Jeff Parker (comics)

Jeff Parker
Born (1966-10-25) October 25, 1966 (age 58)
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Writer, penciller, inker, letterer, colorist
Notable works
Agents of Atlas
Thunderbolts
Hulk
Batman '66
Aquaman
Future Quest
https://www.jeffparkerwrites.com

Jeff Parker (born October 25, 1966) is an American comic book writer and artist. He is a member of Helioscope Studio (formerly Periscope Studio, also known as Mercury Studio).

Early life

Parker, a son of a grocery store owner, grew up in Burlington, North Carolina.[1] His first exposure to comics came from reading the titles sold on the store's spinner racks, which included Dennis the Menace as well as various Archie and Harvey publications.[2] After graduating from East Carolina University,[3] where he majored in English Literature and Communications, Parker joined the Hillsbourough-based illustration studio Artamus Studios, whose other members over the years included Mike Wieringo, Richard Case, Scott Hampton, Dave Johnson, Craig Gilmore and Casey Jones.[4]

Career

Parker began his career in comics as an artist, inking various projects pencilled by his Artamus Studios colleagues and illustrating Solitaire for Malibu and Wonder Woman for DC Comics. In 1999, Parker moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a storyboard artist on the Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot animated series while contributing art to a number of short stories featuring the Escapist and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Dark Horse and various ancillary Batman characters for DC.[4] Parker's first major work as a writer was the 2003 graphic novel The Interman, which he also pencilled, inked, lettered, colored and self-published under the Octopus Press name.[5][6] In 2006, Parker announced a continuation of the story in the form of a 32-page release titled The Interman #0, to be illustrated by artist Tomm Coker,[7] but the issue never came out.

In 2005, Parker began working as a writer for Marvel, penning short stories for various anthology titles as well as the Fantastic Four ongoing series for the all-ages imprint Marvel Adventures,[8] followed by Marvel Adventures: The Avengers.[9] In 2006, Parker and artist Leonard Kirk launched Agents of Atlas,[10][11] a six-issue mini-series featuring the adventures of the eponymous superhero team composed of seldom-used Golden Age characters,[12][13][14] such as Marvel Boy,[15] Jimmy Woo[16] and Namora.[17] The mini-series was followed by several short stories and eventually the second volume of Agents of Atlas, launched in 2009.[18] This iteration lasted for 11 issues,[19] and was followed by two mini-series that saw Agents of Atlas crossover with Avengers and X-Men.[20] In 2010, Parker and artist Gabriel Hardman launched another attempt at an ongoing series, titled simply Atlas,[21] which ended after five issues.[22] Between 2006 and 2009, Parker also wrote X-Men: First Class, another series aimed at younger audiences which retold the earliest adventures of X-Men.[23][24]

Parker's other work of the period includes Walk-In[25] and the second volume of Gamekeeper for Virgin Comics.[26] In 2006, he revived the Octopus Press branding to publish Dear John, a book collecting 25 years of correspondence between comic book retailer John Hitchcock and the legendary artist Alex Toth.[27][11] In 2009, Parker launched two creator-owned series: Mysterius the Unfathomable with artist Tom Fowler, published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint,[28] and Underground with artist Steve Lieber, published by Image.[29] Upon its completion, Underground was posted in its entirety on the "Comics and Cartoons" subsection of the imageboard website 4chan, which attracted the attention of Lieber, who joined the thread discussing the series and held an impromptu Q&A session with the anonymous users of the website.[30] According to Parker and Lieber, this particular instance of comic book piracy led to a noticeable rise in sales of the series' collected edition.[31] In 2021, Parker launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund his next creator-owned project, the graphic novel Blighter: Tracker of the Realm with art by Drew Moss.[32]

In 2010, Parker took over the writing duties of the ongoing series Hulk, launched two years prior by Jeph Loeb.[33] That same year, Parker became the writer of the long-running series Thunderbolts.[34] After seeing the titular team through the company-wide crossover storyline "Siege",[35] Parker revamped the title as part of the "Heroic Age" initiative which promised lighter tone for Marvel's superhero offerings.[36] In 2013, Parker helmed the launch of the comic book continuation of the 1960s Batman television series for DC Comics in the form of the digital-first series Batman '66. The following year, he began writing the Aquaman ongoing series.[37] 2016 saw the release of Future Quest, written by Parker and drawn by Evan Shaner, the flagship series of DC Comics' short-lived attempt at reimagining various Hanna-Barbera characters for the modern audiences.[38] In 2021, Parker and artist Javier Pulido launched a new volume of the Ninjak series for Valiant,[39] although Pulido was taken off the title after three issues for undisclosed reasons.[40]

Influences

Parker cites Alex Toth, Milton Caniff, Harvey Kurtzman, Carl Barks and Alan Moore among his influences.[2][6][11]

Bibliography

Early work

  • Malibu:
  • Negative Burn (anthology, Caliber):
    • "The Calculus Test" (with Craig Gilmore, as inker — on Casey Jones; written by Edward Martin III, in #13, 1994)
    • "Volt 2000" (script and art, in #36, 1996)
  • Uther: The Half Dead King (with Craig Gilmore, as inker — on Bo Hampton; written by Dan Abnett, graphic novel, 64 pages, NBM Publishing, 1994, ISBN 1-56163-110-8)
  • Heroic Tales (anthology, Lone Star Press):
    • "A Victim of Fate" (as letterer; written by Bill Willingham, drawn by Bobby Diaz, in #6, 1998)
    • "The Judgement of Atlas" (as artist, written by Bill Williams, in #8, 1998)
    • "Claws and Effect" (as artist — with Matt Reynolds and Bill Williams; written by Bill Williams, in #9, 1998)
    • "A Matter of the Heart" (as letterer; written by Bill Willingham, drawn by Bobby Diaz) and "Ape Company" (script and art, in #10, 2000)
  • The Deception #1–3 (as artist, written by Bill Spangler, Image, 1999)
  • GT Labs:
    • Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb: "Work" (as artist — with Janine Johnston; a chapter of the graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani, 240 pages, 2001, ISBN 0-9660-1063-9)
    • Suspended in Language (as artist — three 1-page strips written by Jim Ottaviani, graphic novel, 320 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-9660106-5-5)
  • The Interman (script and art, graphic novel self-published as Octopus Press, 128 pages, 2003, ISBN 0-97255-530-7)
  • Vampirella Comics Magazine #3: "Hate Mail" (script and art, anthology, Harris, 2004)

Covers

Pin-ups

DC Comics

Dark Horse Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Adventures

Dynamite Entertainment

Other publishers

References

  1. ^ Montgomery, Mitch (September 27, 2006). "Jeff Parker and the New Adventures of Old Marvel". Silver Bullet Comics. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006.
  2. ^ a b Lien-Cooper, Barb. "Declaration of Independents: Jeff Parker". Sequential Tart. Archived from the original on April 1, 2004.
  3. ^ "Jeff Parker, East Carolinian cartoonist, 1989". East Carolina University. Archived from the original on September 18, 2003.
  4. ^ a b Parker, Jeff. "History". parkerspace.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2002.
  5. ^ "The Interman Graphic Novel". Archived from the original on February 10, 2003.
  6. ^ a b Jozic, Mike (February 20, 2003). "Jeff Parker: Adapting to a Hostile Environment". Silver Bullet Comic Books. Archived from the original on April 13, 2003.
  7. ^ Singh, Arune (January 31, 2006). "JEFF PARKER KICKS IT OLD SCHOOL WITH "KICKERS, INC."". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 28, 2006.
  8. ^ Minnick, Remy (May 17, 2005). "JEFF PARKER: WRITER BY NIGHT". ComiX-Fan Forums. Archived from the original on January 19, 2006.
  9. ^ Ong Pang Kean, Benjamin (December 3, 2007). "INSIDE THE ADVENTURES VI: JEFF PARKER". Newsarama. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009.
  10. ^ Brady, Matt (February 5, 2006). "JEFF PARKER ON AGENTS OF ATLAS". Newsarama. Archived from the original on February 8, 2009.
  11. ^ a b c Spurgeon, Tom (August 5, 2006). "A Short Interview With Jeff Parker". The Comics Reporter. Archived from the original on August 20, 2006.
  12. ^ Richards, Dave (May 12, 2006). "SECRET AVENGERS REASSEMBLED? PANICCIA TALKS "AGENTS OF ATLAS"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006.
  13. ^ Richards, Dave (May 19, 2006). "THE MARVEL UNIVERSE NOW WITH EXTRA PULP: PARKER TALKS "AGENTS OF ATLAS."". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006.
  14. ^ Richards, Dave (May 26, 2006). "THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD ON HIS PENCIL: KIRK TALKS "AGENTS OF ATLAS"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 28, 2006.
  15. ^ Richards, Dave (June 3, 2006). "AGENTS OF ATLAS" WEEK 4 - AGENT PROFILE: MARVEL BOY & A CRYPTIC INVITATION". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 16, 2006.
  16. ^ Richards, Dave (June 12, 2006). ""AGENTS OF ATLAS" AGENT PROFILE: WOO, JIMMY WOO". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
  17. ^ Richards, Dave (June 16, 2006). "AGENTS OF ATLAS: THE FINAL AGENT PROFILE". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 19, 2006.
  18. ^ Richards, Dave (July 24, 2008). "CCI EXCLUSIVE: Parker and Paniccia on "Agents of Atlas"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008.
  19. ^ Richards, Dave (September 24, 2009). "Jeff Parker's "Agents of Atlas" Plans". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 26, 2009.
  20. ^ Richards, Dave (December 14, 2009). "Parker Deploys the Agents of Atlas". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on January 6, 2010.
  21. ^ Richards, Dave (February 10, 2010). "Parker Remaps Marvel's "Atlas"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010.
  22. ^ O'Shea, Tim (September 27, 2010). "Talking Comics with Tim - Jeff Parker". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 29, 2010.
  23. ^ Moyerman, Sam (September 15, 2006). "First Day at the Mansion". Broken Frontier. Archived from the original on October 7, 2006.
  24. ^ Phegley, Kiel (September 23, 2008). "Tuesday Q&A;: Jeff Parker". Marvel.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2008.
  25. ^ Brady, Matt. "VIRGIN COMICS WEEK:TALKING TO DAVE STEWART". Newsarama. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
  26. ^ Smith, Zack (January 9, 2008). "JEFF PARKER ON VIRGIN'S GAMEKEEPER & MORE". Newsarama. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008.
  27. ^ "DEAR JOHN-The Alex Toth Doodle Book". Octopus Press. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
  28. ^ Smith, Zack (November 4, 2008). "Getting 'Mysterius' With Jeff Parker - His New Series". Newsarama. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008.
  29. ^ Lamar, Andre (September 21, 2009). "Steve Lieber & Jeff Parker: Tell a Story of Park Rangers in Underground". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009.
  30. ^ Goellner, Caleb (October 19, 2010). "'Underground' Artist Steve Lieber Wins Over 4chan". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on October 22, 2010.
  31. ^ Weiland, Jonah (October 26, 2010). ""Underground": From Bootleg To Breakout". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010.
  32. ^ Johnston, Rich (September 9, 2021). "Jeff Parker And Drew Moss Create New Tiger Comic, Blighter". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on September 9, 2021.
  33. ^ Phegley, Kiel (July 25, 2010). "CCI: Parker Sees Red "Hulk"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010.
  34. ^ Richards, Dave (August 9, 2009). "CCC09: Parker Hears the sound of Thunder(bolts)". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009.
  35. ^ Richards, Dave (January 20, 2010). "Parker's Thunderbolts Gear Up For "Siege"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010.
  36. ^ Richards, Dave (February 9, 2010). "Jeff Parker Cages the "Thunderbolts"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010.
  37. ^ Salvatore, Brian (October 25, 2021). "Jeff Parker on "Aquaman:" "What Can Aquaman Do That Superman and Batman Can't?"". Multiversity Comics. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021.
  38. ^ Towers, Andrea (January 29, 2016). "DC Entertainment announces new slate of Hanna-Barbera titles". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016.
  39. ^ Kit, Borys (May 3, 2021). "Valiant Unveils "Right for the Time" 'Ninjak' From Jeff Parker, Javier Pulido (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 19, 2021.
  40. ^ Johnston, Rich (October 22, 2021). "Javier Pulido's Art On Ninjak #4 Was Redrawn By Beni Lobel". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021.
  41. ^ Weiland, Jonah (January 18, 2005). "DC COMICS SOLICITATIONS FOR PRODUCT SHIPPING APRIL, 2005". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 21, 2005.
  42. ^ Cronin, Brian (May 25, 2006). "Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #52!". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 19, 2006.
Preceded by Exiles writer
2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Thunderbolts writer
2010–2012 		Succeeded by
Preceded by (Red) Hulk writer
2010–2012 		Succeeded by
n/a
Preceded by Dark Avengers writer
2012–2013 		Succeeded by
n/a
Preceded by Aquaman writer
2014–2015 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Christos Gage
(Ninja-K)
 Ninjak writer
2021–present 		Succeeded by
current