| Christina Strain | |
|---|---|
 Strain atComic-Con 2007 | |
| Born | April 27, 1981 (1981-04-27) (age 44) Seoul, South Korea |
| Area | Writer,Colourist |
Notable works | Runaways Grimm Fairy Tales Generation X Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane The Magicians |
Christina Strain (born April 27, 1981) is an American comic bookcolorist, writer and screenwriter. Strain formerly worked forMarvel Comics as a colorist before pursuing a career as a writer. Strain's notable works include the award-winning Marvel seriesRunaways, Marvel'sGeneration X, theSyfy TV seriesThe Magicians, and the Netflix seriesShadow and Bone.
Strain was born in Seoul, South Korea, on April 27, 1981.[1] She lived in South Korea for the majority of her youth, as her mother was fromGunsan, South Korea, and her father was an Air Force officer stationed in South Korea.[1] Except for a brief three years living in Illinois, from 1983 to 1986, Strain lived in South Korea for about fifteen years, during which she lived near a military base and attended Seoul American Elementary School and High School.[1] Upon graduating high school, Strain moved back to the United States in 1999 to attendLouisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where she majored in graphic design.[1]
Strain resides in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Jon Shiring, a lead engineer atRespawn Entertainment, and their adopted son.[2][3]
Strain got her start in comics working as acolorist forCrossGen in 2003. She was let go after two months working at CrossGen when the company began having financial problems and eventually went bankrupt in 2004.[1][4][5] Weeks after losing her job at CrossGen, Strain began working forUDON andAspen.[1] Strain worked for UDON from 2003 to 2005, during which she contacted and impressed the Editor-in-Chief of UDON, Erik Ko, who helped her get a job atMarvel Comics.[1][5] One of the first comics Strain worked on for Marvel wasRunaways, which she worked on as an official colorist for about 6 years.[1][6] Other prominent comics Strain worked on for Marvel include;Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane,S.H.I.E.L.D., andWorld War Hulk.[5] Additionally, Strain colored several Jay Company exclusive comic covers such as theGrimm Fairy Tales. Strain worked as a colorist for Marvel for 8 years, before she retired at 32 and decided to go to grad school at theAmerican Film Institute.[6][7] Initially, Strain was interested in3-D graphics, but after taking a comic-writing class she realized she really wanted to write stories, so she switched her focus to screenwriting.[8]
While she was transitioning to a writing career, Strain collaborated with various artists to produce original works. Strain and Adrian Alphona, who previously worked together on the Marvel seriesRunaways, collaborated on an art book.[6] Together they publishedSweetness in 2011, consisting of random art illustrated by Aphona and colored and finished by Strain.[6] In 2011, Strain met Jayd Aït-Kaci, an artist she long admired according to aNewsarama interview, through a mutual friend.[8] Strain proposed that they collaborate on a webcomic and pitched various story ideas, of which Aït-Kaci likedThe Fox Sister the best.[8][9] Strain wrote the script forThe Fox Sister and Aït-Kaci illustrated it, and they published the first few pages ofThe Fox Sister in July 2017 on their official website.[9] Strain and Aït-Kaci always planned to officially publishThe Fox Sister as a 9x12 hardbound comic book, and in 2012 they compiled and published the first chapter of their webcomic.[8]
The Fox Sister takes inspiration from theKorean folklore by thesame name, and is about akumiho, a nine-tailed fox demon. On the webcomics official website, Stain describesThe Fox Sister as a "Korean Supernatural thriller/dram-edy story" set in South Korea in the 1960s.[9] As of October 2017, Strain has completed writing the fourth and final chapter ofThe Fox Sister.[9] However,The Fox Sister is officially on hiatus according to the webcomic's website, and as of December 2018, only 17 pages of chapter four have been released.[9]The Fox Sister continues to be available to freely read online.
After her career switch from colorist to writer, Strain began working as a staff writer for the Syfy TV seriesThe Magicians, during its second season.[10] As of December 2018, Strain continues to be employed as a staff writer forThe Magicians. While writing forThe Magicians, Strain returned to the comic book industry when Marvel editor Chris Robinson asked her to write a short story for aCivil War anthology,Civil War II: Choosing Sides.[10] After writing for the anthology, Strain was officially reintroduced to the comic world as a writer when she was asked to write for the rebootedX-Men series,Generation X.[10] Strain was allowed to create her own concept and list of mutant characters for the rebootedGeneration X, thus Strain came up with the concept of "lovable losers".[10] Strain chose to feature a mix of original and already established but lesser known mutants, such asNathaniel Carver created by Strain, andNature Girl (Lin Li) created byJason Latour.[10] The relaunchedGeneration X series ran for a year, from 2017 to 2018 and published 11 issues, ending at No. 87 under theMarvel Legacy relaunch's numbering system.[11]
(2003–2011)
(2003–2005)
(2003–2005)
(Note: Many Jay Company Exclusives have multiple covers done by the same or different artists)
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