| Greg Rucka | |
|---|---|
 Rucka in 2004 | |
| Born | Gregory Rucka (1969-11-29)November 29, 1969 (age 55) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Area | Writer |
Notable works | Atticus Kodiak Whiteout Batman: No Man's Land Batman: New Gotham Queen & Country Elektra Wolverine Wonder Woman Gotham Central 52 Stumptown Batwoman: Elegy The Punisher Lazarus |
| Awards | ThreeEisner Awards 2004 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story 2010 AnnualGLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book |
| Spouse | Jen Van Meter |
| Official website | |
Gregory Rucka (born November 29, 1969) is an American writer known for the series of novels starring his characterAtticus Kodiak, the creator-owned comic book seriesWhiteout,Queen & Country,Stumptown andLazarus, as well as lengthy runs on such titles asDetective Comics,Wonder Woman andGotham Central forDC Comics, andElektra,Wolverine andThe Punisher forMarvel. He has written a substantial amount of supplemental material for a number ofDC Comics' line-wide and inter-title crossovers, including "No Man's Land", "Infinite Crisis" and "New Krypton".
Rucka made his debut as a screenwriter with the screenplay for the 2020 filmThe Old Guard, based on his comic book series of the same name.
Greg Rucka was born to Corrina J. (née Schnitzer) and Noel Michael Rucka, inSan Francisco, and raised on theMonterey Peninsula of California, in an area known to the locals as "Steinbeck Country". Rucka is Jewish.[1] He first discovered comics at theNob Hill Foods supermarket inSalinas, California, where at age five, he first saw digest-sized black and white reprints ofStan Lee andJack Kirby's work onThe Incredible Hulk, which he convinced his mother to buy. He began writing at a young age, and at age 10, he won a county-wide short story contest. He graduated fromVassar College with an A.B. in English. He then enrolled in theUniversity of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing program, graduating with aMaster of Fine Arts. He namesDouglas Adams as his biggest influence.[2][3]
Before becoming a professional fiction writer he worked in a number of other occupations, including house painting, restaurant work,emergency medical technician, security guard, technical writer, and fight choreographer.[3]
Rucka's writing career began with theAtticus Kodiak series. Kodiak is a bodyguard whose jobs are rarely as uncomplicated as they at first appear. The series to date consists ofKeeper,Finder,Smoker,Shooting at Midnight,Critical Space,Patriot Acts, andWalking Dead. These works garnered Rucka much critical acclaim and comparisons to the elite writers of crime/suspense fiction. The "Atticus" novels are notable for their realism and attention to detail, which is partly a product of Rucka's fight training and experience as anEMT. He has written six non-Atticus books:Fistful of Rain,Alpha,Bravo,A Gentleman's Game,Private Wars, andThe Last Run; the latter three are tie-ins to his comic book seriesQueen & Country.[4]
In 1998, Rucka entered the comics industry withWhiteout, published throughOni Press.[5]Whiteout focuses on a murder in anAntarctic base. It was followed by a sequel,Whiteout: Melt.
The majority of Rucka's work throughout the 2000s was forDC Comics,[5] where he was involved with their main trinity of characters:Superman,Batman andWonder Woman. Rucka wrote Batman on a regular basis in theDetective Comics series following the events of "No Man's Land'".[6] He wrote the novelization of the year-long arc.[7] While writingDetective Comics, he created a number of background characters that led to the co-creation ofGotham Central with co-writerEd Brubaker.[8] His Batman work includes such story arcs as "Bruce Wayne: Murderer?"[9] and "Bruce Wayne: Fugitive".[10] as well as theBatman: Death and the Maidens limited series.[11] From October 2003 to April 2006 he wroteWonder Woman after having previously written the character in theWonder Woman: The Hiketeia originalgraphic novel.
From 2002 to 2004, he did some work for Marvel, including the start of the third volume ofWolverine,[12]Elektra and the mini-seriesUltimate Daredevil and Elektra. He has worked forImage Comics. The first volume of his seriesQueen & Country concluded in July 2007 with issue #32.
He co-wroteCountdown to Infinite Crisis, aone-shot and the official start of theInfinite Crisis storyline, withGeoff Johns andJudd Winick.[13] Rucka's work on bothWonder Woman andGotham Central ended in 2006. Although he was not involved in the main storyline ofInfinite Crisis, he did writeThe OMAC Project[5] which built towards the event, focusing on Batman's distrust of other superheroes. This led to the revival ofCheckmate, a UN authority that oversaw superheroes includingSasha Bordeaux, an integral character of The OMAC Project. He was a co-writer on the weekly series52, which he co-wrote with Geoff Johns,Grant Morrison, andMark Waid.[14] This series chronicled in real-time the year followingInfinite Crisis, and saw Rucka focus on Renee Montoya ofGotham Central[15] and the creation of the new Batwoman, Kate Kane.[16] Rucka returned to the Batwoman character frequently over the years in a52 sequelThe Crime Bible andFinal Crisis: Revelations before returning to the character inDetective Comics with artistJ. H. Williams III, as well as reviving Renee Montoya in the book's second feature with artistCully Hamner.[17][18][19]
Rucka wrote the screenplay for the "Crossfire" segment in the direct-to-DVD animeBatman: Gotham Knight, in whichCrispus Allen, a character he created, appears.[20] In 2009, Rucka and artist Eddy Barrows took overAction Comics as the title moved its focus from Superman toKryptonian heroesNightwing andFlamebird in the aftermath of the "New Krypton" story arc.[21] As well as writingAction Comics, Rucka co-wrote the mainNew Krypton 12 part series withSuperman writerJames Robinson.
At Wondercon 2010 Rucka announced he would part ways with DC Comics to focus on his own projects, in part because of DC's failure to keep him on as writer ofWonder Woman: Earth One as promised.[22][23][24] Rucka then wroteThe Punisher for Marvel Comics.[25]
On July 11, 2011, Rucka launched thewebcomicLady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether, asteampunk adventure series illustrated byRick Burchett. New installments appear every Monday and Thursday.[26] In May 2013, Rucka launched aKickstarter campaign to fund the publication of a print edition ofLady Sabre,[27] and achieved their initial funding goal of $27,500 within eight hours.[28]
He wrote the creator-owned series,Black Magick, which was drawn byNicola Scott and published byImage Comics.[29] The Rucka/Scott creative team produced a newWonder Woman series for DC Comics in June 2016 as part of theDC Rebirth relaunch.[30] Rucka concluded his run onWonder Woman as of issue #25.[31]
In 2017, Rucka wrote the creator-owned seriesThe Old Guard, which was drawn byLeandro Fernandez, colored by Daniela Miwa and published by Image Comics.[32] In March 2017,Skydance Media picked up the rights to adapt the comic into afilm with the same name. Rucka wrote the film's script.[33] The film was released onNetflix in July 2020.[34]
In July 2019, Rucka began writing theLois Lane 12-issue limited series with artistMike Perkins.[35] In December 2019, Rucka began writing a second volume ofThe Old Guard calledThe Old Guard: Force Multiplied.[36]
In August 2023Netflix releasedHeart of Stone, an action-thriller starringGal Gadot whose story was conceived by Rucka,[37] and whose script was written by Rucka andAllison Schroeder.[38]
Rucka was featured as a character in theCSI: Crime Scene Investigation comic book mini-seriesDying in the Gutters, where he accidentally killed comics gossip columnistRich Johnston while attempting to killJoe Quesada over his perceived role in the cancellation ofGotham Central.[39]
Rucka is one of several professional comic artists whose names were used for characters in an episode of the ninth season of the BBC police dramaNew Tricks.[40]
Rucka, his wife, authorJen Van Meter, and their two children, lived inEugene, Oregon, and as of 2013[update] live inPortland, Oregon.[2][3]
Rucka namesThe Conversation,Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid andThe Silence of the Lambs as his favorite films.[2] He enjoys the music ofDexter Gordon,Lester Bowie,Joe Jackson,Warren Zevon, andMelissa Ferrick. His other hobbies include role-playing games, computer games, playing the guitar and collecting action figures.[3]
A stand-out writer in the 'No Man's Land' event, Greg Rucka was handed the reins ofDetetive Comics, alongside artist Shawn Martinbrough.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Presented by writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, with art by Michael Lark, the series followed the night and day shifts of the Gotham City Police Department.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Novelist Greg Rucka restarted Wolverine's title and stayed on for a nineteen-issue run, pairing with artist Darick Robertson.
{{cite book}}:|first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)WhileWonder Woman sees the return of writer Greg Rucka, he's teaming up with Liam Sharp, Matthew Clark and Nicola Scott to deliver a very different take from his previous run with the Amazon Princess.Archive requires scrolldown.
| Preceded by | Detective Comics writer 1999–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Elektra writer 2002–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Wolverine writer 2003–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Wonder Woman writer 2003–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Adventures of Superman writer 2004–2006 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | Checkmate writer 2006–2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Action Comics writer 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Detective Comics writer 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | The Punisher writer 2011–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Punisher: War Zone writer 2012–2013 | Succeeded by n/a |
| Preceded by | Wonder Woman writer 2016–2017 | Succeeded by |
