Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen
Gillen at the 2011 New York Comic Con.
Born	1975 (age 40–41)
Nationality	British
Area(s)	Writer
Notable works	Phonogram Young Avengers Iron Man The Wicked + The Divine
kierongillen.com

Kieron Gillen (born 1975^[1][2]) is a British comic book writer and former computer game and music journalist. He is known for his creator-owned comics Phonogram and The Wicked + The Divine, both created with artist Jamie McKelvie and published by Image Comics, and for numerous projects for Marvel Comics, such as Journey into Mystery and Uncanny X-Men.

Career

Journalism

Gillen has worked for publications such as PC Gamer UK, The Escapist, Amiga Power (under the pseudonym "C-Monster"), Wired, The Guardian, Edge, Games Developer, Develop, MCV, GamesMaster and PC Format, among others.

On the web, Gillen was a founder of and major contributor to the PC gaming site Rock, Paper, Shotgun and a games reviewer for Eurogamer. He is notable for his manifesto^[3] for New Games Journalism, more simply the model of new journalism applied to videogames journalism. In 2000, Gillen became the first-ever videogames journalist to receive an award from the Periodical Publishers Association, for New Specialist Consumer Journalist.^[4]

He has been invited as a guest speaker at games-industry conferences.^[5][6] He is a fan of the work of videogame developer Warren Spector writing positive pieces on Spector's games, most notably the Ion Storm produced games Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows. In September 2010, Gillen declared on the website Rock, Paper, Shotgun that he was leaving full-time games journalism to better devote his time to comics writing and his contract with Marvel.^[7]

Comics

Gillen has written for both print and online comics. He has worked for Warhammer Monthly and Chaos League. Since 2003, Gillen has collaborated with artist Jamie McKelvie on a comic strip for the official PlayStation Magazine UK, entitled Save Point. His 2006 project, described by Gillen as "my first real comic"^[8] is another collaboration with McKelvie, the pop-music urban fantasy Phonogram. Veteran comics writer Warren Ellis has dubbed it "one of the few truly essential comics of 2006."^[9]

The first issue, published by Image Comics, went on sale in August 2006, the first series ran for six issues. The second series ran for seven issues, and was launched in December 2008. A third six-issue series, The Immaterial Girl, exploring the character of "Emily Aster", is planned for August 2015.^[10]

On 14 April 2008 it was announced he would be collaborating with the artist Greg Scott to expand the Warren Ellis's newuniversal mythos with "a story about killing the future" set in 1959^[11] and he wrote Crown of Destruction, a Warhammer Fantasy comic.^[12] The Phonogram sequel "The Singles Club" started in December 2008, a series of one-shots, all about the same night.^[13][14] He got a new assignment at Marvel with a Dazzler story and a Beta Ray Bill one-shot and mini-series.^[15]

His workload at Marvel increased in late 2009. At HeroesCon it was announced he would be writing a Dark Reign tie-in with the Dark Avengers: Ares mini-series.^[16] During the 2009 Chicago Comic Con it was announced that Gillen will collaborate with Steven Sanders on a new ongoing series known as S.W.O.R.D from Marvel Comics.^[17][18]

Gillen had a run on Thor, following J. Michael Straczynski, from issues No. 604^[19] to 614.^[20] In late 2010 he started his own ongoing series, Generation Hope, an X-Men spin-off that leads on from the end of the "Second Coming" storyline.^{[21][22][23][24]} Gillen continued on this title until issue No. 12, being followed by James Asmus.^[25]

After collaborating as co-writer with Matt Fraction on Uncanny X-Men beginning with issue No. 531, Gillen became sole writer of that title starting with issue #534.1 in 2011.^[26] His era of the title saw the Fear Itself event, and a renumbering to No. 1 in the wake of Schism, and it ended in a crossover with Avengers vs. X-Men with issue No. 20. He wrote a five-issue miniseries AvX: Consequences, dealing with the aftermath of that event.^[27]

In 2011 Gillen returned to Marvel's Asgard, with a run on Journey into Mystery (the original name of Thor, continuing with its original numbering), starting with issue No. 622. This run finished with No. 645 in October 2012. As part of the Marvel NOW relaunch, Gillen will be writing two books – Invincible Iron Man (again taking over from Fraction), with art provided by Greg Land, his penciller on Uncanny, and Young Avengers, with McKelvie.^[27][28]

He has written a series for Avatar Press called Mercury Heat(comics), and a series for Image called Three, about the helots of Sparta, planned for 2013.^[29][30]

Bibliography

Image Comics

• Phonogram (with Jamie McKelvie, 2006–2016) collected as:
  • Rue Britannia (collects v1 #1–6, tpb, 152 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-58240-694-4)
  • The Singles Club (collects v2 #1–7, tpb, 160 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60706-179-1)
  • The Immaterial Girl (collects v3 #1-6, tpb, 168 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-63215-679-2)
• This is a Souvenir: "Sweeping the Nation" (with Jamie McKelvie, anthology graphic novel, 208 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-6070-6048-5)
• The CBLDF Presents Liberty Annual '12: "Unleashed" (with Nate Bellegarde, 2012)
• Three #1–5 (with Ryan Kelly, 2013–2014) collected as Three (tpb, 146 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-60706-963-6)
• The Wicked + The Divine (with Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson, Image Comics, 2014–...): collected as:
  • The Faust Act (collects #1-5, tpb, 180 pages, 2014, ISBN 978-1-63215-019-6)
  • Fandemonium (Collects #6-11, tpb, 200 pages, 2015, ISBN 978-1-63215-327-2)
  • Commercial Suicide (Collects #12-17, tpb, 200 pages, 2016, ISBN 978-1-63215-631-0)
    • With additional artists Kate Brown (#12), Tula Lotay (#13), Stephanie Hans (#15), Leila del Duca (#16) and Brandon Graham (#17)

Marvel Comics

• newuniversal: 1959 (with Greg Scott, one-shot, 2008)
• X-Men:
  • Manifest Destiny #5: "Dazzler: Solo" (with Sara Pichelli, 2009) collected in X-Men: Manifest Destiny (tpb, 200 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3951-6)
  • Origins: Sabretooth (with Dan Panosian, one-shot, 2009) collected in X-Men Origins (tpb, 192 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-3452-2)
  • Dark Reign: The Cabal: "The Judgment of Namor" (with Carmine Di Giandomenico, one-shot, 2009) collected in Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia (hc, 368 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-4233-9; tpb, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4234-7)
  • S.W.O.R.D #1–5 (with Steve Sanders, 2010) collected as S.W.O.R.D.: No Time to Breathe (tpb, 128 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4076-X)
  • Generation Hope (2011-2012):
    • The Future is a Four-Letter Word (tpb, 152 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4719-5) collects:
      • "The Future is a Four-Letter Word" (with Salvador Espin, in #1–4, 2011)
      • "The Daddy Issue" (with Jamie McKelvie, in No. 5, 2011)
    • Schism (tpb, 168 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5242-3) collects:
      • "The Ward" (with Salvador Espin, in #6–8, 2011)
      • "Better" (with Jamie McKelvie, in #9, 2011)
      • "Schism" (with Tim Seeley, in #10–11, 2011)
      • "Half as Bright" (with Steve Sanders, in No. 12, 2011)
  • Uncanny X-Men (2011-2012):
    • Quarantine (tpb, 120 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5225-3) includes:
      • "Quarantine" (with Matt Fraction and Greg Land, in v1 #531–534, 2011)
    • Breaking Point (tpb, 120 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5226-1) collects:
      • "Press Release" (with Carlos Pacheco, in v1 #534.1, 2011)
      • "Breaking Point" (with Terry Dodson, in v1 #535–538, 2011)
      • "Losing Hope" (with Ibraim Roberson, in v1 No. 539, 2011)
    • Fear Itself (hc, 120 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5797-2; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5227-X) collects:
      • "Fear Itself" (with Greg Land, in v1 #540–543, 2011)
      • "Uncanny" (with Greg Land, in v1 #544, 2011)
    • Everything is Sinister (hc, 112 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5993-2; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5994-0) collects:
      • "Everything is Sinister" (with Carlos Pacheco, in v2 #1–3, 2012)
      • "A Phalanx of One" (with Brandon Peterson, in v2 #4, 2012)
    • Tabula Rasa (hc, 144 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5995-9; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5996-7) collects:
      • "Tabula Rasa" (with Greg Land, in v2 #5–8, 2012)
      • "Prison Break" (with Carlos Pacheco, in v2 #9–10, 2012)
    • AvX: Book 1 (hc, 112 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5997-5; tpb, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-5998-3) collects:
      • "Avengers vs. X-Men" (with Greg Land and Billy Tan, in v2 #11–13, 2012)
      • "Everything is Sinister: Redux" (with Dustin Weaver, in v2 #14, 2012)
    • AvX: Book 2 (hc, 144 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6529-0) collects:
      • "This Strange, Unpleasant Land" (with Daniel Acuña, in v2 #15–17, 2012)
      • "The Passion of Scott Summers" (with Ron Garney and Dale Eaglesham, in v2 #18–19, 2012)
      • "The Fallout" (with Carlos Pacheco, in v2 #20, 2012)
  • Regenesis (with Billy Tan, one-shot, 2011) collected in X-Men: Schism (hc, 168 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5668-2; tpb, 2012, ISBN 1-84653-502-6)
  • Avengers vs. X-Men:
    • AvX: VS #2: "Spider-Man vs. Colossus" (with Salvador Larocca, 2012) collected in Avengers vs. X-Men (hc, 568 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6317-4)
    • Consequences #1–5 (with Tom Raney, Steve Kurth, Scot Eaton, Mark Brooks, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, 2012) collected as AVX: Consequences (tpb, 120 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6646-7)
• Thor:
  • Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter (tpb, 104 pages, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-4232-0) collects:
    • Beta Ray Bill: The Green of Eden (with Dan Brereton, one-shot, 2009)
    • Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #1–3 (with Jose Angel Cano Lopez, 2009)
  • Thor: Ultimate Collection (tpb, 312 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5922-3) collects:
    • "Latverian Prometeus" (with Billy Tan, in #604–606, 2010)
    • "Siege: Ragnarok" (with Billy Tan and Richard Elson, in #607–609, 2010)
    • New Mutants #11: "Hel's Valkyrie" (with Niko Henrichon, 2010)
    • Siege: Loki (with Jamie McKelvie, one-shot, 2010)
    • "Siege: Epilogue" (with Doug Braithwaite, in No. 610, 2010)
    • "The Fine Print" (with Richard Elson and Doug Braithwaite, in #611–614, 2010)
  • Journey into Mystery (with Doug Braithwaite, Richard Elson, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Alan Davis and Stephanie Hans, 2011–2012) collected as:
    • Fear Itself (collects #622–626, hc, 136 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-4840-X; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-4841-8)
    • Fear Itself Fallout (collects #627–631, hc, 144 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5261-X; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5262-8)
    • Terrorism Myth (collects #632–636, hc, 120 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6370-0; tpb, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6106-6)
    • Exiled (collects #637–638, New Mutants #42–43 and Exiled one-shot, tpb, 120 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6540-1)
    • Manchester Gods (collects #639–641, tpb, 120 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-6107-4)
    • Everything Burns (collects #642–645 and The Mighty Thor #18–22, hc, 216 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6168-6)
• Dark Avengers: Ares #1–3 (with Manuel Garcia, 2009–2010) collected as Dark Avengers: Ares (tpb, 192 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-7851-4406-4)
• The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange: "The Cure" (with Frazer Irving, one-shot, 2010)
• World War Hulks: Spider-Man vs. Thor #1–2 (with Jorge Molina and Paul Pelletier, 2010)
• Captain America and Batroc: "Traceur" (with Renato Arlem, one-shot, 2011)
• Iron Man vol. 5 (2012-2014):
  • Believe (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6833-8) collects:
    • "Believe" (with Greg Land, in #1–5, 2012–2013)
  • The Secret Origin of Tony Stark (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6834-6) collects:
    • "The Godkiller" (with Greg Land, in #6–8, 2013)
    • "The Secret Origin of Tony Stark" (Prologue & part 1-2) (with Dale Eaglesham, in #9–11, 2013)
  • The Secret Origin of Tony Stark - Book 2 (hc, 136 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6835-4) collects:
    • "The Secret Origin of Tony Stark" (with Dale Eaglesham, in #12, 2013)
    • "The Secret Origin of Tony Stark: The Best Offense" (with Greg Land and Carlo Pagulayan, in #13–16, 2013)
    • "The Secret Origin of Tony Stark: Conclusion" (with Carlo Pagulayan, in #17, 2013)
  • Iron Metropolitan (hc, 136 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-8942-4) collects:
    • "Iron Metropolitan" (with Joe Bennett, in #19–22, 2013-2014)
    • "Inhumanity" (with Agustin Padilla, in #20.INH, 2014)
  • Rings of the Mandarin (hc, 112 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-5482-5) collects:
    • "Rings of the Mandarin" (with Luke Ross and Joe Bennett, in #23.NOW–28, 2014)
• Young Avengers vol. 2 (2012-2014):
  • Style > Substance (tpb, 128 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-7851-6708-0) collects:
    • "The New World" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in Marvel NOW! Point One, 2012)
    • "Style > Substance" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #1, 2013)
    • "DYS" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #2, 2013)
    • "Parent Teacher Disorganization" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #3, 2013)
    • "Deus Ex Machine Gunner" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #4, 2013)
    • "The Art of Saving the World" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #5, 2013)
  • Alternative Cultures (tpb, 112 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-6709-9) collects:
    • "The Toll" (with Kate Brown, in #6, 2013)
    • "Breakfast Meet" (with Jamie McKelvie, in #7, 2013)
    • "Share Your Universe" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #8, 2013)
    • "The Kiss and The Make Up" (with Jamie McKelvie and Mike Norton, in #9, 2013)
    • "Mother's Day" (with Jamie McKelvie, in #10, 2013)
  • Mic-Drop at the Edge of Time and Space (tpb, 112 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-8530-5) collects:
    • "Stage Nervous Breakdown" (with Jamie McKelvie, in #11, 2013)
    • "Young Avengers" (with Jamie McKelvie, in #12–13, 2013)
    • "Resolution" (with Jamie McKelvie, Emma Vieceli, Christian Ward, Annie Wu, Becky Cloonan, Ming Doyle and Joe Quinones, in #14–15, 2013-2014)
• Origin II #1-5 (with Adam Kubert, 2013-2014) collected as Wolverine: Origin II (hc, 128 pages, 2014, 0-7851-8481-3)
• Revolutionary War: Dark Angel (with Salvador Larroca, one-shot, 2014) collected as Revolutionary War (tpb, 184 pages, 2014, 0-7851-9016-3)
• Original Sin #3.1-3.4 (with Luke Ross and Mark Waid, 2014) collected as Original Sin: Iron Man vs. Hulk (tpb, 104 pages, 2014, ISBN 0-7851-9156-9)
• Angela:
  • Angela: Asgard's Assassin #1-6 (with Marguerite Bennett and Stephanie Hans, 2014-2015)
  • 1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1-ongoing (with Marguerite Bennett and Stephanie Hans, 2015-...)
• Star Wars: Darth Vader #1-ongoing (with Salvador Larroca, 2015-...)

Other publishers

• Boom! Studios:
  • Warhammer: Crown of Destruction #1–4 (with Dwayne Harris, 2008)
  • CBGB #1: "A NYC Punk Carol" (with Marc Ellerby, 2010) collected in CBGB (tpb, 112 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60886-024-8)
• StarCraft: Frontline Volume 2: "A Ghost Story" (with Hector Sevilla Lujan, Tokyopop Manga, 2009)
• Über #0-ongoing (with Canaan White, Avatar, 2013–...) collected in:
  • Volume 1 (collects #0-5, tpb, 176 pages, 2014, 1-5929-1218-4)
  • Volume 2 (collects #6-11, tpb, 160 pages, 2014, 1-5929-1237-0)
  • Volume 3 (collects #12-17, tpb, 160 pages, 2015, 1-5929-1251-6)
  • Volume 4 (collects #18-22 and Uber 2014 Special, tpb, 160 pages, 2015, 1-5929-1257-5)

References

1. Kieron's Personal Blog
2. Kieron Gillen On ‘Young Avengers’: ‘It’s My Teenage Symphony To God’
3. www.alwaysblack.com home
4. PPA | PTC New Journalist of the Year Awards
5. FREE PLAY 2005
6. Animex International Festival of Animation & Computer Games
7. Gillen, Kieron. "Half-Life: On Turning 35 And Leaving RPS". Rock, Paper Shotgun, 30 September 2010
8. Phonogram
9. "PREVIEWING TEN PAGES OF IMAGE COMICS' PHONOGRAM #1". Newsarama.
10. Gillen, Kieron (8 January 2015). "IMAGE EXPO: THE LUDOCRATS and PHONOGRAM: THE IMMATERIAL GIRL".
11. newuniversal 1959
12. "Kieron Gillen on Warhammer: Crown of Destruction". Newsarama. 13 October 2008
13. "SINGLES CLUB: Gillen & McKelvie on Phonogram 2". Comic Book Resources. 22 September 2008
14. "Kieron Gillen: 'Like A Particularly Geeky Grant Morrison Character'". Comics Bulletin. 29 April 2009.
15. 3 conversations with Kieron Gillen: Phonogram, music and comics, Mindless Ones, 3 August 2009
16. HeroesCon: Kieron Gillen Talks "Dark Avengers: Ares". Comic Book Resources. 21 June 2009.
17. George, Richard & Schedeen, Jesse (10 August 2009). "Taking Control of S.W.O.R.D.". IGN. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
18. Strom, Marc (10 August 2009). "Chicago Con '09: S.W.O.R.D. Ongoing". Marvel.com. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
19. Richards, Dave (24 August 2009). "Kieron Gillen Talks Thor". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
20. Richards, Dave (21 May 2010). "Gillen Sends "Thor" to Hell". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
21. Richards, Dave (23 July 2010). "CCI EXCLUSIVE: Gillen Ushers in "Generation Hope"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
22. Schedeen, Jesse (25 July 2010). "SDCC 10: The Next Gen of X-Men". IGN. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
23. Ching, Albert (29 July 2010). "SDCC 2010: GENERATION HOPE Gets An Ongoing in November". Newsarama. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
24. Ching, Albert (3 November 2010). "Kieron Gillen Introduces the Five Lights of GENERATION HOPE". Newsarama. Retrieved 8 November 2010.
25. Richards, Dave (23 November 2011). "ONE TO: James Asmus Part 1 – "Generation Hope"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
26. Richards, Dave. "Gillen Prepares His 'Uncanny' Solo". Comic Book Resources. 18 January 2011
27. Ching, Albert (4 September 2012). "Leaving UNCANNY X-MEN has CONSEQUENCES for Kieron Gillen". Retrieved 12 September 2012.
28. Richards, Dave (9 October 2012). "Gillen & McKelvie Assemble New Volume of 'Young Avengers'".
29. Leader, Michael (3 November 2009). "Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie interview". Den of Geek. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
30. Cavicchio, Nick (28 October 2012). "Kieron Gillen Talks Creator-Owned". comicbooked.com. Retrieved 29 October 2012.

External links

• Official website
• Kieron Gillen at the Comic Book DB