Jody Houser

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox comics creator Jody Houser is an American professional comics writer known for her work on adaptations and licensed properties. She was nominated for the Eisner Award in 2017 for her writing in the comic series Faith (2016). Additionally, she was the writer on the second volume of Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins, which became a New York Times best-seller in September 2020.

Career

From 2010 to 2015, Houser self published the webcomic Cupcake POW!; she created the comic after reading a survey on the audience desire of female comic readers. Houser stated that "the summary was girls don’t need comics about 'princesses and unicorns and cupcakes'. And I thought, ‘Huh, what would a comic about a cupcake be like?'". The success of the webcomic pushed her further into comics. In 2012, Houser wrote "Everwell", with artists Fiona Staples and Adriana Blake, for the Kickstarter funded anthology Womanthology: Heroic. Houser stated that Staples selected her pitch as the one she wanted to draw for the project. By 2015, Houser had "contributed to a wide range of anthologies from just about every comic publisher". She then became the co-writer on the limited series Orphan Black (2015), for IDW Publishing, which was her first non-anthology or one-shot comic.

In 2016, Houser began writing the first solo series about the superhero Faith Herbert from Valiant Comics. PBS highlighted that Faith "sold out five times in its limited-run series, a significant feat in the comic book industry" which led to Valiant launching an ongoing series starting Faith, with Houser as the writer, in July 2016. NPR's review stated that "Houser has accomplished something deceptively simple: she's made Faith a fun character to spend time with. Faith is lighthearted but virtuous, with a cheesy sense of humor, compassion and smarts". Karen Walsh, for GeekMom in 2016, wrote that "Houser’s voice and her range place her on the precipice of comic writing popularity. I hope that with an ongoing Valiant book, she’ll be able to reach the level of respect and popularity she deserves. [...] Houser writes voices for the disaffected, manages to engage readers in the inner lives of characters, and is able to engage her readers by connecting to their varied lived experiences". In 2017, Faith (2016) was nominated for the "Best New Series" Eisner Award. Houser went on to write two sequel limited series: Faith & The Future Force (2017) and Faith: Dreamside (2018).

Houser was involved in several Geek & Sundry productions, including starring as Tkaah in the actual play web series VAST (2016) and guest starring as herself in the comics talk web show The Wednesday Club (2016) and as the Time Lord Corsair in the actual play web series TBD RPG (2017).

Houser at the 2018 WonderCon

Houser was brought on to write Mother Panic (2017) for the DC Comics imprint Young Animal after she was asked by editor Molly Mahan to write several sample pages featuring Mother Panic to see if she "could nail [her] voice". The series and its title character, Violet Paige, was conceived by Young Animal curator Gerard Way and illustrator Tommy Lee Edwards. Houser expanded upon Way's and Edwards' concept to "flesh out" the main character and establish her within Gotham City and the Batman mythos. Reviewing the first issue for IGN, Jesse Schedeen wrote that "Mother Panic felt distinctive from the Batman family and surreal". In January 2017, Houser co-wrote two Justice League of America one-shot issues with Steve Orlando. In 2017 and 2018, Houser was a co-writer on several Supergirl issues during Orlando's run in the DC Rebirth era. In 2019, she returned to write the series, with artist Rachael Stott, until the cancellation of the series in 2020. During this time, she also wrote the six issue mini-series Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (2019) with artist Adriana Melo which was part of the Year of the Villain event.

Adaptations and licensed properties

Houser has written Star Wars adaptations for Marvel Comics such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Thrawn (2018). She also wrote the original limited series Star Wars: TIE Fighter (2019). Charlie Hall, reviewing TIE Fighter for Polygon, wrote "it's penned by Eisner nominated writer Jody Houser, who somehow made the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story comic adaptation leaps and bounds more appetizing than the film itself. She also managed to reign in Timothy Zahn’s meandering reboot of the Grand Admiral Thrawn character with a series of clear, concise comics. TIE Fighter just might be some of her best work yet". In 2023, she wrote an arc for the Star Wars: Yoda (2022) limited series with artist Luke Ross and wrote the comic adaptation of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (2023) with artist Salvador Larocca.

Houser has also written multiple comic runs on several other licensed properties such as Doctor Who (for Titan Comics), Star Trek (for IDW Publishing), Stranger Things and Critical Role (for Dark Horse Comics). Houser was a member of the writer's room for the ongoing series Star Trek: Year Five which ran from 2019 to 2021. Upon the conclusion of the series, Jamie Lovett, for ComicBook.com, wrote: "Star Trek: Year Five is a remarkable achievement for a licensed comic. Often, these titles have little new or exciting to offer fans of their source material and even less for those who aren't familiar, ultimately feeling redundant or vestigial. Star Trek: Year Five is neither. It set out on a mission to tell an essential missing chapter in the lives of these characters, and it succeeded". In Publishers Weekly's "Best-selling Books Week Ending August 23, 2020", Houser's Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Volume 2 was 6th in "Trade Paperbacks". Then in September 2020, the trade paperback reached #13 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the "Graphic Books and Manga" category. ICv2 highlighted that Houser was on two best seller charts in June 2023 for her licensed work – #6 on "Circana BookScan Top 20 Author Graphic Novels" for Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Mollymauk Tealeaf (May 2023) and #16 on "Circana BookScan Top 20 Superhero Graphic Novels" for Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons (July 2021).

Personal life

Houser studied English at the University of Miami with a focus on creative writing. Houser then earned a MFA in creative writing from Emerson College where she won the "Rod Parker Fellowship for Playwriting". In 2005, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. Houser enjoys role-playing games and is a player in a long running Star Wars role-playing game.

In September 2020, she said that she quit her last day job "in 2016 to write full-time, and have been doing that ever since, with the occasional stint as a professional RPG player". In July 2021, Houser stated that she "had a full-time job while writing comics full-time for longer than I’d have liked" and she had only recently started "doing comics full-time".

Works

Dark Horse Comics

• Halo Wars 2
  • Halo: Rise of Atriox #2 (2017)
• StarCraft
  • StarCraft: Scavengers #1–4 (2018)
  • StarCraft: Soldiers #1 (2019)
  • StarCraft: Survivors #1–4 (2019)
• Stranger Things
  • Stranger Things #1–4 (2018)
  • Stranger Things: Six #1–4 (2019)
  • Stranger Things: Into the Fire #1–4 (2020)
  • Stranger Things: Science Camp #1–4 (2020)
  • Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons #1–4 (2020)
  • Stranger Things: Tales From Hawkins #1–4 (2023)
• Critical Role
  • Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Series Two #1–6 (2019)
  • Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Series Three #1–6 (2021)
  • Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Caleb Widogast (2022)
  • Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins – Mollymauk Tealeaf (2023)
  • Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Series Four #1–6 (2024) [upcoming]
• Farseer trilogy
  • Assassin's Apprentice #1–6 (2022)
  • Assassin's Apprentice II #1–6 (2023) [ongoing]

DC Comics

• Mother Panic
  • Mother Panic #1–12 (2017)
  • Milk Wars: Mother Panic/Batman Special (2018)
  • Mother Panic: Gotham A.D #1–6 (2018)
• Justice League of America
  • Justice League of America: Killer Frost Rebirth #1 (2017)
  • Justice League of America: Vixen Rebirth #1 (2017)
• Supergirl Volume 7 #15–18, 20, 37–42 (2016, 2019-2020)
• Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy #1–6 (2019)

IDW Publishing

• Womanthology: Heroic "Everwell" (2012)
• Womanthology: Space "Trinkets" (2013)
• Orphan Black #1–5 (2015)
• Star Trek: Year Five #5–6, 15–16, 25 (2019)

Marvel Comics

• The Cavalry: SHIELD 50th Anniversary #1 (2015)
• Maximum Ride
  • Max Ride: Ultimate Flight #1–5 (2015)
  • Max Ride: Final Flight #1–5 (2016)
• Star Wars
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #1–6 (2016)
  • Star Wars: Thrawn #1–6 (2018)
  • Star Wars: Age of Republic #1–9 (2018)
  • Star Wars: TIE Fighter #1–5 (2019)
  • Star Wars: Yoda #4–6 (2022)
  • Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi #1–6 (2023)
  • Thrawn: Alliances #1–4 (2024) [upcoming]
• Spider-Man
  • Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #13–23 (2016)
  • Spider-Girls #1–3 (2018)
  • What If...? Dark: Spider-Gwen #1 (2023)
• Black Widow
  • The Web of Black Widow #1–5 (2019)
• Ms. Marvel
  • Ms. Marvel & Wolverine #1 (2022)
  • Ms. Marvel & Moon Knight #1 (2022)
  • Ms. Marvel & Venom #1 (2022)

Northwest Press

• Rise: Comics Against Bullying Volume 1 "Origin Story" (2015)

Titan Comics

• Doctor Who
  • Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1–12, Season 1 (2018)
  • Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Holiday Special #1–2 (2019)
  • Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1–4, Season 2 (2020)
  • Doctor Who: Alternating Current #1–4 (2020)
  • Doctor Who: Defender of the Daleks #1–2 (2020)
  • Doctor Who: Missy – The Master Plan #1–4 (2021)
  • Doctor Who: Empire of the Wolf #1–4 (2021)
  • Doctor Who: Origins #1–4 (2022)

Valiant Comics

• Faith
  • Faith #1–4, Volume 1 (2016)
  • Faith #1–12, Volume 2 (2016)
  • Faith & The Future Force #1–4 (2017)
  • Faith: Dreamside (2018)

External links

• Jody Houser at Twitter