Chris Ryall

Chris Ryall
Ryall at the 2013 New York Comic Con
Born	Christopher Ryall (1969-04-02) April 2, 1969 Long Beach, California
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer

Christopher "Chris" Ryall (born April 2, 1969) is best known as the Chief Creative Officer and Editor-in-Chief of IDW Publishing (2004–present), and as a writer in the comic book industry. In February 2011, his Eisner Award-nominated series, Zombies vs. Robots, co-created with artist Ashley Wood, was optioned by Sony Pictures for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes.

Early life

Christopher Ryall was born in Long Beach, California. He is the son of Ken and Patricia Ryall, who encouraged Chris’ creativity from an early age. In particular, Patricia’s love for pop culture would begin to influence Chris’ own sensibilities, providing him with a healthy balance of and appreciation for high art to the low brow. It was not uncommon for there to be discussions about Richard Matheson's short stories while a KISS album or Steve Martin comedy record was playing on the stereo. Patricia would often act as a sounding board and barometer for her son’s tastes, coupled with his own insatiable appetite for reading and writing (skills that would surface in Chris’ early work in such various capacities as a music reviewer for local newspapers, an advertising copywriter, a technical automotive writer, and a corporate speechwriter).^{[citation needed]}

Ryall says he has known he wanted to be a writer since the age of ten, and gives credit to Stan Lee and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles for fostering his love of the written word.^{[citation needed]}

In 1995 Ryall graduated from Cal State Fullerton.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Chris Ryall (l.) with Ashley Wood (r.)

After a brief stint working as a Project Director writing for Dick Clark Communications, one that would leave Ryall feeling unfulfilled personally and stifled creatively, he made a concerted effort to break into the entertainment industry on his own terms while still working as an advertising copywriter in Santa Monica, California.^{[citation needed]} After an encounter with filmmaker Kevin Smith, who contacted Ryall after disagreeing with an online review Ryall had posted about Smith’s take on the Green Arrow comic book, the two exchanged emails with a tone that eventually shifted from defensive to friendly. In 2002 Smith offered Ryall his highest profile opportunity up to that point, that of running the entertainment-based MoviePoopShoot.com, one of Smith’s first forays outside of filmmaking.^[1] In 2003 it was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s "100 Sites to Bookmark Now", along with receiving write-ups in USA Today, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, L.A. Business Journal, Los Angeles Times, and mentions on CNN Headline News. It was also named Yahoo.com’s Site of the Week for July 2002.^{[citation needed]}

Ryall began writing and/or adapting comics based on licensed properties such as Shawn of the Dead; horror mag revival Doomed (for which he and artist Ashley Wood received an Eisner nomination for their adaptation of Richard Matheson's "Blood Son" short story); George A. Romero's Land of the Dead; Masters of Horror, the first Transformers film prequel; Beowulf; Gene Simmons House of Horrors; a prose short in 30 Days of Night, a DVD pack-in comic for the movie Role Models; and Weekly World News. He adapted the epic Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show.

Other comics he has created included Zombies vs. Robots (and its sequel Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons) both co-created with artist Ashley Wood, Groom Lake (co-created with artist Ben Templesmith and one of Ryall’s pet projects, the Weekly World News comic book series.

In February 2006, IDW promoted Ryall to Publisher.^[2] Among the properties he helped develop and shepherd to IDW Publishing were Locke & Key Toho’s Godzilla, Star Trek and True Blood.

With Ryall's direction, IDW Publishing made the decision to pursue a partnership with Hasbro on the Transformers franchise. The toy company subsequently awarded IDW the G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons properties.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Ryall and co-writer Scott Tipton released the prose primer on the comic book industry, Comic Books 101, through IMPACT Publishing. In addition to featuring Ryall and Tipton/s overview of comics history and creators, the book features contributions from creators such as Stan Lee, Harlan Ellison, Gene Simmons, Mark Waid, Joe Hill and Brian Lynch.

Also independent of IDW Publishing, Ryall published Frank Frazetta’s Neanderthal with Jay Fotos and Tim Vigil, through Image Comics.

July 2010 saw Ryall was promoted to IDW's Chief Creative Officer. In March 2010, IDW attained Premier status with the sole comic distributor, Diamond, the first time ever an indie publisher has attained this status.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2010, Ryall contributed a prose story, "Twilight of the Gods", to Classics Mutlated, a prose "monster-lit" anthology. About his story, Creature Cast said "Riffing on both the Twilight series and Norse mythology, this clever little parody boasts some of the funniest, most charming storytelling of the book. Loki replaces the Bella character and his rakishly sociopathic take on her romance is absolutely hilarious. Of all the stories in the book, this is the one I'm most likely to recommend to people."

Sony Pictures and director Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company announced in February 2011 that they acquired the rights to co-produce the film adaptation of Ryall and Wood’s Zombies vs. Robots.^{[citation needed]}

His projects for 2011 include a fourth Zombies vs Robots series, UnderCity, and Infestation: Outbreak, a four-issue series co-written with Tom Waltz and spinning out of Infestation, the first-ever event in IDW’s history. Infestation, spearheaded by Ryall and Waltz, wove elements from IDW’s titles, such as CVO and Zombies vs Robots, into the worlds of their licensed comics such as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, and Ghostbusters. Ryall contributed a new story to Doomed Quarterly, in late 2011.

Personal life

Ryall lives in San Diego with his wife Julie and daughter Lucy.^[3]

Selected bibliography

• Shaun of the Dead (2005)
• Zombies vs. Robots (2005)
• George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (2005)
• Masters of Horror (2005)
• Doomed (2006)
• Transformers Official Movie Adaptation (2007)
• Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show (2007)
• Beowulf Official Movie Adaptation (2007)
• Doomed (2007)
• Zombies vs. Robots vs. Amazons (2008)
• Gene Simmons House of Horrors (2008)
• Zombies vs. Robots Aventure (2009)
• Groom Lake (2009)
• Frank Frazetta’s Neanderthal (2009)
• Role Models; "The Adventures of Booby-Watcher"(2009)
• Comic Books 101: The History, Methods, and Madness (2009)
• Transformers Robot Heroes: I am Optimus Prime (2009)
• Weekly World News (2009)
• Classics Mutilated (2010)
• Zombies vs Robots: UnderCity (2011)
• Infestation: Outbreak (2011)

Guest appearances

• The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (1991); Extra^{[citation needed]}
• Jersey Girl (2004); Extra^{[citation needed]}
• Beauty and the Geek (2007); Guest judge
• Fictional Frontiers (radio show; 2009–present); Bi-weekly guest
• Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Workshop (2009); Guest Lecturer

Award nominations

• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Short Story (for "Blood Son", shared with Ashley Wood)^[4]
• 2012 Eagle Award for Best Editor^[5]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Ryall.

• Official website
• IDW Publishing
• Dueben, Alex (January 17, 2008). "In-depth with Comic Book Publisher Chris Ryall". Comic Book Resources.
• St-Louis, Hervé (June 28, 2009). "Is There a Steve Jobs in the Comic Book Industry?". ComicBookBin.