Jody Houser | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Writer |
Notable works | Faith Mother Panic Vox Machina Origins |
mindeclipse |
Jody Houser is an American professional comics writer known for her work on adaptations and licensed properties. She was nominated for the Eisner Award in 2017 for her writing in the comic series Faith (2016). [1] [2] Additionally, she was the writer on the second volume of Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, which became a New York Times best-seller in September 2020. [3]
From 2010 to 2015, Houser self published the webcomic Cupcake POW!; [2] [4] she created the comic after reading a survey on the audience desire of female comic readers. Houser stated that "the summary was girls don’t need comics about 'princesses and unicorns and cupcakes'. And I thought, ‘Huh, what would a comic about a cupcake be like?'". [2] The success of the webcomic pushed her further into comics. [2] In 2012, Houser wrote "Everwell", with artists Fiona Staples and Adriana Blake, for the Kickstarter funded anthology Womanthology: Heroic. [5] [6] Houser stated that Staples selected her pitch as the one she wanted to draw for the project. [6] By 2015, Houser had "contributed to a wide range of anthologies from just about every comic publisher". [4] She then became the co-writer on the limited series Orphan Black (2015), for IDW Publishing, [4] which was her first non-anthology or one-shot comic. [2]
In 2016, Houser began writing the first solo series about the superhero Faith Herbert from Valiant Comics. [7] [8] PBS highlighted that Faith "sold out five times in its limited-run series, a significant feat in the comic book industry" which led to Valiant launching an ongoing series starting Faith, with Houser as the writer, in July 2016. [8] NPR's review stated that "Houser has accomplished something deceptively simple: she's made Faith a fun character to spend time with. Faith is lighthearted but virtuous, with a cheesy sense of humor, compassion and smarts". [9] Karen Walsh, for GeekMom in 2016, wrote that "Houser’s voice and her range place her on the precipice of comic writing popularity. I hope that with an ongoing Valiant book, she’ll be able to reach the level of respect and popularity she deserves. [...] Houser writes voices for the disaffected, manages to engage readers in the inner lives of characters, and is able to engage her readers by connecting to their varied lived experiences". [10] In 2017, Faith (2016) was nominated for the "Best New Series" Eisner Award. [1] [11] Houser went on to write two sequel limited series: Faith & The Future Force (2017) [12] and Faith: Dreamside (2018). [13]
Houser was involved in several Geek & Sundry productions, including starring as Tkaah in the actual play web series VAST (2016) [14] [6] and guest starring as herself in the comics talk web show The Wednesday Club (2016) [15] [16] and as the Time Lord Corsair in the actual play web series TBD RPG (2017). [17] [18]
Houser was brought on to write Mother Panic (2017) for the DC Comics imprint Young Animal [19] [20] after she was asked by editor Molly Mahan to write several sample pages featuring Mother Panic to see if she "could nail [her] voice". [20] The series and its title character, Violet Paige, was conceived by Young Animal curator Gerard Way and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards. Houser expanded upon Way's and Edwards' concept to "flesh out" the main character and establish her within Gotham City and the Batman mythos. [20] Reviewing the first issue for IGN , Jesse Schedeen wrote that "Mother Panic felt distinctive from the Batman family and surreal". [21] In January 2017, Houser co-wrote two Justice League of America one-shot issues with Steve Orlando. [22] [23] In 2017 and 2018, Houser was a co-writer on several Supergirl issues during Orlando's run in the DC Rebirth era. [24] [25] [26] In 2019, she returned to write the series, with artist Rachael Stott, until the cancellation of the series in 2020. [27] During this time, she also wrote the six issue mini-series Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (2019) with artist Adriana Melo which was part of the Year of the Villain event. [28] [29]
Houser has written Star Wars adaptations for Marvel Comics such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) [30] and Star Wars: Thrawn (2018). [31] She also wrote the original limited series Star Wars: TIE Fighter (2019). [32] Charlie Hall, reviewing TIE Fighter for Polygon , wrote "it's penned by Eisner nominated writer Jody Houser, who somehow made the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story comic adaptation leaps and bounds more appetizing than the film itself. She also managed to reign in Timothy Zahn’s meandering reboot of the Grand Admiral Thrawn character with a series of clear, concise comics. TIE Fighter just might be some of her best work yet". [33] In 2023, she wrote an arc for the Star Wars: Yoda (2022) limited series with artist Luke Ross [34] [35] [36] and wrote the comic adaptation of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (2023) with artist Salvador Larocca. [37]
Houser has also written multiple comic runs on several other licensed properties such as Doctor Who (for Titan Comics), [38] [39] Star Trek (for IDW Publishing), [40] [41] Stranger Things [42] and Critical Role (for Dark Horse Comics). [43] [44] Houser was a member of the writer's room for the ongoing series Star Trek: Year Five which ran from 2019 to 2021. [40] [41] Upon the conclusion of the series, Jamie Lovett, for ComicBook.com, wrote: "Star Trek: Year Five is a remarkable achievement for a licensed comic. Often, these titles have little new or exciting to offer fans of their source material and even less for those who aren't familiar, ultimately feeling redundant or vestigial. Star Trek: Year Five is neither. It set out on a mission to tell an essential missing chapter in the lives of these characters, and it succeeded". [41] In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending August 23, 2020", Houser's Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume 2 was 6th in "Trade Paperbacks". [45] [46] Then in September 2020, the trade paperback reached #13 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the "Graphic Books and Manga" category. [3] ICv2 highlighted that Houser was on two best seller charts in June 2023 for her licensed work – #6 on "Circana BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels" for Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Mollymauk Tealeaf (May 2023) and #16 on "Circana BookScan Top 20 Superhero Graphic Novels" for Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons (July 2021). [47]
Houser studied English at the University of Miami with a focus on creative writing. [6] Houser then earned a MFA in creative writing from Emerson College [2] where she won the "Rod Parker Fellowship for Playwriting". [48] In 2005, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. [49] Houser enjoys role-playing games and is a player in a long running Star Wars role-playing game. [6]
In September 2020, she said that she quit her last day job "in 2016 to write full-time, and have been doing that ever since, with the occasional stint as a professional RPG player". [50] In July 2021, Houser stated that she "had a full-time job while writing comics full-time for longer than I’d have liked" and she had only recently started "doing comics full-time". [51]
Eternity is a fictional cosmic entity appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by scripter-editor Stan Lee and artist-plotter Steve Ditko, the character is first mentioned in Strange Tales #134 and first appears in Strange Tales #138.
Jessica Campbell Jones-Cage, professionally known as Jessica Jones, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos and first appeared in Alias #1 as part of Marvel's Max, an imprint for more mature content, and was later retroactively established to have first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #4 in the Silver Age of Comic Books as an unnamed classmate of Peter Parker, created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko. Within the context of Marvel's shared universe, Jones is a former superhero who becomes the owner of Alias Private Investigations. Bendis envisioned the series as centered on Jessica Drew and only decided to create Jones once he realized that the main character he was writing had a distinct-enough voice and background to differentiate her from Drew, though deciding to still name the character after her on the basis of how "two [people] can have the same first name".
Ryan Ottley is an American comic book artist and writer, best known for work on Image Comics' Invincible and Marvel Comics' Amazing Spider-Man.
Lockjaw is a character in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #45. He is an Inhuman giant bulldog whose abilities include teleportation. He serves the Inhuman Royal Family as their escort and a loyal protector.
Hawkeye is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, Bishop first appeared in Young Avengers #1. She is the third character and first female to take the Hawkeye name, after Clint Barton of the Avengers and Wyatt McDonald of the Squadron Supreme. Her costume appearance is patterned on the first Hawkeye and Mockingbird.
Ryan Kelly is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as Lucifer and Local.
Battleworld is a fictional patchwork planet appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It serves as the setting in Secret Wars comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics.
Makkari, formerly known as Hurricane and Mercury, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, the character first appeared as Makkari in The Eternals #5, but through retroactive continuity was later established as also having been Mercury in Red Raven Comics #1, created by Kirby and Martin Bursten.
Star Wars comics have been produced by various comic book publishers since the debut of the 1977 film Star Wars. Marvel Comics launched its original series in 1977, beginning with a six-issue comic adaptation of the film and running for 107 issues, including an adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. Marvel also released an adaptation of Return of the Jedi and spin-offs based on Droids and Ewoks. A self-titled comic strip ran in American newspapers between 1979 and 1984. Blackthorne Publishing released a three-issue run of 3-D comics from 1987 to 1988.
Tommy Lee Edwards is an American illustrator. Edwards's varied portfolio includes works created in the realm of comics, video games, books, advertising, film, and animation.
Keith Champagne is an American comic artist, who has also moved into writing, and is known for his work at DC Comics.
Charles Soule is an American comic book writer, novelist, musician, and attorney. He is best known for writing Daredevil, She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine, and various Star Wars books and comic series from Del Rey Books and Marvel Comics, and his creator-owned series Letter 44, Curse Words, and Undiscovered Country, which he co-wrote with Scott Snyder, and as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics and Star Wars characters Ren, Blindspot, Inferno, and Lash. His debut novel, The Oracle Year was released by Harper Perennial on April 3, 2018. His follow-up novel, Anyone was released on December 3, 2019, also by Harper Perennial. His third novel, Star Wars: Light of the Jedi, was released by Del Rey Books on January 6, 2021, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
Kamala Khan is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, writer G. Willow Wilson, and artists Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie, Kamala is Marvel's first major Muslim protagonist character and Pakistani-American personality with her own comic book. In the Marvel Universe, she is a teenage Pakistani-American from Jersey City, New Jersey with body-morphing abilities who discovers that she has Inhuman genes in the aftermath of the "Inhumanity" storyline. She assumes the mantle of Ms. Marvel from her idol, Carol Danvers, after Danvers becomes Captain Marvel.
Stranger Things is an American television series created by the Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the first season was released on Netflix on July 15, 2016. The second and third seasons followed in October 2017 and July 2019, respectively, and the fourth season was released in two parts in May and July 2022. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is expected to be released in 2025. The show is known for its cast of characters, plot, nostalgic tones, and mix of the horror, drama, science-fiction, mystery, and coming-of-age genres.
Star Wars is an ongoing Star Wars comic series published by Marvel Comics since January 14, 2015. Originally written by Jason Aaron with art by John Cassaday, it is set between the 1977 film Star Wars and its 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, much like the previous comic published in 2013 by Dark Horse Comics. The series features classic Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. It was one of three new Star Wars comics by Marvel announced in July 2014, along with Darth Vader and the limited series Princess Leia.
Faith Herbert aka Zephyr is a fictional superhero, who has appeared in various series published by Valiant Comics. Created by writer Jim Shooter and David Lapham, she is a member of the Harbinger Renegades who appear primarily in Valiant's Harbinger series, as well as a major influence in the larger Valiant Universe.
Mother Panic, also known as Violet Paige, is a fictional vigilante appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and its imprint Young Animal, focused on mature readers. The character was created by writers Jody Houser and Gerard Way and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards, first appearing in an insert preview of her own series in DC's Young Animal Ashcan Edition (2016).
Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows is two series of comic books published by Marvel Comics. The series revolves around Peter Parker / Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson having remained married and raising a daughter named Anna-May "Annie" Parker, with Mary Jane and Annie further becoming the superheroes Spinneret and Spiderling. The original series was a 2015 comic book limited series that tied into that year's Secret Wars event. Following the event's end, the popularity of the series led to a sequel ongoing series set in the alternate reality of Earth-18119, which was published from 2016 to 2018.