Tony Isabella | |
---|---|
Born | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. | December 22, 1951
Area(s) | Writer |
Notable works | Black Goliath Black Lightning Justice Machine "Tony's Tips" |
Awards | Goethe Award 1972 Inkpot Award 2013 |
http://tonyisabella.blogspot.com |
Tony Isabella (born December 22, 1951) [1] is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath; DC Comics' first major African-American superhero, Black Lightning; and as a columnist and critic for the Comics Buyer's Guide .
Tony Isabella was born in Cleveland, Ohio. [2] He discovered comics at the age of four, when his mother began bringing him I. W. Publications titles she bought at Woolworth. [2] Early influences from the comic book world included Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Robert Kanigher, and Len Wein; Isabella was also influenced by writers such as William Shakespeare, Harlan Ellison, Ed McBain, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Lester Dent, Dave Barry, Max Allan Collins, Don Pendleton, and Studs Terkel. [2]
As a teenager, Isabella had many letters published in comic book letter columns, [3] primarily in the pages of Marvel titles. He was active in comics fandom as well, a member of CAPA-alpha, and a regular contributor to comics fanzines. [2]
Isabella's work in comics fandom attracted the attention of Marvel editor Roy Thomas [2] (whose professional career began in similar fashion), and in 1972 Thomas hired Isabella as an editorial assistant at Marvel. With Marvel's establishment of Marvel UK that year, Isabella was assigned the task of overseeing the reprints used in Marvel UK's nascent comics line. [4] He also served for a time as an editor for Marvel's black-and-white magazine line. [5]
As a writer, Isabella scripted Ghost Rider ; the characters It, the Living Colossus, in Astonishing Tales ; Luke Cage in Hero for Hire and Power Man; and Tigra in Marvel Chillers; Daredevil ; [6] and Captain America . [7] While writing the "Iron Fist" feature in Marvel Premiere , he co-created the supporting character Misty Knight with artist Arvell Jones. [8] Isabella developed the concept of The Champions series [9] and wrote the first several issues. [10]
During his mid-1970s run on Ghost Rider , Isabella wrote a two-year story arc in which Johnny Blaze occasionally encountered an unnamed character referred to as "the Friend" who helped Blaze stay protected from Satan, who had granted Blaze supernatural power and created the Ghost Rider. Isabella said in 2007,
Getting prior approval from editor Roy Thomas, as I would from later editors Len Wein and Marv Wolfman, I introduced "The Friend" into the series. He looked sort of like a hippie Jesus Christ and that's exactly who He was, though I never actually called Him that.... It allowed me to address a disparity that had long bothered me about the Marvel Universe. Though we had no end of Hell(s) and Satan surrogates in our comics, we had nothing of Heaven.... [After two years] I'd written a story wherein, couched in mildly subtle terms, Blaze accepted Jesus as his savior and freed himself from Satan's power forever. Had I remained on Ghost Rider, which was my intent at the time, the title's religious elements would have faded into the background. Blaze would be a Christian, but he'd express this in the way he led his life. ... Unfortunately, an assistant editor took offense at my story. The issue was ready to go to the printer when he pulled it back and ripped it to pieces. He had some of the art redrawn and a lot of the copy rewritten to change the ending of a story two years in the making. "The Friend" was revealed to be, not Jesus, but a demon in disguise. To this day, I consider what he did to my story one of the three most arrogant and wrongheaded actions I've ever seen from an editor. [11]
Isabella later said the assistant editor referenced was Jim Shooter. [12] [13] In 2020, Shooter said he had been concerned that this "basically established the Marvel universe is a Christian universe" and could alienate some portion of the readership by suggesting "that all other religions are false." He said after consulting with editor Marv Wolfman, he made the changes. [14]
For DC Comics, Isabella worked as a writer and story editor [5] but is mainly known for his creation of Black Lightning , [15] writing both the character's short-lived 1970s and 1990s series. [16] After reaching an agreement with DC, [17] Isabella returned to the character in 2017 with the publication of the Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands limited series. [18] [19]
Isabella and artist Richard Howell produced the Shadow War of Hawkman mini-series in 1985, involving the characters of Hawkman and Hawkwoman. [20] An ongoing series was launched the following year. [21]
In 1987, Isabella began writing the Justice Machine series for Comico, co-plotting with series creator and penciller Mike Gustovich. The new series picked up from the end of the Bill Willingham/Gustovich written limited series Justice Machine featuring the Elementals , which re-booted the series' continuity from the older Noble Comics/Texas Comics-published original series. The ongoing book became one of Comico's best-selling series, selling upwards of 70,000 copies of each issue at its peak. Isabella wrote the first 11 issues of the Comico series before moving on to other projects. [22]
In 1990, Isabella returned to the characters and wrote the series for Innovation Comics, with Gustovich pencilling once more.
Isabella wrote the Comics Buyer's Guide column "Tony's Tips" for over a decade. The last column was June 22, 2010. [23] Starting in 2013, he continued "Tony's Tips" online at Tales of Wonder. [24] [25] He also regularly writes about comics and his work on his personal blog. [26]
Isabella is the co-author with his fellow Comics Buyer's Guide columnist Bob Ingersoll of the short story "If Wishes Were Horses..." which was published in The Ultimate Super-Villains: New Stories Featuring Marvel's Deadliest Villains (1996), [27] and the novels Captain America: Liberty's Torch (1998) [28] and Star Trek: The Case Of The Colonist's Corpse (2003). [29] In 2009, his non-fiction book 1000 Comics You Must Read was published by Krause Publications. [30]
During the 1980s, Isabella operated Cosmic Comics, a comic book shop in the Colonial Arcade in Downtown Cleveland. [31]
He has also worked on translating foreign-language Disney comics and revising the wording for the U.S. market.
Isabella's wife is named Barbara; they have two children, son Eddie (born c. 1989) and daughter Kelly (born c. 1992). [2]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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2020 | Black Lightning | Judge Isabella | Episode: "The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberation" |
James P. Starlin is an American comics artist and writer. Beginning his career in the early 1970s, he is best known for space opera stories, for revamping the Marvel Comics characters Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, and for creating or co-creating the Marvel characters Thanos, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Nebula, and Shang-Chi, as well as writing the acclaimed miniseries The Infinity Gauntlet and its many sequels including The Infinity War and The Infinity Crusade, all detailing Thanos' pursuit of the Infinity Gems to court Mistress Death by annihilating half of all life in the cosmos, before coming into conflict with the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Elders of the Universe, joined by the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Gamora, Nebula, and Drax.
Roy William Thomas Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics. Thomas is also known for his championing of Golden Age comic-book heroes – particularly the 1940s superhero team the Justice Society of America – and for lengthy writing stints on Marvel's X-Men and The Avengers, and DC Comics' All-Star Squadron, among other titles.
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The Champions are a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appears in The Champions #1 and was created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Heck. Their titular series is regarded as an example of a failed superteam comic, suffering from constant turnover in the writers and artists working on the series, lack of a consistent direction or concept, and mediocre sales.
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Ghost Rider is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the second Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, following Carter Slade and preceding Daniel Ketch, Alejandra Jones, and Robbie Reyes. The character's story begins when motorcycle stuntman Johnny Blaze becomes bound to the Spirit of Vengeance Zarathos after making a deal with Mephisto to spare his surrogate father. With his supernatural powers, Johnny seeks vengeance as the "Ghost Rider".
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Created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Don Heck, the Champions consisted of Angel, Iceman, Hercules, the Black Widow, and Ghost Rider.
My anger over Shooter rewriting the last issue of my two-year Ghost Rider run, a story that had been approved every step of the way by three previous editors-in-chief, has been documented on several occasions.
He [Jim Shooter] told Tony Isabella to rewrite the climax to a two-year Ghost Rider story line, in which the hero was saved by Jesus Christ, on the grounds that it would be seen as religious propaganda.
Writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor von Eeden provided the creative juice for Black Lightning.
Tony's Online Tips has reached the end of its decade-plus run. I announced this last week in various venues, but I didn't want to leave without saying a more proper farewell and, in that farewell, try to explain this decision without sending any one into a panic.
Cosmic Comics was easily the most successful comics shop in the Cleveland area for nine of the eleven years I owned it.