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    Greg Rucka

    Person » Greg Rucka is credited in 1010 issues.

    Gregory Rucka (born November 29, 1969) is an American writer of novels and comic books.

    Short summary describing this person.

    Greg Rucka appears in 1010 issues
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    Greg Rucka last edited by nanaNightwing13 on 08/18/21 03:02PM View full history

    Career

    Early Work

    Rucka's Whiteout
    Rucka's Whiteout

    Greg Rucka began his writing career as a crime novelist with the Atticus Kodiak series of books and became very highly regarded as a writer of crime and suspense fiction. After writing several novels, Rucka went to Oni Press to expand his career into the comics industry. He began in 1998 with Whiteout, a crime story set at an Antarctic base, and this was quickly followed by a sequel, Whiteout: Melt, in 1999. Rucka had now established himself as a rising star in the industry and was getting noticed by the big two publishers.

    Rucka's next creator-owned work was also with Oni Press. In 2001, he began the Queen & Country series, a spy thriller revolving around British espionage agent Tara Chace, and this became the most well known of his creator-owned work. He would continue to produce issues of the series sporadically over the next decade.

    Mainstream Work

    DC Comics was quick to hire Rucka after his success with Whiteout, and he became the new regular writer of Detective Comics in the final months of the No Man's Land story event. He and Ed Brubaker, who became the new writer on Batman, collaborated to bring a heavy focus on crime suspense to the franchise and tone down the colorful superheroics of Batman's world. They also put the spotlight much more on the members of the Gotham City Police Department as supporting characters. Together, they orchestrated a few crossovers during their runs, namely Officer Down, Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive. Rucka also wrote Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood, a limited series that became regarded as one of the definitive portrayals of Huntress. Later in 2003, he wrote Batman: Death and the Maidens, which attempted to replace Ra's al Ghul with his newly revealed daughter, Nyssa Raatko.

    Not exclusive to DC at this time, Rucka also did work for Marvel Comics. He wrote the Black Widow limited series for the Marvel Knights imprint and followed it with Black Widow: Pale Little Spider under the new MAX imprint. He became the regular writer for Elektra, writing the series for over a year, and later wrote Ultimate Daredevil/Elektra, which established Elektra's origin in the Ultimate Universe. However, his biggest work for Marvel at the time was as the writer of the relaunched Wolverine series.

    Back at DC, Rucka and Brubaker furthered their collaboration by launching Gotham Central together. This series focused entirely on the G.C.P.D. and was met with a great deal of critical acclaim. Brubaker signing exclusive to Marvel Comics left Rucka to complete the series on his own, and he became exclusive to DC Comics.

    Killing Max Lord
    Killing Max Lord

    Rucka became the regular writer of Wonder Woman and was on the receiving end of a lot of praise for his portrayal of Wonder Woman and her world. Rucka by now was known and respected for his portrayals of strong and well rounded female characters. He also wrote Adventures of Superman for nearly two years and wrote the OMAC Project as part of the major Infinite Crisis event. He wrote the controversial story in which Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord, firmly establishing the character's willingness to use lethal force. Rucka's run on Wonder Woman was cut short by Infinite Crisis as the series was ended to be relaunched a year later. This left Rucka unable to finish the stories he had running through his run.

    Rucka worked for Marvel in 2003 when he relaunched Wolverine's solo series under the Marvel Knights banner. Rucka wrote the first nineteen issues of the series in a critically acclaimed run. He also wrote Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra during this time.

    Rucka was then named as one of the writers of 52, DC's ambitious weekly series following Infinite Crisis. He was believed to be the writer driving the Renee Montoya story thread that saw her become the new Question. Rucka also launched Checkmate, a series featuring the DC Universe's foremost espionage agency.

    Renee Montoya had become a pet character of Rucka's, who had been writing her almost regularly since his days on Detective Comics. After 52, he continued her story in two limited series, Crime Bible: the Five Lessons of Blood and Final Crisis: Revelations.

    When Rucka's exclusive contract with DC Comics expired, he chose not to renew it. This led to speculation that he would soon jump ship over to Marvel Comics. Speculation increased when Rucka teamed up with his former collaborator Brubaker for an arc on Daredevil. However, Rucka stayed with DC Comics.

    In 2009, Rucka was drafted late into the New Krypton direction of the Superman franchise, which revolved around the city of Kandor being restored and 100,000 Kryptonians now settling a planet in Earth's solar system. He was given the task of writing Action Comics starring the new Nightwing and Flamebird and went deep into developing Kryptonian mythology in that series. He also co-wrote Superman: World of New Krypton with James Robinson. This series focused on Superman's life on New Krypton and explored Kryptonian civilization. Midway through, plans for the New Krypton status quo apparently changed behind the scenes at DC and all the stories seemed to start rushing toward completion. Rucka left Action Comics once the Nightwing and Flamebird story was finished.

    Batwoman
    Batwoman

    Rucka returned to Detective Comics in 2009, but this time the series starred the new Batwoman with Renee Montoya starring in a Question co-feature. Batwoman had been relatively untouched since she debuted years early in 52, and Rucka's name had been attached to her for the past couple years. That made this a long-awaited story, and it very well received for his writing and for the art of J.H. Williams III. Rucka brought some much needed definition to the character, fleshing her out greatly from the glimpses of her character that had been seen in 52. Soon, Rucka announced that the rest of his Batwoman story would be released in a new Batwoman ongoing series rather than Detective Comics. Strangely, this announcement was shortly followed by one from Rucka saying that he was leaving DC Comics and that his Batwoman story would go unfinished.

    Independent Again

    The reasons for Rucka's abrupt departure from DC went unsaid, but Rucka said he would be taking a break to focus on his creator-owned material again. He released Stumptown, a private investigator thriller, through Oni Press. It was also announced that Whiteout: Thaw, a third installment to Rucka's Whiteout series, would later be released.

    Return to Marvel

    As part of Marvel Comics' Big Shots initiative in 2011, Rucka was announced as the writer of the new Punisher series.

    Bibliography

    D.C. Comics

    Pre - New 52 Ongoing Series

    Pre - New 52 Mini Series

    Pre - New 52 Event Series

    • 2006-2007: 52 #1-52

    Pre - New 52 Annuals

    Pre - New 52 One Shots

    Pre - New 52 OGN

    New 52 Mini Series

    New 52 One Shot

    Rebirth Ongoing Series

    Rebirth Maxi Series

    Rebirth One Shots

    Marvel Comics

    Marvel Ongoing Series

    Marvel Mini Series

    Marvel One Shot

    Image Comics

    Image Mini Series

    Image Mini Series

    IDW Publishing

    IDW Mini Series

    Dark Horse Comics

    Dark Horse Comics Mini Series

    Oni Press

    Oni Press Ongoing Series

    Oni Press Mini Series

    Oni Press One Shot

    Northwest Press

    Northwest Press One Shot

    Self Published

    Some Created Characters

    DC

    Independent

    Marvel

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