Jeph Loeb
Encyclopedia
Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 and award-winning comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...

and Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

, writer for the films Commando
Commando (film)
Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano, Bill Duke, Dan Hedaya and James Olson. It was directed by Mark L...

and Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf...

and was a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 TV show Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...

from its premiere in 2006 to November 2008.

In 2010, Loeb became Head of Television for Marvel in charge of drama, comedy and animation.

A four-time Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...

 winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner, Loeb's comic book work, which has appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List, includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...

, Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

, Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....

, Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...

, Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...

, Iron Man
Iron Man
Iron Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Tales of Suspense #39 .A billionaire playboy, industrialist and ingenious engineer,...

, Daredevil
Daredevil (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil is a fictional character, a superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with an unspecified amount of input from Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Daredevil #1 .Living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood...

, Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...

, the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...

, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...

, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale
Tim Sale (artist)
Tim Sale is an American Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. He is primarily known for his collaborations with writer Jeph Loeb.-Early life:...

.

Early life

Jeph Loeb was grew up in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

. He reportedly read his first comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 during the summer of 1970.

His later stepfather was a vice-president at Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...

, Waltham
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, where Jeph met one of his mentors and greatest influences in comic book writing, the writer Elliot Maggin
Elliot S! Maggin
Elliot S. Maggin, also spelled Elliot S! Maggin , is an American writer of comic books, film, television and novels. He was a main writer for DC Comics during the Bronze and early Modern ages of comics in the 1970s and 1980s...

. Jeph however attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 and a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in Film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

. His instructors included Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....

.

Film and TV career

Loeb's debut in filmmaking was his collaboration with Matthew Weisman in authoring the script of Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf
Teen Wolf is a 1985 American fantasy comedy film released by Atlantic Releasing Corporation starring Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard, a high school student who discovers that his family has an unusual pedigree when he finds himself transforming into a werewolf...

. The film was released on August 23, 1985 and was a notable starring role for Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...

. Loeb and Weisman then collaborated in writing the script of Commando
Commando (film)
Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Alyssa Milano, Bill Duke, Dan Hedaya and James Olson. It was directed by Mark L...

. The film was released on October 4, 1985 and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

.

His next screen credit was the film Burglar
Burglar (film)
Burglar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson and distributed by Warner Bros. The film stars Whoopi Goldberg and Bobcat Goldthwait.-Plot:...

, released on March 20, 1987. The plot was based on the novels of Lawrence Block
Lawrence Block
Lawrence Block is an acclaimed contemporary American crime writer best known for two long-running New York–set series, about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, respectively...

 about fictional burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr
Bernie Rhodenbarr
Bernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the Burglar series of comic mystery novels by Lawrence Block. He first appeared in Burglars Can't Be Choosers, published in 1977; as of 2004, he has appeared in ten novels by Block, as well as three short stories Bernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the...

. His collaborators were Weisman and Hugh Wilson. The film was atypical for the time, featuring a female comedic role for starring actress Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...

. His second film that year was Teen Wolf Too
Teen Wolf Too
Teen Wolf Too is an American comedy film first released on November 20, 1987 by Atlantic Releasing Corporation. The film was directed by Christopher Leitch based on a script by R. Timothy Kring, Jeph Loeb, Bret Granville and Matthew Weisman. The film is a sequel to Teen Wolf...

, a sequel of Teen Wolf, which was co-written by Weisman and Tim Kring
Tim Kring
Richard Timothy "Tim" Kring is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the television series Strange World, Crossing Jordan, and Heroes.Kring is Jewish...

. The film was released on November 20, 1987. The film featured teen idol
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...

 Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman
Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...

 and veteran actor John Astin
John Astin
John Allen Astin is an American actor who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, and is best known for the role of Gomez Addams on The Addams Family, and other similarly eccentric comedic characters.-Early years:...

. Loeb would re-team with Kring almost two decades later for the TV series Heroes.

Four years later, Loeb was working on a script for The Flash as a feature with Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

  While the script deal fell through, Loeb met then publisher Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to President. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of Editor-in-Chief while retaining the office of president...

 who asked Loeb to write a comic book for DC.

In 2002, Jeph Loeb wrote the script for the episode of Smallville
Smallville
Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...

, entitled "Red", which introduced Red kryptonite
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material from the Superman mythos —the ore form of a radioactive element from Superman's home planet of Krypton. It is famous for being the ultimate physical weakness of Superman, and the word kryptonite has since become synonymous with an Achilles' heel —the one weakness...

 into the series. He became a supervising producer, and has written many episodes since then. He signed a three-year contract, and although producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough offered to keep him on for future seasons, Loeb left to care for his son, who had cancer (See Comics career below).

Loeb later became a writer/producer on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 TV series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

during that show's second season. Leaving Lost, Loeb went on to become Co-Executive Producer and writer on the NBC drama Heroes
Heroes (TV series)
Heroes is an American science fiction television drama series created by Tim Kring that appeared on NBC for four seasons from September 25, 2006 through February 8, 2010. The series tells the stories of ordinary people who discover superhuman abilities, and how these abilities take effect in the...

, which his colleague Tim Kring had created. Loeb wrote the teleplay for the first-season episodes "One Giant Leap
One Giant Leap
"One Giant Leap" is the third episode of the first season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes. It was directed by Greg Beeman and written by Jeph Loeb.-Plot:...

" and "Unexpected
Unexpected (Heroes)
"Unexpected" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes.Regular cast members Noah Gray-Cabey , Ali Larter and Leonard Roberts do not appear in this episode. Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the episode as the driver of the bus Hiro gets on...

". The show prominently features the artwork of Tim Sale
Tim Sale (artist)
Tim Sale is an American Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. He is primarily known for his collaborations with writer Jeph Loeb.-Early life:...

, Loeb's longtime artistic collaborator from his comics work.

The series was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....

 award for Best New Series. It won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, as well the Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...

 for Best Network Television Series. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Television Series.

Loeb and Tim Kring were presented with the Jules Verne Award for Artistic Achievement at the Jules Verne Festival in Paris, France on April 22, 2007 for their work on Heroes. Loeb himself was also presented with a belated 2005 Jules Verne Award for Best Writing for his work on Smallville, which he had not previously been given because his trip to the Festival that year had been cancelled due to his son's ill health.

On November 2, 2008, Daily Variety reported that Loeb and fellow Heroes co-executive producer, Jesse Alexander, were no longer employed on the series. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Loeb stated, "As of today, Jesse Alexander and I have left Heroes. I'm incredibly proud to have been a big part of the success a show with eight Emmy nods and a win this year for NBC.com. I will miss the superb cast and writing staff and wish everyone the best." At the time, Loeb had completed writing and producing the third season episode, "Dual
Dual (Heroes)
"Dual" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of the NBC science fiction drama series Heroes and forty-seventh episode overall. The episode aired on December 15, 2008, as the conclusion to the "Volume 3: Villains" storyline...

".

On June 28, 2010, Marvel Entertainment, as part of its expansion into television, appointed Loeb to the newly-created position of Executive Vice President, Head of Television, in which Loeb would work with publisher Dan Buckley, to create both live-action and animated shows based on Marvel’s catalog of characters.

Comics career

Loeb is known for his extensive use of narration boxes as monologues to reveal the inner thoughts of characters, though the character interactions he writes are sparse in terms of dialogue.

Jeph Loeb's first comic work was Challengers of the Unknown
Challengers of the Unknown
The Challengers of the Unknown is a group of fictional characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Jack Kirby, or co-created with Dave Wood , this quartet of adventurers explored science fictional and apparent paranormal occurrences and faced fantastic menaces.Scripts for the first...

vol. 2 #1 - #8 (March -October 1991), which was the first of many collaborations with Tim Sale
Tim Sale (artist)
Tim Sale is an American Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. He is primarily known for his collaborations with writer Jeph Loeb.-Early life:...

. Their later collaborations included the "Year 1"
Batman: Year One
"Year One", later referred to as "Batman: Year One", is an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein...

-centered Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. It was originally published by DC Comics in 1996 and 1997. It was inspired by the three Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials by the same creative team...

, Batman: Dark Victory
Batman: Dark Victory
Batman: Dark Victory is a 14-part comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Tim Sale. The series is a sequel to Batman: The Long Halloween and was originally published from 1999 to 2000 by DC Comics. The series takes place primarily during the third/fourth year of Batman's career...

, and Superman For All Seasons
Superman For All Seasons
Superman for All Seasons was a 4-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale, and was originally published by DC Comics in 1998. This was made hot off the heels from their previous success, Batman: The Long Halloween, and as that Batman-story dealt with holidays as the...

.

Loeb's other comic works include the Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials
Legends of the Dark Knight
Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, commonly referred to as simply Legends of the Dark Knight is a DC comic book featuring Batman. It was launched in 1989 with the popularity of the Batman movie, following on from Frank Miller's Batman: Year One...

, The Long Halloween, a 13-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 and Dark Victory, a 14-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 set in the first years of the hero's career. The Long Halloween was one of three noted comics that influenced the 2005 feature film Batman Begins
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...

, the others being Batman: The Man Who Falls
Batman: The Man Who Falls
"The Man Who Falls" is a 1989 comic book story by Dennis O'Neil and Dick Giordano. It is an overview of Bruce Wayne's early life, including his parents' murder, his time spent traveling and training throughout the world, and his return to Gotham City to become Batman...

and Batman: Year One
Batman: Year One
"Year One", later referred to as "Batman: Year One", is an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein...

.

At the end of 2002, Loeb teamed with artist Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...

 to create the year-long story arc "Batman: Hush
Batman: Hush
Hush is a 2002-2003 comic book story arc that ran through the Batman monthly series. It was written by Jeph Loeb, penciled by Jim Lee, inked by Scott Williams and colored by Alex Sinclair. The story depicts a mysterious stalker called Hush, who seems intent on sabotaging Batman from afar, and it...

", which spawned three lines of toys, posters and calendars, sat at the #1 spot for eleven of the twelve months it was in publication. The following year, Loeb launched Superman/Batman
Superman/Batman
Superman/Batman was a monthly comic book series published by DC Comics that features the publisher's two most popular characters: Batman and Superman...

. Loeb's run on the title spawned a new ongoing Supergirl
Supergirl
Supergirl is a female counterpart to the DC Comics Superman. As his cousin, she shares his super powers and vulnerability to Kryptonite. She was created by writer Otto Binder and designed by artist Al Plastino in 1959. She first appeared in the Action Comics comic book series and later branched out...

series, and an animated film adapted from Loeb's "Public Enemies" story arc.

Loeb's son, Sam
Sam Loeb
Sam Loeb, born Joseph Loeb IV, was the son of comic book writer Jeph Loeb.His first and only completely written work was Tales of the Vampires: Some Like it Hot for Dark Horse Comics which was drawn by Tim Sale....

, died on June 17, 2005 at the age of 17, after a three-year battle with bone cancer. At the age of 15, Sam wrote a story in Tales of the Vampires
Tales of the Vampires
Tales of the Vampires is a five issue American comic book limited series , published by Dark Horse Comics and set in the Buffyverse. It comprises an anthology of short stories written by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Ben Edlund, and Drew Goddard...

#5 with Jeph's long-term collaborator Tim Sale. In 2006, Sam's final work appeared in Superman/Batman #26, which was nearly completed before his death. His father finished the work with the help of 25 other writers and artists, all of whom were friends of Sam, including Art Adams
Art Adams
Arthur "Art" Adams is an American comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries Longshot...

, Joe Casey
Joe Casey
Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite, among others.-Biography:...

, John Cassaday
John Cassaday
John Cassaday is an American comic book artist and writer, born in Fort Worth, Texas and currently residing in New York City. He is known for having a high level of precision and realism in his work....

, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill
Ian Churchill
Ian Churchill is a British comic book artist, who has mostly worked in the American comic book industry.-Career:Churchill's early work included stints on Supergirl, Uncanny X-Men as well as the Deadpool: Sins of the Past limited series, in addition to a lengthy stay on Cable, the latter gaining him...

, Allan Heinberg
Allan Heinberg
Allan Heinberg is an American film screenwriter, who wrote Young Avengers for Marvel Comics, and has been a writer and producer on The Naked Truth, Party of Five, Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Grey's Anatomy.Heinberg's Young Avengers was a sales success for Marvel, though faced...

, Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...

, Joe Kelly
Joe Kelly (comics)
Joseph "Joe" Kelly is an American comic book writer, penciler and editor who has written such titles as Deadpool, Uncanny X-Men, Action Comics, and JLA...

, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...

, Pat Lee
Pat Lee
Patrick "Pat" C.K. Lee is a Canadian comic book artist, publisher, former President and co-founder of the now defunct Dreamwave Productions.-Biography:...

, Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....

, Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz
Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles...

, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness
Ed McGuinness
Edward "Ed" McGuinness is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on books such as Superman, Superman/Batman, Deadpool, and Hulk...

, Brad Meltzer
Brad Meltzer
Brad Meltzer is a bestselling American political thriller novelist, non-fiction writer, TV show creator and award-winning comic book author.-Early life:...

, Carlos Pacheco
Carlos Pacheco
Carlos Pacheco is a Spanish comic book artist and penciller. Pacheco was born in San Roque, Cádiz. He is best known in the United States for his work on titles such as Avengers Forever, X-Men and Green Lantern...

, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale
Tim Sale (artist)
Tim Sale is an American Eisner Award-winning comic book artist. He is primarily known for his collaborations with writer Jeph Loeb.-Early life:...

, Richard Starkings
Richard Starkings
Richard Starkings is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer based comic book lettering and as a result is one of the most prolific creators in that industry.-Career:...

, Michael Turner
Michael Turner (artist)
Michael Layne Turner was an American comic book artist known for his work on Witchblade, Fathom, Superman/Batman, Soulfire, and various covers for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was also the president of the entertainment company Aspen MLT.- Early life :Michael Turner was born in Crossville,...

, Brian K. Vaughan
Brian K. Vaughan
Brian Keller Vaughan is an American comic book and television writer. He is best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, and Pride of Baghdad, and was one of the principal writers of the television series Lost, during seasons three through five...

, Mark Verheiden, and Joss Whedon
Joss Whedon
Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures...

. The issue also featured a tale titled "Sam's Story," dedicated to Sam.

Also in 2006, it was Jeph who chose his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...

 to be subject to superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 destruction in the opening issue of Marvel's crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...

 event, Civil War
Civil War (comics)
Civil War is a 2006-2007 Marvel Comics crossover storyline built around a self-titled seven-issue limited series written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven, which ran through various other titles published by Marvel at the time...

.

In 2007, Jeph wrote the miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

 Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America
Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America is a comic book limited series dealing with various superheroes' reactions to death of Captain America in the Marvel comics universe after the Civil War....

, which used the five stages of grief as a motif to explore reactions of various characters of the Marvel Universe to the loss of the assassinated Captain America. The first issue ranked #1 in sales for April 2007, and the fifth and final issue, dated July 4, 2007, was the "Funeral for Captain America", which was covered by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

, the The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

Since signing an exclusive contract with Marvel in September 2005, Loeb has launched both The Ultimates 3
The Ultimates 3
The Ultimates 3 was a five-issue, monthly comic book miniseries published in 2008 by Marvel Comics. Written by Jeph Loeb, and illustrated by Joe Madureira, it is a sequel to The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2. A sequel entitled Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates was released in 2010 also written by...

with artist Joe Madureira and Hulk with artist Ed McGuinness
Ed McGuinness
Edward "Ed" McGuinness is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on books such as Superman, Superman/Batman, Deadpool, and Hulk...

, in which he introduced the new archvillain Red Hulk. Loeb has also worked on the five-issue miniseries Ultimatum
Ultimatum (Ultimate Marvel comics)
Ultimatum is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics under its Ultimate Marvel imprint from November 2008 to July 2009...

with artist David Finch. Loeb and Tim Sale again collaborated on Captain America: White, the fourth in their "color" series for Marvel.

Loeb currently shares his writing studio, The Empath Magic Tree House, with Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...

 and Allan Heinberg
Allan Heinberg
Allan Heinberg is an American film screenwriter, who wrote Young Avengers for Marvel Comics, and has been a writer and producer on The Naked Truth, Party of Five, Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Grey's Anatomy.Heinberg's Young Avengers was a sales success for Marvel, though faced...

.

Eisner Awards

  • 1998 Best Limited Series for Batman: The Long Halloween
  • 1999 Best Reprint Graphic Album for Batman: The Long Halloween
  • 2002 Best Reprint Graphic Album for Batman: Dark Victory
  • 2007 Best Single Issue or One-Shot for Batman/The Spirit #1


Nominations
  • 1999 Best Writer for Superman For All Seasons
  • 1999 Best Limited Series for Superman For All Seasons

Wizard Fan Awards

  • 1997 Favorite One Shot or Mini-Series for Batman The Long Halloween
  • 1998 Favorite One Shot or Mini-Series for Superman For All Seasons
  • 2003 Favorite Ongoing Series for Batman
  • 2003 Comics' Greatest Moment of the Year for Clayface
    Clayface
    Clayface is an alias used by several DC Comics fictional characters, most of them possessing claylike bodies and shape-shifting abilities. All of them have been enemies of Batman.-Publication history:...

     returning as Jason Todd
    Jason Todd
    Jason Peter Todd is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Jason first appeared in Batman #357 and became the second Robin, sidekick to the superhero Batman, when the previous Robin went on to star in The New Teen Titans under the moniker of Nightwing.Though...

     in Batman #617
  • 2003 Favorite Supporting Character 2003 for Catwoman (in Batman)

Critical reaction

Many of Loeb's books, such as Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: The Long Halloween is a 13-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale. It was originally published by DC Comics in 1996 and 1997. It was inspired by the three Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials by the same creative team...

, Superman For All Seasons
Superman For All Seasons
Superman for All Seasons was a 4-issue comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale, and was originally published by DC Comics in 1998. This was made hot off the heels from their previous success, Batman: The Long Halloween, and as that Batman-story dealt with holidays as the...

, and the Marvel "color" books (Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man: Blue
Spider-Man: Blue
Spider-Man: Blue is a comic book limited series written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Tim Sale. It ran for a total of six issues and has been reprinted in trade paperback form...

, Hulk: Grey) have garnered critical praise, and have been adapted into other media.

Hulk #1, in which Loeb introduced the Red Hulk, was the #1 selling comic book for January 2008. Subsequent issues also sold well, but received mixed to negative reviews. Issues #7-9 of the series, along with King-Size Hulk #1, were collected into a trade paperback volume, Hulk: Red and Green, which made the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List in May 2009 (as did Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Volume 4, on which Loeb also collaborated).

The first issue of Loeb's The Ultimates 3
The Ultimates 3
The Ultimates 3 was a five-issue, monthly comic book miniseries published in 2008 by Marvel Comics. Written by Jeph Loeb, and illustrated by Joe Madureira, it is a sequel to The Ultimates and The Ultimates 2. A sequel entitled Ultimate Comics: New Ultimates was released in 2010 also written by...

continued the series' history of ranking at #1 in sales, though the series was much less well-received critically than its predecessors.

The first issue of Ultimatum also ranked #1 in sales for November 2008. At Weekly Comic Book Review
Weekly comic book review
Weekly Comic Book Review, is an American blog founded by Jason Montes featuring various comic book reviews.The blog is valuable to comic book fans, providing current and upcoming comic book reviews so readers can get a critics perspective before deciding to purchase...

, Andrew C. Murphy gave it a B+, praising David Finch's art, while Ben Berger gave it a C, opining that there was too much exposition
Exposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...

, but also praising Finch's art. The rest of the series, however, received more negative reviews. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

's Jesse Schedeen gave the series' final issue a scathing review, saying, "Ultimatum is one of the worst comics I have ever read," and called it "the ultimate nightmare." Points of criticism among these reviews included the level of graphic violence, which included cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...

, and the notion that the series was sold on the basis of its shock value, with some reviewers singling out Loeb's dialogue, characterization and storytelling, others asserting the story's lack of originality, or opining that the series would've been better suited to someone who had previously been more involved with the Ultimate line, such as Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...

 or Mark Millar
Mark Millar
Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer, known for his work on books such as The Authority, The Ultimates, Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Civil War, Wanted, and Kick-Ass, the latter two of which have been adapted into feature films...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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