, freedom, and responsibility. His book, Code of the West: A Frontier Guide for Modern Living, will be published by Andrews McMeel on September 15, 2026.