Tom King (comic book writer)

Tom King
Occupation	Author, comic book writer
Language	English
Nationality	United States
Genre	Comic books Superheroes Science fiction
Notable works	A Once Crowded Sky Grayson The Vision

Tom King is an American author, comic book writer, and ex-CIA agent. He is best known for his 2012 superhero novel A Once Crowded Sky, and for co-writing the comic book series Grayson for DC Comics, and writing The Vision for Marvel Comics. As of early 2016, King writes Grayson and The Omega Men for DC, The Vision for Marvel, and The Sheriff of Babylon for Vertigo.

Early life

King interned both at DC Comics and Marvel Comics, where he was an assistant to X-Men writer Chris Claremont, before joining the CIA counterterrorism unit after September 11.^[1][2] King spent seven years as a counterterrorism operations officer for the CIA before quitting to write his debut novel, A Once Crowded Sky, after the birth of his first child.^[3][4]

Career

A Once Crowded Sky, King's debut superhero novel with comics pages illustrated by Tom Fowler, was published in July 10, 2012 by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, to positive reception.^[5][6][7]

King' was chosen to co-write Grayson for DC Comics, along with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin on art. After penning Nightwing #30, King, Seeley, and Janin launched Grayson on May 2014, featuring Dick Grayson leaving behind his Nightwing persona to become Agent 37, a Spyral spy.^[8][9] King and Seeley plot the series together and trade issues to script separately, with King providing additional authenticity through his background with the CIA.^[10][11]

A relaunch of classic DC Comics series The Omega Men was published in June 2015 by King and debut artist Barnaby Bagendas, as part of the publisher's relaunch DC You.^[12][13] The series follows a group of rebels fighting an oppressive galactic empire, and feature White Lantern Kyle Rayner.^[14] The Omega Men, created in 1981, are DC's cosmic equivalent to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, though significantly more obscure.^[15] King's and Bagenda's use of the nine-panel grid, popularized by Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen, has been praised by reviewers.^[16]

In San Diego Comic-Con 2015, Vertigo revealed a new creator-owned project written by King with art by Mitch Gerads titled The Sheriff of Baghdad.^[17] The project, a crime series in the vein of Vertigo titles like Preacher and Scalped, was set to launch in late 2015, and was inspired by King's time in Iraq as part of the CIA.^[18] Initially an eight-issue miniseries, it was later re-titled The Sheriff of Babylon and expanded into an ongoing series.^[19][20] The first issue launched on December 2015 to critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its "deeply personal" storytelling and the "intriguing" and "captivating" personalities of its characters.^[21][22]

Also during Sand Diego Comic-Con 2015, DC announced Robin War, a crossover event set for December that would run for five week through titles Grayson, Detective Comics, We Are Robin, and Robin: Son of Batman; King was set to orchestrate the crossover's story-line and pen two one-shots to open and close the series.^[23]

As part of Marvel Comics' All-New, All-Different relaunch, King was announced as the writer of The Vision, a new ongoing following the titular character and his newly created family, with artist Gabriel Hernández Walta, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and covers by Mike Del Mundo, launching in November 2015.^[24][25][26] The Vision has been well received by the public, with reviewers calling the series one of Marvel's "biggest surprises" and praising the narration, art, and colors.^[27][28]

On September 2015, DC cancelled King's The Omega Men, along with four other titles, with the series ending with issue seven.^[29] After negative fan response to the cancellation, Jim Lee, DC's co-publisher, announced that they would be bringing back The Omega Men through at least issue 12.^[30] Lee described the decision to cancel the series as "a bit hasty," crediting the book's critical acclaim and fan social media reactions as the reason the title would go on for the planned 12-issue run.^[31]

King also penned a Green Lantern one-shot that ties into the Darkseid War Justice League story-line, titled "Will You Be My God?", that was praised as "one of the best" Green Lantern stories, featuring art by Doc Shanner.^[32]

King and co-writer Tim Seeley announced they would leave Grayson after issue #18, with King clarifying on Twitter that they were working on something "big and cool" and needed time to work on it.^[33] Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly are set to join the series for the next issue on April 2016, penning issue #19 with art by Carmine Di Giandomenico.^[34] King and Seeley officially left the series on February with issue #17, with Lanzing and Kelly taking over for its last three issues with issue #18 in March.^[35]

On February 2016, Bleeding Cool reported a rumor stating that King would be writing the main bi-weekly Batman series beginning with a new #1, replacing long-time writer Scott Snyder, as part of DC's relaunch with its Rebirth event in June.^[36]

DC Comics announced on February 2016 that King had signed an exclusivity deal with the publisher, which would see him writing exclusively for DC and Vertigo.^[37][38] King revealed via his Twitter account that he would stay The Vision as writer through issue 12, finishing the story arc he had planned from the beginning.^[39][40]

Personal life

King lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.^[3]

Bibliography

Novels

• A Once Crowded Sky (illustrated by Tom Fowler, 2012)

Comics

DC Comics/Vertigo

• Time Warp, anthology, "It's Full Of Demons" (with Tom Fowler, March 2013)
• Nightwing vol. 3 #30, "Setting Son" (with Tim Seeley, Javier Garrón, Jorge Lucas, and Mikel Janín, May 2014) collent in Volume 5: Setting Son (tpb, 200 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-5011-4)
• Grayson #1–17 (July 2014–February 2016)
  • Volume 1: Agent of Spyral (hc, 160 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5234-6) collects:
    • "Grayson" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #1, 2014)
    • "Gut Feelings" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #2, 2014)
    • "The Gun Goes Off" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #3, 2014)
    • "The Raid" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #4, 2014)
    • "Only A Place For Dying" (with Tim Seeley and Stephen Mooney, in Grayson: Future's End #1, 2014)
    • "The Candidate" (with Tim Seeley and Stephen Mooney, in Secret Origins vol. 2 #8, 2014)
  • Volume 2: We All Die At Dawn (tpb, 160 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-5760-7) collects:
    • "Everyone Dies At Dawn" (with Tim Seely eand Mikel Janín, in #5, 2014)
    • "The Brains of the Operation" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #6, 2015)
    • "Sin by Silence" (with Tim Seeley and Stephen Mooney, in #7, 2015)
    • "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #8, 2015)
    • "A Story of Giants Big and Small" (with Tim Seeley and Stephen Mooney, in Annual #1, 2015)
  • Volume 3: Nemesis (tpb, 160 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6276-7) collects:
    • "Nemesis" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #9-11, 2015)
    • "A Fine Performance" (with Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #12, 2015)
    • "Just a Guy" (with Tim Seeley and Álvaro Martínez, in Annual #2, 2015)
• Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK #4 Black, "Black Death in America" (with John Paul Leon, 2015)
• Teen Titans Annual #1, "The Source of Mercy" (with Will Pfeifer, Alisson Borges, and Wes St. Claire, April 2015)
• The Omega Men #1–12 (June 2015–May 2016)
  • Omega Men: The Complete Series (tpb, 176 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6153-1) collects:
    • "The Omega Men" (with Barnaby Bagenda and Toby Cypress, in #1-12, 2015-2016)
• Justice League: Darkseid War: Green Lantern, one-shot, "Will You Be My God?" (with Evan Shaner, November 2015)
• Robin War #1–2 (with among other artists, December 2015–January 2016) collected in Robin War (hc, 256 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6208-2)
• The Sheriff of Babylon #1–... (with Mitch Gerads, December 2015–ongoing)

Marvel Comics

• The Vision vol. 3 #1–12 (November 2015–ongoing)
  • Volume 1: Little Worse Than A Man (tpb, 136 pages, 2016, ISBN 0-7851-9657-9) collects:
    • "Visions of the Future" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #1, 2015)
    • "Everything Slips Through Their Fingers" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #2, 2015)
    • "In and Out" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #3, 2016)
    • "Balls in the Air" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #4, 2016)
    • "The Villainy You Teach Me" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #5, 2016)
    • "P vs. NP" (with Gabriel Hernández Walta, in #6, 2016)

References

1. Goldstein, Rich (2014-06-24). "The CIA Spook Turned Comic Book Scribe: Robin Grabs a Gun in ‘Grayson’". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
2. "Tom King Explores the Undercover History of "Grayson"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
3. Ottesen, K. K. (2016-01-27). "Holy DC connection! A local comic book writer used to work for the CIA!". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
4. "From CIA to comics: Former agent makes career splash". MilitaryTimes. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
5. "Tom King: A Once Crowded Sky". www.avclub.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
6. "Heroes and Villains Are Gone From A Once Crowded Sky". WIRED. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
7. Archipelago, World. "A Once Crowded Sky". pages.simonandschuster.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
8. "Batman's sidekick leaves the cave for 'Grayson' comic". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
9. "Seeley, King Enter the DCU's Espionage World in "Grayson"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
10. Yaws, Jay. "Interview: Grayson’s Tim Seeley and Tom King". Batman News. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
11. "CBR TV: "Grayson" Co-Writer King Connects CIA Past to DC Comics Future". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
12. Yehl, By Joshua; Schedeen, Jesse. "The Omega Men Are Reborn in the New DC Universe". IGN. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
13. "Decoding DC Entertainment's 'DC You' Comic Book Relaunch". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
14. "Tom King Hasn't Decided if DC's "Omega Men" Are Good or Bad Guys". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
15. "This new comic series is the 'Star Wars' meets 'Game of Thrones' mashup you didn't know you wanted". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
16. "Restriction & Revolution: 'Omega Men' And The Nine-Panel Grid". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
17. "Vertigo comes back from the dead by announcing 12 new titles at Comic-Con". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
18. "SDCC: Vertigo Finishes 2015 by Launching 12 New Series". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
19. "THE SHERIFF OF BABYLON #1". www.vertigocomics.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
20. "DC Comics' Sheriff Of Baghdad Changes Name Because Of John McPhee". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
21. "Two new releases spotlight Tom King’s sharp, sophisticated storytelling". www.avclub.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
22. "Best Shots Rapid-Fire Reviews: ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT AVENGERS #2, MIDNIGHTER #7, STAR WARS #13, More". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
23. "SDCC: DC Announces "Robin War" Crossover, Weekly "Batman & Robin Eternal"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
24. "King & Walta To Launch "The Vision" Ongoing This October". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
25. "Tom King Shares His Familial "Vision" for Marvel's Synthezoid Avenger". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
26. "Loikamania 244: Tom King". Loikamania. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
27. Whitbrook, James. "Marvel's The Vision Is Telling a Story Unlike Any Superhero Comic I've Ever Read". io9. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
28. Whitbrook, James. "The Vision Is One Of The Most Unsettling Comics I've Read This Year". io9. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
29. "Five DC Titles Set to End, Including "Justice League United" and "Lobo"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
30. "DC Brings Back OMEGA MEN Due To Fan Response At Cancellation". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
31. Yehl, By Joshua. "Jim Lee Talks Batman Noir: Hush, Un-Canceling The Omega Men, and Potential Supergirl Comic". IGN. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
32. Whitbrook, James. "The Fallout of Darkseid War Gives Us The Best Green Lantern Story In Years". io9. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
33. "Seeley and King Leave Grayson for "something big and cool"". The Beat. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
34. "Seeley & King Off DC's "Grayson" in April, Lanzing & Kelly Join". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
35. "GRAYSON Writers On Finale & Building Towards NIGHTWING's REBIRTH". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
36. "DC Comics Rebirth: Tom King Is The New Batman Bi-Weekly Writer?". Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movie, TV News. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
37. "Tom King, Clay Mann, and John Timms Sign Exclusive Deals at DC". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
38. "DC ENTERTAINMENT SIGNS TOP TALENT". DC Comics. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
39. "DC-Bound TOM KING Reveals His Last Issue of MARVEL's THE VISION". Newsarama.com. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
40. "Axel-In-Charge: Investigating "Black Widow," the Future of "The Vision"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2016-03-09.

External links

• Tom King at the Comic Book DB