Mark Waid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mark Waid |
|
|---|---|
Waid at the East Coast Comicon in Secaucus, New Jersey
|
|
| Born | March 21, 1962 (age 63) Hueytown, Alabama, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Writer, Editor |
|
Notable works
|
The Flash Captain America Kingdom Come JLA: Year One JLA: Tower of Babel Fantastic Four Superman: Birthright 52< Irredeemable Daredevil Batman/Superman: World's Finest |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (2012) |
Mark Waid (born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer. He is famous for his work on many popular comic books. He has written for DC Comics, including The Flash, Kingdom Come, and Superman: Birthright. He also worked for Marvel, writing for Captain America, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil.
Besides these big companies, Mark Waid has also written for other publishers like Fantagraphics, Event, Top Cow, Dynamite, and Archie Comics.
From 2007 to 2010, Waid was a top editor and creative leader at Boom! Studios. During this time, he also created his own comic series, Irredeemable and Incorruptible. In 2018, he joined Humanoids Publishing and became their Publisher in 2020. He returned to writing freely in 2022.
Contents
Mark Waid's Early Life
Mark Waid was born in Hueytown, Alabama. He has shared that his love for comics began with Adventure Comics #369–370 from 1968. This two-part story about the Legion of Super-Heroes by Jim Shooter and Mort Weisinger introduced a villain named Mordru. Waid says this story taught him a lot about how to write his own comics.
Mark Waid's Amazing Career
Starting Out in the 1980s and 1990s
Mark Waid started working in comics in the mid-1980s. He began as an editor and writer for Amazing Heroes, a magazine for comic book fans. His very first comic book story was an eight-page Superman adventure called "The Puzzle of the Purloined Fortress." It appeared in Action Comics #572 in October 1985.
In 1987, Waid became an editor at DC Comics. He worked on many titles like Action Comics, Doom Patrol, Legion of Super-Heroes, and Wonder Woman. He also helped create the Elseworlds imprint for DC. This allowed creators to tell stories about DC heroes in different timelines or settings, like Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.
Waid decided to become a freelance writer in 1989. This meant he could write for different companies. He wrote for DC's Impact Comics line, including The Comet.
In 1992, Waid started writing The Flash, which made him widely known. He wrote this series for eight years. He also created the character Impulse in The Flash (vol. 2) #92 in 1994. Impulse later got his own comic series in 1995. Waid also worked on the big company-wide story Underworld Unleashed in 1995.
His first big project for Marvel Comics was part of the "Age of Apocalypse" story. He also helped create the powerful character Onslaught for the X-Men comics.
Waid became the writer for Captain America and worked with artist Ron Garney. Their work on the series was very popular. After a year-long story called "Heroes Reborn", Waid and Garney returned to write more Captain America stories.
In 1996, Waid and artist Alex Ross created the famous graphic novel Kingdom Come. This story showed a future version of the DC Universe. It explored what happened to heroes like Superman and Batman as the world changed. The story was a response to the darker comics of the 1980s and 1990s. Many ideas from Kingdom Come later became part of the main DC Universe. Waid also wrote a follow-up story called The Kingdom.
Waid also worked with writer Grant Morrison to make DC's Justice League popular again. They worked on JLA: Year One and the main JLA series. They also developed the idea of Hypertime to help explain different timelines in the DC Universe.
The 2000s: New Adventures
In the 2000s, Waid continued to work on JLA with artists Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary. He also co-wrote a series called Empire with Barry Kitson. This series was about a supervillain named Golgoth who had taken over the world.
Waid started a popular run as the writer for Marvel's Fantastic Four in 2002. He worked with his former Flash artist Mike Wieringo. There were some creative differences at first, but fan support helped Waid and Wieringo continue their work on the series until 2005.
In 2003, Waid wrote Superman: Birthright. This twelve-part series told the new official origin story of Superman. It included many classic characters and ideas from Superman's history.
Waid returned to writing Legion of Super-Heroes in 2004. In 2005, he signed a special contract with DC Comics. He co-wrote the 52 limited series with other famous writers like Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns. This series showed what happened in the DC Universe for a whole year after a big event called Infinite Crisis. He also started a new The Brave and the Bold series with artist George Pérez.
In 2007, Boom! Studios announced that Waid would become their Editor-in-Chief. He later became their Chief Creative Officer in 2010. He then decided to return to freelance writing, but still wrote for Boom! Studios.
Towards the end of the 2000s, Waid wrote several issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. This included a fun story where Spider-Man met Stephen Colbert.
The 2010s: Awards and New Ideas
In 2010, Waid wrote the start of "The Gauntlet" storyline for Spider-Man. He also wrote the Strange mini-series for Doctor Strange. For Boom! Studios, he wrote Irredeemable and its spin-off Incorruptible.
In 2011, Marvel launched a new Daredevil series with Waid as the writer. Waid and artist Paolo Rivera received many positive reviews for their work. They won several Eisner Awards in 2012, including Best Continuing Series. Waid also won Best Writer for his work on Daredevil, Irredeemable, and Incorruptible. He also received a "Best Writer" Harvey Award for Daredevil. In 2012, Waid and artist Leinil Francis Yu started The Indestructible Hulk series for Marvel.
In 2011, Waid created Thrillbent, a free website for digital comics. He launched the site with a comic called Insufferable. In 2013, he wrote an important essay called "An Open Letter To Young Freelancers" about how the comics business was changing.
In 2014, Waid launched new series for Daredevil and The Hulk. He also wrote S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2014, which brought characters from the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the Marvel comics. He later wrote All-New, All-Different Avengers, Black Widow, and The Avengers.
Waid and artist J. G. Jones created Strange Fruit for Boom! Studios in 2015.
In 2016, Waid and artist Humberto Ramos co-created The Champions for Marvel. The next year, Waid returned to the Captain America series with artist Chris Samnee. A new Doctor Strange series was launched by Waid and Jesus Saiz in 2018. Waid also wrote an Ant-Man and the Wasp miniseries to go along with the 2019 movie.
In 2018, Humanoids Publishing announced a new comic imprint called H1, with Waid as one of the creators. In 2019, Marvel announced that Waid would write a five-issue miniseries about the Invisible Woman, her first solo series.
Recent Work in the 2020s
In December 2021, it was announced that Waid would be writing a new ongoing series for DC called Batman/Superman: World's Finest, with Dan Mora as the artist. This series began in March 2022. The events in World's Finest later led to other stories like Batman vs Robin and "Lazarus Planet", which Waid also wrote.
In April 2022, Waid was one of many comic creators who contributed to Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds. This special book was created to raise money for Ukrainian refugees. Waid worked with artist Gabriel Rodriguez (artist) to create a new story for the book.
In November 2022, it was announced that Waid and Mora would work on a new ongoing Shazam! series, which started in May 2023. Waid wrote the series until issue 9.
In April 2023, Waid announced two new projects for DC. The first was a three-issue miniseries called Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor, illustrated by Bryan Hitch. This series is a follow-up to Birthright. The second was a six-issue miniseries called World's Finest: Teen Titans, illustrated by Emanuela Lupacchino.
In February 2024, it was announced that Waid would be writing Absolute Power, a four-issue event miniseries. This series brings Waid back with artist Dan Mora. It tells the story of Amanda Waller teaming up with Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen to try and stop all super-powered people in the DC Universe.
In July 2024, it was announced that Waid would be working with Chris Samnee again on Batman and Robin: Year One, a 12-issue series set to begin in October 2024.
About Mark Waid's Life
As of 2019, Mark Waid lives in California.
See also
In Spanish: Mark Waid para niños
