Joshua Ortega
Encyclopedia
Joshua Ortega is an author
and journalist
best known for his novel
((FREQUENCIES)), as well as his comic book
and graphic novel
work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars
, Spider-Man
, Batman
, Star Trek
, The Escapist
, and The Necromancer.
in Seattle, Washington
, working as a reporter and a reviewer for the school’s newspaper, The Daily of the University of Washington
, covering the booming Seattle music and arts scene of the 1990s.
After college, he worked for the Los Angeles
-based URB magazine and The Flavor, a Seattle-based hip-hop
magazine. During this time, he not only continued to cover the music and entertainment beat, but also began to write about technology’s effects on culture and politics. He soon developed a reputation as an expert in the fields of emerging technology and surveillance issues, and would later contribute feature-length articles for newspapers such as The Seattle Times
.
While working as a journalist, one of Ortega’s poems, “A Place at the Table,” was selected as the lead poem for a poetry anthology, A Place at the Table, which was juried by the publishers of Blue Begonia Press and the Raven Chronicles, and edited by award-winning poet Jody Aliesan. During this time, he also worked for Microsoft
, providing original content for a number of the company’s online video games.
, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451
. After two years and multiple printings, the rights to ((FREQUENCIES)) were bought by the Jodere Group, publishers of such New York Times Bestsellers as Crossing Over
by John Edward
and The Power of Kaballah by Yehuda Berg
.
Ortega is currently working on the sequel to ((FREQUENCIES)), ~VIBRATIONS~, in addition to another novel, an original screenplay, and numerous comic book and graphic novel projects. He often gives talks to aspiring writers of speculative fiction in the Seattle area.
, Fox TV, and Coast to Coast AM
.
In 2004, Ortega began negotiations with numerous comic book and graphic novel publishers, and in March 2005, his first comic book story was released: Spider-Man Unlimited #8, published by Marvel Comics
. The story was entitled “Everything” and featured Ryan Sook
on pencils. His next story, “Shadows & Light,” was released by Dark Horse Comics
in April 2005 in Star Wars Tales
#23. “Shadows & Light” served as a prequel to the bestselling Knights of the Old Republic
video games for the Xbox
and PC
, and featured Dustin Weaver on pencils.
Since then, Ortega has written for several major American comic book publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics
, Dark Horse Comics, TOKYOPOP
, Image Comics
, Top Cow Productions
, and Speakeasy Comics
, working on characters and properties such as Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Michael Chabon
’s The Escapist, Beowulf
, and his own co-creation, The Necromancer, penciled and co-created by Francis Manapul
.
' Gears of War 2
as well scripting the Gears of War comic books.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
best known for his novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
((FREQUENCIES)), as well as his 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...
and graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
, 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...
, Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, The Escapist
The Escapist (character)
The Escapist is a metafictional character, a comic book hero in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, written by Michael Chabon, created as an homage to the heroes of the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, and The Necromancer.
Journalism and poetry
Joshua Ortega began his writing career at the University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, working as a reporter and a reviewer for the school’s newspaper, The Daily of the University of Washington
The Daily of the University of Washington
The Daily of the University of Washington, usually referred to in Seattle simply as The Daily, is the student newspaper of the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.-History:...
, covering the booming Seattle music and arts scene of the 1990s.
After college, he worked for the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based URB magazine and The Flavor, a Seattle-based hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
magazine. During this time, he not only continued to cover the music and entertainment beat, but also began to write about technology’s effects on culture and politics. He soon developed a reputation as an expert in the fields of emerging technology and surveillance issues, and would later contribute feature-length articles for newspapers such as The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
.
While working as a journalist, one of Ortega’s poems, “A Place at the Table,” was selected as the lead poem for a poetry anthology, A Place at the Table, which was juried by the publishers of Blue Begonia Press and the Raven Chronicles, and edited by award-winning poet Jody Aliesan. During this time, he also worked for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, providing original content for a number of the company’s online video games.
Novels
In 1998, Ortega founded his own publishing and entertainment company, Omega Point Productions, and in August 1999, the company published the first edition of his debut novel ((FREQUENCIES)). The book has been compared to classic works of fiction such as Brave New WorldBrave New World
Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...
, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
. After two years and multiple printings, the rights to ((FREQUENCIES)) were bought by the Jodere Group, publishers of such New York Times Bestsellers as Crossing Over
Crossing Over
Crossing Over may refer to:* Chromosomal crossover, a cellular process* Crossing Over , a 1998 album by Hesperus* Crossing Over, a book by John Edward* Crossing Over , a 2009 film...
by John Edward
John Edward
John Edward McGee, Jr. is an American television personality and professional psychic medium. He is best known for his TV shows Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country....
and The Power of Kaballah by Yehuda Berg
Yehuda Berg
Yehuda Berg, is the son of Philip Berg the founder of the controversial Kabbalah Centre and is currently co director of the Centre with his brother Michael Berg....
.
Ortega is currently working on the sequel to ((FREQUENCIES)), ~VIBRATIONS~, in addition to another novel, an original screenplay, and numerous comic book and graphic novel projects. He often gives talks to aspiring writers of speculative fiction in the Seattle area.
Comics
The hardcover edition of ((FREQUENCIES)) was released in March 2003, and was promoted with a national book tour that took Ortega to over forty cities during the year. The tour itself became news, since a book tour of this magnitude was unheard of for a first-time author, and Ortega made multiple appearances on major media outlets such as NPRNPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, Fox TV, and Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM
Coast to Coast AM is a North American late-night syndicated radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics, but most frequently ones that relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It was created by Art Bell and is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. The program currently...
.
In 2004, Ortega began negotiations with numerous comic book and graphic novel publishers, and in March 2005, his first comic book story was released: Spider-Man Unlimited #8, published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. The story was entitled “Everything” and featured Ryan Sook
Ryan Sook
Ryan Sook is an American comic book artist from San Jose, California.-Career:Sook's first professional work was in Challengers of the Unknown #15 published in 1998...
on pencils. His next story, “Shadows & Light,” was released by 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...
in April 2005 in Star Wars Tales
Star Wars Tales
Star Wars Tales was a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics, beginning on September 29, 1999 and completing its run on July 13, 2005. Each issue featured several unrelated stories from various eras of the Star Wars timeline. All stories from Issue #20 and before have been retroactively...
#23. “Shadows & Light” served as a prequel to the bestselling Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic
There have been a number of Knights of the Old Republic products.* Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic, a 1990s comic book miniseries* Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, a role playing Star Wars video game released in 2003...
video games for the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, and featured Dustin Weaver on pencils.
Since then, Ortega has written for several major American comic book publishers, including Marvel Comics, 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...
, Dark Horse Comics, TOKYOPOP
Tokyopop
Tokyopop, styled TOKYOPOP, and formerly known as Mixx, is a distributor, licensor, and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa, and Western manga-style works. The existing German publishing division produces German translations of licensed Japanese properties and original English-language manga, as well...
, 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...
, Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, a partner studio of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992.-History:...
, and Speakeasy Comics
Speakeasy Comics
Speakeasy Comics was a Canadian publishing company of comic books and graphic novels. It was founded in August 2004 by Adam Fortier, and ceased operations on February 27, 2006.-History:...
, working on characters and properties such as Star Wars, Batman, Spider-Man, Star Trek, Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
’s The Escapist, Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
, and his own co-creation, The Necromancer, penciled and co-created by Francis Manapul
Francis Manapul
-Career:Manapul is known for his work on Witchblade and The Necromancer for Top Cow, working on the former for three years, off and on, returning for the tenth anniversary issue in 2005.He provided covers for various titles, most notably for some G.I...
.
Video games
Joshua is also being credited as a writer for Epic GamesEpic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
' Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2
Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series. The game was officially released in North America, Europe and...
as well scripting the Gears of War comic books.
Comics
- Gears of War (with Liam SharpLiam SharpLiam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer and publisher.-Early life:Liam Sharp was born in Derby at St. Mary's Hospital to parents Roger and Linda Sharp. He has a younger sister, Kerry, and younger brother, Rien. He went to School at Brackensdale Junior then infants school, before...
, WildstormWildstormWildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
, December 2008 - ongoing)
External links
- Omega Point Productions
- Greenberg, Pete. "Episode 87 - Jet City Comic Show 2010 Part 2"; Backroom Comics PodcastBackroom Comics PodcastThe Backroom Comics Podcast is a weekly video podcast and audio podcast focused on comics. It is hosted by Kevin Malcolm, Greg Upton, Pete Greenberg and Jason Doctor. The first episode was released on March 20, 2009...