Gary Reed is an American comic book writer who was also the publisher of Caliber Comics, an independent comic book company that released 1,300 titles in the 1990s and gave a chance to many of today’s top comic talents in the business such as Brian Michael Bendis, David W. Mack, Vince Locke, Guy Davis, Michael Lark, Patrick Zircher, Jim Calafiore, Ed Brubaker, Michael Gaydos, James O'Barr, Mike Carey and others. As a writer, he has written primarily for Caliber Comics and Image Comics. He was also Vice President of McFarlane Toys when the company initially launched in 1993. His writing credits include Baker Street, Renfield, Saint Germaine and Deadworld.
Gary Reed was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He has a Masters of Science in Biology, specializing in molecular genetics. He currently lives in a suburb of Detroit with his wife and they have four daughters. In addition to his freelance writing, Reed teaches various biology related courses at different community colleges in his area.
Reed opened his first bookstore while still a student at Eastern Michigan University. By the time he graduated with his Masters, he had four stores that specialized in used books, comic books, and other popular culture items. In 1982, he launched King Kon, an annual event celebrating pop culture and brought the idea of big conventions in that area to the Detroit-Ann Arbor area. After three years and a heavy schedule which included a weekly radio show and television show on cable access, Reed had to reduce his workload with the arrival of his first daughter so he ceased the conventions. Later, the convention was picked up by the Motor City Convention, which continues today.
In 1989, Reed launched Caliber Comics, an independent publishing company. The initial titles were Deadworld, Realm, Caliber Presents, Moontrap, The Crow and Baker Street, a series co-created by Reed with Guy Davis. Reed and Davis were nominated for a prestigious Harvey Award for Best New Series for Baker Street.
Caliber continued through the 1990s releasing over 1,300 comics and over 70 graphic novels. Unlike most comic companies, Caliber didn’t publish superheroes although there were a few titles but these were mainly produced for other distribution areas such as Wal-Mart. Caliber was a collection of different imprints featuring specialize lines such as: Tome Press featuring biographical, historical and literary works, Gauntlet, the action adventure line, Icongrafix which carried the alternative type material, and Tapestry, a line geared for young readers. During the time at Caliber, Reed also became vice president of McFarlane Toys for the first three years of that company’s existence.
Caliber ceased publishing around 2000. Reed concentrated on his teaching until he started working with Byron Preiss. Preiss had contracted to reprint all of the issues of Baker Street into a single collection to be distributed by Simon and Shuster. Reed was brought in to write graphic novel adaptations of the classic horror novels from Penguin Books. Frankenstein and Dracula were released before Preiss died in a car accident and the line was canceled.
Reed launched a new series of Deadworld with Desperado Publishing and Image Comics and brought back many of the Caliber titles with Image such as Red Diaries, Saint Germaine, Renfield and others. Reed currently releases Deadworld via IDW.
In 2006, Reed wrote a young adult novel for the new Actionopolis line. His Spirit of the Samurai is the first in a series of books featuring a young heroine with an ancestry she never knew she had. Reed also formed a new company with fellow writer, Rafael Nieves, called Transfuzion Publishing, which has collected many of his previous work into compilations although Transfuzion is now also publishing all new material as well. In 2009, Reed released A Murder of Scarecrows through Desperado as well as a hardcover original tale of Deadworld in Slaughterhouse with art by Hatter M's Sami Makkonen. In 2010, an original graphic novel written by Reed, Sherlock Holmes: Murder at Moulin Rouge, was released via Transfuzion Publishing.
Reed has written over 200 comics and graphic novels and sometimes under assumed names. The most recognizable assumed names are Kyle Garrett, Brent Truax, and Randall Thayer. In addition to comics, Reed wrote a role-playing game for Palladium, wrote some of the storyline scenarios for Streetwise for Capcom, and is currently working on a novel with writer Gary Francis based on Deadworld. Deadworld had recently been signed up for a film with David Hayter (Watchmen, X-Men) providing the script.
Continuing with his publishing and writing (in addition to his teaching), Reed has joined the board of Detroit Fanfare which is putting on a major comics convention annually in the Detroit area.
