Comics
Winick designed illustrations for
The Complete Idiot's Guide to... series of books, and has done over 300 of them, including that series’ computer-oriented line. A collection of the computer-related titles' cartoons was published in 1997 as
Terminal Madness, The Complete Idiot's Guide Computer Cartoon Collection.
While working on
Pedro and Me, Winick also began working on comic books, beginning with a one-page
Frumpy the Clown cartoon in Oni Press’ anthology series,
Oni Double Feature #4, in 1998, before going on to do longer stories, like the two-part
Road Trip, which was published in issues #9 and 10 of the same book.
Road Trip went on to become an Eisner Award nominee for Best Sequential Story.
Winick followed up with a three-issue miniseries,
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, about a cynical, profane grade school whiz kid, who invents a myriad of futuristic devices that no one other than his best friend knows about.
Barry Ween was published by Image Comics from March through May 1999, with two subsequent miniseries,
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius 2.0 and
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius: Monkey Tales (Retitled
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius 3 or
The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius: Gorilla Warfare in the collected editions), published by Oni Press, which also published trade paperback collections of all three miniseries.
Barry Ween was also optioned by Platinum Studios to be adapted into an animated series, but to date, nothing has come of this.
Winick’s graphic novel,
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned, was published in September 2000. It was awarded six American Library Association awards, was nominated for an Eisner Award, won Winick his first GLAAD award, has been praised by creators such as Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, and Armistead Maupin, and has been incorporated into school curricula across the country. Among its other awards are:
- 2000 Publishers Weekly Best Book
- 2000 Bay Area Book Reviewers Award for Best in Children's Literature
- 2000 Eisner Nomination for Best Original Graphic Novel
- 2001 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Honor Award
- 2001 Notable Children's Book Selection, American Library Association
- 2001 American Library Association Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Roundtable Nonfiction Honor book
- YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
- YALSA Notable Graphic Novels
- Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
- America's Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Highly Recommended List (Award sponsored by the National Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs...CLASP).
Winick’s work in mainstream superhero comics has received attention for storylines in which he explores gay or AIDS-oriented themes. In his first regular writing assignment on a monthly superhero book, DC Comics'
Green Lantern, Winick wrote a storyline in which Terry Berg, an assistant of the title character, emerged as a gay character in
Green Lantern #137 (June 2001) and in
Green Lantern #154 (November 2001) the story entitled "Hate Crime" gained media recognition when Terry was brutally beaten in a homophobic attack. Winick was interviewed on Phil Donahue's show on MSNBC for that storyline on August 15, 2002, and received two more GLAAD awards for his
Green Lantern work.
In 2003, Judd Winick left
Green Lantern for another DC book,
Green Arrow, beginning with issue #26 of that title (July 2003). He gained more media recognition for
Green Arrow #43 (December 2004) in which he revealed that Green Arrow's 17-year-old ward, a former runaway-turned prostitute named Mia Dearden, was HIV-positive. In issue #45 (February 2005), Winick had Dearden take on the identity of Speedy, the second such Green Arrow sidekick to bear that name, making her the most prominent HIV-positive superhero to star in an ongoing comic book, a decision for which Winick was interviewed on CNN.
Winick’s other comic book work includes
Batman,
The Outsiders, and Marvel's
Exiles. Winick was also responsible for bringing Jason Todd, the second character known as Batman’s sidekick Robin, back from the dead, and making him the new Red Hood, the second such Batman villain by that name. Winick also wrote a five-issue miniseries for DC’s Vertigo imprint called
Blood & Water, about a young man with terminal illness whose two friends reveal to him that they are vampires, and that they wish to save his life by turning him into a vampire himself. Between September 2005 and March 2006, Winick wrote the four-issue Captain Marvel/Superman limited series,
Superman/Shazam: First Thunder with art by Josh Middleton. Currently, Winick continued his work with the Marvel Family in a 12-issue limited series called
The Trials Of Shazam!, and continued his Green Arrow work with 2007's
Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special, which led to the ongoing series
Green Arrow and Black Canary, the first 14 issues of which Winick wrote. He is currently the writer of
Titans. In November 2007, DC also released a
Teen Titans East special (a prequel for
Titans), which was also scripted by Winick. Following the "Battle for the Cowl" storyline, Winick took over the writing on
Batman for four issues. He will be co-writing a 26-issue biweekly
Generation Lost with Keith Giffen, a title which alternates with
Brightest Day. In addition he will also be taking over the regular writing duties on the monthly Power Girl series.
Television work
Winick created an animated TV show named
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee in 2005, which ran for three seasons on the Cartoon Network.Winick wrote the screenplay for
Under the Red Hood the direct to DVD animated feature for Warner Premiere in 2010. It was based on the 1988-89 story arc "A Death in the Family" and the 2005 "Under the Hood" story arc that ran in the monthly
Batman comic book series by DC Comics, the latter of which Winick had written.