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Dan Abnett

Daniel P. Abnett ([2] born 12 October 1965) is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and has worked on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, and also 2000 AD. He has also contributed to DC Comics titles, and his Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 novels and graphic novels for Games Workshop's Black Library now run to several dozen titles and have sold over two million copies.[3][4] In 2009 he released his first original fiction novels through Angry Robot books.[5]

Early life

Daniel P. Abnett was born in Rochester, Kent, on 12 October 1965.[6] Abnett read English and matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 1984,[7] and graduated from there in 1987.[8]

Career

As one of the more prolific 2000 AD writers, Abnett was responsible for the creation of one of the comic's better known and longest-running strips, Sinister Dexter. Other original stories include Black Light, Badlands, Atavar, Downlode Tales, Sancho Panzer, Roadkill, Wardog based on the game of the same name, Kingdom and Brink.[9] Abnett has also contributed to some of the comic's major ongoing series, including Judge Dredd, Durham Red and Rogue Trooper.

His work for Marvel includes runs on Guardians of the Galaxy, Death's Head 2, Battletide, Knights of Pendragon (all of which he co-created), The Punisher, War Machine, Annihilation: Nova and various X-Men titles, as well as several stories for the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip.

At DC he is probably best known for his 2000 relaunch of Legion of Super-Heroes as the limited series Legion Lost and then the ongoing series The Legion.[10][11][12][13][14] His work for DC is usually co-written with Andy Lanning and they are often referred to as DnA. The two co-created the Resurrection Man character with artist Jackson Guice in 1997.[15]

For Dark Horse Comics he co-wrote Planet of the Apes: Blood Lines with Ian Edginton, as well a penning Lords of Misrule and HyperSonic.

Abnett's First & Only was one of the first novels published by Games Workshop's Black Library.[16] His other novels set in Games Workshop's Military science fiction-themed Warhammer 40,000 universe include the Gaunt's Ghosts series, the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, and more recently, as part of the Horus Heresy series, the SF best-sellers Horus Rising, Legion, Prospero Burns, Know No Fear and The End and the Death Volumes I, II & III. He has also authored four comic strip series, collected as graphic novels, for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint in the volumes Damnation Crusade, Lone Wolves, Inquisitor Ascendant and Titan.

Having written the Doctor Who audio dramas The Harvest and Nocturne for Big Finish's series. He also authored Everyone Says Hello, an audio drama based on ''Torchwood. He authored a 'Border Princes, a Torchwood novel, and the framing device of the Doctor Who anthology The Story of Martha''.

In 1994, he wrote a promotional comic to promote the opening of the Nemesis roller coaster at Alton Towers.[17]

2000s work

At 2000 AD he finished the final book of The V.C.s and started Black Atlantic in the Judge Dredd Megazine, which was drawn by Steve Roberts (seen working on Bec & Kawl) in black and white.

In 2008 Abnett and Lanning took over The Authority as part of the World's End relaunch of the core Wildstorm titles.[18]

In addition, Abnett has done a lot of work on Marvel's "cosmic" characters. They expanded on their work in Annihilation: Nova[19] and Nova,[20][21] and piloted the next big event Annihilation: Conquest. They said "we were approached by Andy Schmidt, who edited the first 'Annihilation' event, and asked to pilot the next event, which Bill Rosemann is editing." They ended up writing the Prologue, the Nova series crossover and the main Annihilation: Conquest limited series.[22] The characters then became the core of a new Guardians of the Galaxy.[23]

In June 2008, Abnett and Lanning signed an exclusive deal with Marvel, which they hoped would give them time to work on the "cosmic" characters they have been dealing with, as well as more earth-based ones. The contract allowed them to finish existing commitments, so they will be able to finish their fifteen issue run on The Authority.[24] In addition Marvel has allowed the contract to include "a couple of exceptions that are not direct competition, for example, Dan's 2000AD work in the UK and his Games Workshop novels."[25] The first major work to emerge after this deal will be War of Kings, a crossover storyline, emerging from Secret Invasion, that pitches Black Bolt (and the Inhumans) against Gabriel Summers (and the Shi’ar Empire) but also draws in other teams and characters, including Nova, the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Starjammers.[26][27] This then led straight into "Realm of Kings" which deals with how the different groups deal with the fallout from the events in War of Kings[28][29][30] and this, in turn, was followed by The Thanos Imperative.[31][32][33][34][35] DnA have also written an Iron Man/Thor limited series.[36]

He and Lanning have also written Fusion, a crossover series between Marvel and Top Cow.[37]

He also started Insurrection, a series in Judge Dredd Megazine that aimed "to bring to the Dredd Universe something of the epic war-in-space scale of the stuff I write for Warhammer 40K."[38]

Abnett wrote the screenplay for Games Workshop and Codex Pictures's CGI film Ultramarines[39] released in 2010.[40]

2010s work

Abnett concluded Insurrection and began a new series in the same milieu, Lawless, also in the Judge Dredd Megazine. Meanwhile, in 2000 AD he has continued Kingdom, contributed Grey Area and began another new series, Brink. He also began writing both the Aquaman and Titans titles for the DC Rebirth branding, including the crossover storyline "The Lazarus Contract", which he coauthored with Christopher Priest and Benjamin Percy.

Original fiction

On 19 March 2009, HarperCollins' science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint, Angry Robot, announced the acquisition of three original novels by Abnett. They were Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero, a story set in the alternative history reign of Elizabeth XXX and Embedded, a near future war story with a journalist protagonist, which would have a follow-up set in the same setting. Only two novels were published.[41]

Bibliography

Dan Abnett has been writing comics and novels since the mid-1980s, producing hundreds of comic stories and dozens of novels.

External links

Interviews

References

  1. National Comics Awards Results 2003 Down The Tubes, retrieved April 15, 2003^
  2. Warhammer Preview Online: Black Library – Dan Abnett Interview Warhammer (game), 4 December 2022, retrieved 4 February 2023^
  3. Dan Abnett Books in Order Book Series in Order, 20 October 2015, retrieved 28 January 2017^
  4. Black Library Blog Blacklibrary.com, retrieved 26 December 2010^
  5. Marco. Dan Abnett joins our robot horde Angry Robot Books, retrieved 26 December 2010^
  6. SFE: Abnett, Dan SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, retrieved 2023-08-17^
  7. Dan Abnett St Edmund Hall, retrieved 2023-08-17^
  8. "Dan Abnett". LinkedIn. Retrieved 4 May 2013.^
  9. Barney: droid zone^
  10. Abnett, Lanning and Coipel talk 'The Legion', Comic Book Resources, 23 October 2001^
  11. Time Trappers: Abnett & Lanning talk 'Legion' & help new fans get up to speed, Comic Book Resources, 18 March 2002^
  12. Getting Hip to Interlac: DnA talk 'Legion', Comic Book Resources, 16 September 2002^
  13. 'Legion' of Two: DnA talk 'Dream Crime' and fate of Sensor, Comic Book Resources, 9 January 2003^
  14. 'LEGION'aires: DnA talk issue No.25 & life after 'Dream Crime', 3 July 2003^
  15. Matthew K. Manning, Hannah Dolan. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Dorling Kindersley, 2010^
  16. Shannon Appelcline. Designers & Dragons Mongoose Publishing, 2011^
  17. Alton Towers Almanac: Gallery: Nemesis Comic Book Gallery.towersalmanac.com, 30 June 2006, retrieved 26 December 2010^
  18. NYCC '08: LIVING IN THE RUINS: WS Editor Ben Abernathy on 'Worlds End'. Newsarama. 19 April 2008^
  19. Abnett & Lanning on Annihilation: Nova, Newsarama, 23 December 2006^
  20. Abnett & Lanning: On the Eve of Nova's Return to Monthly Fun, Comics Bulletin, 9 April 2007^
  21. [https://archive.today/20101222004808/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=153225 Galactus, and Surfer and Skrulls – Oh My! Abnett & Lanning on Nova], Newsarama, 10 April 2008^
  22. Cosmic Conquistadors: DNA Talk "Annihilation : Conquest Prologue" & "Nova", Comic Book Resources, 30 March 2007^
  23. Abnett & Lanning on The Guardians of the Galaxy, Newsarama, 6 March 2008^
  24. WW Chicago: DnA Sign Exclusive Deal with Marvel, Comic Book Resources, 29 June 2008^
  25. WWC: Abnett and Lanning...About that Marvel Exclusive, Newsarama, 28 June 2008^
  26. CCI: DnA and Rosemann on "War of Kings", Comic Book Resources, 27 July 2008^
  27. Abnett and Lannig: Readying for War of Kings, Newsarama, 18 December 2008^
  28. Dave Richards. CCC09: DnA's "Realm of Kings" Comic Book Resources, 9 August 2009, retrieved 9 August 2009^
  29. McGloin, Matt, Luoma, Mike and Meneese, Bill. Interview with Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Bill Rosemann Cosmic Book News, 19 August 2009, retrieved 31 October 2009^
  30. Dave Richards. DnA Map Out Their "Realm of Kings" Comic Book Resources, 17 November 2009, retrieved 21 February 2010^
  31. Jim Beard. EXCLUSIVE: The Thanos Imperative Marvel.com, 12 February 2010, retrieved 24 February 2010^
  32. DnA Crank Things Up: The Thanos Imperative: Ignition Cosmic Book News, 23 February 2010, retrieved 24 February 2010^
  33. Dave Richards. DnA Issue "The Thanos Imperative" Comic Book Resources, 4 March 2010, retrieved 19 March 2010^
  34. Troy Brownfield. DnA Bring Back the God of Death in "The Thanos Imperative" Newsarama, 4 March 2010, retrieved 19 March 2010^
  35. Robert Tacopina. Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning: A Cosmic Trip Through the Thanos Imperative Comics Bulletin, 28 May 2010, retrieved 3 June 2010^
  36. Dave Richards. CCI: DnA Go High Tech & Mythic For "Iron Man/Thor" Comic Book Resources, 23 July 2010, retrieved 31 July 2010^
  37. Emmett Furey. Abnett & Lanning on Marvel/Top Cow's "Fusion" Comic Book Resources, 8 June 2009, retrieved 9 June 2009^
  38. Dan Abnett on Insurrection 2000 AD Review, 7 March 2009^
  39. ULTRAMARINES: Codex Pictures Announce Director and Writer! 18 November 2009, retrieved 12 May 2010^
  40. Ultramarines movie official site Ultramarinesthemovie.com, retrieved 26 December 2010^
  41. Dan Abnett Angry Robot, 5 February 2016, retrieved 9 November 2020^