| David Pepose | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | David Pepose |
| Area(s) | Writer |
Notable works | Spencer & Locke , The O.Z., Savage Avengers, Punisher, Space Ghost, Cable: Love and Chrome |
| www | |
David Pepose is an American comics writer and former crime reporter who has written for Marvel Comics and independent comics. His book Spencer & Locke was nominated multiple times for the Ringo Awards [1] [2] and he won in 2021 for Best Single Issue for his self-published comic The O.Z. [3]
Pepose worked as a reviewer and editor at Newsarama before deciding to write his own comics. [4] His first comic, Spencer & Locke , was published through Action Lab Comics in 2017 with artist Jorge Santiago. It was described as "What would you get if you crossed Calvin and Hobbes and Sin City ?" [5] It was optioned for a movie by Adrian Askarieh, the producer of the Hitman films, [6] and was nominated for Best Series at the 2018 Ringo Awards. [1] In 2019, he and Santiago put out a sequel, Spencer & Locker 2, [7] [8] which satirized Beetle Bailey, which was also nominated in the 2020 Ringo Awards. [2] He also wrote an action-comedy called Going to the Chapel . [9]
In 2020, he ran a kickstarter to fund self-publishing The O.Z., a comic which recasts Oz as a war zone. [10] Per Pepose: "The O.Z. is like what if The Hurt Locker took place in The Wizard of Oz — we’re reimagining Dorothy Gale killing the Wicked Witch of the West as something akin to a botched regime change, and when Dorothy returned home to Kansas, she inadvertently left Oz in a horrific power vacuum that would spiral into brutal civil war." [11] The book won the 2021 Ringo Award for Best Single Issue or Story. [12] He also published the post-apocalyptic comic Scout's Honor through AfterShock Comics, about a cult in the aftermath of a global disaster that has built itself around a single artifact: a Boy Scouts manual. [13]
In 2022, he and artist Carlos Magno were announced as the creative team for the new Savage Avengers book from Marvel. [14] [15] He also wrote two issues of Fantastic Four set during the A.X.E.: Judgment Day crossover. [16] [17] In 2023, he wrote stories for Carnage Reigns and Extreme Venomverse, [18] [19] as well as a five-issue mini-series Moon Knight: City of the Dead, [20] which introduced a new Scarlet Scarab similar to the one on the Disney+ show. [21] [22] In July 2023, at San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that he would be writing a new Punisher mini-series about a brand new Punisher, Joe Garrison. [23] [24] [25]
In 2024, Dynamite Entertainment announced that Pepose would write a new Space Ghost comic series with artist Jonathan Lau. [26] In September 2024, it was announced that he and artist Mike Henderson would be the creative team for a new Cable mini-series, Cable: Love and Chrome. [27] [28] [29] In November 2024, it was announced that he would be writing a new Speed Racer series from Mad Cave Studios starting with a Free Comic Book Day issue. [30] In January 2025, it was announced that he would write a new Captain Planet comic for Dynamite Entertainment. This would be the first Captain Planet series in three decades. [31]
Pepose graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University. He studied American Studies, creative writing and theater arts. [32]