Barry Reese

Barry Reese (born November 11, 1972) is an American writer. He is best known for his work on "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" for Marvel Comics, "D6 Space: Fires of Amatsumara Worldbook" for West End Games and the Rook Universe series of novels. He is married to artist Cari Reese and together they have one son, Julian Reese.

Reese was born in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Career

Active in fandom before he broke into professional comics at Marvel Comics in 2003, Reese was one of the pioneers in the field of Internet-based Fan Fiction. Reese founded the MV1talk mailing list in April 1998, the first known mailing list devoted to fans of a shared continuity fan fiction group. Reese was a part of a number of influential comic-based fan fic groups including Marvel Volume One, Avengers 2000, Marvel-X and Marvel 2000.

In 2003 Reese began work for Marvel Comics on volume five of their Marvel Encyclopedia series. Reese was responsible for handling the Blade and Ghost Rider (comics) sections of the book. It was this book that first confirmed that the comic book version of Blade was named Eric Brooks and that the Dan Ketch version of Ghost Rider was still active. This latter revelation was coupled with the book's theories about the reasons behind John Blaze's return as Ghost Rider and were considered fairly controversial at the time.

Following this, Reese worked on both the ongoing "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" series and on "D6 Space: Fires of Amatsumara Worldbook" for West End Games. Amongst the issues of the Handbook that Reese worked on were Marvel Legacy: 1960s, Marvel Legacy: 1970s, Spider-Man 2006, Teams 2006, A-Z volumes 1-7 and Horror 2006. Reese also contributed to the New Avengers: Most Wanted and Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone books.

Reese was the primary writer on "The Long Winter," a canceled role-playing game project from West End Games and also contributed to "USER'S Most Wanted", a villains supplement for the "Godsend Agenda" game belonging to Khepera Publishing. "USER'S Most Wanted" was published in May 2007.

Reese's first novel "Conquerors of Shadow: The Adventures of Eobard Grace" was published in 2005, featuring a setting and character inspired by the works of "Edgar Rice Burroughs". This work was followed by "Lucifer's Cage" and a sequel entitled "Kingdom of Blood". These last two novels feature the adventures of a 1930s era masked vigilante dubbed the Rook and were inspired by the "pulp magazine" heroes of the past. There are elements that relate back to the "Conquerors of Shadow" novel, forming a "shared universe". Covers for the first two books are by artist Cari Reese.

Reese also edited a pulp-themed anthology entitled "Thrilling Adventures," for which he contributed a short story entitled "The Great Work". "The Great Work" was later reprinted in "Startling Stories" issue five. In September 2007, two short stories featuring the public domain pulp character Ki-Gor were packaged together with a reprint of an old Ki-Gor story in "The Devil's Domain: Tales of the Jungle Lord."

A collection of Rook stories was released in early 2008, reprinting the two previous Rook novels with three new short stories included. These short stories are entitled "The Gasping Death," "The Black Mass," and "Abominations." This collection was published by Wild Cat Books under the title "The Rook Volume One". A second collection entitled "The Rook Volume Two" was released in October 2008, with cover art by Frank Brunner. The stories contained in volume two are "Kazlov's Fire," "Blitzkrieg," "Bloodwerks," "The Gorgon Conspiracy," "The Shambling Ones," and "Origins."

A standalone e-book novella entitled "The Bleeding Hells" was released in February 2008, pairing the Rook with public domain pulp characters Doctor Satan, Ascott Keane and the Black Bat. It is believed that "The Bleeding Hells" will be reprinted in "The Rook Volume Three," due for a 2009 release.

Reese has also written stories for several anthologies published by Wild Cat books, amongst them being a tale for a forthcoming Norse Gods collection and a story starring the public domain hero the Black Terror in "Legends of the Golden Age".

Bibliography

The Rook Series

* "Lucifer's Cage" (2006) - later reprinted in 'The Rook: Volume One'
* "Kingdom of Blood" (2006) - later reprinted in 'The Rook: Volume One'
* "The Rook: Volume One" (2008)
* "The Rook: The Bleeding Hells" (2008) - e-book only release
* "The Rook: Volume Two" (2008)

Miscellaneous Fiction

* "The Conquerors of Shadow" (2005)
* "Thrilling Adventures" (2007)
* "The Devil's Domain: Tales of the Jungle Lord" (2007)
* "Legends of the Golden Age" (2008)

Marvel Comics Work

* "Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 5: The Marvel Knights" (2004)
* "Marvel Knights 2005" (2005)
* "Spider-Man 2005" (2005)
* "Ultimate Universe 2005" (2005)
* "Horror 2005" (2005)
* "Teams 2005" (2005)
* "Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulyssess Bloodstone" (2005)
* "New Avengers: Most Wanted" (2005)
* "All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" (2006) - issues 1-7
* "Marvel Legacy: The 1960s" (2006)
* "Marvel Legacy: The 1970s" (2006)
* "Marvel Legacy: The 1980s" (2006)
* "Marvel Monsters Hardcover" (2006) - reprints the work from "Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulyssess Bloodstone"
* "Ghost Rider: Finale" (2007) - reprints the Dan Ketch entry from "Marvel Knights 2006"
* "Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook" (2007) - reprints the individual 1960s, 1970s and 1980s volumes in a trade paperback format
* " All-New Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A To Z" (2008) - reprints the individual entries from the various Official Handbook oneshots and A-Z series

Roleplaying Game Work

* "D6 Space: The Fires of Amatsumara" (2006)
* "Godsend Agenda: USER's Most Wanted" (2007)

Miscellaneous Nonfiction

* "History of the Baldwin County Public Library" (2008)

References

* [http://www.barryreese.net/ Barry Reese official web site]
* [http://www.aric-dacia.com/rook/ Guide to the Rook Universe]
* [http://www.westendgames.com/ West End Games web site]
* [http://heroes.serialprizes.com/cffhp.htm Comic Book Fanfiction History Project]
* [http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?writer=BARRY%20REESE Marvel Comics Publishing Page for Barry Reese]