Jeph Loeb

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Jeph Loeb

Jeph Loeb.
Born Joseph Loeb III
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Executive Producer
Notable works Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray,Spider-Man: Blue,Captain America: White, Batman: Hush, Superman/Batman
Batman: The Long Halloween, Teen Wolf, Commando, Lost
Awards Nominated Emmy Award, WGA Award HEROES Season 1,

Eisner Awards (4 times), Wizard Awards (5 times), Jules Verne Award,

Honorary Doctorate, St. Edwards University Austin Texas

Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, writer for the films Commando and Teen Wolf and was a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the NBC TV show Heroes from its premiere in 2006 to November 2008.[1]

A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner, Loeb's comic book work, which has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.

Contents

Biography

Jeph Loeb was born in Stamford, Connecticut.[2] He reportedly read his first comic book during the summer of 1970.[3]

His later stepfather was a vice-president at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, where Jeph met one of his mentors and greatest influences in comic book writing, the writer Elliot Maggin. Jeph however attended Columbia University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's degree in Film.[4] His instructors included Paul Schrader.[5]

Film and TV career

His debut in filmmaking was his collaboration with Matthew Weisman in authoring the script of Teen Wolf. The film was released on August 23, 1985 and was a notable starring role for Michael J. Fox. Loeb and Weisman then collaborated in writing the script of Commando. The film was released on October 4, 1985 and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.

His next screen credit was the film Burglar, released on March 20, 1987. The plot was based on the novels of Lawrence Block about fictional burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. His collaborators were Weisman and Hugh Wilson. The film was atypical for the time, featuring a female comedic role for starring actress Whoopi Goldberg. His second film that year was Teen Wolf Too, a sequel of Teen Wolf, which was co-written by Weisman and Tim Kring. The film was released on November 20, 1987. The film featured teen idol Jason Bateman and veteran actor John Astin. Loeb would re-team with Kring almost two decades later for the TV series Heroes.

Four years later, Loeb was working on a script for The Flash as a feature with Warner Bros. While the script deal fell through, Loeb met then publisher Jenette Kahn who asked Loeb to write a comic book for DC.

In 2002, Jeph Loeb wrote the script for the episode of Smallville, entitled "Red", which introduced Red kryptonite into the series. He became a supervising producer, and has written many episodes since then. He signed a three-year contract, and although producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough offered to keep him on for future seasons, Loeb left to care for his son, who had cancer (See Comics career below).[6]

Loeb later became a writer/producer on the ABC TV series Lost during that show's second season. Leaving Lost, Loeb went on to become Co-Executive Producer and writer on the NBC drama Heroes, which his colleague Tim Kring had created. Loeb wrote the teleplay for the first-season episodes "One Giant Leap" and "Unexpected".[7] The show prominently features the artwork of Tim Sale, Loeb's longtime artistic collaborator from his comics work.[8]

The series was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Writers Guild of America award for Best New Series.[9] It won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, as well the Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Television Series.[10]

Loeb and Tim Kring were presented with the Jules Verne Award for Artistic Achievement at the Jules Verne Festival in Paris, France on April 22, 2007 for their work on Heroes.[11] Loeb himself was also presented with a belated 2005 Jules Verne Award for Best Writing for his work on Smallville, which he had not previously been given because his trip to the Festival that year had been cancelled due to his son's ill health.[12]

On November 2, 2008, Daily Variety reported that Loeb and fellow Heroes Co-executive Producer, Jesse Alexander, were no longer employed on the series. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Loeb stated, "As of today, Jesse Alexander and I have left Heroes. I'm incredibly proud to have been a big part of the success a show with eight Emmy nods and a win this year for NBC.com. I will miss the superb cast and writing staff and wish everyone the best." At the time, Loeb had completed writing and producing the third season episode, "Dual".[1][13]

Comics career

Loeb is known for his extensive use of narration boxes as monologues to reveal the inner thoughts of characters, though the character interactions he writes are sparse in terms of dialogue.[5]

Jeph Loeb's first comic work was Challengers of the Unknown vol. 2 #1 - #8 (March -October 1991), which was the first of many collaborations with Tim Sale.[14] Their later collaborations included the "Year 1"-centered Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, and Superman For All Seasons.

Loeb's other comic works include the Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials, The Long Halloween, a 13-issue limited series and Dark Victory, a 14-issue limited series set in the first years of the hero's career. The Long Halloween was one of three noted comics that influenced the 2005 feature film Batman Begins, the others being Batman: The Man Who Falls and Batman: Year One.[15]

At the end of 2002, Loeb teamed with artist Jim Lee to create the year-long story arc "Batman: Hush", which spawned three lines of toys, posters and calendars, sat at the #1 spot for eleven of the twelve months it was in publication. The following year, Loeb launched Superman/Batman, which toppled "Hush"'s success, featuring artists such as Ed McGuinness, Michael Turner, Pat Lee, Carlos Pacheco and Ian Churchill. In 2005, Loeb spun Supergirl out of Superman/Batman with artist Ian Churchill.

Sam Loeb at the Empath Magic Tree House in 2004

Loeb's son, Sam, died on June 17, 2005 at the age of 17, after a three-year battle with bone cancer. At the age of 15, Sam wrote a story in Tales of the Vampires #5 with Jeph's long-term collaborator Tim Sale. In 2006, Sam's final work appeared in Superman/Batman #26, which was nearly completed before his death. His father finished the work with the help of 25 other writers and artists, all of whom were friends of Sam, including Art Adams, Joe Casey, John Cassaday, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill, Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee, Pat Lee, Rob Liefeld, Paul Levitz, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness, Brad Meltzer, Carlos Pacheco, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Michael Turner, Brian K. Vaughan, Mark Verheiden, and Joss Whedon. The issue also featured a tale titled "Sam's Story," dedicated to Sam.

Also in 2006, it was Jeph who chose his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut to be subject to superhero destruction in the opening issue of Marvel's crossover event, Civil War.[16][17]

In 2007, Jeph wrote the miniseries Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America, which used the five stages of grief as a motif to explore reactions of various characters of the Marvel Universe to the loss of the assassinated Captain America. The first issue ranked #1 in sales for April 2007,[18] and the fifth and final issue, dated July 4, 2007, was the "Funeral for Captain America", which was covered by the Associated Press, the The Washington Post[19] and ABC.[episode needed]

Since signing an exclusive contract with Marvel in September 2005, Loeb has launched both The Ultimates 3 with artist Joe Madureira and Hulk with artist Ed McGuinness. The first issue of The Ultimates 3 ranked at #1 in sales for December 2007, with preorder sales of 131,401 copies,[20] and Hulk #1 was the #1 selling comic book for January 2008.[21] Issues #7-9 of the series, along with King-Size Hulk #1, were collected into a trade paperback volume, Hulk: Red and Green, which made the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List in May 2009 (as did Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Volume 4, on which Loeb also collaborated).[22]

He has also worked on the five-issue miniseries Ultimatum with artist David Finch, the first issue of which ranked #1 for November 2008.[23] Loeb and Tim Sale's next project is Captain America: White, the fourth in their "color" series for Marvel.[24]

Loeb currently shares his writing studio, The Empath Magic Tree House, with Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg.[25][26]

Comics bibliography

Awards and nominations

Eisner Awards

  • 1998 Best Limited Series for Batman: The Long Halloween
  • 1999 Best Reprint Graphic Album for Batman: The Long Halloween
  • 2002 Best Reprint Graphic Album for Batman: Dark Victory
  • 2007 Best Single Issue or One-Shot for Batman/The Spirit #1[27][28]

Wizard Fan Awards

  • 1997 Favorite One Shot or Mini-Series: Batman The Long Halloween
  • 1998 Favorite One Shot or Mini-Series: Superman For All Seasons
  • 2003 Favorite Ongoing Series: Batman
  • 2003 Comics' Greatest Moment of the Year - Clayface returns as Jason Todd (Batman #617)
  • 2003 Favorite Supporting Character 2003 - Catwoman (in Batman)[29]

Notable works

References

  1. ^ a b Cynthia Littleton. "'Heroes' duo get the ax" Daily Variety; November 2, 2008
  2. ^ Loeb's biography page at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ^ "Reflections: Talking With Jeph Loeb", Comic Book Resources, 2006-10-25. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  4. ^ Biographical information on Loeb at SciFi.com's scifipedia
  5. ^ a b Mark Salisbury. Writers on Comics Scriptwriting1999. Titan Books. Pages 152-165.
  6. ^ Interview with Loeb at Kryptonsite
  7. ^ Jeph Loeb's Filmography at the Internet Movie Database
  8. ^ Tim Sale at the Internet Movie Database
  9. ^ Awards page for Jeph Loeb at the Internet Movie Database
  10. ^ Awards page for Heroes at the Internet Movie Database
  11. ^ Report and photos of the 2007 Jules Verne Festival at julesvernefestival.com
  12. ^ Video of Loeb being presented with the award at YouTube
  13. ^ Jonah Weiland. "'Heroes' Shake-Up, Loeb & Alexander Out" Comic Book Resources; November 2, 2008
  14. ^ Cover gallery for Challengers of the Unknown, vol. 2 #1-8 (Includes links to creative credits for each issue.)
  15. ^ This is mentioned inside the front cover of the Batman Begins mini digest comic book that reprints portions of these three stories that comes with the DVD.
  16. ^ Lockhart, Brian, "An explosion of INK: Stamford comic shop destroyed in pages of 'The Amazing Spider-Man'," article in The Advocate of Stamford, June 3, 2006, pages 1, A4
  17. ^ Tabu, Hannibal; "WWLA: Cup o' Jeph"; comicbookresources.com; March 14, 2008.
  18. ^ Top 300 comic books for April 2007 icv2.com; May 22, 2007
  19. ^ Colleen Long. "Marvel Comics Buries Captain America" Associated Press/Washington Post; July 1, 2007
  20. ^ "Top 300 Comics Actual—December 2007". icv2.com. http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/11939.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-07. 
  21. ^ Top 300 Comics for January 2008 icv2.com; March 4, 2008
  22. ^ "Graphic Books Best Seller List: May 16" New York Times; George Gene Gustines. May 22, 2009
  23. ^ Top 300 Comics for November 2008 icv2.com; December 16, 2008
  24. ^ Captain America: White at Marvel.com
  25. ^ Hautain, Frederik; "Jeph Loeb: When at Marvel - Part II" brokenfrontier.com; October 12, 2005
  26. ^ Rich Sands. "Future Tense" TV Guide; January 12, 2009; Page 39.
  27. ^ List of 2007 Eisner Award winners at comic-con.org
  28. ^ Eisner Awards Almanac
  29. ^ Wizard Fan Awards Almanac

External links

Preceded by
Glenn Herdling		 Cable (vol. 2) writer
1994–1997		 Succeeded by
Todd DeZago
Preceded by
Fabian Nicieza		 X-Force (vol. 1) writer
1995–1997		 Succeeded by
John Francis Moore
Preceded by
[none]		 X-Man writer
1995		 Succeeded by
John Ostrander
Preceded by
Mark Waid		 Avengers writer
1996–1997
(with Rob Liefeld)		 Succeeded by
Walt Simonson
Preceded by
Mark Waid		 Captain America writer
1996–1997
(with Rob Liefeld)		 Succeeded by
James Robinson
Preceded by
Terry Kavanagh		 Iron Man writer
1997
(with Jim Lee in late 1997)		 Succeeded by
Kurt Busiek
Preceded by
Carlos Pacheco & Rafael Marin		 Fantastic Four writer
2001–2002
(with Carlos Pacheco & Rafael Marin)		 Succeeded by
Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Marin & Karl Kesel
Preceded by
Dan Jurgens		 Superman (vol. 2) writer
1999–2002		 Succeeded by
Steven T. Seagle
Preceded by
Ed Brubaker		 Batman writer
2002–2003		 Succeeded by
Brian Azzarello
Preceded by
[none]		 Superman/Batman writer
2003–2006		 Succeeded by
Mark Verheiden
Preceded by
Peter David		 Supergirl writer
2005–2006		 Succeeded by
Greg Rucka
Preceded by
Rob Williams		 Wolverine writer
2007		 Succeeded by
Jason Aaron
Preceded by
Mark Millar		 The Ultimates writer
2007-present		 Succeeded by
TBA
Preceded by
Greg Pak (Incredible Hulk)		 Hulk writer
2008-present		 Succeeded by
TBA
Preceded by
Joss Whedon		 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight writer
2008		 Succeeded by
Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, Drew Greenberg, Jim Krueger and Steven S. DeKnight
v • d • e
Jeph Loeb
DC Comics
Marvel Comics
Other comics
TV writing
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeph_Loeb"
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