| Louise Simonson | |
|---|---|
 Simonson at the 2012New York Comic Con | |
| Born | Mary Louise Alexander (1946-09-26)September 26, 1946 (age 79) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area | Writer, Editor,Colourist |
| Pseudonym(s) | Louise Jones, Weezie |
Notable works | New Mutants,Power Pack,Steel,Conan (as editor),Superman: The Man of Steel,X-Factor |
| Awards | Eagle Award forPower Pack; Comics Buyer's Guide Award forThe Death of Superman; Inkpot Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comic Arts |
Louise Simonson (néeMary Louise Alexander; born September 26, 1946[1]) is anAmericancomic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such asConan the Barbarian,Power Pack,X-Factor,The New Mutants,Superman: The Man of Steel, andSteel. She is often referred to by the nickname "Weezie". Among the comic characters she co-created areCable,Steel,Power Pack,Rictor,Doomsday and the X-Men villainApocalypse.
In recognition of her contributions to comics,ComicsAlliance listed Simonson as one of twelve female comics creators deserving of lifetime achievement recognition.[2]
In 1964 while attendingGeorgia State College, Louise met fellow studentJeffrey Catherine Jones. The two began dating and were married in 1966.[3] Their daughter Julianna was born the following year. After graduation, the couple moved to New York City. Louise modeled for artistBernie Wrightson's cover ofDC Comics'House of Secrets #92 (June–July 1971),[4][5] the first appearance ofSwamp Thing,[6] and was hired by McFadden-Bartell, a magazine publisher and distributor and worked there for three years.[3] She and Jones split up during this time but she continued to use the nameLouise Jones for several years afterward.[3]
Louise met the comic book writer and artistWalt Simonson in 1973, began dating in August 1974,[7] and married in 1980.[8] They collaborated onX-Factor from 1986 to 1989.
In 1974, Jones started her professional comic book career atWarren Publishing. She went from assistant to senior editor[8] of the comics line (Creepy,Eerie, andVampirella) before leaving the company at the end of 1979.[9]
In January 1980, Jones joinedMarvel Comics, where she initially worked again as an editor, most notably onUncanny X-Men, which she edited for almost four years (#137–182) andConan the Barbarian (#114–148 ). Simonson (as "Louise Jones") edited another X-Men spin-off,TheNew Mutants, at its debut in 1983. After leaving the series, shehad a "cameo" inNew Mutants #21, drawn in as a slumber party guest by artistBill Sienkiewicz.[10] During this period, she also edited Marvel'sStar Wars andIndiana Jones comics.[9][11]
In 2017, she edited the graphic novelSon of Shaolin for Image Comics.[12]
At the end of 1983, Jones quit her editing job at Marvel to try her hand at full-time writing asLouise Simonson. She created theEagle Award-winningPower Pack.[13] The title, which debuted in August 1984, featured the adventures of four pre-teen superheroes. Simonson wrote the majority of the title's first forty issues, even coloring one issue (#18). Her other Marvel writing work includedStarriors,Marvel Team-Up,Web of Spider-Man,[14] andRed Sonja. Louise helped her husbandWalt Simonson color his "Star Slammers" story inMarvel Graphic Novel #6 (1983).
In 1986Bob Layton, writer of the X-Men spin-offX-Factor, was running late on a deadline, and Simonson was called in to write a fill-in issue ofX-Factor. This story was never published, since Layton ultimately turned his story in on time, but while writing it Simonson found herself inspired by the characters, to the point where she brought a list of her ideas to editorBob Harras in the hopes that Layton might use them for the series.[15] Instead, Layton ended up droppingX-Factor shortly after, and atChris Claremont andAnn Nocenti's suggestion, Harras chose Simonson as his replacement.[15] In #6, her first issue, she and artistJackson Guice introducedApocalypse,[16] a character who would go on to makerepeated appearances in the X-Men franchise. From #10 of the title, she was joined by her husband, Walt Simonson, on pencils. In #25, the creators gave the character,Angel, blue skin and metal wings in a process which led to his being renamed as "Archangel". It was at Simonson's suggestion that X-Men writer Chris Claremont's "Mutant Massacre" story idea was turned into a crossover through all the "X-books", the first of its kind.[17] Her run onX-Factor included the relevant installments of "Mutant Massacre", and the subsequent crossovers "Fall of the Mutants," "Inferno", and "X-Tinction Agenda".[18] She ended her run on the title with #64 in 1991.
In 1987, beginning with issue #55, she became theNew Mutants scripter. Similarly toX-Factor, she was originally brought in as a fill-in writer so that Chris Claremont could launch two other titles,[17] but ended up writing the series for three and a half years, ending with #97 in 1991. It was during this run that she and artistRob Liefeld introducedCable, another important character in the X-Men franchise.[19] In 1988–89, she and her husband co-wrote theHavok andWolverine: Meltdown limited series painted byJon J Muth andKent Williams.
In 1991, Simonson began writing forDC Comics. She, artistJon Bogdanove, and editorMike Carlin launched a new Superman title,Superman: The Man of Steel[20] — a title she wrote for eight years until #86 in 1999. She contributed to such storylines as "Panic in the Sky" in 1992.[21] Later that year, Simonson (along with Carlin,Dan Jurgens,Roger Stern, and others) was one of the chief architects of "The Death of Superman" storyline, in which Superman died and was resurrected. It was during that storyline, inThe Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993),[22] that Simonson and Bogdanove introduced their characterSteel, who graduated to his own title in February 1994,[23] with Simonson as writer until #31. The character went on to feature in aneponymous feature film starringShaquille O'Neal in 1997. Simonson was one of the many creators who worked on theSuperman: The Wedding Album one-shot in 1996 wherein the title character marriedLois Lane.[24]
In 1999, Simonson returned to Marvel to write aWarlock series, which featured a character from her previousNew Mutants run. That same year, she wrote a miniseries,Galactus the Devourer, in which Galactus died temporarily. In 2005, she wrote stories featuringMagnus, Robot Fighter for the publisher Ibooks, Inc. In 2007, Simonson wrote a one-shot starringMagik of the New Mutants as part of a four-issue event known asMystic Arcana.[25] In 2009, she wrote two issues ofMarvel Adventures featuringThor. The next year, she scripted the five-part limited seriesX-Factor Forever and reunited withJune Brigman for a newPower Pack story inGirl Comics #3. Simonson also co-wrote the comicWorld of Warcraft, based on the multi-million player internet game, for Wildstorm, and a manga story, based in theWarcraft universe, forTokyopop. In 2011, DC hired Louise Simonson to writeDC Retroactive:Superman - The '90s, pencilled by herMan of Steel-collaborator Jon Bogdanove.
Simonson wrote the "Five Minutes" chapter inAction Comics #1000 (June 2018)[26] and a twelve-part webcomic tie-in toThe Death of Superman animated movie.[27] In 2019, she contributed two stories toDC Primal Age #1 and teamed up with June Brigman again for the one-shotPower Pack: Grow Up.[28] In 2020 she scripted the comic adaptation ofLeigh Bardugo's novelWonder Woman: Warbringer as well as a comic tie-in to the movieWonder Woman 1984. Simonson revisited her runs onX-Factor andNew Mutants with new stories forX-Men Legends, pencilled by her husband Walt and published in 2021 and 2022.[29][30]
In April 2022, Simonson and her husband were reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed toOperation USA's benefit anthology book,Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded byIDW Publishing Special Projects EditorScott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[31][32] Simonson teamed up with artistJune Brigman to produce an original story with new characters created specifically for the anthology.[33]
In 2023, she wrote a four-issueJean Grey mini-series for Marvel Comics. In 2024, the five-issue retro seriesPower Pack: Into the Storm by Simonson and June Brigman, with a story that takes place during their original run, was published by Marvel.[34]
From 1993 through 2009, she wrote five picture books and eleven novels for middle-readers, many of which featured characters from DC Comics. Two YA novels,Justice League: The Gauntlet[35] andJustice League: Wild at Heart,[36] published byBantam Books, were based on the Justice League cartoon. She wrote an adultBatman novel and the non-fictionDC Comics Covergirls.[37]
Louise Simonson has influenced superhero comics to a degree that few women have.
When Swamp Thing debuted in this issue ofHouse of Secrets as a "one-shot", no one could have known it would lead to an enduring hit franchise, least of all its cover model, future comics writer Louise Simonson.
Working with artist June Brigman...Louise created the preteen super-hero team called Power Pack.
Spider-Man swung into the pages of an all-new ongoing series in this first issue by writer Louise Simonson and penciler Greg LaRocque.
DC editorial saw the chance to give their hero a fourth ongoing monthly book,Superman: The Man of Steel was born, with the first issue written by Louise Simonson and with art by Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Bob McLeod, and Dan Jurgens.
Louise Simonson and Jerry Ordway typify the Man of Steel's miracles in 'Five Minutes,' while providing a fun look at the conflict Superman creates in the life of Clark Kent.
| Preceded by | Power Pack writer 1984–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | X-Factor writer 1986–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | New Mutants writer 1987–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by n/a | Superman: The Man of Steel writer 1991–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | World of Warcraft writer 2009–2010 (with Walt Simonson) | Succeeded by |
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