Joe Kelly (comics writer)


Joseph Kelly is an American comic book writer, penciler and editor who has written such titles as Deadpool, Uncanny X-Men, Action Comics, and JLA, as well as award-winning work on The Amazing Spider-Man and Superman. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Kelly is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.
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Career

Kelly attended Freeport High School and went on to receive his MFA at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he still teaches Writing for Animation/Writing for Comics. At NYU, he was recruited into Marvel Comics' editor James Felder's Stan-hattan Project, a program that trained potential comic book writers at the university. After six months of working in the class, Felder offered Kelly a job scripting Fantastic Four 2099 over a Karl Kesel plot. Kelly took the assignment, but his first published work for Marvel was 1996's 2099: World of Tomorrow #1–8 and Marvel Fanfare vol.2 #2–3.
In 1997, Kelly began his first monthly assignment, Deadpool, initially pencilled by Ed McGuinness. The title was immediately well received by fans and critics. At one point it was due to be canceled with #25, but a write-in and Internet campaign by fans led Marvel to reverse their decision. Kelly left the title with #33 in 1999. In 1997, Kelly also became the writer of Daredevil, on which he was accompanied by well-known Daredevil artist Gene Colan.
At around the same time he produced a Daredevil/Deadpool '97 Annual with artist Bernard Chang which pitted the two characters against each other and was generally well received. Kelly left Daredevil with #375 in 1998.
Kelly's next major Marvel assignment was in late 1997, at the company's then bestselling title, X-Men, where he worked with penciller Carlos Pacheco. However, Kelly's stint on the title, and his friend Steven T. Seagle's run on sister title Uncanny X-Men, was cut short when the creators quit, blaming constant editorial interference. Kelly's last issue was #85 in 1999.
Kelly then began to work for Marvel's competitor DC Comics, specifically their Action Comics title starring Superman with #760 in October 1999. He stayed on the title for almost five years, working mainly with penciller Pasqual Ferry.
During this run he authored "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" in Action Comics #775, which introduced The Elite and their leader Manchester Black. That issue was called "the single best issue of a comic book written in the year 2001" by Wizard Magazine.
In December 2000, Kelly had a short stint as writer on the Superboy comic, again mostly working with his Action Comics collaborator Ferry.
In 2002 he began a long run on DC's JLA comic book with penciller Doug Mahnke. After their run on that title finished the same creative team launched a twelve-issue limited series Justice League Elite featuring some of the characters from Action Comics #775.

Also in 2002, DC published Green Lantern: Legacy – The Last Will & Testament of Hal Jordan, a hardcover graphic novel by Kelly and artists Brent Anderson and Bill Sienkiewicz, which looked back at the life and career of Hal Jordan, who at that point was the Spectre. An interview with Kelly also appeared in the first volume of Writers on Comic Scriptwriting from Titan Books.
Kelly has produced three creator-owned works: Steampunk, pencilled by Chris Bachalo and published by DC through Wildstorm's Cliffhanger imprint in 2000 ; M. Rex with penciller Duncan Rouleau, which was published by the now-defunct Avalon Studios ; and Ballast, with penciller Ilya, a one-shot published by Active Images.

In 2004 he collaborated with artist Ariel Olivetti on a Space Ghost series, published by DC, which depicted the character with a serious space opera tone and, for the first time, revealed his origins. Next up is a similar mini-series, this time starring Jonny Quest.
Kelly is a part of the Man of Action collective of creators, who created the series Ben 10, currently airing on Cartoon Network. Around the same time Ben 10 began to air, he was also hired as a story editor on TMNT: Fast Forward. With Man of Action Studios, he is also a Supervising Producer on Disney/Marvel's Disney XD series, Ultimate Spider-Man.
Kelly has written DC's Supergirl and Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man. He has published creator-owned work through Image Comics, including Four Eyes and I Kill Giants, as well as a graphic novel Douglas Fredericks and the House of They.
Kelly wrote the Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes episode "My Neighbour Was a Skrull" featuring the Skrulls, as well as the series premiere of Chaotic, a new animated series based on the trading card game. He also co-wrote Darksiders, a video game for THQ.
In 2007, he shot a short film, Brother's Day, which was a selection in the Brooklyn International Film Festival.

Marvel Comics

DC Comics

  • All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant: "P.O.V.: A Fable"
  • Superman:
  • *Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80-Page Giant: "Dreams in Smoke"
  • *Action Comics:
  • ** Superman: The City of Tomorrow Volume 1 includes:
  • *** "...Never-Ending Battle..."
  • *** Superman Y2K: "The End"
  • *** "Y2K, Part Five: Sacrifice for Tomorrow"
  • ** Metropolis Secret Files: "Metropolica"
  • ** Superman: The City of Tomorrow Volume 2 includes:
  • *** "Quiet After the Storm"
  • *** "The Search for Lois: D.O.A."
  • *** "Critical Condition, Part Four: Death's Door"
  • *** "O, Captain, My Captain!"
  • ** Superman: Emperor Joker includes:
  • *** "Arkham, Part Two: Supermanamrepus"
  • *** Superman: Emperor Joker
  • *** "Emperor Joker, Part Four: He Who Laughs Last!"
  • ** Superman: President Lex includes:
  • *** "Kith & Kin"
  • ** "Fireside Chat"
  • ** Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1 includes:
  • *** "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?"
  • ** Superman: Return to Krypton includes:
  • *** "Return to Krypton, Part Four: Escape from Krypton"
  • *** "Return to Krypton II, Part Four: Dream's End"
  • ** "Kancer"
  • ** "King Takes Pawn"
  • ** Superman: Our Worlds at War includes:
  • *** "Our Worlds at War"
  • *** Superboy vol. 3 #91: "War Letters"
  • ** Our Worlds at War: Secret Files: "They Call Me Zed"
  • ** "The Gift"
  • ** "Joker: Last Laugh — Whose Mind is It Anyways?"
  • ** "Demento"
  • ** "Red"
  • ** "Jikei Ketsuki: Mercy, Love and Blood"
  • ** "Man and Beast"
  • ** "Big City, Little Man"
  • ** Superman: Ending Battle includes:
  • *** "Ending Battle"
  • ** "Superego"
  • ** "Lost Hearts, Part Four: Heartsong"
  • ** "The Cage"
  • ** "A Hero's Journey"
  • ** "The Harvest", Tom Derenick
  • ** "Hungry Ghost"
  • ** "The Creeping Death"
  • ** Superman: The Man of Steel — Believe includes:
  • *** "Walking Midnight"
  • *Superboy vol. 3 #83–93 and Carlo Barberi
  • *Adventures of Superman:
  • ** "Superman: The Dailies 2002 — The Most Bizarro Case of All — Part 8 of 8"
  • ** "Lost Hearts, Part Two: Heartbroken"
  • *Superman: Godfall collects:
  • ** "Godfall, Parts 1 and 4"
  • ** "Godfall, Parts 2 and 5"
  • ** "Godfall, Parts 3 and 6"
  • *Superman: Infinite Crisis collects:
  • ** "This is Your Life, Part 1"
  • ** "This is Your Life, Part 2"
  • ** "This is Your Life, Part 3"
  • *Supergirl vol. 4, Joe Benitez, Alé Garza and Adam Archer collected as:
  • ** Issue #7 is scripted by Kelly from a story by Greg Rucka; issue #16 is scripted by Kelly from a story by Mark Sable.
  • *** The Girl of Steel
  • *** Breaking the Chain
  • **** Includes the "All I Want for Christmas..." short story from DCU Infinite Holiday Special
  • *Superman/Batman:
  • ** Volume 3 includes:
  • *** Annual #1: "Stop Me If You've Heard This One..."
  • ** Volume 4 includes:
  • *** Annual #2: "The Unexamined Life..."
  • ** Sorcerer Kings includes:
  • *** "Who Would Win?"
  • Steampunk collected as:
  • *Manimatron
  • *Drama Obscura
  • Wonder Woman vol. 2 #170: "She's a Wonder" collected in Wonder Woman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1
  • Batman: Gotham Knights #17: "A Moment in the Light" collected in Batman: Black and White Volume 3
  • Green Lantern: Legacy — The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan
  • 9-11 Volume 2: "Wake Up"
  • Justice League of America:
  • *JLA, Duncan Rouleau and ChrisCross collected as:
  • ** The Deluxe Edition Volume 6
  • ** The Deluxe Edition Volume 7
  • *Justice League Elite collected as:
  • ** Volume 1 collects:
  • *** Includes JLA #100 that set up then-upcoming Justice League Elite spin-off series
  • *** Includes the "Same Coin" short story from JLA Secret Files & Origins 2004
  • ** Volume 2
  • *JLA/Cyberforce
  • Enginehead #1–6
  • Space Ghost #1–6 collected as Space Ghost
  • Solo #6: "Drive" collected in Solo
  • DC Universe Holiday Special: "A Day without Sirens"
  • Bang! Tango #1–6 collected as Bang! Tango
  • ''The Reign of Megamind''

Image Comics

  • M. Rex #1–2
  • Elephantmen:
  • * "Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy" collected in Volume 1: Wounded Animals
  • ** This issue was reprinted in a separate volume with bonus material and a CD featuring a reading of the story as Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy
  • * "Planet of the Ungulates" collected in Volume 2: Fatal Diseases
  • I Kill Giants #1–7 collected as I Kill Giants
  • Four Eyes:
  • *Four Eyes #1–4 collected as Volume 1: Forged in Flames
  • *Four Eyes: Hearts of Fire #1–4 collected as Volume 2: Hearts of Fire
  • Bad Dog #1–6 collected as Bad Dog: In the Land of Milk and Honey
  • Outlaw Territory Volume 1: "Ballad of a Bad Man"
  • Douglas Fredericks and the House of They
  • Kid Savage
  • Traces of the Great War: "Fot Want of a Bullet..."

Other publishers