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Mark Russell (comics)

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Russell at the 2023 WonderCon.

Mark Russell (born 1971) is an American author and comic book writer.

Books

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Russell is the author of God Is Disappointed in You (Top Shelf Productions, 2013), a modern re-telling of the Bible (with cartoons by The New Yorker cartoonist Shannon Wheeler) as well as a follow-up book about non-canonical Christian and Jewish texts called Apocrypha Now.

Comics

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In 2015, Russell made his debut in comics with a reboot of the 1973–74 comic Prez (Issues 1–6, DC Comics), drawn by Ben Caldwell, in which a teenager is elected and serves as President of the United States.[1] Following Prez, Russell was hired to write The Flintstones comic book series for DC Comics, drawn by Steve Pugh.[2] The Flintstones was nominated for two Eisner Awards, including Best Limited Series and Best Humor Publication, as well as being nominated for a Harvey Award for Book of the Year.

In 2018, DC Comics published Russell's comic Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, drawn by Mike Feehan, which reinvented the titular Hanna-Barbera character as a gay southern gothic playwright living in 1950s New York. Exit Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles won the 2019 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Comic. The series was also nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series and Russell was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Writer. February 2019 saw the publication of Russell's The Wonder Twins with artist Stephen Byrne as part of DC's new Wonder Comics line, curated by Brian Michael Bendis, which was nominated for a 2020 Ringo award for Best Humor Comic. 2019 also saw the publication of Russell's comic Second Coming with artist Richard Pace by Ahoy Comics. Originally slated to be published by DC/Vertigo, the comic was dropped by the label due to the religious and controversial subject matter, only to be later picked up and published by Ahoy.[3]

Volume I of Second Coming was published in March 2020, featuring an Introduction by Patton Oswalt. A second series of Second Coming was released starting in December 2020. Russell's acclaimed satirical comic Billionaire Island, also released in 2020, reunited him with Flintstones artist Steve Pugh.[4] In 2021, Russell wrote Fantastic Four: Life Story for Marvel, which retells the story of the first family of Marvel in a decade-by-decade format. 2021 also saw the release of his title One-Star Squadron, drawn by artist Steve Lieber, about declining superheroes who are forced to make a living in the marketplace, and Not All Robots with artist Mike Deodato, which won the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication.

In 2022, Russell released Superman: Space Age (DC Comics) with art by Mike Allred,[5] which was nominated for the 2023 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series and Traveling to Mars (Ablaze), which was nominated for the 2023 Eisner Award for Best New Series. Russell himself was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 2023. Cereal, an acclaimed horror-comedy series featuring characters based on the monsters from cereal TV ads, was published through AHOY Comics in October 2023. In 2024, Russell reunited with Mike Allred with Batman: Dark Age, their follow-up to Superman: Space Age.[6]

Other comic book titles written by Mark Russell include a Red Sonja series for Dynamite Comics, Judge Dredd: Under Siege (IDW, 2018), The Lone Ranger: The Devil's Rope (Dynamite, 2018), Superman vs Imperious Lex (DC, 2021), Incal: Psychoverse (Humanoids, 2022), One-Star Squadron (DC, 2022), Cereal (AHOY, 2023), Rumpus Room (AWA, 2023), Traveling to Mars (Ablaze, 2023) and Deadbox (Vault, 2024).

Personal life

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Mark Russell was born in Springfield, Oregon and currently lives in Portland, Oregon.

Miscellaneous

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In 2019, Russell appeared on an episode of Storytellers Telling Stories with Jude Brewer, recounting his early days on Public Access Television.[7]

In November 2020, Russell appeared on an episode of Indie Comics Spotlight with Tony Farina & Mike Burton on the podcast feed Comics In Motion, discussing Billionaire Island and Second Coming.[8]

On September 16, 2021, Mark Russell appeared on the YouTube channel "Lost'n Comics", where he discussed his comic origin story, his ongoing career, and his current work.

In 2023, Russell published a book of his original cartoons called "Bunkbed Mishaps."

In 2024, Russell appeared on The Comics Cube, Vladimir Popov's The QUESTionaire Season 2, and Collectors Confessions on YouTube.

References

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  1. ^ "A Fan-Favorite DC Series Is Getting Re-Released as a YA Graphic Novel". Comics. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  2. ^ McGovern, Adam. "THIS: Look at those cavemen go – HiLobrow". Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  3. ^ Gustines, George (March 12, 2019). "Comic Book With Jesus as a Character Finds a New Publisher". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Holub, Christian (November 10, 2020). "The best new comics to read in November: Crossing streams, eternal recurrence". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  5. ^ "Superman: Space Age (2022) | DC Comics Series » Comicscored.com". comicscored.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "Batman: Dark Age (2024) | DC Comics Series » Comicscored.com". comicscored.com. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  7. ^ Brewer, Jude. "My Cable Access TV Show – Storytellers Telling Stories". Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  8. ^ Burton, Mike. "Indie Comics Spotlight: Billionaire Island, On Anchor". Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
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