| Greg Rucka | |
|---|---|
 Rucka at a Comic Book Convention during a meet-and-greet in 2004 |
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| Born | Gregory Rucka November 29, 1969 San Francisco, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Writer |
| Notable works | 52 Detective Comics Action Comics Wolverine Gotham Central Wonder Woman Queen & Country Whiteout' |
Gregory "Greg" Rucka (born November 29, 1969) is an American comic book writer and novelist. He is married to fellow comic writer Jen Van Meter. Currently, Rucka is writing DC's Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton, as well as creator-owned series, Stumptown, for Oni Press.
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Rucka was born in San Francisco, California and raised on the Central Coast of California, in what is commonly referred to as "Steinbeck Country."[citation needed] He began his writing career in earnest at the age of 10 by winning a county-wide short-story contest. He graduated from Vassar College with an A.B. in English, and from the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing Program with an M.P.W.
His writing career began with the Atticus Kodiak series. Kodiak is a bodyguard whose jobs are rarely as uncomplicated as they at first appear. The series to date consists of: Keeper, Finder, Smoker, Shooting at Midnight, Critical Space, Patriot Acts, and Walking Dead. These works garnered Rucka much critical acclaim and comparisons to the elite writers of crime/suspense fiction. The "Atticus" novels are notable for their realism and attention to detail, which are partly a product of Rucka's fight training and experience as an EMT. He has also written three non-Atticus books: Fistful of Rain, A Gentleman's Game and Private Wars; the latter two are tie-ins to his comic book series Queen & Country.
In the 1990s, Rucka would hop onto the comic scene with his highly praised Whiteout, published through Oni Press. Whiteout focuses on a murder in an Antarctic base. It was followed by a sequel, Whiteout: Melt. Rucka would begin a pattern with this book: writing strong, independent female characters. Queen & Country, dealing with British spies, is his longest and most personal work (also published by Oni).
The majority of Rucka's work today is for DC Comics, where he started the most recent volume of Checkmate, and was an instrumental co-writer on the weekly series 52. Gotham Central, the series Rucka co-created with fellow scribe Ed Brubaker, was concluded by Rucka alone after Brubaker left DC to work exclusively with Marvel. Both Rucka and Brubaker had previously dealt with Batman and his supporting cast in Detective Comics, which Rucka wrote on a regular basis following the events of No Man's Land. He also penned the novelization of the year-long arc.
He also had long runs on Adventures of Superman and Wonder Woman. On the DC comic 52, Johns, Morrison and Waid were his co-writers. He has also done work for Marvel Comics, including the start of the new (and current) volume of Wolverine, Elektra and the mini-series Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra. He has also worked for Image Comics. The first volume of his series Queen and Country concluded in July 2007 with issue #32.
Rucka's work, particularly in comics, has attracted critical and fan acclaim, and has also won several awards, including Eisner Awards for the "Half a Life" storyline in Gotham Central (for which he also won a Harvey Award), Whiteout: Melt and Queen and Country. He was also featured in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation comic book miniseries "Dying in the Gutters" as the accidental killer of a comics gossip columnist while intending to kill Joe Quesada over his perceived role in the ending of Gotham Central.
Rucka also wrote the screenplay for the "Crossfire" segment in the direct-to-DVD anime Batman: Gotham Knight, in which Crispus Allen, a character he created, also appears.[1] In 2009, Rucka and artist Eddy Barrows took over Action Comics from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank as the title moved its focus from Superman to Kryptonian heroes Nightwing and Flamebird in the aftermath of the New Krypton story arc.[2][3] Rucka also returned to the Batman world (albeit without Bruce Wayne due to the aftermath of Batman R.I.P., Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl) by returning to Detective Comics with artist J.H. Williams III.[4] Rucka's new tenure on the title focused on the new Batwoman introduced by Rucka in 52.[5]
Greg resides in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, author Jennifer Van Meter, and his two children.
| Preceded by Chuck Dixon |
Detective Comics writer 2000–2002 |
Succeeded by Ed Brubaker |
| Preceded by Frank Tieri |
Wolverine writer 2003–2004 |
Succeeded by Mark Millar |
| Preceded by Walt Simonson |
Wonder Woman writer 2003–2006 |
Succeeded by Allan Heinberg |
| Preceded by Jeph Loeb |
Supergirl writer 2006 |
Succeeded by Joe Kelly |
| Preceded by none |
Checkmate writer 2006–2008 |
Succeeded by Bruce Jones |
| Preceded by Geoff Johns |
Action Comics writer with Eric Trautmann 2009— |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Paul Dini |
Detective Comics writer 2009-2010; |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
  | Greg's Blog - The Song I Can Never Write |
| | Interview at CBR - This page has moved |
| | Wonder Woman Panel Highlights - Dragon*Con 2003 - Sequential Tart: Wonder Woman Panel Highlights (vol VI/iss 10/October 2003) |
| | Interview at Sequential Tart - Sequential Tart: Greg Rucka - Big Boys Don't Cry! (vol III/iss 4/April 2000) |
| | Greg Rucka - Comic Book DB - Greg Rucka |
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