Robert Venditti
Robert Venditti | |
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![]() Venditti at a signing for X-O Manowar Vol 3 #1 at Midtown Comics in Manhattan. | |
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Writer |
Notable works | The Surrogates |
Robert Venditti is an American comic book writer, known for his work on the Top Shelf Productions title The Surrogates, which was adapted to a major motion picture starring Bruce Willis directed by Jonathan Mostow for Disney.[1]
Early life[]
Robert Venditti was born in Memorial Hospital and raised in Hollywood, and Pembroke Pines, Florida. Though he says he always wanted to be a prose writer, he rarely read comics as a child, but would peruse the comics at the barber shop.[2]
He later moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida where he received a B.A. in Political Science and English. After college he worked as a clerk at a law firm in southern Florida with aspirations to practice law, but found that work not to his liking. After subsequently worked pumping gas on a fuel truck, he moved to the Port St. John/Titusville area in Brevard County to which his parents had moved, where he attended the University of Central Florida, working at a Borders Books store in Winter Park, while earning his M.A. in Creative Writing. In about 2000, while working at Borders, a coworker recommended comics books as reading material to him. Though the skeptical Venditti initially thought of comics as solely for children, his reading of Kurt Busiek's Astro City impressed him enough to decide to change his career aspirations from prose to comics.[2]
Career[]
In 2002 Venditti attended a convention and met Chris Staros from Top Shelf Productions, and was added to Staros' email list. That April, Staros subsequently sent out a mass email announcing that Top Shelf's distributor was going bankrupt, and asking recipients of the email to place orders to aid the distributor. Venditti contacted Staros to offer help, and ending up doing warehouse work for him. Venditti began working on The Surrogates in July 2002, and after finishing the script that December, he gave it to Staros, who decided to publish it through Top Shelf, despite the fact that it was not typical of the material they usually published. The first issue of the five-issue miniseries was published in July 2005,[2] and the fifth in March 2006. The prequel Surrogates: Flesh & Bone, was released in September 2009,[3] the same month as the release of the feature film adaptation of the first miniseries, starring Bruce Willis.
In May 2012 Venditti began writing the X-O Manowar series for Valiant Entertainment.[4] Venditti began his first work for DC Comics when he took over from Paul Cornell on Demon Knights beginning with issue #16, and took over Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps in June 2013.[5][6]
Personal life[]
As of 2008, Venditti lives in Atlanta, Georgia.[2]
Bibliography[]
- Owly, Volume 1: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer ISBN 978-1-891830-62-4 Andy Runton (author), Andy Runton (artist), Chris Staros and Robert Venditti (editors) 2004, Top Shelf Productions
- The Surrogates (Volume 1) ISBN 978-1-891830-87-7 Robert Venditti (author), Brett Weldele (artist) 2006, Top Shelf Productions
- The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone (Volume 2) ISBN 978-1-60309-018-6 Robert Venditti (author), Brett Weldele (artist) 2009, Top Shelf Productions
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel ISBN 1-4231-1696-8 Rick Riordan (author), Robert Venditti (author/adapted by), Attila Futaki (artist) 2010, Hyperion Books
- The Homeland Directive ISBN 978-1-60309-024-7 Robert Venditti (author), Mike Huddleston (artist) May 2011, Top Shelf Productions
- X-O Manowar Robert Venditti (author), Cary Nord (artist) May 2012, Valiant Entertainment[4]
References[]
- ^ Fleming, Michael (November 18, 2007). "Bruce Willis to star in 'Surrogates'". Variety.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Piccione, Sebastian (November 24, 2008). "Robert Venditti: Writer/Creator of The Surrogates". Fanboy Buzz.
- ^ The Surrogates Volume 2: Flesh & Bone. Amazon.com. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Sunu, Steve (January 17, 2012). "EXCLUSIVE: Venditti & Nord Relaunch "X-O Manowar"". Comic Book Resources.
- ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (October 30, 2012). "Venditti Goes Medieval on 'Demon Knights'". Comic Book Resources.
- ^ Phegley, Kiel (November 30, 2012). "Robert Venditti Redrafts "Hellblazer" As 'Constantine'". CBR.com.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Venditti. |
- Robert Venditti at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Audio interview with Robert Venditti
- "Robert Venditti" Top Shelf Productions
- Robert Venditti at Library of Congress Authorities, with 26 catalog records
- University of Florida alumni
- University of Central Florida alumni
- Living people
- People from Pembroke Pines, Florida
- American comics writers