| Carl Potts | |
|---|---|
 Potts in 2024 | |
| Born | (1952-11-12)November 12, 1952 (age 72) Oakland, California, US |
| Area(s) | Writer,Penciller,Inker, Editor |
Notable works | Alien Legion Epic Comics The Punisher War Journal |
Carl Potts (born November 12, 1952)[1] is anAmericancomics artist, writer, teacher, and editor best known for creating the seriesAlien Legion for theMarvel Comics imprintEpic Comics.
Born inOakland, California, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Hawaii, Potts received anassociate degree incommercial art fromChabot College inHayward, California.[2] He received hisbachelor's degree in creative writing and editing fromSUNY – Empire State College.
After contributing to such comicsfanzines as the anthologyVenture,[3] Potts drew backgrounds and some secondary figures for a late fill-in issue ofDC Comics'Richard Dragon: Kung Fu Fighter, being drawn byBay Area comics artistsJim Starlin andAlan Weiss.[2] Potts began his comics career in 1975.[4]
Relocating to New York City, he freelanced briefly until joiningNeal Adams'commercial art company andcomic book packagerContinuity Studios and was a member of theCrusty Bunkers.[5] As he explained in a 2000 interview: "Continuity was gearing up to produce black-and-white magazines based on several TV series:The Six Million Dollar Man,Space: 1999, andEmergency!. I got involved with storyboard and comp art for major New York ad agencies. I also produced finished-illustration for magazines and books for several years before joining Marvel's editorial staff in 1983".[2][6]
At Marvel as an editor, Potts discovered and/or mentored many top comics creators includingArthur Adams,[7][8]Jon Bogdanove,June Brigman,Jim Lee,[9]Mike Mignola,[10]Mike Okamoto,Whilce Portacio, Terry Shoemaker,Steve Skroce,Larry Stroman, Sal Velutto,Chris Warner, andScott Williams. He oversaw the development of thePunisher from guest star to franchise character, and edited such titles asThe Incredible Hulk,Doctor Strange,The Defenders,The Thing,[11]Alpha Flight, andMoon Knight, as well as the newly createdAmazing High Adventure,Power Pack,Strikeforce: Morituri, andWhat The--?!.[12] He was the editor who produced the firstRocket Raccoon miniseries.[10] Potts' editorship was humorously characterized in 1988 as "a remarkable feat considering [his] legendary spelling disability."[13]
After hours, Potts continued to write and produce occasional art for Marvel. He created the "Last of the Dragons" serial which appeared inEpic Illustrated #15–20 (Dec. 1982–Oct. 1983) and was written byDennis O'Neil and inked byTerry Austin.[14][15] In 1983, Potts teamed withAlan Zelenetz andFrank Cirocco to co-create the seriesAlien Legion, conceived as "theFrench Foreign Legion in space." Two ongoing series and severalminiseries andone-shots were produced.[2][16] In 2007, Potts'Alien Legion screenplay was optioned by producerJerry Bruckheimer andThe Walt Disney Company.[17] Bruckheimer exercised the option and bought the script in 2010, hiringGame of Thrones show runnerDavid Benioff to do a rewrite.[citation needed]
Potts wrote and, for the early issues, did layouts for the launch of thePunisher War Journal title in 1988 with Jim Lee doing the finished art.[18] In 1989, Potts was named executive editor in charge of the Epic imprint, and about a third of the mainstream Marvel titles.[12] Five years later, he became editor-in-chief of the "General Entertainment" andEpic Comics divisions.[2]
After 13 years at Marvel, Potts left to become Creative Director at VR-1, amassively multiplayer online game company.[2] He then worked withGary Winnick and Cirocco's Lightsource Studios[2] before freelancing. He has taught at theSchool of Visual Arts[19] and theAcademy of Art University.[20]
In 2023 the rights to hisAlien Legion were picked up byWarner Bros., withTim Miller slated to direct an adaptation.[21]
Potts and his wife Cathy have two children.[citation needed]
The editorial staff also changed in 1983. Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, and Carl Potts all became editors.
When I became an editor, Mike [Mignola] had just penciled his first story, a Sub-Mariner job forMarvel Fanfare. We renewed our acquaintance and I assigned him his first series as a penciller,Rocket Raccoon.
One of Potts' first comics projects, 'Last of the Dragons', originally published inEpic Illustrated, has been repackaged and released by Dover Books. The story, written and illustrated by the comics veteran in the early '80s, has a unique take on monks, ninjas, samurais and dragons as a group of monks in 19th Century Japan have trained dragons and plan to bring them to America.
A second regularly published series,The Punisher: War Journal, was added in November 1988; this time Carl Potts provided the scripts himself, and also did layouts that were fully rendered by artist Jim Lee.
| Preceded by | The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 editor 1983–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Dennis O'Neil | Alpha Flight editor 1985–1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by n/a | The Punisher vol. 2 editor 1987–1989 | Succeeded by Don Daley |
| Preceded by | Marvel Comics Group Editor-in-Chiefs licensed-property titles 1994–1995 With:Mark Gruenwald,Marvel Universe titles Bob Harras,X-Men titles Bob Budiansky,Spider-Man titles Bobbie Chase,Marvel Edge titles | Succeeded by Bob Harras |
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