Scott Lobdell

Scott Lobdell ([1] born 1960) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter known for his work on numerous X-Men series for Marvel Comics in the 1990s, various work for DC Comics in the 2010s, namely Red Hood and the Outlaws, Teen Titans, and Superman, and comics for other publishers, including the Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers series by Papercutz or Fathom by Aspen MLT. He also wrote the script of the 2017 comedy-horror film Happy Death Day.

Career

Early career

Lobdell did not begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery. Later, he went to college to study psychology, but quit two years later when he began to write. While in college, he wrote for the college newspaper and interviewed Marvel editor Al Milgrom. Lobdell started submitting various stories to Marvel, but was systematically rejected by various editors, including Tom DeFalco. Later, DeFalco started editing Marvel Comics Presents (a bi-weekly book) requiring many writers, pencillers and inkers. Lobdell submitted a story about a character from Contest of Champions. Because the characters involved were rather obscure, DeFalco did not need to extract approval from other editors, and he decided to give Lobdell a chance.[2]

Marvel Comics

In the 1990s, Lobdell worked on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles, specifically Uncanny X-Men and the spin-off series Generation X. He wrote the first 28 issues of Generation X along with runs on Excalibur and X-Factor. Lobdell was the primary creative force behind most of the major X-title related storylines throughout a majority of the 1990s, including "X-Cutioner's Song", "Fatal Attractions", "Phalanx Covenant", "Age of Apocalypse", the "Onslaught" saga, and "Operation: Zero Tolerance".

Lobdell had writing stints on Marvel's Daredevil, Alpha Flight, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and early issues of issues of Iron Man and Fantastic Four during the "Heroes Reborn" event. Lobdell wrote the 1992 issue of Alpha Flight in which the superhero Northstar – originally intended to be gay, but closeted by the publisher's existing policy against openly LGBT characters – declared that he is gay,[3][4] in a storyline intended to also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.[5]

Lobdell returned to Marvel in 2001 to conclude plots he left behind with one last storyline, "Eve of Destruction", as well as the epilogue of Gambit, co-plotted with Joe Pruett with pencils by Georges Jeanty.

Other work

Lobdell wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an unmade film from POW! Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.

In 2008, Lobdell became the regular writer for Galaxy Quest, a series published by IDW Publishing, with art by Ilias Kyriazis, centered on the eve of the relaunch of the Galaxy Quest series, now titled Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues.

To date, he has written the majority of The Hardy Boys Graphic Novel series by Papercutz.

Lobdell has also performed as a stand-up comedian.[6]

Lobdell created Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie with art from Mark Badger it was released in December 2009 on iPhone.[7]

Lobdell wrote the screenplay for Blumhouse’s slasher film Happy Death Day. The film was released on October 13, 2017 by Universal Pictures.

Lobdell's original comic book series Ball and Chain sold to Netflix on May 14, 2020. The comic is being adapted into a feature film starring Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt. Emily V. Gordon is writing the screenplay.[8][9][10]

DC Comics

In 2011, Lobdell took on the writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws, which debuted as part of DC Comics' company-wide title relaunch, The New 52.[11] His portrayal of Starfire/Koriand'r in the first issue was criticized as shallow and sexist by some critics.[12][13][14][15]

He also wrote a new Teen Titans comic starring Red Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and three new characters,[16] including the gay Hispanic superhero Bunker.[17] His run on Teen Titans ended with Volume 4 Issue 30, the series was relaunched soon afterwards.

In 2019, Lobdell wrote a new Flash book focusing on Wally West following the limited series Heroes in Crisis, titled Flash Forward, which began publication in November.

Awards

His work has won him recognition in the comic books industry, such as a nomination for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for "Favorite Writer" in 1997.[18]

Controversy

In 2011, Lobdell explained that among the reasons he no longer had a social media presence was the unintended spillover from his personal to professional life, and a run-in he had had with writer Ron Marz on Twitter.[19] Lobdell had accused Marz of having a "brain tumor" in response to comments in which Marz characterized as "racist" complaints by some fans that Afro-Latino character Miles Morales would replace Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man, and that African-American actor Laurence Fishburne had been cast as Perry White in the film Man of Steel.[19][20]

In 2013, Lobdell identified himself as the comic book artist/writer MariNaomi on stage during a Prism Comics panel at Long Beach Comic Con referred to in an article MariNaomi had submitted to XoJane[21] describing how they had been sexually harassed by an unnamed fellow panelist, who had questioned their sexuality on stage, made offensive comments about their appearance and Asian features, and made sexually inappropriate jokes about them during the panel. Lobdell later identified himself as the panelist in question, and issued an "apology" to MariNaomi through Heidi MacDonald of ComicsBeat.com.[22]

Bibliography

Comics

  • Angel: Only Human
  • The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix (4-issue mini-series)
  • Alpha Flight (vol. 3) #1–12
  • Ball and Chain (4-issue mini-series)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with Fabian Nicieza) #47–59
  • Daredevil #376–379
  • The Darkness #23–38
  • Excalibur #31, #35–41, #53, #58–60, #68–71, #75–82
  • Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #1–3, 4–5 (with Chris Claremont, 1998)
  • Flash Forward #1–6
  • Galaxy Quest #1–5
  • Gen13 #45–54
  • Generation X #1–28
  • Ghostbusters: Displaced Aggression #1–4
  • Iron Man (vol. 2) #1–7 (1996)
  • Manifest Eternity #1–6 (Wildstorm, 2006)
  • Nightwing (vol.4) #51–58
  • Red Hood and the Outlaws (vol. 1) #0–18, 32–40, Annual #2 (2011–2015), Red Hood and the Outlaws Rebirth #1, (vol. 2) #1–50, Annuals #1–3 (retitled Red Hood: Outlaw)
  • Red Hood/Arsenal (2015–2016)
  • Uncanny X-Men #286–349, 350 (with Steven Seagle), #390–393
  • Wildcats #1–9 (1997)
  • X-Factor #90–95, #106
  • X-Men (vol. 2) #6–11, #46–69, #110–113
  • The Anybodies (Kickstarter) #1 (Take the Money and Run Edition)

Television and film

  • Godzilla: The Series S2 ep.3 (1999)
  • Man of the House (2005)
  • Mosaic (2007)
  • Happy Death Day (2017)
  • Critters Attack! (2019)

References

  1. 1407 Greymalkin. Interview with Scott Lobdell: Generation X ‘Better than your favorite writer’ 2023-06-30, retrieved 2025-07-02^
  2. Ask Scott Lobdell, DC Universe Comic Book Writer, Anything! retrieved 13 January 2019^
  3. ^
  4. Mangels, Andy (2006), In and Out: A Brief History of Marvel's 2006 Gay Policies, Prism Comics. Retrieved 2009-03-29^
  5. Alpha Flight #106^
  6. "Bullpen Bulletins," Marvel comics cover-dated April 1990.^
  7. thehorrorchick. Exclusive: Director Alex Craig Mann Talks Detention of the Dead and More Dread Central, 25 June 2012, retrieved 13 January 2019^
  8. Dave McNary. Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt Superhero Movie 'Ball and Chain' Lands at Netflix Variety, 2020-05-14, retrieved 2020-09-10^
  9. Netflix Lands Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt Superhero Package 'Ball and Chain' (Exclusive) The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2020, retrieved 2020-09-10^
  10. Netflix - 'BALL AND CHAIN' STARRING DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT LANDS AT NETFLIX Netflix, retrieved 2020-09-10^
  11. Dick Grayson Returns as Nightwing, New 'Batwing' and 'Red Hood and the Outlaws' Series [Updated] ComicsAlliance.com^
  12. Matthew Peterson. "New 52" Review MajorSpoilers.com, 22 September 2011, retrieved 24 October 2011^
  13. Andrew Hunsacker. New 52 Review: Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 Craveonline.com, retrieved 24 October 2011^
  14. Laura Hudson. Parting Shot: DC's New Starfire, WTF ComicsAlliance.com, retrieved 24 October 2011^
  15. Laura Hudson. The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their 'Liberated Sexuality' ComicsAlliance.com, retrieved 24 October 2011^
  16. DC Relaunch: Scott Lobdell Confirms He's Writing Superboy #1 bleedingcool.com, retrieved 2011-06-14^
  17. Lobdell Builds Up Gay Teen With 'Titans' Bunker Cbr.com, 21 November 2011, retrieved 13 January 2019^
  18. Comic Book Awards Almanac^
  19. RON MARZ, SCOTT LOBDELL On Racism, Politics & Social Media Newsarama, August 8, 2011, retrieved 2019-01-30^
  20. Scott Lobdell - How My Twitter Conversation With Ron Marz Changed My Social Media retrieved 13 January 2019^
  21. IT HAPPENED TO ME: I Was Sexually Harassed Onstage At a Comic Convention Panel - xoJane 8 January 2014, retrieved 13 January 2019^
  22. Heidi MacDonald. Scott Lobdell: I apologize to MariNaomi Comicsbeat.com, 19 December 2013, retrieved 13 January 2019^