Dan Abnett | |
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| Born | Daniel P. Abnett (1965-10-12)12 October 1965 (age 59) Rochester, Kent, England |
| Occupation | Comic book writer, novelist |
| Education | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
| Period | 1988–present |
| Genre | Comic book, science fiction |
| Notable awards | National Comics Award for Best Writer in Comics Today (2003)[1] |
| Website | |
| theprimaryclone | |
Daniel P. Abnett (/ˈæbnɪt/AB-nit;[2] born 12 October 1965) is an Englishcomic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writerAndy Lanning, and has worked on books for bothMarvel Comics, and their UK imprint,Marvel UK, since the 1990s, and also2000 AD. He has also contributed toDC Comics titles, and hisWarhammer Fantasy andWarhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels forGames Workshop'sBlack Library now run to several dozen titles and have sold over two million copies.[3][4] In 2009 he released his first original fiction novels throughAngry Robot books.[5]
Daniel P. Abnett was born inRochester, Kent, on 12 October 1965.[6] Abnett read English and matriculated atSt Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1984,[7] and graduated from there in 1987.[8]
As one of the more prolific2000 AD writers, Abnett was responsible for the creation of one of the comic's better known and longest-running strips,Sinister Dexter. Other original stories includeBlack Light,Badlands,Atavar,Downlode Tales,Sancho Panzer,Roadkill,Wardog based on the game of the same name,Kingdom andBrink.[9] Abnett has also contributed to some of the comic's major ongoing series, includingJudge Dredd,Durham Red andRogue Trooper.
His work forMarvel includes runs onGuardians of the Galaxy,Death's Head 2,Battletide,Knights of Pendragon (all of which he co-created),ThePunisher,War Machine,Annihilation: Nova and variousX-Men titles, as well as several stories for theDoctor Who Magazine comic strip.
AtDC he is probably best known for his 2000 relaunch ofLegion of Super-Heroes as thelimited seriesLegion Lost and then theongoing seriesThe Legion.[10][11][12][13][14] His work for DC is usually co-written with Andy Lanning and they are often referred to as DnA. The two co-created theResurrection Man character with artistJackson Guice in 1997.[15]
ForDark Horse Comics he co-wrotePlanet of the Apes: Blood Lines withIan Edginton, as well a penningLords of Misrule andHyperSonic.
Abnett'sFirst & Only was one of the first novels published by Games Workshop's Black Library.[16] His other novels set in Games Workshop'sMilitary science fiction-themedWarhammer 40,000 universe include theGaunt's Ghosts series, theEisenhorn andRavenor trilogies, and more recently, as part of theHorus Heresy series, the SF best-sellersHorus Rising,Legion,Prospero Burns,Know No Fear andThe End and the Death Volumes I, II & III. He has also authored four comic strip series, collected as graphic novels, for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint in the volumesDamnation Crusade,Lone Wolves,Inquisitor Ascendant andTitan.
Having written theDoctor Who audio dramasThe Harvest andNocturne forBig Finish's series. He also authoredEveryone Says Hello, an audio drama based onTorchwood. He authored a 'Border Princes, aTorchwood novel, and theframing device of theDoctor Who anthologyThe Story of Martha.
In 1994, he wrote a promotional comic to promote the opening of theNemesisroller coaster atAlton Towers.[17]
At2000 AD he finished the final book ofThe V.C.s and startedBlack Atlantic in theJudge Dredd Megazine, which was drawn bySteve Roberts (seen working onBec & Kawl) in black and white.
In 2008 Abnett and Lanning took overThe Authority as part of theWorld's End relaunch of the coreWildstorm titles.[18]
In addition, Abnett has done a lot of work on Marvel's "cosmic" characters. They expanded on their work inAnnihilation: Nova[19] andNova,[20][21] and piloted the next big eventAnnihilation: Conquest. They said "we were approached byAndy Schmidt, who edited the first 'Annihilation' event, and asked to pilot the next event, which Bill Rosemann is editing." They ended up writing the Prologue, theNova series crossover and the mainAnnihilation: Conquestlimited series.[22] The characters then became the core of a newGuardians of the Galaxy.[23]
In June 2008, Abnett and Lanning signed an exclusive deal with Marvel, which they hoped would give them time to work on the "cosmic" characters they have been dealing with, as well as more earth-based ones. The contract allowed them to finish existing commitments, so they will be able to finish their fifteen issue run onThe Authority.[24] In addition Marvel has allowed the contract to include "a couple of exceptions that are not direct competition, for example, Dan's 2000AD work in the UK and his Games Workshop novels."[25] The first major work to emerge after this deal will beWar of Kings, a crossover storyline, emerging fromSecret Invasion, that pitchesBlack Bolt (and theInhumans) againstGabriel Summers (and theShi’ar Empire) but also draws in other teams and characters, including Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy and theStarjammers.[26][27] This then led straight into "Realm of Kings" which deals with how the different groups deal with the fallout from the events inWar of Kings[28][29][30] and this, in turn, was followed byThe Thanos Imperative.[31][32][33][34][35] DnA have also written anIron Man/Thor limited series.[36]
He and Lanning have also writtenFusion, a crossover series between Marvel andTop Cow.[37]
He also startedInsurrection, a series inJudge Dredd Megazine that aimed "to bring to the Dredd Universe something of the epic war-in-space scale of the stuff I write for Warhammer 40K."[38]
Abnett wrote the screenplay for Games Workshop andCodex Pictures's CGI filmUltramarines[39] released in 2010.[40]
Abnett concludedInsurrection and began a new series in the same milieu,Lawless, also in theJudge Dredd Megazine. Meanwhile, in2000 AD he has continuedKingdom, contributedGrey Area and began another new series,Brink. He also began writing both theAquaman andTitans titles for theDC Rebirth branding, including the crossover storyline "The Lazarus Contract", which he coauthored withChristopher Priest andBenjamin Percy.
On 19 March 2009, HarperCollins' science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint,Angry Robot, announced the acquisition of three original novels by Abnett. They wereTriumff: Her Majesty's Hero, a story set in the alternative history reign of Elizabeth XXX andEmbedded, a near future war story with a journalist protagonist, which would have a follow-up set in the same setting. Only two novels were published.[41]
Dan Abnett has been writing comics and novels since the mid-1980s, producing hundreds of comic stories and dozens of novels.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)The writing team of Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett alongside the art of Jackson "Butch" Guice introduced readers to a new kind of hero inResurrection Man.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| Preceded by | ThePunisher writer 1992-1994 (withAndy Lanning) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Terry Kavanagh | Iron Man writer 1995–1996 (withTerry Kavanagh) | Succeeded by Terry Kavanagh |
| Preceded by | Aquaman writer 2016–2018 | Succeeded by |
