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James Robinson (writer)

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James Dale Robinson is a British writer of American comic books and screenplays best known for co-creating the character of Starman (Jack Knight) with Tony Harris and reviving the Justice Society of America in the late 1990s. His other notable works include the screenplay for the film adaptation of the Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the multi-year crossover storyline "Superman: New Krypton".

James Robinson
Robinson seated with his arms folded
Robinson at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010
NationalityBritish
Area(s)Writer
Notable works
The Golden Age
Starman
Leave It to Chance
The Justice Society Returns
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Batman: Face the Face
Superman: New Krypton
Justice League: Cry for Justice
Earth 2
AwardsInkpot Award 2012[1]

Career

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Robinson made his writing debut in 1989 with the graphic novel London's Dark, illustrated by Paul Johnson and later named one of the 500 "essential" graphic novels, as it was "at the vanguard [...] of British graphic novels as a whole" despite being "a very raw work, full of experimentation".[2] He continued contributing short stories to various anthologies, including "Grendel: Devil's Whisper" which appeared in A1, before breaking into the American market with a number of Terminator series for Dark Horse. In 1993, Robinson penned the limited series The Golden Age for DC Comics, which, despite being an Elseworlds story, established much of the backstory he would later use in his arguably most renowned work, Starman.[3] With Starman, Robinson took the aging Golden Age character of the same name and revitalized both him and all those who had used the name over the decades, weaving them into an interconnected whole. In 1997, Robinson's work on the title garnered him an Eisner Award for "Best Serialized Story".[4] In the late 90s, Robinson worked on a follow-up series to The Golden Age,[5] to be titled The Silver Age and illustrated by Howard Chaykin,[6] although he ultimately decided not to pursue the project as the bulk of his ideas were presented in Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn's 1998 series JLA: Year One.[7]

In addition to Starman, Robinson's DC work includes frequent contributions to the anthology series Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, a Vigilante mini-series and The Sandman spin-off series Witchcraft for Vertigo. In 1999, Robinson and his writing partner David S. Goyer spearheaded the return of the Golden Age team of superheroes Justice Society of America to the mainstream DC Universe with the story arc "The Justice Society Returns"[8] and the launch of the ongoing series JSA.[9][10] Robinson left the title after five issues while Goyer continued co-writing it with Geoff Johns,[11] with whom Robinson would later launch the JSA spin-off series Hawkman. Similarly, he served as a transitional writer on several Marvel titles, such as Cable and Generation X, contributing to the "Operation: Zero Tolerance" inter-title crossover storyline.[12] Robinson wrote a brief run on the Captain America series that was then-recently relaunched as part of the "Heroes Reborn" initiative. Other work for Marvel includes Ectokid, one of the series created by the horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker for the company's Razorline imprint. At Image, Robinson wrote a brief run on Wildcats that further developed the team's mythology and launched the creator-owned series Leave It to Chance with artist Paul Smith's, which won them two more Eisner Awards in 1997, for "Best New Series" and "Best Title for Younger Readers".[4]

Robinson made a foray into screenwriting with a screenplay for the 1993 direct-to-video short film Firearm, based on the comic book series of the same name published by Malibu.[13] In the late 90s, Robinson and David S. Goyer wrote an unused draft for then-upcoming film Freddy vs. Jason[14][15] and scripted Evermere for C2 Pictures, which aimed for a 2000 release with Chuck Russell attached to direct.[16] Robinson's best known work as a screenwriter is the 2003 adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,[17] which caused some controversy among fans of the original work, many of whom were disappointed that the film took many liberties and changed the tone of the source material. Early drafts had reportedly relocated much of the action from England to America, allegedly in an attempt to make it more acceptable to American audience.[18][19]

After taking a break from writing comics, Robinson returned in 2006 with an eight-issue storyline "Batman: Face the Face", which ran through both Batman and Detective Comics as part of DC Comics' company-wide initiative "One Year Later".[20] In 2008, he took over the writing duties of the ongoing Superman series, starting with the storyline "The Coming of Atlas".[21][22] In 2009, Robinson launched Justice League: Cry for Justice,[23] intended to run as a second ongoing Justice League title but turned into a 7-issue mini-series instead due to poor critical reception.[24][25][26][27] Despite the controversial reception, Robinson was nominated for Best Writing in the 2010 Eisner Awards.[28][29] In October 2009, Robinson took over the regular Justice League of America ongoing title with and artist Mark Bagley,[30] who was later replaced by Brett Booth.[31] In May 2010, Robinson and Sterling Gates co-wrote War of the Supermen, the limited series that acted as the culmination of the Superman crossover storyline that started two years prior with "Superman: New Krypton".[32] Robinson concluded his run on Superman with issue #700 (Aug. 2010).[33] In 2011, Robinson launched the 12-issue series The Shade, starring the eponymous character closely associated with the Starman series.[34][35] The following year, he launched the Earth 2 ongoing series which reimagined the long-standing concept of the fictional parallel earth for new readers as part of DC Comics' company-wide relaunch "The New 52".[36][37] One of the revisions introduced by Robinson was making the Green Lantern of Earth 2 gay, which made national news.[38] Robinson left the title after sixteen issues.[39][40]

In 2013, Robinson launched The Saviors with J. Bone, his first creator-owned series since the discontinuation of Leave It to Chance a decade earlier.[41] In 2014, Marvel published an original graphic novel titled The Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business, co-written by Robinson and Mark Waid.[42] That same year, Robinson's launched two new ongoing series at Marvel as part of the All-New Marvel NOW! initiative, All-New Invaders with artist Steve Pugh[43] and a new volume of the Fantastic Four series with artist Leonard Kirk.[44] In 2015, Robinson and artist Greg Hinkle launched the 4-issue mini-series Airboy at Image, which featured the eponymous Golden Age character emerging from the world of comic books into the "real" world and interacting with the creators. The series caused controversy with its transphobic remarks made by fictional Robinson in issue #2,[45][46] which propmpted the creators to make amendments for the eventual collected edition.[47] Also in 2015, Robinson penned the ongoing series Scarlet Witch for Marvel,[48] which, he explained, was influenced by the work of Matt Fraction and David Aja on the 2012 series Hawkeye.[49] In 2016, Robinson launched another creator-owned series, Grand Passion, illustrated by Tom Feister and published by Dynamite, which he described as "a departure from what I've been doing in the last few years."[50] The following year, Robinson penned a James Bond spin-off series starring Felix Leiter for Dynamite[51][52] and returned to DC Comics for a run on the Wonder Woman series,[53] which he wrote for a year, leaving after issue #50 (Sept. 2018).[54]

Since 2020, Robinson has been writing and producing the Stargirl television series, based on the eponymous character co-created by Geoff Johns and Lee Moder that in turn spun out of Robinson-created character Starman (Jack Knight).[citation needed]

Personal life

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Robinson and longtime DC Comics editor Jann Jones announced their engagement in 2009.[55] They married two years later and have since divorced.[47]

Bibliography

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Early work

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  • London's Dark (with Paul Johnson, graphic novel, 48 pages, Escape, 1989, ISBN 1-85286-157-6)
  • Crisis #40: "Murky Waters" (with Tony Salmons, anthology, Fleetway, 1990)
  • Shriek #2: "Trial and Error" (with D'Israeli, anthology, FantaCo Enterprises, 1990)
  • A1 #4: "Devil's Whisper" (with D'Israeli) and "The Day the General Came" (with Phil Elliott, anthology, Atomeka, 1990)
  • Dark Horse:
  • Miracleman: Apocrypha #1: "The Rascal Prince" (with Kelley Jones, anthology, Eclipse, 1991) collected in Miracleman: Apocrypha (hc, 96 pages, 1992, ISBN 1-5606-0190-6; tpb, 1992, ISBN 1-56060-189-2)

DC Comics

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Marvel Comics

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Image Comics

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Other publishers

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Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Inkpot Award". San Diego Comic-Con. 2016. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017.
  2. ^ Kannenberg, Gene Jr. (2008). 500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide. Ilex Press. ISBN 978-0061474514.
  3. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1990s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. In this ongoing series by writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris, a new Starman was unleashed on the world.
  4. ^ a b "1997 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
  5. ^ Yarbrough, Beau (17 August 1998). "CCI GRAB BAG". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 3 February 1999. Goodwin's death is also part of the reason the long-rumored follow-up to James Robinson's "The Golden Age" series has taken so long, although "The Silver Age" sequel is in the works, according to Carlin.
  6. ^ Cronin, Brian (21 October 2011). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #337". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 22 October 2011.
  7. ^ Yarbrough, Beau (20 July 1999). "'LEAVE IT TO CHANCE' ENDS, RETURNS AS ONE SHOTS". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 18 January 2001. Despite long-running Internet rumors and speculation to the contrary, he will not be following up his popular "Golden Age" Elseworlds DC Comics miniseries with a "Silver Age" series, as most of his ideas for the book appeared in last year's "Justice League: Year One" series written by Mark Waid.
  8. ^ G., Petar (14 July 2000). "James Robinson interview". GeoCities. Archived from the original on 23 April 2001.
  9. ^ Yarbrough, Beau (19 April 1999). "CAN ROBINSON STRIKE GOLD A THIRD TIME?". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 9 October 1999.
  10. ^ Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 287: "With a successful Starman revamp and acclaimed Elseworlds limited series The Golden Age already under his belt, Robinson had set the stage for his newest opus – the return of the Justice Society of America."
  11. ^ G., Petar (4 September 1999). "David Goyer interview". GeoCities. Archived from the original on 15 April 2000.
  12. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2008). "1990s". In Gilbert, Laura (ed.). Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 283. ISBN 978-0756641238. 'Operation: Zero Tolerance' truly began in the prologue within X-Men #65...the story sprang from there into all the other X-titles of the time and featured the work of writers James Robinson, John Francis Moore, Larry Hama, Steve Seagle, and Joe Kelly.
  13. ^ Cronin, Brian (4 July 2018). "Looking Back At Ultraverse's Live Action 'Video Comic Books'". CBR.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021.
  14. ^ "FREDDY VS. JASON is coming... sometime... maybe..." Angelfire. Archived from the original on 9 January 2002.
  15. ^ "Freddy vs. Jason – News and Updates". Angelfire. Archived from the original on 12 December 2002.
  16. ^ Conroy, Chris (1999). "Interview With James Robinson". Angelfire. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022.
  17. ^ Worley, Rob (21 July 2001). "SAN DIEGO, DAY 2: JAMES ROBINSON TALKS FILM AND TV". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 11 January 2002.
  18. ^ Sauriol, Patrick (6 October 2000). "The League of Disappointing Adaptations". Director's Cut. Archived from the original on 14 December 2000. Retrieved 23 March 2006.
  19. ^ Stax (30 April 2002). "The Stax Report: Script Review of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". IGN. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
  20. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (22 May 2008). "Golden Age James Robinson I: Justice League". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012.
  21. ^ Brady, Matt (8 February 2008). "James Robinson Named as New Superman Writer". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 10 July 2009.
  22. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (23 May 2008). "Golden Age James Robinson II: Superman". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013.
  23. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey. "James Robinson Cries for Justice". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  24. ^ Zawisza, Doug. "Justice League: Cry for Justice #1 Review". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  25. ^ Callahan, Timothy. "Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 Review". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  26. ^ McElhatton, Greg. "Justice League: Cry for Justice #3 Review". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2 September 2009.
  27. ^ Marston, George. "Justice League: Cry for Justice #7 Review". Newsarama. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  28. ^ "Scott Pilgrim Kicks Off 2010 Eisner Awards". Comic-con.org. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  29. ^ Segura, Alex (8 April 2010). "The Eisner Awards honor the DC Universe". The Source. DC Comics.com. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  30. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (24 September 2009). "James Robinson's JLA Roll Call". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013.
  31. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (23 December 2010). "Robinson's JLA pt. 2: 'Epic' Eclipso Arc Brings Changes". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
  32. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (23 March 2010). "Writers Gates & Robinson Wage the War of the Supermen". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
  33. ^ Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 341: "Writer James Robinson brought his epic run to an end with a touching tale that brought Superman back to Lois Lane after his time on New Krypton."
  34. ^ Hudson, Laura (13 March 2010). "Emerald City Comic-Con: The DC Nation Panel". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014.
  35. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (11 October 2011). "Robinson, Hamner Bring The Shade To DC Fans Old & New". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
  36. ^ Kushins, Josh (12 January 2012). "DC Comics in 2012–-Introducing the "Second Wave" of DC Comics The New 52". The Source. DC Comics. Archived from "second-wave"-of-dc-comics-the-new-52/ the original on 15 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  37. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (5 March 2012). "James Robinson Describes the New 52's Earth 2". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013.
  38. ^ Moore, Matt (1 June 2012). "Green Lantern relaunched as brave, mighty and gay". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 16 November 2012.
  39. ^ Gerding, Stephen (17 May 2013). "James Robinson Exits "Earth 2," Leaves DC Comics". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013.
  40. ^ Johnston, Rich (3 June 2013). "One Possible Reason Why James Robinson Left Earth 2". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013.
  41. ^ Armitage, Hugh (19 September 2013). "James Robinson's The Saviors arrives in December". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014.
  42. ^ Sunu, Steve (17 June 2013). "Spidey's Sister Revealed In Waid & Robinson's Spider-Man: Family Business OGN". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014.
  43. ^ Melrose, Kevin (9 September 2013). "Robinson, Pugh Introduce All-New Invaders to Marvel NOW!". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014.
  44. ^ Richards, Dave (20 November 2013). "James Robinson Ushers in a New Era for the Fantastic Four". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. These questions and more will be explored in an all-new volume of Fantastic Four by writer James Robinson and artist Leonard Kirk, which kicks off in February.
  45. ^ MacDonald, Heidi (3 July 2015). "Airboy #2 criticized by GLAAD for transphobic storyline". Comics Beat. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015.
  46. ^ Finn, Charlotte (6 July 2015). "Unpacking the Transphobia in 'Airboy' #2". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on 7 July 2015.
  47. ^ a b Mozzocco, J. Caleb (4 October 2016). "James Robinson and Greg Hinkle's Airboy collection addresses the criticism of Airboy #2". Every Day is Like Wednesday. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021.
  48. ^ Parkin, JK (25 August 2015). "Fall Under the Spell of the Scarlet Witch". Marvel Comics. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015.
  49. ^ Damore, Meagan (25 August 2015). "James Robinson Promises Unique Adventures for Wanda in New Scarlet Witch Series". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Archive requires scrolldown
  50. ^ "SDCC: James Robinson Brings Grand Passion to Dynamite". Comic Book Resources. 15 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014.
  51. ^ "'James Bond' gets CIA spin-off with 'Felix Leiter'". Newsarama. 3 October 2016.
  52. ^ McMillan, Graeme (3 October 2016). "'James Bond' to Spin Off 'Felix Leiter' Comic Book Miniseries in 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  53. ^ Arrant, Chris (19 June 2017). "New Wonder Woman Creative Team Coming In September 2017". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. James Robinson, Carlos Pagulyan, and Emanuela Lupacchino are taking over DC's Wonder Woman with September 27's #31.
  54. ^ Rogers, Vaneta (11 July 2018). "Wonder Woman Writer Reflects on Jason's Arc & His Run Ending at #50". Newsarama. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. This week's oversized Wonder Woman #50, the saga exploring Diana's discovery of Jason and the character's subsequent story arc come to a close as James Robinson ends his 20-issue run on the title.
  55. ^ Johnston, Rich (9 February 2009). "Lying In The Gutters Volume 2 Column 196". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Congratulations to DC's Jann Jones and James Robinson, recently engaged!
  56. ^ Salazar, Kat (8 January 2015). "JAMES ROBINSON AND PHILIP TAN BRING READERS A SLICE OF HEAVEN". Image Comics. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016.
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Preceded by WildC.A.T.s writer
1994–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Captain America writer
1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Cable writer
1997–1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by JSA writer
1999
(with David S. Goyer) 		Succeeded by
Geoff Johns
David S. Goyer
Preceded by Hawkman writer
2002–2003
(with Geoff Johns) 		Succeeded by
Geoff Johns
Preceded by Batman writer
2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Detective Comics writer
2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Superman writer
2008–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Justice League of America writer
2009–2011 		Succeeded by
Geoff Johns
Preceded by
n/a
 Earth 2 writer
2012–2013 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Fantastic Four writer
2014–2015 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Cable writer
2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Wonder Woman writer
2017–2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Trinity writer
2018 		Succeeded by
n/a
Preceded by Detective Comics writer
2018–2019 		Succeeded by
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