Christopher Priest (comic book writer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quantum & Woody: Director's Cut Trade by VALIANT Comics
Enlarge
Quantum & Woody: Director's Cut Trade by VALIANT Comics

Christopher James Priest, born James Christopher Owsley in 1961, is a writer of comic books. During his career, he has written nearly every major character published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics. He was the first black man to be the editor of any comic book in North America.

For several years he was the editor of the Spider-Man comic books, during which time he first hired Peter David. He edited the Impact imprint for DC Comics. He had ongoing runs writing titles such as Power Man and Iron Fist, Conan the Barbarian, The Ray, Quantum & Woody, Steel, Xero, Deadpool, The Crew and Black Panther, some of which he either co-created or substantially influenced.

In 1993, he became part of the group of writers and artists that would go on to found Milestone Media, a comic book publisher affiliated with DC Comics. He contributed substantially to the development of the original Milestone story bible and designed the company logo. He was intended to become the company's editor-in-chief, but personal problems forced him to scale down his involvement, settling for the role of a liaison between DC Comics and Milestone Media.

Shortly afterwards, he changed his name from "Jim Owsley" to "Christopher Priest". He has refused to discuss his reasons for doing so, beyond a seemingly-glib story about carrying out a threat/promise to "become a priest". He has claimed that he was completely unaware at the time of the established British science fiction author of the same name; as an accommodation, he refers to himself professionally as just "Priest" (or sometimes "Christopher J. Priest"). Coincidentally, he is also an ordained Baptist minister, and can thus be referred to as "the Reverend Priest."

He is also a professional music producer.

Contents

[edit] Selected bibliography

[edit] Regular Writer

[edit] Fill-in Writer

[edit] Editor

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Tony Isabella
Power Man and Iron Fist writer
1984–1986
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Michael Fleisher
Conan the Barbarian writer
1985–1988
(with Val Semeiks 1988)
Succeeded by
Charles Santino & Val Semeiks
Preceded by
Tom DeFalco
The Amazing Spider-Man writer
1987
Succeeded by
David Michelinie
Preceded by
Steve Englehart
Green Lantern writer
1988
(in Action Comics Weekly)
Succeeded by
Peter David
Preceded by
Peter David & Richard Howell
Green Lantern writer
1988–1989
(with Mark D. Bright)
(in Action Comics Weekly)
Succeeded by
Keith Giffen & Gerard Jones
Preceded by
Mark Waid
Justice League Task Force writer
1995–1996
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Pat McGreal
Hawkman writer
1996
Succeeded by
Geoff Johns & James Robinson
(in 2002)
Preceded by
Peter J. Tomasi
Steel writer
1997–1998
Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
John Byrne
Wonder Woman writer
1998–1998
Succeeded by
Eric Luke
In other languages