Micah Ian War Dog Wright[1] (born 1969) is an American writer who has worked in film, television, animation, video games and comic books. He is an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation.[1]

Micah Wright
BornMicah Ian War Dog Wright
1969
Area(s)Writer, director, producer
Notable works
Stormwatch: Team Achilles
http://www.micahwright.com/

Early life

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Wright was born in Lubbock, Texas. He graduated from the University of Arizona with degrees in political science and creative writing.[2] While in college, Wright was involved in a weekly sketch comedy show where he started out as a writer and eventually became a performer.[3]

Career

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Animation and comics

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After graduating and moving to Los Angeles, Wright started interning at Nickelodeon,[3] before becoming script supervisor and eventually a staff writer on The Angry Beavers.[4][3] In early 2000, a number of writers working on Nickelodeon cartoons contacted the Writers Guild of America to renegotiate the contracts on their behalf and organize a union.[5] At the time, Wright, who also took part in the union drive, was writing and producing the pilot for his own show, Constant Payne, a steampunk science fiction series following a family of adventurers co-produced with Madhouse, with an aesthetic inspired by anime, pulp magazines and early Soviet propaganda posters.[6][7][8] The show, which would have been Nickelodeon's first action adventure offering, was not ordered to series due to the network's fears of violent programming in the wake of the September 11 attacks as well as Nickelodeon's suspicions that Wright was one of the figureheads in the union organizing effort.[9][10][11] Wright has since tried pitching Constant Payne to Warner Bros. Animation[12] and to foreign studios as an animated feature-length film[13] but the project remains uncompleted.[8] During his time at Nickelodeon, Wright became friends with Jay Lender, with whom he would collaborate as a writing partner on numerous projects across various media.[14]

At San Diego Comic Con in 2001, Wright, who has been a fan of comics since childhood,[15] was introduced to some of the editors of DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint through his friend, artist John Cassaday.[3] Wright pitched his idea for a creator-owned G.I. Joe-type series, hoping to publish it through the Homage sub-imprint.[16] The editors liked the concept but asked Wright to rework it to fit into the Wildstorm Universe,[17] and the project was eventually developed into a new version of one of the imprint's founding titles, Stormwatch.[16] Stormwatch: Team Achilles with art by Whilce Portacio,[18] debuting in July 2002 under the "mature readers" sub-imprint Eye of the Storm,[19] featured a UN-sanctioned team consisting primarily of human soldiers, created in response to the growing superhuman presence in the political areas of the Wildstorm Universe, particularly the events depicted in Mark Millar's run on The Authority.[20] Despite consistent critical acclaim throughout its run,[21][22][23][24][25][26] Stormwatch, like other Eye of the Storm titles, suffered from low sales[27][28] and was ultimately cancelled few issues shy of Wright's planned 26-issue storyline.[29][30] Shortly before the cancellation, the series took part in the line-wide crossover "Coup d'Etat" which saw The Authority take over the United States, forcing Team Achilles to go on the run.[31]

Soon after the launch of Stormwatch: Team Achilles, Wright and artist Mark Robinson created a pitch for the revival of another Wildstorm property, DV8, which was rejected due to the low sales of the series' previous iteration and the creators' relatively unknown status.[32] In 2003, Wright teamed up with artist Rick Remender to pitch a series focusing on the exploits of a low-ranking member of Advanced Idea Mechanics, a villainous organization operating within the Marvel Universe. The proposal, titled Joe A.I.M. and submitted for publication under Marvel's briefly revived Epic imprint, was rejected, prompting Wright to share his dissatisfaction with the Epic editorial on his Delphi message board,[33] which resulted in a public dispute between him and Marvel's then-Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.[34] In an interview later that year, Wright expressed regret for making the issue public.[35] Other unproduced projects include American Cross with artist Niko Henrichon, a revenge story that takes place during the American Revolution,[16][36] Lifer with artist Steve Pugh, a four-issue military sci-fi series described by Wright as "Starship Troopers meets Catch-22",[16][37] Los Diablos with art by Taesoo Kim, a rejected weird western anime pitch repurposed into a comic book series.[38] and Thunderhead!, an adult-oriented animated series co-created by Wright and Jay Lender.[39]

Controversy and fallout

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Outside of his work in animation and comics, Wright gained online popularity with a series of satirical military propaganda posters that combined the imagery of the World War II-era propaganda posters and the modern anti-war messages as slogans.[40][41][42] Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, some of the posters were collected into a book, You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want, with a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut and an introduction by Howard Zinn.[43] Early printings of the book featured another introduction, where Wright described his experiences as a sergeant in the United States Army Rangers who had seen active combat in the 1989 invasion of Panama, a claim he had previously made discussing his military-themed series Stormwatch: Team Achilles in various interviews[16][19][20][3] as well as responding to the criticism of his poster work online,[44][45] and further elaborated upon while promoting You Back the Attack with a radio interview on Democracy Now![2] and a profile in The Washington Post.[46] Wright's credentials were then questioned by actual Rangers, prompting them to contact The Post profile's author Richard Leiby, who began researching Wright's background.[47] In April 2004, after Wright learned that Leiby was writing an exposé questioning his military service,[48][49] he confessed that he had never been a Ranger, having only participated in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and apologized online.[50][51]

The revelation resonated across the comic book industry, attracting responses from a number of industry figures including writers Steven Grant,[52] Jeff Parker,[53] Kurt Busiek[54][14] and Mark Millar,[55] as well as journalists Tom Spurgeon[56] and Rich Johnston.[57] According to Johnston, the mini-series Vigilante, which was supposed to be Wright's writing debut in the DC Universe,[58] was already causing internal concern at the company due to the direction and tone of the title, as the titular character eschewed taking down street criminals or organized crime in favor of corporate criminals, and the controversy made it easier to take Wright off the book.[59][60] Wright responded by stating that the quality of his work was not an issue.[56] Meanwhile, Seven Stories Press, the publisher of You Back the Attack, removed Wright's introduction from the subsequent printings of the book[44] and cancelled its follow-up volume, If You're Not a Terrorist... Then Stop Asking Questions,[61][62] but eventually published the third collection of his poster work in 2006.[63] That same year, the Vigilante mini-series, which was never officially confirmed as cancelled,[64] was published with a new creative team and plotline.[65][66] In a 2012 interview, Wright stated that following the controversy, he was privately told by the representatives of Marvel and DC that he has been blacklisted at both companies.[14]

Video games and WGA

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Since 2004, Wright has worked primarily in the field of video game writing, often with his long-time writing partner Jay Lender.[3] The pair's shared credits include Looney Tunes: Back in Action for Electronic Arts, The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee for Ubisoft, Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon and its sequel for THQ, as well as Robocalypse for Vogster.[67][68] Wright is a member of the Writers Guild of America West, where he is the chair of the Video Game Writers Caucus. In 2007, Wright and Lender were cited as being "instrumental" in creating the WGA's first ever Video Game Writing Award as part of the traditional film and television Writers Guild Awards.[69][70] In 2011, the Video Game Writing Award attracted criticism from various video game websites for being too exclusive,[71][72] prompting Wright to address the issue online.[73][74]

In addition to his work at WGA's Video Game Writers Caucus, Wright co-founded the Native American and World Indigenous Writers Committee[1] and was elected to be a part of the Guild Negotiating Committee for 2014.[75]

2010s

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In 2012, Wright returned to comics with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for Duster, a graphic novel he co-created with Jay Lender.[76][77] The story, initially developed as a film script,[78] depicts the life of a recently-widowed female cropduster pilot at the end of World War II and her battle against a group of Nazi soldiers who crash-landed near her farm in West Texas.[14] The graphic novel was eventually published in 2015. That same year, Wright worked as a consultant on HTC Vive's virtual reality game TheBlu, which led to his interest in VR technology and eventually a position as a teacher of the virtual reality filmmaking course at the Los Angeles branch of Emerson College.[79][80] In 2016, Wright and Lender made their directorial debut with the feature film They're Watching, a found footage horror comedy distributed by Amplify.[81][82]

Between 2017 and 2019, Wright served as the Chief Content Manager of the Native American broadcast television network First Nations Experience, overseeing the creation of first original programming in the network's history.[83][84]

Filmography

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Television

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Film

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Bibliography

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Comics

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  • DC Comics:
    • Stormwatch (Wildstorm):
      • Stormwatch: Team Achilles #1–23 (with Whilce Portacio, Mark Texeira (#7), Tomm Coker (#8), C. P. Smith, Clément Sauvé (#21–22) and Carlos D'Anda (#22–23), Eye of the Storm, 2002–2004)
        • The series was set for cancellation with issue #24[29] which was solicited for July 2004[86] but ended up being unpublished due to the controversy surrounding Wright's claims of military service.[60]
        • Wright has posted the full scripts for the entire series, including the unpublished Stormwatch: Team Achilles #24, online.[30]
        • The series, along with the related short stories originally released in various other publications, has been partially collected in two volumes:
          • Stormwatch: Team Achilles Volume 1 (collects #1–6 and the 8-page preview from Wizard #129, tpb, 160 pages, 2003, ISBN 1-4012-0103-2)
          • Stormwatch: Team Achilles Volume 2 (collects #7–11, tpb, 128 pages, 2003, ISBN 1-4012-0123-7)
        • Another volume was solicited for a 2004 release but subsequently cancelled: Stormwatch: Team Achilles Volume 3 (tpb, 192 pages, ISBN 1-4012-0289-6)
      • Coup d'Etat #2: "Of, by and for the People" (with Carlos D'Anda, Eye of the Storm, 2004) collected in Coup d'Etat (tpb, 112 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-4012-0570-4)
    • Eye of the Storm Annual: "Delivery" (with Carlos D'Anda, co-feature, Wildstorm, 2003)
    • Vigilante vol. 2 (with Carlos D'Anda, unreleased 6-issue limited series[87] — initially announced for 2004)[88]
  • Duster (co-written by Wright and Jay Lender, art by Diego Coglitore and Cristian Mallea, graphic novel self-published as Evil Scum, 264 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-9427-4982-1)
    • In addition to the print release, the book was also published as a digital 6-issue limited series (via Comixology) and serialized in the form of a webcomic.
  • Get Lucky (co-written by Wright and Jay Lender, art by Diego Coglitore, 29-page webcomic, 2015–2016)

Poster books

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Work in video games

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Haring, Bruce (April 4, 2009). "Native American TV Writers Lab Selects 2019 Participants". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want! - A Collection of Remixed War Posters". Democracy Now!. May 28, 2003. Archived from the original on June 5, 2003.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Keller, Katherine. "The Wright Man for the Job". Sequential Tart. Archived from the original on August 3, 2003.
  4. ^ Wright, Micah. "The World of Micah Ian Wright: Angry Beavers". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on November 5, 2002.
  5. ^ Gagliano, Rico (December 28, 2001). "Naughty Nick". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on June 12, 2002.
  6. ^ Wright, Micah. "The World of Micah Ian Wright: Constant Payne". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on October 3, 2002.
  7. ^ Aliev, Nick (June 11, 2020). "Before Avatar: The Last Airbender, Nick Rejected the Action Pilot Constant Payne". CBR. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  8. ^ a b Lampkin, William (June 2002). "An animated Doc". ThePulp.Net. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "Nick no longer in Constant Payne". Toon Zone. January 12, 2002. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007.
  10. ^ Wright, Micah. "Constant Payne Pilot". .Mac. Archived from the original on November 6, 2007.
  11. ^ Hopkins, Ethan (March 17, 2018). "15 Failed Cartoon Pilots Too Weird For TV". CBR. Archived from the original on August 19, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  12. ^ Kustes, Jimmy (June 18, 2002). "Micah Wright on Constant Payne, Invader Zim, and Batman's producers". Toon Zone. Archived from the original on May 2, 2003.
  13. ^ Kustes, Jimmy (June 18, 2002). "'Constant Payne': The Motion Picture?". Toon Zone. Archived from the original on August 21, 2002.
  14. ^ a b c d Wessel, Geoffrey (July 17, 2012). "Micah Ian Wright: Returning to the Medium he Loves". Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on April 10, 2013.
  15. ^ Wright, Micah. "Rants". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2003.
  16. ^ a b c d e Weiland, Jonah (March 1, 2002). "'STORMWATCH' RETURNS THIS JULY". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on March 6, 2002.
  17. ^ Wright, Micah. "The World of Micah Ian Wright: Comics & Graphic Novels". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2002.
  18. ^ Schoen, Greg (December 29, 2002). "Micah Wright Speaks Out About StormWatch 6, Authority, Whilce Portacio And More". Silver Bullet Comic Books. Archived from the original on January 27, 2003.
  19. ^ a b Doran, Michael (March 1, 2002). "STORMWATCH WATCHES THE WATCHMEN". Newsarama. Archived from the original on March 9, 2002.
  20. ^ a b Evans, Sam (August 23, 2002). "Micah Wright: The Driving Force Of The New StormWatch". Silver Bullet Comic Books. Archived from the original on October 19, 2002.
  21. ^ De Blieck, Augie (July 9, 2002). "DUE IN SHOPS THIS WEEK". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 6, 2002.
  22. ^ Draper, Johanna (January 22, 2003). "Comics Out January 22". Comics Worth Reading. Archived from the original on March 1, 2003.
  23. ^ McElhatton, Greg (April 9, 2003). "StormWatch: Team Achilles #9". iComics. Archived from the original on April 21, 2003.
  24. ^ Keller, Katherine (September 1, 2003). "StormWatch: Team Achilles #14". Sequential Tart. Archived from the original on December 31, 2003.
  25. ^ Lien-Cooper, Barb (October 1, 2003). "Stormwatch: Team Achilles". Sequential Tart. Archived from the original on October 19, 2003.
  26. ^ MacPherson, Don (March 8, 2004). "STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES #20". The Fourth Rail. Archived from the original on March 18, 2004.
  27. ^ O'Shea, Tim (June 26, 2003). "Micah Ian Wright: SBC Q&A;". Silver Bullet Comic Books. Archived from the original on July 28, 2003.
  28. ^ Singh, Arune (September 5, 2003). "UP IN THE SKY...: CASEY, GRAY & WRIGHT DISCUSS WILDSTORM'S EYE OF THE STORM". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 1, 2003.
  29. ^ a b Brady, Matt (April 15, 2004). "STORM'S END: STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES CANCELLED". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 17, 2004.
  30. ^ a b Wright, Micah. "Stormwatch: Team Achilles, A 26-part story". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2004.
  31. ^ Brady, Matt (April 13, 2004). "WATCHING THE POST-COUP STORM: MICAH WRIGHT ON STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES". Newsarama. Archived from the original on April 17, 2004.
  32. ^ Wright, Micah. "DV-8 REJECTED". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2003.
  33. ^ Johnston, Rich (June 16, 2003). "LYING IN THE GUTTERS #51: AIM FIRE". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 4, 2003.
  34. ^ Johnston, Rich (June 23, 2003). "LYING IN THE GUTTERS #52: MORE WRIGHT STUFF". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on August 10, 2003.
  35. ^ Johnston, Rich (December 3, 2003). "WAITING FOR TOMMY: MICAH WRIGHT". Dynamic Forces. Archived from the original on December 5, 2003.
  36. ^ Wright, Micah. "American". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2002.
  37. ^ Wright, Micah. "New Page 1". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2003.
  38. ^ Wright, Micah. "Los Diablos". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2002.
  39. ^ Wright, Micah. "From the writers of SpongeBob SquarePants and The Angry Beavers comes..." micahwright.com. Archived from the original on August 14, 2003.
  40. ^ Wright, Micah. "Know Your Place! Shut Your Face!". .Mac. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002.
  41. ^ Letts, Daron (December 11, 2002). "Close Your Eyes Norman Rockwell". rabble.ca. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  42. ^ Brady, Matt. "Propaganda". Newsarama. Archived from the original on March 24, 2003.
  43. ^ Pogue, Paul (February 19, 2003). "Always something to radicalize". NUVO. Archived from the original on January 1, 2004.
  44. ^ a b Parrott, Kevin (May 7, 2004). "In The Back, Third Row, On The Right". kevinparrott.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2004.
  45. ^ Wright, Micah. "Who's the Traitor?". .Mac. Archived from the original on October 17, 2002.
  46. ^ Leiby, Richard (July 6, 2003). "Vintage Propaganda's Revisionist Visonary". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021.
  47. ^ Leiby, Richard (May 2, 2004). "Rangers Lead the Way in Exposing Authour as a Fraud". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011.
  48. ^ Weiland, Jonah (May 2, 2004). "MICAH WRIGHT COMES CLEAN, RANGER STORY A HOAX". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 26, 2004.
  49. ^ Brady, Matt (May 2, 2004). "MICAH WRIGHT: "I WAS NEVER AN ARMY RANGER"". Newsarama. Archived from the original on May 5, 2004.
  50. ^ Wright, Micah (May 8, 2004). "Mea Culpa". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2006.
  51. ^ Wright, Micah (May 8, 2004). "What's With the Three Apologies?". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2006.
  52. ^ Grant, Steven (May 5, 2004). "MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS #138". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 31, 2004.
  53. ^ Parker, Jeff (May 2, 2004). "Pants On Fire". Mystifying Oracle. Archived from the original on February 18, 2006.
  54. ^ McMillan, Graeme (May 3, 2004). "Kurt Busiek stopped in at the forum, to talk sense". Fanboy Rampage. Archived from the original on August 18, 2004.
  55. ^ McMillan, Graeme (May 3, 2004). "Mark Millar posts on the Micah Wright story". Fanboy Rampage. Archived from the original on August 18, 2004.
  56. ^ a b Spurgeon, Tom (May 18, 2004). "Micah Wright to DC: Stop Lying". The Comics Reporter. Archived from the original on July 16, 2005.
  57. ^ Johnston, Rich (May 3, 2004). "LYING IN THE GUTTERS #97: LYING IN THE BROADSHEETS". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on May 31, 2004.
  58. ^ Wright, Micah. "Vigilante". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on October 15, 2003.
  59. ^ Johnston, Rich (May 10, 2004). "LYING IN THE GUTTERS #98: SHITSTORM". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 5, 2004.
  60. ^ a b Johnston, Rich (May 24, 2004). "LYING IN THE GUTTERS #100: SHITSTORM II". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 6, 2004.
  61. ^ Reid, Calvin (May 10, 2004). "Seven Stories Cancels Book". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
  62. ^ Reeder, Hector (May 3, 2004). "Reeder's Digest: Micah Wright". Ninth Art. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004.
  63. ^ Wright, Micah. Surveillance Means Security.
  64. ^ Brady, Matt (May 3, 2004). "DC: NO COMMENT ON WRIGHT'S VIGILANTE". Newsarama. Archived from the original on May 18, 2004.
  65. ^ Offenberger, Rik. "Vigilante Justice With Bruce Jones". Newsarama. Archived from the original on October 28, 2005.
  66. ^ Cronin, Brian (November 23, 2012). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #394". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012.
  67. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (January 22, 2008). "Robocalypse Now". IGN. Archived from the original on January 26, 2008.
  68. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (January 31, 2008). "Robocalypse Interview". IGN. Archived from the original on February 2, 2008.
  69. ^ "wga's first videogame award". Writers Guild of America West. September 28, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.
  70. ^ Hyman, Paul (February 6, 2008). "And the award for best video game writing is..." The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021.
  71. ^ Good, Owen (February 4, 2011). "A Fistful of Dollars Stopped a Nomination for Red Dead Redemption". Kotaku. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011.
  72. ^ McElroy, Justin (February 6, 2011). "Writers Guild of America defends gaming awards". Joystiq. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011.
  73. ^ Meer, Alec (February 4, 2011). "The WGA's Micah Wright defends its game writing award". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014.
  74. ^ "WGA Awards Videogame Writing Nominees". Deadline. January 6, 2011. Archived from the original on September 1, 2014.
  75. ^ Patten, Dominic (November 13, 2013). "WGA Sets Negotiating Committee For AMPTP Contract Talks, Start Date Still TBA". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 16, 2013.
  76. ^ Arrant, Chris (April 19, 2012). "Controversial comic creator Micah Ian Wright plots his return to comics". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 21, 2012.
  77. ^ Johnston, Rich (June 18, 2012). "Now Kickstarter Brings Us... The Return Of Micah Wright". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on June 19, 2012.
  78. ^ ""Duster" Bluster!". Hogan's Alley. July 18, 2012. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021.
  79. ^ Paranada, Daryl (March 23, 2016). "ELA Launches Groundbreaking Virtual Reality Filmmaking Course". Emerson College. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
  80. ^ Thottam, Isabel (April 14, 2016). "Emerson College's VR Filmmaking Class is Preparing Students to Lead the Industry". Paste. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016.
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  83. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (September 2, 2017). "Spectrum auction proceeds will back reboot of Native TV network". Current. Archived from the original on July 3, 2017.
  84. ^ Krol, Debra Utacia (September 2, 2017). "A New Direction—and Name—for First Nations Experience". Indian Country Today. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017.
  85. ^ Wright, Micah. "My Beautiful Korean Movie". micahwright.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2003.
  86. ^ Allstetter, Rob (April 12, 2004). "DC COMICS FOR JULY". Comics Continuum. Archived from the original on April 23, 2004.
  87. ^ Yarbrough, Beau (March 20, 2004). "MAJESTIC, VIGILANTE, QUESTION HIT METROPOLIS IN NEW MINISERIES: DC ANNOUNCES PROJECTS FOR JULY & BEYOND". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 2, 2004.
  88. ^ Newman, Nick (August 10, 2003). "Superman Panel at Wizard World Chicago". Superman Homepage. Archived from the original on June 30, 2004.
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Preceded by Stormwatch writer
2002–2004
Succeeded by