Joshua Dysart
Encyclopedia
Joshua Dysart is an Eisner Award
-nominated, New York Times Best Selling American
comic book writer known for dark themes, humanist horror and a fascination with the roots of violence. He has done work for DC Comics
, Vertigo Comics, Dark Horse Comics
, Image Comics
, IDW Publishing
, Penny-Farthing Press
, Virgin Comics and Random House
Books.
in 1997. The first eight issues were collected in the graphic novel, Violent Messiahs Vol. I: Book of Job in 2002 and was nominated for the Harvey Award
, the Wizard Fan Award, and the Eisner's Russ Manning Award
. The last four issues, a story arc entitled "Lamenting Pain" was not collected until 2009, when IDW Press decided to publish a trade which also featured never before seen developmental material and an unseen short story by Dysart.
More work followed, including a two-year stint as the monthly writer of Swamp Thing
, writing issues #9–29 of the fourth series. His run featured the art of Enrique Breccia
and Richard Corben
(among others) on interiors and John Totleben
and Eric Powell on covers. Dysart has also worked on Conan
and Hellboy
and has co-written with Mike Mignola
on a series of projects in the same setting
as Hellboy.
From 2008 to 2010 he wrote a revamp of The Unknown Soldier
for Vertigo. The storyline took place in Acholiland Uganda
in 2002 during the war between the Lord's Resistance Army
and Ugandan People's Defence Force. Dysart spent a month in Northern Uganda for research. Issue #1 of Unknown Soldier was released in October 2008. The book was a monthly. It was nominated for an Eisner Award
for Best New Series in 2009. and won a Glyph Comics Awards
for Best cover. In 2010 Unknown Soldier won the Glyph for STORY OF THE YEAR.. Unknown Soldier was featured on the front page of the art section of the New York Times and Dysart was interviewed by the BBC, who also published some of his research photos on their website. In December 2009 Dysart gave an exhaustive interview to WORLD VISION REPORT about his experiences in the conflict zone and attempts to adapt them into a mainstream, commercial work.
In June 2010, Vertigo Comics published Dysart's graphic novel based on Neil Young
's 2003 album Greendale
. Cliff Chiang
drew the book. It spent two-weeks at #3 on the New York Times Graphic Novel Best-Seller list.
: Beneath the Rue Morgue (an original story featuring the character from the Universal film) and penned Skull & Bones: A Monster House Story, which was tied into the Sony animated children's Monster House
. He's also had his comic books included in the packaging for both the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
MMO
computer game from Funcom
and the Hellboy
video game from Konami
. He has written a two volume 270 page graphic novel for Avril Lavigne
entitled Make 5 Wishes which was published by Del Rey Manga
and Random House. That book has been printed in over seven languages as well as digitally distributed throughout Asia. His six-issue comic book mini-series adaptation of the Deepak Chopra
novel Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment was published in December of 2010.
. In 2008 and 2009 he was a special guest at Ohio University
's Aesthetics Technology Lab and even wrote a short comic story about his experiences there that featured the art of Ronald Wimberly. That story, called THE STAIN, was a Best American Comics of 2010 notable entry. In 2009 Dysart spoke at the University of Miami
on his experiences writing the Unknown Soldier. That same year he interviewed Bryan Lee O'Malley
on the (at-that-time) upcoming Scott Pilgrim film. In 2010 he interviewed David Petersen
on his Eisner-award winning Mouse Guard
comic.
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...
-nominated, New York Times Best Selling American
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
comic book writer known for dark themes, humanist horror and a fascination with the roots of violence. He has done work for DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, Vertigo Comics, Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
, Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
, IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
, Penny-Farthing Press
Penny-Farthing Press
Penny-Farthing Press is a comic book publishing company located in Houston, Texas, in the United States. Started in 1998 with "a plan to create comic books and children's books that exemplified quality storytelling, artwork, and printing," Penny-Farthing has expanded from its single original title,...
, Virgin Comics and Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
Books.
Comics
Dysart co-created and wrote Violent MessiahsViolent Messiahs
Violent Messiahs is an American comic book series created by Joshua Dysart and William O'Neill and published by Image Comics. The comic takes place in a fictional city known as Rankor Island, and focused on the Rankor PD's attempts to bring in Rankor's vigilantes. The most prominent characters are Lt...
in 1997. The first eight issues were collected in the graphic novel, Violent Messiahs Vol. I: Book of Job in 2002 and was nominated for the Harvey Award
Harvey Award
The Harvey Awards, named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman and founded by Gary Groth, President of the publisher Fantagraphics, are given for achievement in comic books. The Harveys were created as part of a successor to the Kirby Awards which were discontinued after 1987.The Harvey Awards are...
, the Wizard Fan Award, and the Eisner's Russ Manning Award
Russ Manning Award
The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning...
. The last four issues, a story arc entitled "Lamenting Pain" was not collected until 2009, when IDW Press decided to publish a trade which also featured never before seen developmental material and an unseen short story by Dysart.
More work followed, including a two-year stint as the monthly writer of Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
, writing issues #9–29 of the fourth series. His run featured the art of Enrique Breccia
Enrique Breccia
Enrique Breccia is an Argentine comic book artist.-Biography:Enrique Breccia, the son of one of the greatest Latino-American artists of all time, Alberto Breccia, drew his first work in 1968, when together with his father he illustrated La Vida del Che, a biography of the famous revolutionary Che...
and Richard Corben
Richard Corben
Richard Corben is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine...
(among others) on interiors and John Totleben
John Totleben
John Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comics.-Biography:After studying art at a vocational high school in Erie, Totleben attended The Kubert School for one year...
and Eric Powell on covers. Dysart has also worked on Conan
Conan (comics)
Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard was first adapted into comics published Marvel Comics beginning with the series Conan the Barbarian in 1970...
and Hellboy
Hellboy
Hellboy is a comic book superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 , and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers...
and has co-written with Mike Mignola
Mike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
on a series of projects in the same setting
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
as Hellboy.
From 2008 to 2010 he wrote a revamp of The Unknown Soldier
The Unknown Soldier (comics)
The Unknown Soldier is fictional war comics character in the DC Comics universe. The character was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, first appearing in Our Army At War #168 .-Publication history:...
for Vertigo. The storyline took place in Acholiland Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
in 2002 during the war between the Lord's Resistance Army
Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army insurgency is an ongoing guerrilla campaign waged since 1987 by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, operating mainly in northern Uganda, but also in South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo...
and Ugandan People's Defence Force. Dysart spent a month in Northern Uganda for research. Issue #1 of Unknown Soldier was released in October 2008. The book was a monthly. It was nominated for an 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...
for Best New Series in 2009. and won a Glyph Comics Awards
Glyph Comics Awards
The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color from the preceding calendar year. While it is not exclusive to black creators, it does strive to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and...
for Best cover. In 2010 Unknown Soldier won the Glyph for STORY OF THE YEAR.. Unknown Soldier was featured on the front page of the art section of the New York Times and Dysart was interviewed by the BBC, who also published some of his research photos on their website. In December 2009 Dysart gave an exhaustive interview to WORLD VISION REPORT about his experiences in the conflict zone and attempts to adapt them into a mainstream, commercial work.
In June 2010, Vertigo Comics published Dysart's graphic novel based on Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
's 2003 album Greendale
Greendale (album)
Greendale is the name of an album, movie and graphic novel by Neil Young. As the twenty-seventh album by Neil Young, Young and Crazy Horse's Greendale, a 10-song rock opera, is set in a fictional California seaside town...
. Cliff Chiang
Cliff Chiang
Cliff Chiang is an American comic book artist. Formerly an assistant editor at DC Comics, he is now an illustrator, best known for his work on Human Target, Beware the Creeper and Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre. A recent project has been the Dr...
drew the book. It spent two-weeks at #3 on the New York Times Graphic Novel Best-Seller list.
Media tie-ins
Dysart has become extensively involved in multi-media crossovers. He authored the one-shot Van HelsingVan Helsing (film)
Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale...
: Beneath the Rue Morgue (an original story featuring the character from the Universal film) and penned Skull & Bones: A Monster House Story, which was tied into the Sony animated children's Monster House
Monster House (film)
Monster House is a 2006 computer animated motion capture horror/comedy film produced by ImageMovers and Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Executive produced by Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, this is the first time since Back to the Future Part III that they have...
. He's also had his comic books included in the packaging for both the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by a Norwegian computer video game developer company, Funcom, and is published by Eidos Interactive for the PC platform...
MMO
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
computer game from Funcom
Funcom
Funcom Productions A/S is a Norwegian video game developer specializing in online games. It is best known for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game titles Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and its The Longest Journey series of adventure games...
and the Hellboy
Hellboy (video game)
Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a video game based on the comic book character of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable on June 24, 2008 in North America, followed by an August 15 release in Europe and August 28 release in Australia.All versions...
video game from Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
. He has written a two volume 270 page graphic novel for Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
entitled Make 5 Wishes which was published by Del Rey Manga
Del Rey Manga
was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. It was formed as part of a cross-publishing relationship with Japanese publisher Kodansha. Some of the Del Rey titles, such as Tsubasa...
and Random House. That book has been printed in over seven languages as well as digitally distributed throughout Asia. His six-issue comic book mini-series adaptation of the Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra
Deepak Chopra is an Indian medical doctor, public speaker, and writer on subjects such as spirituality, Ayurveda and mind-body medicine. Chopra began his career as an endocrinologist and later shifted his focus to alternative medicine. Chopra now runs his own medical center, with a focus on...
novel Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment was published in December of 2010.
Advocacy and education
Dysart has, on multiple occasions, taught and talked about the role of comics in pop-culture, as well as actively promoted comics "he feels bring a wider audience to the medium". He has produced discussion panels for the West Hollywood Book Fair in 2006 and moderated in 2007' as well as written about the virtue of comics for the LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
. In 2008 and 2009 he was a special guest at Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
's Aesthetics Technology Lab and even wrote a short comic story about his experiences there that featured the art of Ronald Wimberly. That story, called THE STAIN, was a Best American Comics of 2010 notable entry. In 2009 Dysart spoke at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
on his experiences writing the Unknown Soldier. That same year he interviewed Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley
Bryan Lee O'Malley is a Canadian cartoonist. He is best known for the Scott Pilgrim series, but is also a musician using the alias Kupek.-Career:...
on the (at-that-time) upcoming Scott Pilgrim film. In 2010 he interviewed David Petersen
David Petersen
David E. Petersen is an American comic book creator best known for the series Mouse Guard. He was born, raised, and currently resides in Michigan.- Education :...
on his Eisner-award winning Mouse Guard
Mouse Guard
Mouse Guard is an Eisner Award-winning bi-monthly comic book series published by Archaia Studios Press. The comic stands out on shelves due to its distinctive form factor -– a square as opposed to the standard comic size...
comic.
Interviews
- Podcast interview with Dysart from New York Comic Con 2008 at comiXology
- Interview with Joshua Dysart from ComicCritique.com