Paul Jenkins (writer)

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Paul Jenkins
Paul Jenkins, 2006.jpg
Jenkins at a fan convention in 2006
Born (1965-12-06) 6 December 1965 (age 47)
Nationality British
Area(s) Writer, Editor
Notable works Hellblazer
The Spectacular Spider-Man
The Sentry

Paul Jenkins (born 6 December 1965) is a British comic book writer. He has had much success crossing over into the American comic book market. Primarily working for Marvel Comics, he has had a big part shaping the characters of the company over the past decade.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

Paul Jenkins earned an English degree in his native United Kingdom. After moving to the US, he joined Mirage Studios in 1988, where he worked as editor/production manager. He edited Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's books, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even negotiated their licensing deals.[1]

Leaving Mirage, Jenkins followed Eastman to Tundra, another Eastman publishing venture. He once again took up editing duties, and also headed licensing and promotions.[2]

Tired of editing, Jenkins pitched to several companies as a writer.[2] It was during this process that he landed a gig for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. In 1994, he took over as writer of Hellblazer, and began what would go on to be a four-year-long stint.[3] His work on this title gained him attention in the American comic industry, but has yet to be republished in trade paperback form.[4] This makes his run the longest on the series not to be reprinted.

Paul's Marvel Comics career began in 1998, when he worked on reviving some of the companies horror-themed properties. He relaunched the psychological horror title Werewolf By Night, writing six issues, until the title was canceled to start the anthology title Strange Tales. The rest of his remaining Werewolf By Night story was published in the first two issues.

Later in the year, he and artist Jae Lee were responsible launching the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Marvel Knights series Inhumans. The limited series ran twelve issues between November 1998 and October 1999, and earned Jenkins an Eisner Award.[5]

In 2000, Jenkins and Lee followed up their collaboration with another five issue Marvel Knights limited series, this time concerning The Sentry. Although the mentally tortured hero was an original creation of Jenkins and Lee's, Marvel ran a marketing hoax claiming that the character was a long-lost Silver Age creation of Stan Lee himself, even pre-dating the Fantastic Four. After a long period of non-use, The Sentry became a member of the New Avengers (which occurred in a storyline with a cameo by Jenkins himself).[6]

The year 2000 also included writing assignments in the regular Marvel Universe. In March, Jenkins was made the regular writer on the The Incredible Hulk. Like in much of his earlier work, Jenkins conducted a psychiatric examination of Bruce Banner, including a look at Banner's multiple Hulk personas. His 20 issue run on the Hulk ran until November 2001, and received great acclaim.

On top of the Hulk ongoing, Jenkins became the regular writer of Peter Parker: Spider-Man. Taking over the title from issue 20, in August 2000, he wrote it until its end in August 2003. Marvel placed him on the brand new The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.2, and Jenkins went on to write the book for most of its three-year run. His artistic collaborator for most of the Spectacular run was fan-favorite Humberto Ramos.

In 2001 he collaborated with penciller Andy Kubert on the 6-issue limited series Origin which for the first time revealed Wolverine's beginnings. The title was one of the biggest sales successes of that year for Marvel. Jenkins later wrote Wolverine: The End, a story dealing with loose ends from Origin, although it is not a direct sequel, as Marvel's The End stories are not canon. There will be one more sequel to Origin.

He later wrote Wolverine for Marvel, and The Darkness for Top Cow. Another project undertaken by Jenkins for Marvel was the Mythos series of one-shots where Jenkins, with Paolo Rivera's painted artwork, would retell the origin stories of Marvel's movie adapted characters to bridge the gap between the movie and the comic book versions of the characters.

Recently, Jenkins wrote the Dark Horse Comics limited series Revelations with comic book artist and penciller Humberto Ramos and Marvel's The Sentry with artist John Romita Jr.. He has also written his own independent comic, Sidekick, published by Image Comics.[7]

Jenkins wrote the Civil War tie-in Civil War: Front Line[7] and one of the stories, the transformation of Robbie Baldwin from Speedball to Penance,[8] was expanded on in the limited series Penance: Relentless.[9] It also led to World War Hulk: Front Line.[10] He also took over the writing on Son of Hulk when it lost its focus on Skaar, the series ran from #13 to 17.[11]

Jenkins is also a prolific creator in the video game medium, having worked on several top-tier titles including the Legacy of Kain, Twisted Metal Black and God of War series. Most recently, Paul is credited as writer on Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, created with Radical Entertainment and The Darkness, created by Starbreeze Studios.

He made his return to DC Comics in 2011, taking a big part in the New 52 initiative, include writing stints on DC Universe Presents[12] featuring the character of Deadman, Batman: The Dark Knight[13] with artist David Finch, and a two issue fill in arc on Stormwatch.[14]

[edit] Bibliography

Comics work includes:

  • Sentry (240 pages, Marvel Comics, January 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2124-2) collects:
    • Sentry (vol. 1) (with Jae Lee, 5-issue limited series, 2000–2001)
    • "Sentry & the Fantastic Four" (with Phil Winslade, February 2001)
    • "Sentry & the Hulk" (with Bill Sienkiewicz, February 2001)
    • "Sentry & Spider-Man" (with pencils by Rick Leonardi and inks by Terry Austin, February 2001)
    • "Sentry & the X-Men" (with Mark Texeira, February 2001)
    • "Sentry vs. the Void" (with Jae Lee, February 2001)
  • The Darkness (Top Cow, 2001, 2002–2004, 2006) collected as:
    • Resurrection (176 pages, collects The Darkness vol. 1 #40 and vol. 2 #1-6, 2004, ISBN 1-58240-349-X)
    • Demon Inside (272 pages, includes The Darkness vol. 2 #7-9, January 2007, ISBN 1-58240-646-4)
    • Levels (5-issue mini-series, computer game tie-in, 2006–2007, tpb June 2007, ISBN 1-58240-797-5)
  • Mythos (with artist Paolo Rivera, one-shot metaseries, Marvel Comics, hardcover, 152 pages, December 2008, ISBN 0-7851-1597-8) includes:
    • X-Men #1 (March 2006)
    • Hulk #1 (October 2006)
    • Ghost Rider #1 (March 2007)
    • Spider-Man #1 (July 2007)
    • Fantastic Four #1 (December 2007)
    • Captain America #1 (August 2008)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jonah Weiland (2005). "Paul Jenkins Signs Exclusive to Marvel". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 28 February 2008. 
  2. ^ a b "Comic Book DB - Paul Jenkins". ComicBookDB.com. 2005. Retrieved 28 February 2008. 
  3. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008). "John Constantine Hellblazer". In Dougall, Alastair. The Vertigo Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 102–111. ISBN 0-7566-4122-5. OCLC 213309015 
  4. ^ "graphic Novel DB - Son of Man". graphicnoveldb.com. Retrieved 16 December 2008. 
  5. ^ 1999 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, Comic Book Awards Almanac
  6. ^ New Avengers Vol. 1 #07-10 2005
  7. ^ a b Paul Jenkins Civil Wars and Sidekicks, Cinescape, 26 September 2006
  8. ^ Paul Jenkins on Penance, Newsarama, 19 January 2007
  9. ^ REFLECTIONS #221: Paul Jenkins, Part 2, Comic Book Resources, 9 September 2007
  10. ^ NYCC '07: Paul Jenkins on World War Hulk: Frontline, Newsarama, 23 February 2007
  11. ^ Phegley, Kiel (24 November 3009). "Jenkins Ends "Son of Hulk"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 3 May 2010. 
  12. ^ http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2011/07/06/paul-jenkins-and-bernard-chang-on-dc-universe-presents
  13. ^ http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36550
  14. ^ http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2011/12/07/paul-jenkins-to-pen-stormwatch-two-part-story

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Eddie Campbell		 Hellblazer writer
1994–1998		 Succeeded by
Garth Ennis
Preceded by
Ron Garney & Jerry Ordway		 Incredible Hulk writer
2000–2001
(with Sean McKeever in late 2001)		 Succeeded by
Bruce Jones
Authority control
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