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{{Infobox Person| name = Joseph Michael Straczynski| image = J Michael Straczynski 2007-05-12.jpg| image_size = 200px| caption = Straczynski in 2007, [New Jersey, [television producer, Author-->
Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17,
1954) is an award-winning United States
writer/
television producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and
radio dramas. He is also a playwright,
journalist and author of a well-regarded tome on Screenwriter. He was the creator,
executive producer and head writer for the
science fiction TV series
Babylon 5 and its spin-off
Crusade (TV series). Straczynski wrote 91 out of the 110
Babylon 5 episodes, notably including an unbroken 59-episode run through all of the third and fourth seasons, and all but one episode of the fifth season. He also wrote the four
Babylon 5 (
abbreviation:
B5) TV movies produced alongside the series.
He is also a participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including
GEnie, CompuServe, and America Online) since 1984.{{cite web). Two of the more prominent areas where he had a presence were [GEnie and the newsgroup [rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Straczynski is a graduate of [San Diego State University, having earned [Bachelor's degrees in [psychology and [sociology (with minors in [philosophy and [literature). While at SDSU, he wrote prolifically for the student newspaper, ''The Daily Aztec,'' at times penning so many articles that the paper was jokingly referred to as the "Daily Joe." Straczynski currently resides in the [Los Angeles, California area.
Straczynski's professional name is '''J. Michael Straczynski''', although informally he goes by "Joe". In print, and particularly on Usenet, he is often referred to by his initials '''JMS''' or as '''The Great Maker''' (a ''Babylon 5'' in-joke).
==Early years==
Straczynski hails initially from [Paterson, New Jersey, but has also lived in [Newark, New Jersey; [Kankakee, Illinois; [Dallas, Texas; [Chula Vista, California, where he graduated high school; and [San Diego, California. {{cite web
| url = http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-12264
| publisher = JMSNews
| title = Re: ATTN JMS: Why Accelerate t
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = 1995-01-24
| accessdate = 2007-02-18
-->. Straczynski's family was [Roman Catholic Church of Eastern European descent. His family was from historical [Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territory in [Carpathian Mountains. He refers to his background as [Belarusian people, White [Russian people and [Polish people, but it's probably Polish (Catholic religion and historical Polish territories) with some Belarusian-[Ruthenian origins. His grandparents fled to America from the [Russian Revolution of 1917, his father was born in the US, but lived in Germany and Poland. The family's name might be originally Strączyński with Polish diacritic signs (it's a common Polish surname).{{cite web
| url = http://www.atomsoup.com/b5/GEnie/jms94-05-15
| publisher = GEnie
| title = This file contains messages posted by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie
from May 16 - May 30th. Postings are copyright 1994 by J. Michael Straczynski
with compilation copyright by GEnie.
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = Thu May 26, 1994
| accessdate = ?
-->{{cite web
| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-9055
| publisher = JMSNews
| title = Kiwi: I was referring to killing... (GENIE)
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = 1994-05-25
| accessdate = 2007-06-24
-->
According to the jacket bio for the first edition of his scriptwriting text (see #Print below), Straczynski had a play produced when he was 17, a sitcom produced when he was 21, and sold his first movie script when he was 24. By the age of 28, he had credits that included television and film scripts, radio scripts for ''Alien Worlds''[http://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/aw_.log.txt Alien Worlds Radio Show Index. Accessed
August 15 [. and the [Mutual Broadcasting System, a dozen plays, and more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles. He had also been teaching his craft for several years at various lectures and seminars in California and elsewhere.
He also spent five years co-hosting the [Hour 25 radio [talk show on KPFK-FM Los Angeles with [Larry DiTillio.
==Television and radio==
Straczynski started in television in 1983, working on various animated shows and then in live action, quickly working his way from staff writer to executive producer, culminating in his most famous television work: ''Babylon 5'', which won two [Emmy Awards, back-to-back [Hugo Awards, and dozens of other awards. He wrote 91 out of ''Babylon 5'''s 110 [List of Babylon 5 episodes, as well as the pilot and five television movies. The character-driven space opera is also notable for its five year story arc, emphasis on realism, and its pioneering, extensive use of
computer-generated imagery for its special effects. Straczynski was also creator and executive producer of
B5's thirteen-episode sequel series,
Crusade (TV series), for which he wrote 10 of the 13 episodes.
Straczynski created and executive produced
Jeremiah (TV series), loosely based on the Belgian apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction comic Jeremiah (comics), writing 19 of the 35 episodes.
A partial chronological list of Straczynski's other television credits:
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Staff Writer; specifically writing 8 episodes
- She-Ra: Princess of Power - Staff Writer
- Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors - Staff Writer, specifically writing 11-14 episodes
- The Real Ghostbusters - Story Editor; writer of 21 episodes and one Special
- Captain Power - Executive Story Editor; writer of 13 episodes
- The New Twilight Zone - Story Editor; writer of 11 episodes
- Jake and the Fatman - Executive Story Editor; writer of 5 episodes
- Murder, She Wrote - Co-Producer; writer of 7 episodes
- Walker Texas Ranger - Supervising Producer; writer of 1 episode (left show to do B5).
Additionally, Straczynski was involved in
Spiral Zone, from which he removed his name and used the pseudonym Fettes Grey (derived from the names of the grave robbers in
The Body Snatcher (film)). He also wrote an episode of
CBS Story Break (an adaptation of
Evelyn Sibley Lampman's
The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek).
In 2004, Straczynski was approached by
Paramount Pictures to become a producer of the
Star Trek: Enterprise series. He declined, believing that he would not be allowed to take the show in the direction he felt it should go. He did write a treatment for a new
Star Trek series with colleague
Bryce Zabel.Zabel, Bryce. JMS and Bryce Zabel's
Star Trek treatment, 2006-06-15.
In 2005, Straczynski began the process of publishing his
Babylon 5 scripts.{{cite web] for Sci Fi Channel (United States)#SciFi.com and an original 20-part radio drama series entitled
The Adventures of Apocalypse Al for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that will debut in 2007.
Film
Straczynski has also worked on feature film and television movies. Outside of the six (to date)
Babylon 5 films, he wrote the award-winning adaptation of
Robert Louis Stevenson's
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for the Showtime network, and a
Murder, She Wrote movie,
Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For, which he also produced.
On
June 27, 2006,
Variety (magazine) reported that
Universal Studios and
Imagine Entertainment have purchased the rights to Straczynski's thriller
The Changeling (2008 film), with
Ron Howard originally slated to helm the picture. However, Howard dropped out of the directing-chores, due to scheduling conflicts. On March 8,
2007,
Variety reported that Clint Eastwood will direct the film, with Angelina Jolie slated to star.{{cite web]
2006, another original Straczynski screenplay, entitled
Borrowed Lives, was purchased by
Touchstone Pictures, and is now in pre-production development.{{cite web] for Universal in 2006 by producers Erwin Stoff and Akiva Goldsman.
Straczynski announced on February 23,
2007 that he has been hired to write the feature film adaptation of
Max Brooks's
New York Times-bestselling novel
World War Z for Universal Pictures and
Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B.
In
June 2007 it had been announced that he had written the feature screenplay for the
Silver Surfer movie for Fox, depending on the success of the
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Additionally, he is developing a script called
They Marched Into Sunlight based upon a story by Paul Greengrass for Greengrass to direct the film should it get a greenlight.{{cite web| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17664&query=Silver%20Surfer| publisher = JMSNews| title = Re: JMS: Silver Surfer movie?| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| date = 2007-06-13| accessdate = 2007-06-24-->
Print
Novels, short stories and nonfiction
Straczynski is the author of three
horror fiction novels —
Demon Night,
Othersyde, and
Tribulations — and nearly twenty short stories, many of which are collected in two compilations —
Tales from the New Twilight Zone and
Straczynski Unplugged. He wrote the outlines for nine of the Canon (fiction)
Babylon 5 novels, personally supervised the three produced
B5 telefilm novelizations (
In the Beginning,
Thirdspace, and
A Call to Arms), and is the author of four
Babylon 5 short stories published in magazines, and (as of 2005) not yet reprinted.
Straczynski has also been a journalist, reviewer, and investigative reporter, publishing over 500 articles in such publications as the
Los Angeles Times, the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,
Writer's Digest,
Penthouse (magazine),
San Diego Magazine,
Twilight Zone Magazine, the
San Diego Reader, the
Los Angeles Reader and
Time (magazine).
Straczynski wrote
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting (ISBN 1-85286-882-1), often used as a text in introductory screenwriting courses,{{cite web|url = https://intranet.londonmet.ac.uk/prog-plan/postgrad-line/modules/hu/hup037.cfm|title = HUP037 Scriptwriting|accessdate = 2007-09-13|work = Course Sylabus|publisher = London Metropolitan University|year = 2007|language = English-->{{cite web|url = http://www.fuller.edu/sot/ecds/061/WS508A_Adam.html|title = WS508A: Ministry and Media: Theory and Production|accessdate = 2007-09-13|author= Adam, Scott|work = Course Sylabus|publisher = [Fuller Theological Seminary, [Pasadena, California|year = 2007|language = English-->{{cite web|url = http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/writing/martin-paper.cfm|title = Process in Creative Script Writing|accessdate = 2007-09-13|author= Martin, Carey|work = Course Sylabus|publisher = [East Carolina University|year = 2007|language = English--> and now in its third edition.
Comic books
Straczynski has long been a comic fan, and began writing comics in the 1980s. His early work in comics includes:
In 1999 he started writing
Rising Stars for Top Cow / Image Comics. Eventually he worked mostly under his own imprint,
Joe's Comics, for which he also wrote the
Midnight Nation miniseries, and the illustrated fantasy parable
Delicate Creatures.
Marvel Comics then signed him to an exclusive contract, beginning with a run on
The Amazing Spider-Man. He has since written for many major Marvel titles, including
Fantastic Four.
Straczynski's work for Marvel includes:
- The Amazing Spider-Man - from Vol. 2, #30 (= Vol. 1 #471) to Vol. 1, #544 (including issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) as part of crossovers)
- Supreme Power - 2003 reboot of the Squadron Supreme
- Doctor Strange: Beginnings and Endings - miniseries
- Fantastic Four - #527-#541
- Dream Police (comics) - One-shot (comics); Icon Comics imprint
- The Book of Lost Souls - Icon Comics, beginning September 2005
- Bullet Points (comic) - 2006 miniseries
- Silver Surfer: Requiem - miniseries, beginning May 2007
- Thor (Marvel Comics) - beginning July 2007
- The Twelve (comic) - with Chris Weston, 12-part miniseries, beginning Spring 2008 SDCC '07: MARVEL'S THE TWELVE REVEALED, Newsarama Mystery Men's Dozen: Brevoort Talks "The Twelve", July 26, 2007, Comic Book Resources
Graphic novels and collections
Supreme Power trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: Contact (#1-6)
- Volume 2: Powers And Principalities (#7-12)
- Volume 3: High Command (#13-18)
- Supreme Power: Hyperion mini-series
- Squadron Supreme (Supreme Power) Vol. 1: The Pre-War Years
The Amazing Spider-Man trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: Coming Home (#30-35)
- Volume 2: Revelations (#36-39)
- Volume 3: Until The Stars Turn Cold (#40-45)
- Volume 4: The Life & Death of Spiders (#46-50)
- Volume 5: Unintended Consequences (#51-56)
- Volume 6: Happy Birthday (#57-58, #500-502)
- Volume 7: The Book of Ezekiel (#503-508)
- Volume 8: Sins Past (#509-514)
- Volume 9: Skin Deep (#515-518)
- Volume 10: New Avengers (#519-524)
- Spider-Man: The Other (#525-528 plus others)
- Civil War: The Road To Civil War (#529-531 plus others)
- Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man (#532-538)
Fantastic Four trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: (#527-532)
- Volume 2: The Life Fantastic (#533-535, Wedding Special, My Dinner With Doom and Death in the Family)
- Civil War: The Road To Civil War (#536-537 plus others)
- Civil War: Fantastic Four (#538-542)
Rising Stars trade paperbacks
- Volume 0: Visitations (#0, ½, Preview)
- Volume 1: Born in Fire (#1-8)
- Volume 2: Power (#9-16)
- Volume 3: Fire and Ash (#17-24)
Other
- Midnight Nation – Entire 12-issue series collected in one volume
- Delicate Creatures
- Doctor Strange – Entire 6-issue miniseries
- Snow White : an assembly length children's play dramatized by J. Michael Straczynski. c1979.{{cite web
| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-12063| publisher = JMSNews| title = Re: ATTN JMS: Re: Snow White| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| date = 1996-12-08| accessdate = 2007-08-11-->{{cite web| url = http://www.bakersplays.com/store/product_info.php/cPath/11/products_id/1346?osCsid=e06b04b0d58e7c3adbe2697bfdc3286f| publisher = Baker's Plays| title = Snow White (Straczynski)| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| year = 1979| accessdate = 2007-08-11-->
Awards and recognition
He has received a good deal of recognition for his work, including a nomination for the Comics' Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 2000.
His awards include two Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award#Other Nebula Ceremony Awards from the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, a
Saturn Award, the E Pluribus Unum Award from the
American Cinema Foundation, the Eisner Award, the
Inkpot Award, and three technical
Emmy Awards (for
Babylon 5). He has also received an
Eagle Awards, and two awards from the Space Frontier Foundation.
An asteroid, discovered in 1992 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, was honorarily named
8379 Straczynski.
Footnotes
References
- JMSNews
- Worlds of JMS
- Bibliography at SciFan
- Bibliography at B5races
- Newsarama interview (Sept. 2006)
{{Infobox Person| name = Joseph Michael Straczynski| image = J Michael Straczynski 2007-05-12.jpg| image_size = 200px| caption = Straczynski in 2007, [New Jersey, [television producer, Author-->
Joseph Michael Straczynski (born
July 17, 1954) is an award-winning
United States writer/
television producer of
television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas. He is also a playwright,
journalist and author of a well-regarded tome on Screenwriter. He was the creator,
executive producer and head writer for the science fiction TV series
Babylon 5 and its spin-off
Crusade (TV series). Straczynski wrote 91 out of the 110
Babylon 5 episodes, notably including an unbroken 59-episode run through all of the third and fourth seasons, and all but one episode of the fifth season. He also wrote the four
Babylon 5 (abbreviation:
B5) TV movies produced alongside the series.
He is also a participant in Usenet and other early computer networks, interacting with fans through various online forums (including GEnie, CompuServe, and
America Online) since 1984.{{cite web). Two of the more prominent areas where he had a presence were [GEnie and the newsgroup [rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Straczynski is a graduate of [San Diego State University, having earned [Bachelor's degrees in [psychology and [sociology (with minors in [philosophy and [literature). While at SDSU, he wrote prolifically for the student newspaper, ''The Daily Aztec,'' at times penning so many articles that the paper was jokingly referred to as the "Daily Joe." Straczynski currently resides in the [Los Angeles, California area.
Straczynski's professional name is '''J. Michael Straczynski''', although informally he goes by "Joe". In print, and particularly on Usenet, he is often referred to by his initials '''JMS''' or as '''The Great Maker''' (a ''Babylon 5'' in-joke).
==Early years==
Straczynski hails initially from [Paterson, New Jersey, but has also lived in [Newark, New Jersey; [Kankakee, Illinois; [Dallas, Texas; [Chula Vista, California, where he graduated high school; and [San Diego, California. {{cite web
| url = http://www.jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-12264
| publisher = JMSNews
| title = Re: ATTN JMS: Why Accelerate t
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = 1995-01-24
| accessdate = 2007-02-18
-->. Straczynski's family was [Roman Catholic Church of Eastern European descent. His family was from historical [Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territory in [Carpathian Mountains. He refers to his background as [Belarusian people, White [Russian people and [Polish people, but it's probably Polish (Catholic religion and historical Polish territories) with some Belarusian-[Ruthenian origins. His grandparents fled to America from the [Russian Revolution of 1917, his father was born in the US, but lived in Germany and Poland. The family's name might be originally Strączyński with Polish diacritic signs (it's a common Polish surname).{{cite web
| url = http://www.atomsoup.com/b5/GEnie/jms94-05-15
| publisher = GEnie
| title = This file contains messages posted by J. Michael Straczynski on GEnie
from May 16 - May 30th. Postings are copyright 1994 by J. Michael Straczynski
with compilation copyright by GEnie.
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = Thu May 26, 1994
| accessdate = ?
-->{{cite web
| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-9055
| publisher = JMSNews
| title = Kiwi: I was referring to killing... (GENIE)
| author = Straczynski, J. Michael
| date = 1994-05-25
| accessdate = 2007-06-24
-->
According to the jacket bio for the first edition of his scriptwriting text (see #Print below), Straczynski had a play produced when he was 17, a sitcom produced when he was 21, and sold his first movie script when he was 24. By the age of 28, he had credits that included television and film scripts, radio scripts for ''Alien Worlds''[http://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/aw_.log.txt Alien Worlds Radio Show Index. Accessed
August 15 [. and the [Mutual Broadcasting System, a dozen plays, and more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles. He had also been teaching his craft for several years at various lectures and seminars in California and elsewhere.
He also spent five years co-hosting the [Hour 25 radio [talk show on KPFK-FM Los Angeles with [Larry DiTillio.
==Television and radio==
Straczynski started in television in 1983, working on various animated shows and then in live action, quickly working his way from staff writer to executive producer, culminating in his most famous television work: ''Babylon 5'', which won two [Emmy Awards, back-to-back [Hugo Awards, and dozens of other awards. He wrote 91 out of ''Babylon 5'''s 110 [List of Babylon 5 episodes, as well as the pilot and five
television movies. The character-driven
space opera is also notable for its five year
story arc, emphasis on realism, and its pioneering, extensive use of computer-generated imagery for its special effects. Straczynski was also creator and executive producer of
B5's thirteen-episode sequel series,
Crusade (TV series), for which he wrote 10 of the 13 episodes.
Straczynski created and executive produced
Jeremiah (TV series), loosely based on the Belgian
apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction comic
Jeremiah (comics), writing 19 of the 35 episodes.
A partial chronological list of Straczynski's other television credits:
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe - Staff Writer; specifically writing 8 episodes
- She-Ra: Princess of Power - Staff Writer
- Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors - Staff Writer, specifically writing 11-14 episodes
- The Real Ghostbusters - Story Editor; writer of 21 episodes and one Special
- Captain Power - Executive Story Editor; writer of 13 episodes
- The New Twilight Zone - Story Editor; writer of 11 episodes
- Jake and the Fatman - Executive Story Editor; writer of 5 episodes
- Murder, She Wrote - Co-Producer; writer of 7 episodes
- Walker Texas Ranger - Supervising Producer; writer of 1 episode (left show to do B5).
Additionally, Straczynski was involved in
Spiral Zone, from which he removed his name and used the pseudonym Fettes Grey (derived from the names of the grave robbers in
The Body Snatcher (film)). He also wrote an episode of
CBS Story Break (an adaptation of Evelyn Sibley Lampman's
The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek).
In 2004, Straczynski was approached by Paramount Pictures to become a producer of the
Star Trek: Enterprise series. He declined, believing that he would not be allowed to take the show in the direction he felt it should go. He did write a treatment for a new
Star Trek series with colleague Bryce Zabel.Zabel, Bryce. JMS and Bryce Zabel's
Star Trek treatment,
2006-06-15.
In 2005, Straczynski began the process of publishing his
Babylon 5 scripts.{{cite web] for Sci Fi Channel (United States)#SciFi.com and an original 20-part radio drama series entitled
The Adventures of Apocalypse Al for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that will debut in 2007.
Film
Straczynski has also worked on feature film and television movies. Outside of the six (to date)
Babylon 5 films, he wrote the award-winning adaptation of
Robert Louis Stevenson's
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for the
Showtime network, and a
Murder, She Wrote movie,
Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For, which he also produced.
On June 27, 2006,
Variety (magazine) reported that
Universal Studios and
Imagine Entertainment have purchased the rights to Straczynski's thriller
The Changeling (2008 film), with
Ron Howard originally slated to helm the picture. However, Howard dropped out of the directing-chores, due to scheduling conflicts. On March 8,
2007,
Variety reported that
Clint Eastwood will direct the film, with
Angelina Jolie slated to star.{{cite web]
2006, another original Straczynski screenplay, entitled
Borrowed Lives, was purchased by Touchstone Pictures, and is now in pre-production development.{{cite web] for Universal in 2006 by producers Erwin Stoff and
Akiva Goldsman.
Straczynski announced on
February 23, 2007 that he has been hired to write the feature film adaptation of
Max Brooks's
New York Times-bestselling novel
World War Z for Universal Pictures and
Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B.
In June 2007 it had been announced that he had written the feature screenplay for the Silver Surfer movie for Fox, depending on the success of the
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Additionally, he is developing a script called
They Marched Into Sunlight based upon a story by Paul Greengrass for Greengrass to direct the film should it get a greenlight.{{cite web| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-17664&query=Silver%20Surfer| publisher = JMSNews| title = Re: JMS: Silver Surfer movie?| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| date = 2007-06-13| accessdate = 2007-06-24-->
Print
Novels, short stories and nonfiction
Straczynski is the author of three
horror fiction novels —
Demon Night,
Othersyde, and
Tribulations — and nearly twenty short stories, many of which are collected in two compilations —
Tales from the New Twilight Zone and
Straczynski Unplugged. He wrote the outlines for nine of the
Canon (fiction) Babylon 5 novels, personally supervised the three produced
B5 telefilm novelizations (
In the Beginning,
Thirdspace, and
A Call to Arms), and is the author of four
Babylon 5 short stories published in magazines, and (as of 2005) not yet reprinted.
Straczynski has also been a journalist, reviewer, and investigative reporter, publishing over 500 articles in such publications as the
Los Angeles Times, the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,
Writer's Digest,
Penthouse (magazine),
San Diego Magazine,
Twilight Zone Magazine, the
San Diego Reader, the
Los Angeles Reader and
Time (magazine).
Straczynski wrote
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting (ISBN 1-85286-882-1), often used as a text in introductory screenwriting courses,{{cite web|url = https://intranet.londonmet.ac.uk/prog-plan/postgrad-line/modules/hu/hup037.cfm|title = HUP037 Scriptwriting|accessdate = 2007-09-13|work = Course Sylabus|publisher =
London Metropolitan University|year = 2007|language = English-->{{cite web|url = http://www.fuller.edu/sot/ecds/061/WS508A_Adam.html|title = WS508A: Ministry and Media: Theory and Production|accessdate = 2007-09-13|author= Adam, Scott|work = Course Sylabus|publisher = [Fuller Theological Seminary, [Pasadena, California|year = 2007|language = English-->{{cite web|url = http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/writing/martin-paper.cfm|title = Process in Creative Script Writing|accessdate = 2007-09-13|author= Martin, Carey|work = Course Sylabus|publisher = [East Carolina University|year = 2007|language = English--> and now in its third edition.
Comic books
Straczynski has long been a comic fan, and began writing comics in the 1980s. His early work in comics includes:
- Titans (comics) Spotlight #13 (DC Comics, 1987)
- The Twilight Zone #2 (NOW Comics, 1991)
- Star Trek DC comics #16 (DC, 1991)
- Babylon 5 Novels, novelizations, short stories, and comic books #1 (DC, 1993)
- Babylon 5: In Valen's Name mini-series (DC, 1998)
In 1999 he started writing
Rising Stars for Top Cow / Image Comics. Eventually he worked mostly under his own imprint,
Joe's Comics, for which he also wrote the
Midnight Nation miniseries, and the illustrated fantasy parable
Delicate Creatures.
Marvel Comics then signed him to an exclusive contract, beginning with a run on
The Amazing Spider-Man. He has since written for many major Marvel titles, including
Fantastic Four.
Straczynski's work for Marvel includes:
- The Amazing Spider-Man - from Vol. 2, #30 (= Vol. 1 #471) to Vol. 1, #544 (including issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) as part of crossovers)
- Supreme Power - 2003 reboot of the Squadron Supreme
- Doctor Strange: Beginnings and Endings - miniseries
- Fantastic Four - #527-#541
- Dream Police (comics) - One-shot (comics); Icon Comics imprint
- The Book of Lost Souls - Icon Comics, beginning September 2005
- Bullet Points (comic) - 2006 miniseries
- Silver Surfer: Requiem - miniseries, beginning May 2007
- Thor (Marvel Comics) - beginning July 2007
- The Twelve (comic) - with Chris Weston, 12-part miniseries, beginning Spring 2008 SDCC '07: MARVEL'S THE TWELVE REVEALED, Newsarama Mystery Men's Dozen: Brevoort Talks "The Twelve", July 26, 2007, Comic Book Resources
Graphic novels and collections
Supreme Power trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: Contact (#1-6)
- Volume 2: Powers And Principalities (#7-12)
- Volume 3: High Command (#13-18)
- Supreme Power: Hyperion mini-series
- Squadron Supreme (Supreme Power) Vol. 1: The Pre-War Years
The Amazing Spider-Man trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: Coming Home (#30-35)
- Volume 2: Revelations (#36-39)
- Volume 3: Until The Stars Turn Cold (#40-45)
- Volume 4: The Life & Death of Spiders (#46-50)
- Volume 5: Unintended Consequences (#51-56)
- Volume 6: Happy Birthday (#57-58, #500-502)
- Volume 7: The Book of Ezekiel (#503-508)
- Volume 8: Sins Past (#509-514)
- Volume 9: Skin Deep (#515-518)
- Volume 10: New Avengers (#519-524)
- Spider-Man: The Other (#525-528 plus others)
- Civil War: The Road To Civil War (#529-531 plus others)
- Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man (#532-538)
Fantastic Four trade paperbacks
- Volume 1: (#527-532)
- Volume 2: The Life Fantastic (#533-535, Wedding Special, My Dinner With Doom and Death in the Family)
- Civil War: The Road To Civil War (#536-537 plus others)
- Civil War: Fantastic Four (#538-542)
Rising Stars trade paperbacks
- Volume 0: Visitations (#0, ½, Preview)
- Volume 1: Born in Fire (#1-8)
- Volume 2: Power (#9-16)
- Volume 3: Fire and Ash (#17-24)
Other
- Midnight Nation – Entire 12-issue series collected in one volume
- Delicate Creatures
- Doctor Strange – Entire 6-issue miniseries
- Snow White : an assembly length children's play dramatized by J. Michael Straczynski. c1979.{{cite web
| url = http://jmsnews.com/msg.aspx?id=1-12063| publisher = JMSNews| title = Re: ATTN JMS: Re: Snow White| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| date = 1996-12-08| accessdate = 2007-08-11-->{{cite web| url = http://www.bakersplays.com/store/product_info.php/cPath/11/products_id/1346?osCsid=e06b04b0d58e7c3adbe2697bfdc3286f| publisher = Baker's Plays| title = Snow White (Straczynski)| author = Straczynski, J. Michael| year = 1979| accessdate = 2007-08-11-->
Awards and recognition
He has received a good deal of recognition for his work, including a nomination for the Comics' Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 2000.
His awards include two Hugo Awards, the Nebula Award#Other Nebula Ceremony Awards from the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, a
Saturn Award, the E Pluribus Unum Award from the
American Cinema Foundation, the
Eisner Award, the Inkpot Award, and three technical Emmy Awards (for
Babylon 5). He has also received an
Eagle Awards, and two awards from the Space Frontier Foundation.
An asteroid, discovered in 1992 at the
Kitt Peak National Observatory, was honorarily named
8379 Straczynski.
Footnotes
References
- JMSNews
- Worlds of JMS
- Bibliography at SciFan
- Bibliography at B5races
- Newsarama interview (Sept. 2006)
J. Michael Straczynski
Trivia: Despite the prevalence of religious figures and symbols in his stories and shows... more
J. Michael Straczynski - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Michael Straczynski (born July 17, 1954) is an award-winning American writer / producer of television series, novels, short stories, comic books, and radio dramas.
Clint Eastwood
Includes filmography, biography, pictures, trivia, and quotes.
JMSNews
The J. Michael Straczynski Message Archive : JMSNews provides an archive of messages posted by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS).
J Michael Straczynski - Channel 4 Film
The UK's most comprehensive film site with over 10,000 film reviews, 100,000 filmographies, 1000 DVD reviews movie news and listings
SS > SF > book reviews > J. Michael Straczynski
Introduction, and the script of the Hugo Award-winning episode of Babylon 5.
BROWNS BOOKS: Ultimate Power - J.Michael Straczynski
Ultimate Power - J.Michael Straczynski. BROWNS BOOKS for paperbacks, hardbacks, maps and audiobooks, order and pre-order online.
Worlds of JMS
Information on the many projects of Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski.
J. Michael Straczynski
J. Michael Straczynski has 2 in-development credits available on IMDbPro.com. To view these credits click here.
Speculative Fiction Books - J. Michael Straczynski
Tribulations The Babylon File: The Definitive Unauthorised Guide to J. Michael Straczynski's TV Series Babylon 5 ~ Usually ships in 24 hours Andy Lane /Mass Market Paperback ...