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John Pierce Askegren (June 9, 1955 - December 3, 2006), of the Louisiana Askegrens, was an American author best known for his work in adaptations of licensed properties and is a lifelong comic book fan. His life began in the circus where his parents performed as high wire walkers. After a tragic fall at the age of 11, Askegren broke his hip and began his life-long affinity for Tab Soda. After his father took a job with a railroad company, Askegren’s parents finally settled in a small Northern Virginia town where he non-eventfully finished Junior High and High School. He attended Madison College in the early 1970s where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. During his college years, Askegren, dabbled in a singing career in and around the Shenandoah Valley and Washington D.C. areas. He performed with his band under different names, “Johnny Pierce”, “Mr. Pierce and the Piercetones” and “The Young Men and the Sea”. The latter name being a reference to Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea.

After a chance meeting with millionaire Herbert Haft, chairman and chief operating officer of the Dart Group, Askegren went to work for Haft's son, Robert, at Crown Books. His time at Crown was tumultuous as he moved from store to store, finally ending up at the unglamorous Rolling Valley Mall location. He finally left during the late 1980s and went to work in the Defense Industry where he has been a logistician, editor, and technical writer.

It was during his time in the circus that Askegren was introduced to Comic Books. He remembered being in awe of the talents of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko in Marvel Comics’ early years. Askegren enjoyed writing about Marvel Characters, having written or co-written many novels featuring the Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, etc. Askegren got his start in the comics industry in the late 1970s writing short stories for Creepy Magazine. His last short story, "Try and Try Again," appeared in the anthology Time Twisters which was released posthumously.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pierce Askegren", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0