James Robinson (writer)

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James Robinson (writer) bigraphy, stories - Writer

James Robinson (writer) : biography

James Dale Robinson is a British writer of comic books and screenplays who is known for his interest in vintage collectibles and memorabilia. Some of his best known comics are series focusing on the Justice Society of America, in particular the Starman character he co-created with Tony Harris.

Critical reception

Robinson’s book London’s Dark: A tale of love & war, life, death (& afterlife) (1989) has been named one of the 500 "essential" graphic novels, as it was "at the vanguard […] of British graphic novels as a whole" although it was "a very raw work, full of experimentation".500 Essential Graphic Novels: The Ultimate Guide, Gene Kannenberg, Jr., Cambridge: Ilex Press, 2008; New York: Collins Design, HarperCollins, 2008. 101 of 500. ISBN 978-0-06-147451-4

Biography

Comics writing

James Robinson has been writing for over two decades, with an early comics work, "Grendel: The Devil’s Whisper", appearing in the 1989 series of British anthology A1. The story for which he has arguably been most renowned is the DC Comics series Starman, where he took the aging Golden Age character of the same name and revitalized both the character and all those who had used the title 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".

He is also famous for his comic The Golden Age, which, despite being an Elseworlds story, still established much of the backstory he would later use in Starman. He has also written the Batman book Legends of the Dark Knight, and served as a consultant and co-writer in the first year of JSA and its subsequent spin-off Hawkman. Also at DC, he did a miniseries involving the company’s original Vigilante character as well as producing the Sandman spin-off mini-series Witchcraft for Vertigo. Robinson also wrote a brief but very well remembered run of Wildcats, teamed up with artist Travis Charest, that further developed the book’s mythology, along with a spinoff mini-series called Team One.

Similarly, he served as a transition writer on the Marvel Comics titles, Cable and Generation X. He also had a short stint on Heroes Reborn: Captain America during that time.

Leave It to Chance, created by Robinson with penciller Paul Smith, won Robinson two more Eisner Awards in 1997, for "Best New Series" and "Best Title for Younger Readers".

His other work includes Ectokid, one of the series created by horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker for Marvel Comics’ Razorline imprint, and Firearm for Malibu Comics’ Ultraverse line.

In 2006, Robinson took over the writing duties on Batman and Detective Comics, penning the eight-issue "Face The Face" storyline, as part of the One Year Later project announced by DC. Robinson has previously written the Batman story "Blades" as one of his several stints at writing stories for the anthology title Legends of the Dark Knight.

On February 8, 2008, Robinson was appointed the new writer of the DC flagship title, Superman;, Newsarama, February 8, 2008, Comic Book Resources, May 23, 2008 this run included the storyline "The Coming of Atlas". He wrote the 2009-2010 mini-series Justice League: Cry for Justice, Comic Book Resources, May 22, 2008 and took over writing duties on Justice League of America in October 2009 with art by Mark Bagley., DC Source, June 18, 2009 Robinson was joined by artist Brett Booth on Justice League of America in February 2011., DC Source, January 26th, 2011 In May 2010, James Robinson & Sterling Gates co-wrote, with artist Eddy Barrows, a "War of the Supermen", a Superman-based event that was the culmination of two years of story starting from Superman: New Krypton.http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2009/12/08/dcu-in-2010-the-war-of-the-supermen-begins/ Robinson later wrote a twelve-issue series starring The Shade, a character closely identified with his Starman serieshttp://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/03/13/emerald-city-comic-con-the-dc-nation-panel/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/james-robinson-cully-hammer-shade-111011.html and recreated Earth 2 in an eponymous ongoing series for DC’s New 52 initiative in 2011 and 2012.http://comicsbeat.com/dc-cuts-six-adds-six-to-new-52-brings-back-earth-two/

Screenwriting

In addition to his work in comics, Robinson wrote the screenplay for the 1993 direct-to-video film Firearm, and wrote and directed the 2002 feature Comic Book Villains, starring Cary Elwes and Michael Rapaport, as well as producing the screenplay for the 1995 film Cyber Bandits (with Martin Kemp, Alexandra Paul, Grace Jones and singer Adam Ant). His best known screenplay was for the 2003 movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

This last script caused some controversy among fans of the original work, many of whom were disappointed an established comics writer’s take on Alan Moore’s and Kevin O’Neill’s series took so many liberties with and considerably changed the tone of the source material. Indeed, early drafts had reportedly relocated much of the action from England to America, allegedly in an attempt to make it more acceptable to an American audience.. Retrieved March 23, 2006.. Retrieved March 23, 2008.

Notes

Personal life

Robinson lived in Los Angeles, where he was good friends with fellow writers and collaborators Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates.Venta Rogers and Cliff Biggers. "Planet Stories" Comic Shop News #1108. September 2008

In 2009, he and Jann Jones, co-ordinating editor of the Johnny DC comics imprint, announced their engagement.Rich Johnston. "Lying in the Gutters" February 2009 They have since relocated to San Francisco and married.