| Ed Brubaker | |
|---|---|
Brubaker at a book signing at Midtown Comics Times Square on June 21, 2010. |
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| Born | 17 November 1966 Bethesda, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | writer, artist |
| Notable works | Captain America Daredevil Catwoman Criminal Incognito Gotham Central Sleeper |
| Awards | Harvey Award, 2006, 2007 Eisner Award, 2007, 2008, 2010 |
| Official website | |
Ed Brubaker is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer and cartoonist. Brubaker first early comics work was primarily in the crime fiction genre with works such as Lowlife, The Fall, Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives and Scene of the Crime. He later became known for writing superhero comics such as Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, Catwoman, Uncanny X-Men, and The Authority.
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Brubaker’s first work in comics was as a cartoonist, writing and drawing Pajama Chronicles for Blackthorne Comics, Purgatory U.S.A. for Slave Labor Graphics, and the semi-autobiographical series Lowlife for Slave Labor and later Caliber Comics. At Caliber, he briefly edited the anthology series Monkey Wrench.[1]
In 1991, he began contributing to the Dark Horse Comics anthology series Dark Horse Presents, a comic he would continue to contribute to intermittently throughout the decade. Among those contributions was the three part serial "An Accidental Death" (Dark Horse Presents #65–67), a collaboration with artist Eric Shanower, which garnered the two a 1993 Eisner Award nomination.
In 1997, he began to publish his cartoonist work through the small press publisher Alternative Comics. In the one-off At the Seams, a romantic triangle is explored through three stories which each depict a different participant’s point-of-view.[2] The comic was a 1997 Ignatz Award nominee for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection. His other work for Alternative Comics, the humorous and experimental Detour #1, was to be the first issue of a series, though only one issue was ever published.[3] Detour was nevertheless nominated for the "Best New Series" Harvey Award in 1998.
The Fall, a graphic novel that was written by Brubaker and illustrated by Berlin creator Jason Lutes was published by Drawn and Quarterly in 2001. This work had previously been anthologized in five parts in Dark Horse Presents in 1998. The story involved a convenience store clerk who gets involved in a ten-year-old murder mystery after he uses a stolen credit card. In 2004 IDW Publishing announced that Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips would collaborate on a creator owned pirate series titled Black Sails for them.[4] That series has not yet materialized and The Fall is the last independent comic book work by Brubaker to date.
Predating Brubaker's Alternative Comics work by two years, Vertigo Visions: Prez, Smells Like Teen President (1995) was Brubaker's first work for one of the two major American comic book publishers. Published by DC Comics’ "mature readers" imprint Vertigo, the comic was a broad political satire which revamped an obscure 1970s Joe Simon creation. Brubaker worked with his "An Accidental Death" collaborator, artist Eric Shanower, again on the comic.
Brubaker's next major work for Vertigo was the four issue limited series Scene of the Crime (1999), which marked his first collaboration with both Michael Lark and Sean Phillips, two artists who would frequently work with the writer in later years. A slacker detective story set in San Francisco, the series was critically acclaimed and the first to gain Brubaker attention from Hollywood producers.[5]
In late 2000, Brubaker signed a one-year exclusive contract with DC Comics.[6] The contract was renewed in 2001 That same year the writer began to do his first mainstream super-hero work, on the series Batman. He would continue to work on various series starring the Batman character until late 2003.
Returning to Vertigo in 2000, Brubaker and artist Warren Pleece produced the science fiction series Deadenders. The series lasted 16 issues before being canceled in 2001.[7] Staying with Vertigo in 2001, Brubaker wrote the four issue Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives, which was drawn by artist Bryan Talbot.
Also in 2001, Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke teamed up to revamp the Catwoman character. They started with the four issue serial "Trail of the Catwoman" which ran in Detective Comics #759-762. In the serial, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to investigate the death of Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman). The story led into a new Catwoman title in late 2001 by Brubaker and Cooke in which the character's costume, supporting cast and modus operandi were all redesigned and redeveloped. Brubaker stayed on the series, which was met with critical and fan acclaim, up until #37 (January 2004).
At the 2001 San Diego Comic Convention Brubaker and Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis discussed co-writing a story which would team up DC's Batman with Marvel's Daredevil. The two writers were enthusiastic about their ideas, which included a fight between Batman and Marvel villain Bullseye as well as another between Catwoman and Elektra. DC editors Matt Idelson and Bob Schreck were also enthusiastic, but DC executive editor Paul Levitz objected to the project due to a prior disagreement with Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.[8] The aborted project became controversial when Bendis publicly spoke about Levitz's decision at the 2002 Wizard World Chicago comic convention. Bendis later apologized for his comments, saying that he regretted ever discussing the project in public.[9]
In early 2003, Brubaker and writer Greg Rucka created and co-wrote the Gotham Central series. Focusing on the activities of the Gotham City Police Department, the two writers either co-wrote storylines or wrote alternate arcs separately throughout the series, which featured artwork from Brubaker's Scene of the Crime collaborator Michael Lark. The title was cancelled in 2006, shortly after Brubaker's last issue.
In 2002 Brubaker did his first work for Wildstorm, (another DC imprint), with the series Point Blank which featured the artwork of New Zealand artist Colin Wilson. The series took existing concepts from the Wildstorm universe, such as Grifter (the star of the series), John Lynch and Tao and used them to set up his Sleeper series which debuted later that year.
A collaboration between artist Sean Phillips and Brubaker, Sleeper, featured a secret agent protagonist ("Holden Carver") who goes undercover in a super villain’s powerful organisation, only to have the only contact he has in law enforcement fall in to a coma. With the authorities believing him a dangerous criminal, Carver is caught between the two warring sides with unclear allegiances.
In December 2003, in a unique publicity stunt conceived to help promote the first trade paperback collection of Sleeper, Brubaker organized an "arm-wrestling competition" at San Francisco's "Isotope - the comic book lounge" comic book shop. If participants were able to beat Brubaker at arm wrestling they were awarded free signed comic books. According to Brubaker, the writer wrestled 40-50 people and won most of the time, losing only eight or nine times.[10]
Although Sleeper was a success with critics and fans on the Internet, the series underperformed commercially, and so it was canceled after its 12th issue, only to be relaunched in 2004 with the same creators as Sleeper: Season Two.[11] Season Two also ended with its twelfth issue, the story apparently concluded.
Brubaker's other work for Wildstorm during this period was the third volume of The Authority. Brubaker first tackled the characters with artist Jim Lee on the one issue special Coup D’état: Sleeper which showed how a series of events led the Authority (a powerful team of super-humans) to take over the United States. Later that year and throughout 2005 Brubaker and artist Dustin Nguyen produced the 12 issue The Authority: Revolution which explored the ramifications of the team's actions.
In late 2004 Brubaker, no longer exclusive to DC, began to work for their main competitor Marvel Comics. His first major work for the publisher was the fifth relaunch of the Captain America series. Paired with artist Steve Epting, Brubaker's Captain America introduced new villains and resurrected the long dead character Bucky as "The Winter Soldier". The series was a sales and critical success from its first issue.
In February 2005 Brubaker signed his first exclusive contract with Marvel, the deal allowing the writer to finish out his prior commitments for DC on Gotham Central and Sleeper.[12] In an interview with Newsarama, Brubaker attributed his shift of employer to the publisher's good treatment of him, the quality and high profile of the work Marvel was offering him and his lack of involvement in DC's "big plans" (DC's intercompany crossover "Infinite Crisis" was in the final planning stages at the time).[13] Brubaker's Marvel exclusive contract was extended and expanded in April 2006.[14]
In early 2006 Brubaker wrote two limited series for Marvel; with artist Pablo Raimondi, he wrote Books of Doom, which retold and expanded on the origin of Doctor Doom; and with artist Trevor Hairsine, he wrote X-Men: Deadly Genesis, ret-conning information about the origins of the "All New, All-Different X-Men" who first debuted in 1975.
In addition, that year Brubaker started on Daredevil, having already planned his run with Bendis.[15] Once again teamed with artist Michael Lark, Brubaker followed Brian Michael Bendis' acclaimed stint on the title, exploring the ramifications of the character's imprisonment, which occurred at the close of Bendis' run.
He became the regular writer of Uncanny X-Men, working with artist Billy Tan and Clayton Henry, in July 2006.[16]
A new creator-owned crime comic with Sean Phillips, Criminal, has been published by Marvel's Icon Comics imprint.[17][18] It has generally received positive reviews.[19] In 2007, Criminal won the Eisner Award for Best New Series for its first arc, "Coward." [20] In 2008, he and Phillips began a new Icon series called Incognito, which Brubaker says is "about a completely amoral guy with super-powers forced to pretend he's a normal law-abiding citizen, because he's in Witness Protection, and how that shapes what he becomes. It's also a brutal noir twist on the super-hero/super-villain genre that delves more into their roots in the pulps, and it's going to be pretty over-the-top and action-packed."[21]
Brubaker, together with Matt Fraction, co-wrote a new Iron Fist ongoing series, The Immortal Iron Fist, which started in November 2006, and quickly became one of Marvel's most popular books.[22]
During his run on Captain America, Brubaker wrote issues #25 - 30, the 2007 story in which Steve Rogers was assassinated.[23][24] He later wrote the 2009 miniseries Captain America: Reborn, in which Rogers returned. He subsequently wrote an eight issue limited series titled The Marvels Project, as well as a new title Secret Avengers following the end of the "Siege" storyline.
In February 2010, Brubaker caused controversy with Captain America #602, which depicted a group of anti-tax protesters, understood by some readers to be a Tea Party, which was characterized by the Falcon as exclusively white and racist group. Brubaker and Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada apologized for the matter, explaining that although the group was not intended by Brubaker to represent any particular real-life group, one of the signs depicted in the scene read, "Tea Bag The Libs Before They Tea Bag YOU!", which was not written by Brubaker, but was added by the letterer, who, under deadline pressures, added messages on signs that were found to still be blank, based on signs he saw on the Internet. Quesada further assured that that error would not appear in future reprints of the issue.[25][26][27][28] In an interview following the controversy Brubaker stated that "I had to shut down my public email because I started getting death threats from, y'know, peaceful protesters."[29]
In March 2009 Brubaker premiered his web series Angel of Death on Crackle.[30]
| Title | Date | Notes | Collected editions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9-11-The World's Finest Comic Book Writers & Artists Tell Stories to Remember #2 | 2002 | "Still Life" | |||
| Batman #582-586, 591-607 | October 2000-November 2002 |
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| Batman: Gotham Knights | July 2003 | Batman: Black and White back-up story "I'll Be Watching" | |||
| Batman: Gotham Noir | March 2001 | ||||
| Batman: The Man Who Laughs | February 2005 | ISBN 1-4012-1626-9 | |||
| Batman: Our Worlds At War #1 | August 2001 | ||||
| Batman: Turning Points #2-3 | January 2001 | ||||
| Catwoman #1-10, 12-37 | January 2002-January 2005 |
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| Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins #1 | November 2002 | ||||
| Detective Comics #758-762 | July–November 2001 | Back-up stories "Oracle" (#758) and "Trail of the Catwoman", Parts 1-4 | |||
| Detective Comics #777-786 | February 2003-November 2003 | ||||
| Gotham Central #1-5, 11-16, 19-22, 26-27, 33-36 | February–May 2003 | #1-2, 12-15 co-written with Greg Rucka |
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| Hawkman #27 | June 2004 | ||||
| Robin #86 | March 2001 |
| Title | Date | Collected editions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Authority: Revolution #1-12 | December 2004-December 2005 |
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| Coup D’état: Sleeper #1 | April 2004 | |||
| Point Blank #1-5 | October 2002-February 2003 | ISBN 1-4012-0116-4 | ||
| Sleeper #1-12, "Season Two" #1-12 | March 2003-March 2004, August 2004-July 2005 |
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| Tom Strong #29, 30 | December 2004-January 2005 |
| Title | Date | Collected editions |
|---|---|---|
| Deadenders #1-16 | March 2000-June 2001 | ISBN 1-56389-706-7 |
| Gangland #3 "Small Time" | August 1998 | |
| Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives #1-4 | August–November 2001 | |
| Scene of the Crime #1-4 | May–August 1999 | ISBN 1-56389-670-2 |
| Vertigo Visions: Prez, Smells Like Teen President | 1995 | |
| Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2 "God and Sinners" | January 1999 | |
| Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3 "The Morning After" | January 2000 |
| Title | Date | Notes | Collected editions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Books of Doom #1-6 | January–June 2006 | ||||
| Captain America (vol. 5) #1-50, (vol. 1) #600-current | January 2005-present | Retitled Captain America and Bucky from #620. |
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| Captain America (vol. 6) #1-current | July 2011-present | ||||
| Captain America 65th Anniversary Special #1 | May 2006 | ||||
| Captain America: Reborn #1-6 | July 2009-January 2010 | ISBN 0-7851-3998-2 | |||
| Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield? | December 2009 | ||||
| Criminal (vol. 1) #1-10, (vol. 2) #1-7 | October 2006-November 2007, February 2008-October 2008 | Icon Comics imprint |
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| Criminal: The Sinners #1-5 | October 2009-March 2010 | Icon Comics imprint | ISBN 0-7851-3229-5 | ||
| Daredevil (vol. 2) #82-119, (vol. 1) #500 and Annual #1 | April 2006-July 2009 |
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| Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula #1 | April 2008 | ||||
| Fear Itself: Book of the Skull #1 | March 2011 | ||||
| Fear Itself #7.1 | November 2011 | ||||
| The Marvels Project #1-8 | October 2009-May 2010 | ||||
| The Immortal Iron Fist (vol. 2) #1-14 and Annual #1 | November 2006-June 2008 |
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| Incognito #1-6 | December 2008-September 2009 | Icon Comics imprint | ISBN 0-7851-3979-6 | ||
| Incognito: Bad Influences #1-5 | October 2010-April 2011 | Icon Comics imprint | |||
| Secret Avengers #1-12 | May 2010–April 2011 | ||||
| Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier #1-4 | July–October 2010 | ||||
| Uncanny X-Men #475-503 | September 2006-July 2008 |
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| What If Aunt May Had Died Instead of Uncle Ben? #1 | February 2005 | ||||
| Winter Soldier: Winter Kills #1 | December 2006 | ||||
| X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6 | January–June 2006 | ISBN 0-7851-1830-6 | |||
| Young Avengers Presents #1 | January 2008 |
| Title | Publisher | Date | Collected editions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At the Seams | Alternative Comics | 1997 | |||
| Dark Horse Presents #50 "Burning Man" | Dark Horse Comics | April 1991 | |||
| Dark Horse Presents #65-67 "An Accidental Death" | Dark Horse Comics | November 1992 | Collected by Fantagraphics, 1993 | ||
| Dark Horse Presents #96-98 "Here And Now" | Dark Horse Comics | April–June 1995 | |||
| Dark Horse Presents #100 "Bird Dog" | Dark Horse Comics | August 1995 | |||
| Dark Horse Presents #106 "Godzilla's Day" | Dark Horse Comics | February 1996 | |||
| Detour #1 | Alternative Comics | 1997 | |||
| The Fall | Drawn & Quarterly | 2001 | |||
| Lowlife #1-4 | Caliber & Black Eye Books | 1995 |
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| Real Stuff #9 | Fantagraphics | 1992 | |||
| SPX '97 Comic #1 "Mysteries?" | Small Press Expo | September 1997 |
| Preceded by Larry Hama |
Batman writer 2000–2002 |
Succeeded by Jeph Loeb |
| Preceded by John Francis Moore |
Catwoman writer 2002–2005 |
Succeeded by Will Pfeifer |
| Preceded by Greg Rucka |
Detective Comics writer 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Andersen Gabrych |
| Preceded by Robbie Morrison |
The Authority writer 2004–2005 |
Succeeded by Grant Morrison |
| Preceded by Robert Kirkman |
Captain America writer 2005–current |
Succeeded by Current Writer |
| Preceded by Brian Michael Bendis |
Daredevil writer 2006–2009 (with Greg Rucka in 2008) |
Succeeded by Andy Diggle |
| Preceded by Chris Claremont |
Uncanny X-Men writer 2006–2008 (with Matt Fraction in 2008) |
Succeeded by Matt Fraction |
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