Recent from talks
J. M. DeMatteis
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
J. M. DeMatteis
John Marc DeMatteis (/diːməˈteɪəs/; born December 15, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, television, film, and novels. He is known for psychologically and spiritually driven stories that dive deep into the human heart and mind.
J.M. DeMatteis was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was Italian-Catholic, his mother of Russian-Jewish heritage, and DeMatteis has been a longtime follower of the Indian spiritual master Avatar Meher Baba. DeMatteis's earliest aspirations were to be a rock musician and comic book artist. He began playing in bands starting in the sixth grade, generally in the role of lead singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist, and also wrote music reviews for a number of publications. He began drawing at a young age, and was accepted into the School of the Visual Arts, but had to decline for financial reasons. He graduated from Midwood High School in Brooklyn in 1971 and received a BA in English from SUNY Empire State College.
DeMatteis then turned from drawing to writing. He got his start in comic books at DC Comics in the late 1970s. After a number of rejected submissions, his first accepted story was "The Lady-Killer Craves Blood", but it would not be published until years later in House of Mystery #282 (July 1980). His first published story for the company was "The Blood Boat!" in Weird War Tales #70 (Dec. 1978). He contributed to the company's line of horror comics notably with the creation of the Creature Commandos in Weird War Tales #93 (Nov. 1980) and I…Vampire in House of Mystery #290 (March 1981). He briefly wrote the Aquaman feature in Adventure Comics as well. DeMatteis and artist Brian Bolland produced a backup story titled "Falling Down to Heaven" in Madame Xanadu, DC's first attempt at marketing comics specifically to the "direct market" of fans and collectors. DeMatteis had long been eager to work for Marvel Comics, and following roughly a year in which editor-in-chief Jim Shooter kept him busy with odd jobs and fill-ins, in 1980 he was made the lead writer for Marvel on The Defenders, and had lengthy runs on Marvel Team-Up and Captain America, paired with penciler Mike Zeck, with whom in 1982 he created the character Arnie Roth, a Jewish childhood friend and protector to Steve Rogers and the first openly gay character to appear in a mainstream superhero comic.
After writing a negative review of the Grateful Dead's 1980 album Go to Heaven which was published in Rolling Stone, DeMatteis ended his career as a music critic. He explained, "Grateful Dead fans are like hardcore comic book fans, you know... and I know that when I sit down to write a review that I'm just some shmuck sitting down at a typewriter with an opinion—but then it's in print in something like Rolling Stone. I got all these letters, which I saved, from all these hardcore Grateful Dead fans—wounded. ... I said if I'm going to review at all I'm not going to write negative reviews anymore..." Around this time he also surrendered his professional career as a rock musician, after years of playing in New York City–based bands.
In 1984, DeMatteis and artist Bob Budiansky produced a Prince Namor limited series. He saw the series as an opportunity to both delve more into the psychology of the title character than he had been able to in The Defenders and to continue his collaboration with Budiansky from the recently canceled Ghost Rider, later recalling, "We'd get on the phone, start talking, and the stories would come so easily. We had a fantastic rapport, personally and professionally." DeMatteis had mixed feelings about the series itself, and said the one part of which he was unreservedly proud was the look into Namor's years as an amnesiac homeless man. DeMatteis and illustrator Jon J. Muth created the graphic novel Moonshadow, for Marvel's Epic line: the groundbreaking story was the first fully painted series in American comics. DeMatteis followed this with the 1986 Doctor Strange graphic novel Into Shamballa drawn by Dan Green and Blood: A Tale, a hallucinatory vampire story drawn by Kent Williams. In 1987, DeMatteis and Zeck re-teamed for the "Kraven's Last Hunt" arc that ran throughout Marvel's then-three Spider-Man titles. The arc has been collected in multiple editions and remains one of the most popular, and respected, stories in Spider-Man's history.
Moving back to DC, DeMatteis had a memorable run writing Doctor Fate, first in a mini-series illustrated by Keith Giffen, then in an ongoing series illustrated by Shawn McManus. He succeeded Gerry Conway as writer of the superhero-team title Justice League of America, using the pen name Michael Ellis on his first issue of the series. When that title was cancelled in the wake of the company-wide crossover Legends, DeMatteis stayed through its relaunch as Justice League International, scripting over the plots of Keith Giffen.
JLI took such lesser-known DC characters as Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, Captain Atom, and Power Girl and turned the then-current preoccupation with "grim 'n' gritty" superheroes on its head. The lighthearted series emphasized the absurd aspects of people with strange powers, wearing colorful costumes, volunteering to fight evildoers. Although the League had its serious side and often faced world-threatening villains, the stories included such characters as the lovably inept G'nort, the worst Green Lantern in the Green Lantern Corps, Mr. Nebula, the interplanetary decorator, the Injustice League, a bunch of bumbling losers and a flock of homicidal penguins who had been hybridized with piranhas. The success of Justice League International led to a spin-off in 1989 titled Justice League Europe also co-written with Giffen and featuring art by Bart Sears.
The Giffen/DeMatteis team worked on Justice League for five years and closed out their run with the "Breakdowns" storyline in 1991 and 1992. DeMatteis scripted Justice League spin-offs such as solo series for Mister Miracle and Doctor Fate.
Hub AI
J. M. DeMatteis AI simulator
(@J. M. DeMatteis_simulator)
J. M. DeMatteis
John Marc DeMatteis (/diːməˈteɪəs/; born December 15, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, television, film, and novels. He is known for psychologically and spiritually driven stories that dive deep into the human heart and mind.
J.M. DeMatteis was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father was Italian-Catholic, his mother of Russian-Jewish heritage, and DeMatteis has been a longtime follower of the Indian spiritual master Avatar Meher Baba. DeMatteis's earliest aspirations were to be a rock musician and comic book artist. He began playing in bands starting in the sixth grade, generally in the role of lead singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist, and also wrote music reviews for a number of publications. He began drawing at a young age, and was accepted into the School of the Visual Arts, but had to decline for financial reasons. He graduated from Midwood High School in Brooklyn in 1971 and received a BA in English from SUNY Empire State College.
DeMatteis then turned from drawing to writing. He got his start in comic books at DC Comics in the late 1970s. After a number of rejected submissions, his first accepted story was "The Lady-Killer Craves Blood", but it would not be published until years later in House of Mystery #282 (July 1980). His first published story for the company was "The Blood Boat!" in Weird War Tales #70 (Dec. 1978). He contributed to the company's line of horror comics notably with the creation of the Creature Commandos in Weird War Tales #93 (Nov. 1980) and I…Vampire in House of Mystery #290 (March 1981). He briefly wrote the Aquaman feature in Adventure Comics as well. DeMatteis and artist Brian Bolland produced a backup story titled "Falling Down to Heaven" in Madame Xanadu, DC's first attempt at marketing comics specifically to the "direct market" of fans and collectors. DeMatteis had long been eager to work for Marvel Comics, and following roughly a year in which editor-in-chief Jim Shooter kept him busy with odd jobs and fill-ins, in 1980 he was made the lead writer for Marvel on The Defenders, and had lengthy runs on Marvel Team-Up and Captain America, paired with penciler Mike Zeck, with whom in 1982 he created the character Arnie Roth, a Jewish childhood friend and protector to Steve Rogers and the first openly gay character to appear in a mainstream superhero comic.
After writing a negative review of the Grateful Dead's 1980 album Go to Heaven which was published in Rolling Stone, DeMatteis ended his career as a music critic. He explained, "Grateful Dead fans are like hardcore comic book fans, you know... and I know that when I sit down to write a review that I'm just some shmuck sitting down at a typewriter with an opinion—but then it's in print in something like Rolling Stone. I got all these letters, which I saved, from all these hardcore Grateful Dead fans—wounded. ... I said if I'm going to review at all I'm not going to write negative reviews anymore..." Around this time he also surrendered his professional career as a rock musician, after years of playing in New York City–based bands.
In 1984, DeMatteis and artist Bob Budiansky produced a Prince Namor limited series. He saw the series as an opportunity to both delve more into the psychology of the title character than he had been able to in The Defenders and to continue his collaboration with Budiansky from the recently canceled Ghost Rider, later recalling, "We'd get on the phone, start talking, and the stories would come so easily. We had a fantastic rapport, personally and professionally." DeMatteis had mixed feelings about the series itself, and said the one part of which he was unreservedly proud was the look into Namor's years as an amnesiac homeless man. DeMatteis and illustrator Jon J. Muth created the graphic novel Moonshadow, for Marvel's Epic line: the groundbreaking story was the first fully painted series in American comics. DeMatteis followed this with the 1986 Doctor Strange graphic novel Into Shamballa drawn by Dan Green and Blood: A Tale, a hallucinatory vampire story drawn by Kent Williams. In 1987, DeMatteis and Zeck re-teamed for the "Kraven's Last Hunt" arc that ran throughout Marvel's then-three Spider-Man titles. The arc has been collected in multiple editions and remains one of the most popular, and respected, stories in Spider-Man's history.
Moving back to DC, DeMatteis had a memorable run writing Doctor Fate, first in a mini-series illustrated by Keith Giffen, then in an ongoing series illustrated by Shawn McManus. He succeeded Gerry Conway as writer of the superhero-team title Justice League of America, using the pen name Michael Ellis on his first issue of the series. When that title was cancelled in the wake of the company-wide crossover Legends, DeMatteis stayed through its relaunch as Justice League International, scripting over the plots of Keith Giffen.
JLI took such lesser-known DC characters as Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, Captain Atom, and Power Girl and turned the then-current preoccupation with "grim 'n' gritty" superheroes on its head. The lighthearted series emphasized the absurd aspects of people with strange powers, wearing colorful costumes, volunteering to fight evildoers. Although the League had its serious side and often faced world-threatening villains, the stories included such characters as the lovably inept G'nort, the worst Green Lantern in the Green Lantern Corps, Mr. Nebula, the interplanetary decorator, the Injustice League, a bunch of bumbling losers and a flock of homicidal penguins who had been hybridized with piranhas. The success of Justice League International led to a spin-off in 1989 titled Justice League Europe also co-written with Giffen and featuring art by Bart Sears.
The Giffen/DeMatteis team worked on Justice League for five years and closed out their run with the "Breakdowns" storyline in 1991 and 1992. DeMatteis scripted Justice League spin-offs such as solo series for Mister Miracle and Doctor Fate.
Recent media