Paul Jenkins (born 6 December 1965) is a British comic book writer, screenwriter, novelist, and narrative director. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, Jenkins had a big part shaping the characters of the company, helping via the Marvel Knights imprint to propel Marvel from Chapter 11 bankruptcy before choosing to focus on independent publications. He is also noted for his groundbreaking narrative work in the field of video games, and is recognized as one of the world's preeminent "cross-media" creators for his work across such multiple media as animation, video games, comic books, and film.
Despite his commercial success, Jenkins is a noted advocate for creators' rights thanks in part to his early days at Mirage Studios and Tundra Publishing, where he witnessed first hand the drafting of the Creators Bill of Rights. He has spoken frequently in support of mentoring, and the need for hands-on education in the entertainment industry.
Jenkins is the Founder and Chief Creative Officer of META Studios, a cross-media development and production house based in Atlanta, Georgia.[1]
Paul Jenkins was raised by a single parent in the West Country of his native United Kingdom. He gained his first writing and directing experience while studying for his degree in acting.[2] Jenkins moved to the United States in 1987, where he first taught music and drama to learning-disabled children before embarking on a successful career in the entertainment industry.
Career
After moving to the US, he joined Mirage Studios in 1988, where he worked as editor/production manager. He edited Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's books, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even negotiated their licensing deals.[2] Seeing the TMNT were fully owned and controlled by Eastman and Laird, Jenkins gained an important understanding of the benefits of cross-media development and ancillary exploitation.
Leaving Mirage, Jenkins followed Eastman to Tundra Publishing - another Eastman publishing venture - where he became Editor-in-Chief at the age of 24. His duties also included heading the production and licensing departments. During this time, Jenkins edited such notable comics creators as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, and George Pratt. This was followed by stints as Editor-in-Chief at Majestic Entertainment[3] and the short-lived Scoreboard Comics.
Tired of editing, Jenkins pitched to several companies as a writer. Despite minimal writing experience, he journeyed to San Diego Comicon where he approached DC Comics' Vertigo editor Lou Stathis and pitched for the prestigious gig as writer of Hellblazer. In 1994, with no previous mainstream credits to his name, he took over as writer of Hellblazer, and began what would go on to be a five-year-long stint.[4] His work on this title gained him attention in the American comic industry, and as of January 2016, his complete run has been collected.
Paul's Marvel Comics career began in 1997, when he worked on reviving some of the company's horror-themed properties. He relaunched the psychological horror title Werewolf By Night, writing six issues, until the title was canceled to start the anthology title Strange Tales, the first two issues of which printed the rest of his Werewolf By Night story.
Later in the year, he and artist Jae Lee were responsible for launching the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Marvel Knights series Inhumans. The limited series ran twelve issues between November 1998 and October 1999, and earned Jenkins an Eisner Award.[5]
In 2000, Jenkins and Lee followed up their collaboration with another five issue Marvel Knights limited series, this time concerning The Sentry, a series Jenkins had unsuccessfully pitched to Marvel and DC Comics for a number of years. Although the mentally tortured hero was an original creation of Jenkins', Marvel ran a marketing hoax claiming that the character was a long-lost Silver Age creation of Stan Lee himself, even pre-dating the Fantastic Four. Several years later, Brian Michael Bendis reused the Sentry by making him a member of the New Avengers: Jenkins himself was featured as a character in the storyline which reintroduced the Sentry.[6] Also in 2000, Jenkins given writing assignments in the mainstream Marvel Universe. In March, he was made the regular writer on The Incredible Hulk. Like in much of his earlier work, Jenkins conducted a psychiatric examination of Bruce Banner, including a look at Banner's multiple Hulk personas. His 20 issue run on The Incredible Hulk ran until November 2001. During this same period, Jenkins became the regular writer of Peter Parker: Spider-Man. Taking over the title from issue 20, in August 2000, he wrote it until its end in August 2003. Marvel placed him on The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.2, which Jenkins wrote for most of its three-year run, which paired him with artist Humberto Ramos.
In 2001 he collaborated with pencillerAndy Kubert on the six-issue limited series Origin, which for the first time revealed the details of Wolverine's childhood and early life. The title was one of the biggest sales successes of that year for Marvel. Jenkins later wrote Wolverine: The End, a story addressing plot threads begun in Origin, although it is not a direct sequel, as Marvel's The End stories are not canon.
Jenkins later wrote Wolverine for Marvel, and The Darkness for Top Cow. Another project undertaken by Jenkins for Marvel was the Mythos series of one-shots where Jenkins, with Paolo Rivera's painted artwork, would retell the origin stories of Marvel's movie adapted characters to bridge the gap between the movie and the comic book versions of the characters.
In 2005 Jenkins wrote the Dark Horse Comics six issue miniseries Revelations, illustrated by Ramos, and Marvel's The Sentry with artist John Romita Jr. In 2006 he wrote his own independent comic, Sidekick, published by Image Comics.[7] That same year, he wrote Civil War: Front Line, a tie-in to Marvel's crossover storyline, "Civil War"[7] that depicted the transformation of Robbie Baldwin from Speedball to Penance,[8] was expanded on in the limited seriesPenance: Relentless.[9] It also led to World War Hulk: Front Line.[10] He also took over the writing on Son of Hulk when it lost its focus on Skaar, the series ran from No. 13 to 17.[11]
In February 2013 Paul Jenkins left DC and Marvel to work with Boom! Studios. Jenkins launched Deathmatch with Carlos Magno and Fairy Quest with Humberto Ramos, and brought Revelations from Dark Horse to Boom!
In 2014, Jenkins founded his own production company, META Studios. Based in Atlanta, Georgia it works in the creation of nearly all existing forms of media from graphic novels and books to variable reality.[1]
In 2015, Jenkins subsequently moved on to work with AfterShock Comics where he created the comic series Replica. This was followed by the ongoing series Alters, which focuses on various disadvantaged heroes with mutant powers known as "alterations."
In 2015, Jenkins was asked by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal to assemble and chair an advisory committee to educate the Georgia General Assembly on the evolution of digital and interactive technologies.
In 2016, Jenkins created the transgender superhero Chalice for the Alters comic book series.[15]
Universe (with pencils by Clayton Crain and inks by Jonathan Glapion, 8-issue limited series, Top Cow, August 2001 – July 2002, tpb, Tom Judge: The Rapture, collects #1–8 and Tom Judge: End of Days, October 2004, ISBN1-58240-389-9)
The Darkness (Top Cow, 2001, 2002–2004, 2006) collected as:
Resurrection (176 pages, collects The Darkness vol. 1 #40 and vol. 2 #1–6, 2004, ISBN1-58240-349-X)
Demon Inside (272 pages, includes The Darkness vol. 2 #7–9, January 2007, ISBN1-58240-646-4)
Levels (5-issue mini-series, computer game tie-in, 2006–2007, tpb June 2007, ISBN1-58240-797-5)
Batman: Jekyll & Hyde (with pencils by Jae Lee and Sean Phillips, 6-issue limited series, DC Comics, June 2005 – October 2005, tpb, July 2008, ISBN1-4012-1797-4)
Sentry (vol. 2) (with pencils by John Romita Jr. and inks by Mark Morales, 8-issue limited series, Marvel Comics, 2005–2006, tpb, Sentry: Reborn, 192 pages, September 2006, ISBN0-7851-1707-5)
Replica #1-5, (Aftershock Comics, November 2015-April 2016)
Alters #1-5, (Aftershock Comics, September 2016-March 2017)
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