Jeph Loeb
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Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, and a Co-Executive Producer on the NBC show Heroes from its premiere in 2006 to November 2008.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner, Loeb's comic book career includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale, who provides the comic art seen on Heroes.
Biography
Jeph Loeb was born 29 January 1958 in Stamford, Connecticut. He reportedly read his first comic book during the summer of 1970.[3] By winter of the same year, Jeph was apparently fascinated enough to convince his father to purchase the comic book collection of Tom Chicarella, which reportedly included every issue published by Marvel Comics between 1961 and late 1970.
His later stepfather was a vice-president at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, where Jeph met one of his mentors and greatest influences in comic book writing, the writer Elliot Maggin. Jeph however attended Columbia University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's degree in Film.His instructors included Paul Schrader and Miloš Forman.
Film and TV career
His debut in filmmaking was his collaboration with Matthew Weisman in authoring the script of Teen Wolf. The film was released on August 23, 1985 and was a notable starring role for Michael J. Fox. Loeb and Weisman then collaborated in writing the script of Commando. The film was released on October 4, 1985 and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His next screen credit was the film Burglar, released on March 20, 1987. The plot was based on the novels of Lawrence Block about fictional burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. His collaborators were Weisman and Hugh Wilson. The film was atypical for the time, featuring a female comedic role for starring actress Whoopi Goldberg. His second film that year was Teen Wolf Too, a sequel of Teen Wolf, which was co-written by Weisman and Tim Kring. The film was released on November 20, 1987. The film featured teen idol Jason Bateman and veteran actor John Astin. Loeb would re-team with Kring almost two decades later for the TV series Heroes.
Four years later, Loeb was working on a script for The Flash as a feature with Warner Bros. While the script deal fell through, Loeb met then publisher Jenette Kahn who asked Loeb to write a comic book for DC.
In 2002, Jeph Loeb wrote the script for the episode of Smallville, entitled "Red", which introduced Red kryptonite into the series. He became a supervising producer, and has written many episodes since then. He signed a three-year contract, and although producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough offered to keep him on for future seasons, Loeb left to care for his son, who had cancer.
Loeb later became a writer/producer on the ABC TV series Lost during that show's second season. Leaving Lost, Loeb went on to become Co-Executive Producer and writer on the NBC drama Heroes, which his colleague Tim Kring had created. Loeb wrote the teleplay for the first-season episodes "One Giant Leap" and "Unexpected". The show prominently features the artwork of Tim Sale, Loeb's longtime artistic collaborator from his comics work.
The series was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Writers Guild of America award for Best New Series. It won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, as well the Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Television Series.
Loeb and Tim Kring were presented with the Jules Verne Award for Artistic Achievement at the Jules Verne Festival in Paris, France on April 22, 2007 for their work on Heroes. Loeb himself was also presented with a belated 2005 Jules Verne Award for Best Writing for his work on Smallville, which he had not previously been given because his trip to the Festival that year had been cancelled due to his son's ill health.
On November 2, 2008, Daily Variety reported that Loeb and fellow Heroes Co-executive Producer, Jesse Alexander, were no longer employed on the series. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Loeb stated, "As of today, Jesse Alexander and I have left Heroes. I'm incredibly proud to have been a big part of the success a show with eight Emmy nods and a win this year for NBC.com. I will miss the superb cast and writing staff and wish everyone the best." At the time, Loeb had completed writing and producing the third season episode, "Dual".
Comics career
Loeb is known for his extensive use of narration boxes as monologues to reveal the inner thoughts of characters, though the character interactions he writes are sparse in terms of dialogue.
Jeph Loeb's first comic work was Challengers of the Unknown vol. 2 #1 - #8 (March -October 1991), which was the first of many collaborations with Tim Sale. Their later collaborations included the "Year 1"-centered Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Dark Victory, and Superman For All Seasons.
Loeb's other comic works include the Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials, The Long Halloween, a 13-issue limited series and Dark Victory, a 14-issue limited series set in the first years of the hero's career. The Long Halloween was one of three noted comics that influenced the 2005 feature film Batman Begins, the others being Batman: The Man Who Falls and Batman: Year One.
At the end of 2002, Loeb teamed with artist Jim Lee to create the year-long story arc "Batman: Hush", the highest selling DC comic in over ten years. "Hush", which spawned three lines of toys, posters and calendars, sat at the #1 spot for eleven of the twelve months it was in publication. The following year, Loeb launched Superman/Batman, which toppled "Hush"'s success, featuring artists such as Ed McGuinness, Michael Turner, Pat Lee, Carlos Pacheco and Ian Churchill. In 2005, Loeb spun Supergirl out of Superman/Batman with artist Ian Churchill.
Loeb's son, Sam, died on June 17, 2005 at the age of 17, after a three-year battle with bone cancer. At the age of 15, Sam wrote a story in Tales of the Vampires #5 with Jeph's long-term collaborator Tim Sale. In 2006, Sam's final work appeared in Superman/Batman #26, which was nearly completed before his death. His father finished the work with the help of 25 other writers and artists, all of whom were friends of Sam, including Art Adams, Joe Casey, John Cassaday, Joyce Chin, Ian Churchill, Allan Heinberg, Geoff Johns, Joe Kelly, Mike Kunkel, Jim Lee, Pat Lee, Rob Liefeld, Paul Levitz, Joe Madureira, Jeff Matsuda, Ed McGuinness, Brad Meltzer, Carlos Pacheco, Duncan Rouleau, Tim Sale, Richard Starkings, Michael Turner, Brian K. Vaughan, Mark Verheiden, and Joss Whedon. The issue also featured a tale titled "Sam's Story," dedicated to Sam.
Also in 2006, it was Jeph who chose his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut to be subject to superhero destruction in the opening issue of Marvel's crossover event, Civil War.
In 2007, Jeph wrote the miniseries Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America, which used the five stages of grief as a motif to explore reactions of various characters of the Marvel Universe to the loss of the assassinated Captain America. The fifth and final chapter, dated July 4, 2007, was the "Funeral for Captain America", which was covered by the Associated Press and appeared in over 150 news outlets, including The Washington Post and ABC.
Since signing an exclusive contract with Marvel in September 2005, Loeb has launched both The Ultimates 3 with artist Joe Madureira and Hulk with artist Ed McGuinness, the first issue of which ranked at #1 in sales for December 2007.ranked first in December 2007's Top 300 comics with preorder sales of 131,401, He has begun work on Ultimatum with artist David Finch for the Fall of 2008. In March 2008, Loeb and Tim Sale were reunited at Marvel. Their first project is the long awaited Captain America: White, the fourth in their "color" series for Marvel.
Loeb currently shares his writing studio, The Empath Magic Tree House, with Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg.