Fabian Nicieza

Infobox Comics creator
name = Fabian Nicieza


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birthdate = Birth date and age|1961|12|31|mf=y
location = Buenos Aires, Argentina
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nationality = Argentine
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Fabian Nicieza (born Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 31, 1961) is an American comic book writer and editor who is best known for his work on Marvel titles such as "X-Men", "X-Force", "New Warriors", "Cable and Deadpool", and "Thunderbolts", for all of which he helped create numerous characters.

Biography

Early life and career

The son of Omar and Irma Riguetti Nicieza, [Dedication, "Adventures of Captain America" #1 (Sept. 1991)] , Fabian Nicieza was three years old when his family moved to the United States. Growing up in New Jersey, Nicieza learned to read and write from comic books. He studied at Rutgers University, interning at the ABC television network before graduating in 1983 with a degree in advertising and public relations. Until 1985, he worked for the Berkley Publishing Group, starting in the production department and becoming a managing editor.

Marvel Comics

In 1985, Nicieza joined the staff at Marvel Comics, initially as a manufacturing assistant, later moving to the advertising department as a manager. During this period he began to take his first freelance work for Marvel, writing short articles for Marvel’s promotional magazine "Marvel Age".

Nicieza's first published comics story came with "Psi-Force" #9 (July 1987), a title in Marvel's short-lived "New Universe" imprint. This led to his becoming that title's regular writer from #16-32 (Feb. 1998 - June 1989), the final issue. This led to fill-in work on titles such as "Classic X-Men" (for which he provided backup stories) and in the Marvel Annuals' 1989 summer crossover "Atlantis Attacks".

After Tom DeFalco, then Marvel's editor-in-chief, created the superhero team the New Warriors, using existing characters, in "Thor" vol. 1, #412 (Dec. 1989), he selected Nicieza to write the spin-off series. Collaborating with pencilers Mark Bagley and later Darick Robertson, primarily, Nicieza went on to write the titles for most of its first 58 issues (July 1990 - April 1995).

Also in 1990 Nicieza began short runs on comics such as "Alpha Flight" (#87-101), "Avengers" (#317–325) and "Avengers Spotlight", as well as the miniseries "Nomad", which in turn led him to write the ongoing series "Nomad" vol. 2 in 1992. That year, Nicieza became editor of Marvel's children's imprint, Star Comics. Shortly afterward, he left the Marvel staff and began freelance writing for the company. Nicieza's projects in this period included the first four issues of National Football League-approved superhero "NFL Superpro" (Oct. 1991 - Feb. 1992), and, with penciler Kevin Maguire, the four-issue miniseries "Adventures of Captain America" (also known by its cover-logo treatment, "The Adventures of Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty") (Sept. 1991 - Jan. 1992), an origin-story retelling set in the 1940s.

The X-Men

In 1991, Nicieza joined with artist Rob Liefeld in co-plotting and writing the final three issues of the "New Mutants". In those issues Liefeld and Nicieza created the characters Deadpool, Shatterstar, and X-Force. Liefeld and Nicieza then produced an ongoing "X-Force" title. Nicieza initially worked on the title as scripter; after the departure of Liefeld in #12 he became its full writer, which he remained until 1995. By the end of 1992, Nicieza became regular scripter for "X-Men" vol. 2, beginning with #12 (Sept. 1992), working primarily with penciler Andy Kubert throughout his run. For the next three years, Nicieza was among the writers and editors of one of Marvel's most popular superhero franchises during a time of such popular, multi-series crossover story arcs as "X-Cutioner's Song", "Phalanx Covenant" and "Age of Apocalypse" .

During this period Nicieza wrote the first "Cable" miniseries as well as the first few issues of the character's subsequent ongoing series. He also wrote the first solo Deadpool series, "Deadpool: the Circle Chase" in 1993. These series expanded the characters' personalities and established key background information for both characters, all things which were later used by other writers on those characters’ subsequent ongoing books.

However in 1995, in a dispute with Harras over the future direction of his plotlines on "X-Force",Fact|date=November 2007 Nicieza quit the X-titles, leaving "X-Force" with #43 and "X-Men" with #45.

Acclaim Comics

After 1995, Nicieza's workload at Marvel began to fall dramatically. He wrote short runs of "Captain Marvel " (vol. 2, 1995), "Spider-Man: The Final Adventure" (1995) and stories for "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" before leaving the company in 1996. That year Nicieza did his first work for rival publisher DC Comics, co-writing "Justice League: Midsummer Nightmare" with Mark Waid which relaunched the Justice League as the JLA. He also worked for Twist and Shout Comics writing and pencilling back-up stories in "X-Flies Special #1" and "Dirtbag" #7.

Later in 1996 Nicieza joined Acclaim Comics as senior vice-president and editor-in-chief. He was charged with revamping the companies intellectual properties which had previously formed Valiant Comics "Valiant Universe". Nicieza as editor oversaw the new version, dubbed "VH2", which re-imagined characters such as Solar, X-O Manowar, and Ninjak.

Nicieza himself wrote "Turok" title as well as a new series, "Troublemakers". "Turok" met with success as a video game adaptation, and Nicieza was promoted to president and publisher of Acclaim Comics in 1997. He also wrote a "Turok" novella during this period. However, after staff cuts and most of the lines' cancellation, Nicieza left Acclaim in 1999.

Later life and career

Returning to freelance work, Marvel and the X-Men, Nicieza co-wrote the "Magneto Wars" crossover through "Uncanny X-Men" #366-367 and "X-Men" vol. 2, #86-87, with artist Alan Davis in 1999. This led to the successive Magneto limited series "Magneto Rex" (1999) and "Magneto: Dark Seduction" (2000), as well as an ongoing "Gambit" (1999) series which he wrote for the first 24 issues of its 25-issue run.

Also in 1999, Nicieza began writing "Thunderbolts" with #34. He continued to write the book (initially with old partner Mark Bagley on art, later with Patrick Zircher and Chris Batista) up until #75 when the title was revamped. The revamp was unsuccessful, and in 2004 the original version of the team was resurrected, initially in an "Avengers/Thunderbolts" miniseries, then later in the "New Thunderbolts" series with Nicieza again as writer.

Since 1999 Nicieza has taken on many writing projects, mostly for Marvel. These include limited series such as "Citizen V" (2001), "Citizen V and the V Battalion: Everlasting (2002)", "X-Men Forever" (2001), and "X-Force" vol. 2, as well as the short-lived ongoing series "Hawkeye" (2003). At DC, he's written the six-issue miniseries "Supermen of America" (1999) and "JLA: Created Equal" (2000), as well as some issues of the children's comic "Justice League Adventures".

In 2003 Nicieza co-created, with artist Stefano Raffaele, the horror miniseries "The Blackburne Covenant", published by Dark Horse Comics. That same year he returned to two of his old characters with the Marvel series "Cable and Deadpool".

In 2006, Nicieza returned to DC with a three-issue arc in "Action Comics" #841-843 (July-Sept. 2006), co-written with Kurt Busiek. Nicieza also wrote"JSA Classified" #28. He also one of the co-writers for "The 99", an "Islamic culture-based comic book" with Kuwaiti Naif Al-Mutawa, [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jeQZsjcn5nOp96aOSX7pz0ZChdUQ "Islamic Superheroes Invade Indonesia"] . "Agence France-Presse". Retrieved October 2, 2007] Other late-2000s DC work includes "Nightwing" and "Robin". [ [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=16843 Nicieza Searches for a Hero in “Robin”] , Comic Book Resources, June 17, 2008] [ [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080804-robin-nicieza.html Fabian Nicieza on Picking Up 'Robin' Post-Dixon] , Newsarama, August 4, 2008]

In non-comics works, Nicieza co-scripted the direct-to-DVD animated feature "Hot Wheels World Race", and the computer-animated DVD feature "The Black Belt Club", based on the Scholastic book series.

Personal

Nicieza is married with two daughters.Fact|date=November 2007

Awards

*2000 nomination: "Comics Buyer's Guide" Award for Favorite Writer

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/36/t/006090.html Comicon.con: "The Pulse" interview with Nicieza]
* [http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/4804/fabian.html Short profile on Nicieza]
* [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators]
* [http://www.comics.org Grand Comics Database]

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