Mark Russell (born 1971) is an American author and comic book writer.

Mark Russell
Russell at WonderCon in 2023
Born1971
Portland, Oregon, United States
Occupations
Years active2015–present
Notable work
SpouseMarried
Websitemarkrussellbooks.com

Books

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Russell is the author of God Is Disappointed in You (Top Shelf Productions, 2013), a modern re-telling of the Bible (with cartoons by The New Yorker cartoonist Shannon Wheeler), and Apocrypha Now, a book about non-canonical Christian and Jewish texts.

Comics

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In 2015, Russell wrote a reboot of the 1973–74 comic Prez (Issues 1–6, DC Comics), drawn by Ben Caldwell, which features a teenage president of the United States.[1] He wrote The Flintstones comic book series for DC Comics, with art by Steve Pugh.[2] The Flintstones was nominated for two Eisner Awards: Best Limited Series and Best Humor Publication, and a Harvey Award for Book of the Year.

Russell's Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, drawn by Mike Feehan, presented the Hanna-Barbera character Snagglepuss as a gay southern Gothic playwright in 1950s New York and was published by DC Comics in 2018. It won the 2019 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Comic. The series was also nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Limited Series, and Russell was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Writer. In February 2019, DC's Wonder Comics line, curated by Brian Michael Bendis, published Russell's The Wonder Twins with artist Stephen Byrne. It was nominated for a 2020 Ringo Awards for Best Humor Comic. Also in 2019, Russell's comic Second Coming with artist Richard Pace was published by Ahoy Comics after initially being dropped by DC and Vertigo Comics.[3]

The first volume of Second Coming, with an introduction by Patton Oswalt, was published in March 2020. A second series began in December 2020. Russell's Billionaire Island, also released in 2020, reunited him with Flintstones artist Steve Pugh.[4] In 2021, Russell wrote Fantastic Four: Life Story for Marvel Comics, retelling the story of Marvel's first family decade by decade. He also released One-Star Squadron, drawn by Steve Lieber, about superheroes working in the marketplace, and Not All Robots with artist Mike Deodato, which won the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication.

In 2022, Russell released Superman: Space Age (DC Comics) with Mike Allred,[5] which was nominated for the 2023 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series, and Traveling to Mars (Ablaze), nominated for the 2023 Eisner Award for Best New Series. Russell was nominated for the 2023 Eisner Award for Best Writer. Cereal, a horror-comedy series featuring characters based on cereal advertising monsters, was published by AHOY Comics in October 2023. In 2024, Russell and Mike Allred released Batman: Dark Age, a follow-up to Superman: Space Age.[6]

Russell's other comics include a Red Sonja series (Dynamite Comics), Judge Dredd: Under Siege (IDW, 2018), The Lone Ranger: The Devil's Rope (Dynamite, 2018), Superman vs Imperious Lex (DC, 2021), Incal: Psychoverse (Humanoids, 2022), One-Star Squadron (DC, 2022), Cereal (AHOY, 2023), Rumpus Room (AWA, 2023), Traveling to Mars (Ablaze, 2023), and Deadbox (Vault, 2024).

Personal life

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Mark Russell was born in Portland, Oregon in 1971 and continues to live there. He is married.[7][third-party source needed]

Miscellaneous

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In 2019, Russell discussed his early work on Public Access Television on Storytellers Telling Stories with Jude Brewer.[8]

In November 2020, he discussed Billionaire Island and Second Coming on Indie Comics Spotlight with Tony Farina & Mike Burton on the Comics in Motion podcast.[9]

On September 16, 2021, Russell appeared on the YouTube channel "Lost'n Comics" to discuss his career. In 2023, he published "Bunkbed Mishaps," a book of his original cartoons. In 2024, Russell appeared on The Comics Cube, Vladimir Popov's The QUESTionaire Season 2, and Collectors Confessions on YouTube.

References

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  1. ^ "A Fan-Favorite DC Series Is Getting Re-Released as a YA Graphic Novel". ComicBook.com. January 11, 2024. Archived from the original on May 26, 2024. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
  2. ^ McGovern, Adam. "THIS: Look at those cavemen go – HiLobrow". HiLobrow. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  3. ^ Gustines, George (March 12, 2019). "Comic Book With Jesus as a Character Finds a New Publisher". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  4. ^ Holub, Christian (November 10, 2020). "The best new comics to read in November: Crossing streams, eternal recurrence". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  5. ^ "Superman: Space Age (2022) | DC Comics Series". Comicscored.com. Archived from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  6. ^ "Batman: Dark Age (2024) | DC Comics Series". Comicscored.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  7. ^ Russell, Mark [@Manruss] (November 13, 2019). "Got married. Published two books. Wrote two more, sitting in the drawer. Quit working day jobs. Bought a house. Became a full-time writer of comic books. Five Eisner nominations. Won a GLAAD Award. Had a comic book adapted into a play. Wake up every morning, glad to be here" (Tweet). Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2024 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Brewer, Jude. "My Cable Access TV Show – Storytellers Telling Stories". Storytellers Telling Stories. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
  9. ^ Burton, Mike. "Indie Comics Spotlight: Billionaire Island, On Anchor". Anchor.fm. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
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