Paul Jenkins (writer)

Paul Jenkins

Jenkins at a fan convention in 2006
Born (1965-12-06) 6 December 1965
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 twenty years. He is also noted for his groundbreaking narrative work in the field of video games.

Early life

Paul Jenkins was raised by a single parent in the West Country of his native United Kingdom. He gained his first writing and directing experience while studying for his degree in acting.[1]

Career

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.

Tired of editing, Jenkins pitched to several companies as a writer. 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.[2] His work on this title gained him attention in the American comic industry, and as of January 2016, his complete run has been collected.

Paul's Marvel Comics career began in 1998, when he worked on reviving some of the company's 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 first two issues of which printed the rest of his Werewolf By Night story.

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.[3]

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. Several years later, Brian Michael Bendis reused the Sentry by making him a member of the New Avengers : Jenkins himself was featured as a character in the storyline which reintroduced the Sentry.[4] Also in 2000, Jenkins given writing assignments in the mainstream Marvel Universe. In March, he 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 Incredible Hulk ran until November 2001. During this same period, 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 Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.2, which Jenkins wrote for most of its three-year run, which paired him with artist Humberto Ramos.

In 2001 he collaborated with penciller Andy Kubert on the six-issue limited series Origin, which for the first time revealed the details of Wolverine's childhood and early life. The title was one of the biggest sales successes of that year for Marvel. Jenkins later wrote Wolverine: The End, a story addressing plot threads begun in Origin, although it is not a direct sequel, as Marvel's The End stories are not canon.

Jenkins 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.

In 2005 Jenkins wrote the Dark Horse Comics six issue miniseries Revelations, illustrated by Ramos, and Marvel's The Sentry with artist John Romita Jr.. In 2006 he wrote his own independent comic, Sidekick, published by Image Comics.[5] That same year, he wrote Civil War: Front Line, a tie-in to Marvel's crossover storyline, "Civil War"[5] that depicted the transformation of Robbie Baldwin from Speedball to Penance,[6] was expanded on in the limited series Penance: Relentless.[7] It also led to World War Hulk: Front Line.[8] He also took over the writing on Son of Hulk when it lost its focus on Skaar, the series ran from No. 13 to 17.[9]

Jenkins has worked on several video games 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[10] featuring the character of Deadman; Batman: The Dark Knight with artist David Finch,[11] and a two-issue fill-in arc on Stormwatch.[12]

In February 2013 Paul Jenkins left DC and Marvel to work with Boom! Studios. Jenkins launched Deathmatch with Carlos Magno and Fairy Quest with Humberto Ramos, and brought Revelations from Dark Horse to Boom!

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 Weiland, Jonah (2005). "Paul Jenkins Signs Exclusive to Marvel". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
  2. ↑ 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.
  3. ↑ "1999 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  4. ↑ New Avengers Vol. 1 #07-10 2005
  5. 1 2 Paul Jenkins Civil Wars and Sidekicks, Cinescape, 26 September 2006
  6. ↑ "Paul Jenkins on Penance". Newsarama, 19 January 2007
  7. ↑ Taylor, Robert (9 September 2007). "REFLECTIONS #221: Paul Jenkins, Part 2". Comic Book Resources.
  8. ↑ "NYCC '07: Paul Jenkins on World War Hulk: Frontline". Newsarama. 23 February 2007. Archived from the original.
  9. ↑ Phegley, Kiel (24 November 3009). "Jenkins Ends "Son of Hulk"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 3 May 2010. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ↑ Hyde, David (6 July 2011). "Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang on DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS". DC Comics.
  11. ↑ Campbell, Josie (23 January 2012). "THE BAT SIGNAL: Jenkins Follows The White Rabbit In 'Dark Knight'". Comic Book Resources.
  12. ↑ "Paul Jenkins to pen STORMWATCH two-part story". DC Comics. 7 December 2011.
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
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