Christopher Priest (comic book writer)

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Christopher James Priest (born James Christopher Owsley in 1961) is a writer of comic books who is at times credited simply as Priest. 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". In an interview a few years ago, when asked about the origin of the "Priest" change - he mentioned that when he first got married, he'd joke about becoming a priest if it didn't work out. Years passed, and the marriage ended up in divorce - and soon after he changed his last name to Priest, though it is unsure whether or not he was kidding at the time of this story. 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 M. 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
1996–2002		 Succeeded by
Geoff Johns & James Robinson
Preceded by
Peter J. Tomasi		 Steel writer
1997–1998		 Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
John Byrne		 Wonder Woman writer
1998		 Succeeded by
Eric Luke