- Bruce Jones (comics)
Bruce Jones, whose
pen name s include Philip Roland and Bruce Elliot, is an Americancomic book writer ,novelist ,illustrator , andscreenwriter whose work included writingMarvel Comics ' "The Incredible Hulk " from 2001-2005.Biography
Early career
Jones broke into comics in the early 1970s when he moved to
New York City from his nativeKansas City, Missouri , looking for work as acomics artist . He made his professional debut withMajor Publications ' black-and-white horror-comicsmagazine "Web of Horror " #3 (April 1970), writing and drawing the six-page story "Point Of View". Jones went on to write forWarren Publishing 's black-and-white horror-comics "Creepy " and "Eerie ", and, under thepseudonym Philip Roland, for rivalSkywald 's line. During this time he wrote his first novel, "The Contestants".Jones later freelanced for
Marvel Comics , writing stories for "Ka-Zar " and "Conan the Barbarian ", as well as writing and drawing anthologicalscience fiction and other stories for Marvel's black-and-white magazine line. In 1979, Jones met April Campbell and formed a writing partnership. From 1982-1984, Jones and Campbell, who formed the company Bruce Jones Associates,packaged ,edited , and chiefly wrote thePacific Comics titles "Twisted Tales " and "Alien Worlds ", as well as "Somerset Holmes", "Silverheels", and "Pathways to Fantasy". During this time, Jones published theshort story collection "The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones ", with a cover and occasional illustrations byRichard Corben . When Pacific went bankrupt after publishing several issues of Bruce Jones Associates' comic book line, subsequent issues were published byEclipse Comics .Later career
In the late 1980s, Jones wrote artist Richard Corben's "Rip in Time" series, published in TK, and he played the space pilot in the "Relief Station" segment of Corben's and co-writer-director Christopher Wheate's
direct-to-video feature "The Dark Planet". By the early 1990s, Jones had shifted toscreenwriting , working onHBO 's "The Hitchhiker"TV series and severaltelevision movie s with writing partner and now-wife April Campbell Jones. He also wrote a series of thriller novels including "Sprinter", "Maximum Velocity", and "Game Running". From 1990 to 1992, Jones took over as writer of thenewspaper comic strip "Flash Gordon ", then drawn byRalph Reese , occasionally assisted byGray Morrow . [ [http://home.comcast.net/~cjh5801a/Flash.htm The Holloway Pages: "Pulp Heroes", by Clark J. Holloway] ] He returned to Kansas City with his wife and children in 2000 and wrote two more novels, "Still Life" and "Death Rites", under the pseudonym Bruce Elliot.In 2001, he was contacted by Marvel editor
Axel Alonso , with whom Jones had worked when Alonso was at rival companyDC Comics . Alonso offered him a job scripting the then-floundering comic "The Incredible Hulk ". [http://www.kcactive.com/aande/artfeat/artfeature2003_07.htm @KC Online (July 2003): "Twisted Tales and a Green Giant", by Jason Aaron] ] Sales of the title rose significantly, and in 2003, Jones noted that he planned to stay on as "Hulk" writer "until they [Marvel] throw me off". However, the following year he signed a two-year contract with rival companyDC Comics . In the interim, he scripted the five-issue series "Call of Duty: The Precinct" #1-5, a naturalistic drama about theNew York City Police Department .Other work includes a seven-issue stint on "
Nightwing ", a "Deadman" series for Vertigo, and various limited series for DC comics, including "Man-Bat ", "OMAC", and "Vigilante".In 2005, Jones' 10-page story "Jenifer" from "
Creepy " #63 (July 1974), drawn byBernie Wrightson , became the basis for filmmakerDario Argento 's segment of "Masters of Horror ", a Showtime television series. The "Jenifer" episode was an erotically tinged horror story involving a deformed young woman which provided Argento with his best critical notices in years.Fact|date=February 2007In 2008, he started a new series, "
The War that Time Forgot ".Fact|date=June 2008In 2008, he also replaced Greg Rucka as the writer for "Checkmate ".Fact|date=May 2008Quotes
Bernie Wrightson on his and Jones' "Web of Horror": cquote|That was done by a guy namedRichard Sproul out inLong Island . His company, Major Magazines, put out "Cracked " magazine.... A fellow namedTerry Bisson tracked down me,Mike Kaluta , andJeff Jones , and presented us with a proposal to do this black-and-white horror magazine in competition with "Creepy". ... Bisson (who was writing blurb copy for romance magazines when I first met him) left after the third issue under very mysterious circumstances — and the running of the whole magazine, for some reason, fell into [writer-artist] Bruce Jones' and my laps (and I can't remember if Terry said, 'Here, you guys take over the editorial', or if we volunteered). Bruce and I put together the whole fourth issue, which had already been assigned. We were working at home! We had to take this incredibly long trip to get [to Major Magazines] — Bruce lived in Flushing at the time and from there we took a train to the end of the line and from there we had to take two buses and then walk about 10 blocks to get to the office! It was an all-day thing and we finally get out to the office.... and the place was empty. All the desks, all the filing cabinets, everything, was gone! ... [W] e never learned where the guy went and what happened to him. We had all this stuff for the fourth issue and we were planning issues five and six — Bruce and I were going to take over the magazine and make it like Creepy or EC Comics — but they just left! ... Whatever had been turned in already, they took with them. I don't think anybody got paid for anything — and Bruce and I took a bath on it. [ [http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/04wrightson.html Bernie Wrightson interview, "Comic Book Artist" #4 (Winter 1999)] ]Footnotes
References
* [http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Complete%20Skywald%20Checklist.htm "The Complete Skywald Checklist", by Richard J. Arndt]
* [http://enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines.htm "The Warren Magazines", by Richard J. Arndt]
* [http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/Web%20Of%20Horror.htm "Web Of Horror, Atlas/Seaboard & Others", by Richard J. Arndt]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0643108/ "Masters of Horror": "Jenifer"] at the Internet Movie Database
* Bruce Jones interview, "Comic Book Artist" #4 (Spring 1999) (offline)
* [http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/04wrightson.html Bernie Wrightson interview, "Comic Book Artist" #4 (Spring 1999)]
* [http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=6462 "Comic Book Resources"' "Comic Wire" (Jan. 19, 2006): "Bruce Jones Talks 'Nightwing' and 'Warlord'", by George A. Tramountanas]
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