"There are pastors who won't go to people's sick beds. How can people of God turn their back on the sick, poor and hungry?" -- James Robinson
James Dale Robinson is a British writer of comic books and screenplays who is also known for his interest in vintage collectibles and memorabilia. His style is described as smart and energetic, built upon his vast knowledge of obscure continuity from the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. His revival of stories that rely on and reworked continuity has greatly affected DC Comics, amongst other publishers, and led to the revival of the Justice Society of America.
"Greatness, in the last analysis, is largely bravery - courage in escaping from old ideas and old standards and respectable ways of doing things.""Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do."
James Robinson has been writing for over two decades, with an early comics work, "Grendel: The Devil's Whisper", appearing in the 1989 series of British anthology A1. The story for which he has arguably been most renowned is the DC Comics series Starman, where he took the aging Golden Age character of the same name and revitalized both the character and all those who had used the title over the decades, weaving them into an interconnected whole. In 1997, Robinson's work on the title garnered him an Eisner Award for "Best Serialized Story".
He is also famous for his comic The Golden Age, which, despite being an Elseworlds story, still established much of the backstory he would later use in Starman. He has also written the Batman book Legends of the Dark Knight, and served as a consultant and co-writer in the first year of JSA and its subsequent spin-off Hawkman. Also at DC, he did a miniseries involving the company's original Vigilante character as well as producing the Sandman spin-off mini-series Witchcraft for Vertigo. Robinson also wrote a brief but very well remembered run of Wildcats, teamed up with artist Travis Charest, that further developed the book's mythology, along with a spinoff mini-series called Team One.
Similarly, he served as a transition writer on the Marvel Comics title, Cable. He also had a short stint on Heroes Reborn: Captain America during that time.
Leave It to Chance, created by Robinson with penciller Paul Smith, won Robinson two more Eisner Awards in 1997, for "Best New Series" and "Best Title for Younger Readers".
His other work includes Ectokid, one of the series created by horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint, and Firearm for Malibu Comics' Ultraverse line.
In 2006, Robinson took over the writing duties on Batman and Detective Comics, penning the eight-issue "Face The Face" storyline, as part of the One Year Later project announced by DC. Robinson has previously written the Batman story "Blades" as one of his several stints at writing stories for the anthology title Legends of the Dark Knight.
On February 8, 2008, Robinson was appointed the new writer of the DC flagship title, Superman; this run included the storyline "The Coming of Atlas". He wrote the 2009-2010 mini-series Cry for Justice and took over writing duties on Justice League of America in October 2009 with art by Mark Bagley. In 2010 James Robinson with artist Eddy Barrows will write a Superman based event called "War of the Supermen", a Superman-based event that is the culmination of the past two years of story starting from New Krypton. Robinson said in 2010 he will write a series starring The Shade a character closely identified with his Starman series.
Screenwriting
In addition to his work in comics, Robinson wrote the screenplay for the 1993 direct-to-video film Firearm, and wrote and directed the 2002 feature Comic Book Villains, starring Cary Elwes and Michael Rapaport, as well as producing the screenplay for the 1995 film Cyber Bandits (with Martin Kemp, Alexandra Paul, Grace Jones and singer Adam Ant). In film terms, however, his best known endeavour has been the screenplay for the 2003 movie version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
This last script caused some controversy among fans of the original work, many of whom were disappointed an established comics writer's take on Alan Moore's and Kevin O'Neill's series took so many liberties with and considerably changed the tone of the source material. Indeed, early drafts had reportedly relocated much of the action from England to America, allegedly in an attempt to make it more acceptable to an American audience. Archived early review of the "LXG" script by Coming Attractions' Patrick Sauriol, October 6, 2000. Retrieved March 23, 2006.
Robinson lives in Los Angeles, where he is good friends with fellow writers and collaborators Geoff Johns and Sterling Gates. In 2009, he and Jann Jones, co-ordinating editor of the Johnny DC comics imprint, announced their engagement. They have since relocated to San Francisco.
Grendel Tales: Four Devils, One Hell #1-6 (with artist Teddy Kristiansen, 1993)
Illegal Alien (with artist Phil Elliott, graphic novel, Kitchen Sink Press, softcover, 1994, ISBN 0878162976; reprinted in 2003, Dark Horse Comics, softcover, ISBN 1569718245, Titan Books, hardcover, ISBN 1840235802)
The Terminator: Endgame #1-3 (pencils by Jackson Guice and inks by John Beatty, 1992)
The Terminator: One Shot (with artist Matt Wagner, graphic novel, 1991)
The Terminator: Secondary Objectives #1-4 (co-written by Mike Richardson & Randy Stradley, pencils by Paul Gulacy and inks by Karl Kesel, 1991)
DC Comics
Action Comics #874 (with various artists, 2009)
Adventure Comics #1 (The Atom and Starman, co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Peter Snejbjerg and inks by Keith Champagne, 1999)
Adventure Comics Special featuring The Guardian #1 (with artist Pere Perez, one-shot, 2009)
All Star Comics #1-2 (Justice Society of America, co-written by David Goyer, art by various, 1999)
All Star Comics 80-Page Giant #1 (Starman and Wildcat story, co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Dave Ross, inks by Drew Hennessy, one-shot, 1999)
Batman #651-654 (pencils by Don Kramer and inks by various, 2006)
Legends of the Dark Knight #32-34, 71-73, 85, 100 ("A Great Day For Everyone"), 102-104, 114, and 133-136 (plotted by Archie Goodwin) (with various artists, 1992-2000)
Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #7 (with artists Russ Heath and Steve Yeowell), 1997)
Batman/Deadman: Death and Glory (with artist John Estes, graphic novel, 1996)
Batman/Hellboy/Starman (with artist Mike Mignola, DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics, 1999)
Blackest Night: Superman #1-3: (with artist Eddy Barrows and inks by Ruy Jose, 2009)
Detective Comics #817-820 (pencils by Leonard Kirk, inks by Andy Clarke and Wayne Faucher, 2006)
Green Lantern 80-Page Giant #1 ("Alan Scott in a 1940s Tale", with artist Mike Mayhew, 1998)
Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #7 ("Green Hell!", pencils by Kirk Van Wormer and inks by Rich Faber & Ande Parks, 1993)
The Golden Age #1-4 (with artist Paul Smith, 1993)
Hawkman #1-7, #9-10 (co-written by Geoff Johns {except #7}, pencils by Rags Morales, and inks by Michael Bair, Tim Truman & Prentis Rollins, 2002-2003)
JSA #1-4 (co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Steve Sadowski, and inks by Michael Bair 1999)
JSA: Secret Files #1 (co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Scott Benefiel, and inks by Mark Propst 1999)
JSA: All Stars #4 (Starman, with artist Tony Harris, 2003)
Legends of the DC Universe #1-3 (Superman, pencils by Val Semeiks, inks by Paul Neary, 1998)
Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant #1 (Doom Patrol story, pencils by Dave Gibbons, inks by Sal Buscema, one-shot, 1998)
Secret Origins of the Super Villains #1 (Johnny Sorrow story, co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Phil Winslade and inks by Mike Perkins, one-shot, 1999)
Sensation Comics #1 (Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, co-written by David Goyer, pencils by Scott Benefiel and inks by Mark Propst, one-shot, 1999)
The Shade #1-4 (with various artists, 1997)
Showcase '93 #9 (Shining Knight story, pencils by Mike Mayhew and inks by Armando Gil, 1993)
Showcase '94 #1-2 (Joker story, with artist Christian Alamy, 1994)
Showcase '95 #12 (The Shade story, with artist Wade Von Grawbadger, 1995)
Showcase '96 #4-5 (The Shade & Doctor Fate story, with artist Matthew Dow Smith, 1996)
Starman #0-80, #1,000,000 (pencils by Tony Harris, Peter Snejbjerg and others, 1994-2001)
Starman 80-Page Giant #1 (with various artists, one-shot, 1999)
Starman Annual #1-2 (with various artists, 1996-1997)
Starman: Secret Files #1 (with various artists, one-shot, 1998)
Starman: The Mist #1 (pencils by John Lucas and inks by Richard Case, one-shot, 1998)
Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #0 (co-written by Geoff Johns, pencils by Lee Moder and Chris Weston, inks by Dan Davis & John Stokes, 1999)
Superman #677-700 (pencils by Renato Guedes and inks by Jose Wilson Magalhaes, 2008-ongoing)
Superman: New Krypton Special #1 (co-written by Geoff Johns & Sterling Gates, with various artists, one-shot, 2009)
Superman: World of New Krypton #1-12 (co-written by Greg Rucka with artist Pete Woods, 2009-ongoing)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen Special #1 (with various artists, one-shot, 2008)
Tangent Comics: Green Lantern #1 (pencils by J.H. Williams III and inks by Mick Gray, one-shot, 1997)
Tangent Comics: Tales of the Green Lantern #1 (pencils by J.H. Williams III and inks by Mick Gray, one-shot, 1998)
Vigilante: City Lights, Prairie Justice #1-4 (with artist Tony Salmons, 1995-1996
Witchcraft #1-3 (with artists Teddy Kristiansen, Peter Snejbjerg, Michael Zulli & Steve Yeowell, Vertigo, 1994)
Witchcraft: La Terreur #1-3 (pencils byMichael Zulli & inks by Vince Locke, Vertigo, 1998)
Image Comics/Wildstorm
Gen¹³ Bootleg #7 (with artist Scott Hampton, 1997)
Leave It To Chance #1-13 (with artist Paul Smith, Homage Comics/DC Comics, 1996-2002)
Team One: WildC.A.T.s #1-2 (pencils by Rich Johnson and inks by Chuck Gibson & John Lowe, 1995)
Union #4 (pencils by Ryan Benjamin and inks by Mark Farmer and Tom McWeeney, 1995)
WildC.A.T.s #15-20, #50 (pencils by Travis Charest and other artists, 1994-1995, 1998, collected in James Robinson's Wildcats, 224 pages, 2009, ISBN 1401222048)
WildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Modern Age #1 (pencils by Adam Hughes and inks by Mark Farmer and Tom McWeeney, 1997)
Wildstorm Rising #1 (pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith and inks by Alex Bialy and John Floyd, 1995)
Malibu Comics/Ultraverse
Break-Thru #2 (with 6 co-writers, pencils by George Pérez, inks by Al Vey, 1994)
Codename: Firearm #0-2 (Alec Swan backup stories with various artists, 1995)
Firearm #0-18 (pencils by Cully Hamner and inks by John Lowe, 1993-1995)
The Night Man #4 (2-page "Firearm Origin" with artist Howard Chaykin, 1994; also collected in Ultraverse Origins #1)
The Night Man #14 (co-written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Dean Zachary, 1994)
Rafferty Ashcan (pencils by Ben Herrera and inks by Steve Carr & Mike Christian, 1994)
Marvel Comics
67 Seconds (with artist Steve Yeowell, graphic novel, Epic Comics, 1992, ISBN 0871358646)
Avengers #13 (Heroes Reborn, pencils by Michael Ryan and inks by Saleem Crawford and Sal Regla, 1997)
Cable #-1, 44-50 (with various artists, 1997-1998)
Captain America #7-13 (Heroes Reborn with various artists, 1997)
Captain America Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 (with artist Marcos Martin, one-shot, 2009)
Ectokid #1-3 (pencils by Steve Skroce and inks by Bob Dvorak, Razorline, 1993)
Fantastic Four #13 (Heroes Reborn, pencils by Mike Wieringo and inks by Richard Case), 1997)
Generation X #-1, #29-31 (pencils by Chris Bachalo & Pop Mhan and inks by various, 1997)
Generation X/Gen¹³ #1 (pencils by Salvador Larroca and inks by Troy Hubbs & Al Milgrom, one-shot, Marvel Comics/Image Comics/Wildstorm, 1998)
Incredible Hulk Annual #18 (Doc Samson story, pencils by Joe Phillips and inks by Tony Harris, 1992)
Iron Man #13 (Heroes Reborn, with artist Larry Stroman, 1997)
Tales of Suspense (Captain America & Iron Man, with artist Colin MacNeil, one-shot, Marvel Select, 1995)
Other Publishers
A1 #4 (Grendel story with artist D'Israeli, Atomeka Press, 1990)
Ash #½ (Event Comics/Wizard Press, 1997)
Ash: Fire and Crossfire #1-2 (pencils by Joe Quesada and inks by Jimmy Palmiotti, Event Comics, 1999)
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #1 ("Bart People", pencils by Chris Roman and inks by Bill Morrison, Bongo Comics, 1995)
Bluebeard (with artist Phil Elliott, graphic novel, Slave Labor Graphics, 1994)
Crisis #40 (with artist Tony Salmons, Fleetway Publications, 1990)
London's Dark (with artist Paul Johnson, graphic novel, Escape, 1989)
Miracleman: Apocrypha #1 ("The Rascal Prince", with artist Kelley Jones, Eclipse Comics, 1991)
Shriek #2 (with artist D'Israeli, FantaCo Enterprises, 1990)
Vampirella 25th Anniversary Special ("Two So Different", with artist Ray Lago, one-shot, Harris Comics, 1996)
Vampirella: Bloodlust #1-2 (with artist Joe Jusko, Harris Comics, 1997)
Vampirella/Dracula: The Centennial #1 ("Vampirella vs. Dracula", pencils by David Mack & Rick Mays and inks by Debra M. Brenda, one-shot, Harris Comics, 1997)
