John Steele Layman (born November 13, 1967) is an American comic book writer and letterer.Layman is most known for his writing published by Image Comics: Chew, its spin-off/midquel series Chu (Saffron Chu), the stand-alone Outer Darkness, and the crossover series Outer Darkness/Chew, as well as the Marvel Comics series Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, Gambit, and Cyclops: A Pirate's Life for Me.
Career
Once an editor for Wildstorm, a branch of DC Comics, Layman turned to writing comics full-time in 2002, mainly for Marvel Comics.
He also worked on several comic books based on licensed properties, such as Xena: Warrior Princess and ThunderCats, as well as crossovers like Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness.[1]
Layman has written a number of creator-owned titles at Image Comics, such as the graphic novelPuffed,[3] and Chew,[4][5] with artist Rob Guillory.[6][7] Chew has gone on to achieve much success, being nominated for two Harvey Awards, two Eagle Awards, and winning an Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2010.[8]
In April 2022, Layman was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9][10] Layman and Rob Guillory teamed up to contribute a new Chew story to the anthology.[11]
Bibliography
AfterShock Comics
Eleanor and the Egret (#1–5)
Image Comics
Puffed
Stay Puffed
Chew (Tony Chu, Cannibal Detective) #1–60 (2009 – 2016)
Volume 1: Tasters Choice #1–5 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-60706-159-7)
Volume 2: International Flavor #6–10 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60706-260-7)
Volume 3: Just Desserts #11–15 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-60706-335-2)
Volume 4: Flambé #16–20 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 120 pages, 2011, ISBN 1-60706-398-0)
Volume 5: Major League Chew #21–25 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 120 pages, 2012, ISBN 1-60706-523-1)
Volume 6: Space Cakes #26–30, Chew: Secret Agent Poyo one-shot (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 156 pages, 2013, ISBN 1-60706-621-1)
Volume 7: Bad Apples #31–35 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2013, ISBN 1-60706-767-6)
Volume 8: Family Recipes #36–40 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-60706-938-5)
Volume 9: Chicken Tenders #41–45, Chew: Warrior Chicken Poyo one-shot (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-63215-289-4)
Volume 10: Blood Puddin' #46–50 (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-63215-396-3)
Volume 11: The Last Suppers #51–55, Chew / Revival one-shot (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 128 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-63215-681-4)
Volume 12: Sour Grapes Chew #56–60, Chew: Demon Chicken Poyo one-shot (with Rob Guillory, tpb, 184 pages, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5343-0031-6)
Leviathan #1–3 (2018)
Outer Darkness #1–12 (2018 – 2019)
Volume 1: Each Other's Throats #1–6 (with Afu Chan, tpb, 136 pages, 2019, ISBN 1-53431-210-2)
Volume 2: Castrophany of Hate #7–12 (with Afu Chan, tpb, 136 pages, 2019, ISBN 1-53431-370-2)
Outer Darkness/Chew #1–3 (2020)
Outer Darkness/Chew: Fusion Cuisine (with Afu Chan and Rob Guillory, tpb, 72 pages, 2020, ISBN 1-53431-657-4)
Chu (Saffron Chu) #1–present (2020–present)
Volume 1: First Course #1–5 (with Dan Boultwood, tpb, 128 pages, 2021, ISBN 978-1-5343-1774-1)
Volume 2: (She) Drunk History #1–5 (with Dan Boultwood, tpb, 128 pages, 2022, ISBN 978-1-5343-2003-1)
Wildstorm
Gen13 vol. 2:
"When Bedbugs Bite" (with Scott Lobdell and Ed Benes, in #48, 1999)
"Over My Dead Body" (with Scott Lobdell, Ed Benes, Scott Benefiel, Steve Ellis and Pat Quinn, in #50, 2000)
"Meanwhile" (with Dan Norton, in #53, 2000)
Wildstorm Thunderbook, anthology, "Down and Out with the Deviants" (with Jeffrey Moy, August 2000)
Bay City Jive (limited series) (May 2001 – July 2001):
"The Demon-Gate Freak Out!" (with Jason Johnson, in #1–3, 2001)
Thundercats: Dogs of War (limited series) (August 2003 – December 2003):
Thundercats: Dogs of War (tpb, 128 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-4012-0287-X) collects:
"Bone of Contention" (with
Marvel Comics
X-Men Unlimited #47, "Strange Harvest" (with Dan Norton, May 2003)
Marvel Age: Fantastic Four (October 2004 – November 2004)
"Tin Can Heroes" (with Aaron Lopresti, in #1–5, 2006)
Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness (limited series) (March 2007 – July 2007)
Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness (hc, 128 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2743-7) collects:
"Earth's Mightiest Zero" (with Fabiano Neves, in #1, 2007)
"Marvel Team-Ups" (with Fabiano Neves, in #2, 2007)
"Night of the Livid Dead" (with Fabiano Neves, in #3, 2007)
"The Book of Dooms" (with Fabiano Neves, Fernando Blanco and Sean Phillips, in #4, 2007)
"The Stalking Dead" (with Fabiano Neves, Fernando Blanco and Sean Phillips, in #5, 2007)
Shadowland: Bullseye, one-shot, "Bullseye: Dead on a Rival" (with Sean Chen, August 2010) collected in Street Heroes (hc, 192 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4887-6)
Women of Marvel #1, "Love & Illusion" (with Davide Gianfelice, January 2011)
Identity Wars (hc, 112 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5568-6) collects:
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38, "Part 1" (with Lee Garbett, April 2011)
Deadpool Annual #1, "Part 2" (with Juan Doe, May 2011)
"Face in the Crowd" (with Joshua Williamson and Scott Eaton, in Annual #2, 2013)
"Contained Multitudes" (with Joshua Williamson and Szymon Kudranski, in Annual #2, 2013)
"Harvey Bullock, This is Your Life" (with Joshua Williamson and Derlis Santacruz, in Annual #2, 2013)
Volume 5: Gothtopia (hc, 176 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-4998-1) collects:
"Whistleblower's Blues" (with Jason Fabok, in #25, 2013)
"Troubled Waters" (with Jorge Lucas, in #25, 2013)
"Crown of Fear" (with Aaron Lopresti, in #26, 2013)
"Gothtopia, Part One: The Perfect Crime" (with Jason Fabok, in #27, 2014)
"Welcome to... Gothtopia, Part Two: The Maddening Crowd" (with Aaron Lopresti, in #28, 2014)
"The Truth And Nothing But" (with Aaron Lopresti, in #29, 2014)
Batman: The Dark Knight vol. 2 #23.3: Clayface, "Not Just Another Pretty Face" (with Cliff Richards, September 2013)
Catwoman vol. 4 #25, "Before the Claws Come Out" (with Aaron Lopresti, November 2013) collected in Race of Thieves (tpb, 232 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-5063-7)
Batman Eternal (April 2014 – August 2014):
Volume 1 (tpb, 480 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-5173-0) collects:
"Injustice For All" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Dustin Nguyen, in #4, 2014)
"Disinfect" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Andy Clarke, in #5, 2014)
"The Denied" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Trevor McCarthy, in #6, 2014)
"The Sinking Of An Empire!" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Emanuel Simeoni, in #7, 2014)
"Guided by Darkness" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Guillem March, in #8, 2014)
"The Unburied Past" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Guillem March, in #9, 2014)
"When Animals Attack" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Riccardo Burchielli, in #10, 2014)
"Day of the Dads" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Ian Bertram, in #11, 2014)
"The Good Man" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #12, 2014)
"Infernal Relations" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Mikel Janín, in #13, 2014)
"Natural Order" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Jason Fabok, in #14, 2014)
"The Common Limit" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Dustin Nguyen, in #15, 2014)
"The Monster Machine" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Dustin Nguyen, in #16, 2014)
"The Savior" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Dustin Nguyen, in #17, 2014)
"A Night on Earth" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Andy Clarke, in #18, 2014)
"Breaking Bat" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Emanuel Simeoni, in #19, 2014)
"Wild Animals" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Emanuel Simeoni, in #20, 2014)
"Ten Forty-Eight" (with Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, and Tim Seeley and Jason Fabok, in #21, 2014)
Suicide Squad: Kill Arkham Asylum #1-5 (limited series, with Jesús Hervás and David Baron, February 2024-June 2024) collected in tpb October 2024, ISBN 978-1-77951-838-5
