Robert Venditti is an American
comic book writer, known for his work on the
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock with a small staff. Currently an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.
Top Sh ...
title ''
The Surrogates
''The Surrogates'' is a five-issue comic book Limited series (comics), limited series written by Robert Venditti, drawn by Brett Weldele, and published by Top Shelf Productions from 2005 to 2006. In 2009 it was followed by a prequel graphic novel ...
'', which was adapted to a major motion picture starring
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
directed by Jonathan Mostow for
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
., and for the
Valiant Comics
Valiant Comics is an American comic books, comic book publisher, the first incarnation of which was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky. In 1994, the company was ...
title ''
X-O Manowar''. He is also known for his work on
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
titles such as ''
The Flash
The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
'', ''
Green Lantern
Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
'', ''
Justice League
The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...
'', and ''
Hawkman
Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...
''. He has also adapted the ''
Percy Jackson & the Olympians
''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series foll ...
'' and ''
The Heroes of Olympus'' book series by
Rick Riordan
Richard Russell Riordan Jr. ( ; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million cop ...
into graphic novels.
Early life
Robert Venditti was born and raised in
Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...
, and
Pembroke Pines, Florida
Pembroke Pines is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Miami. It is a suburb of and the fourth-most populous city in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Pembroke ...
. Though he says he always wanted to be a prose writer, he rarely read comics as a child, but would peruse the comics at the barber shop.
[Piccione, Sebastian (November 24, 2008)]
"Robert Venditti: Writer/Creator of The Surrogates"
Fanboy Buzz.
He later moved to
Gainesville to attend the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
where he received a
B.A. in
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
and English. After college he worked as a clerk at a law firm in southern Florida with aspirations to practice law, but found that work not to his liking. After subsequently worked pumping gas on a fuel truck, he moved to the
Port St. John/
Titusville area in
Brevard County to which his parents had moved, where he attended the
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...
, working at a
Borders Books store in
Winter Park, while earning his M.A. in
Creative Writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...
. In about 2000, while working at Borders, a coworker recommended comics books as reading material to him. Though the skeptical Venditti initially thought of comics as solely for children, his reading of
Kurt Busiek's ''
Astro City'' impressed him enough to decide to change his career aspirations from prose to comics.
[
]
Career
In 2002 Venditti attended a convention and met Chris Staros from Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock with a small staff. Currently an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.
Top Sh ...
, and was added to Staros' email list. That April, Staros subsequently sent out a mass email announcing that Top Shelf's distributor was going bankrupt, and asking recipients of the email to place orders to aid the distributor. Venditti contacted Staros to offer help, and ending up doing warehouse work for him. Venditti began working on ''The Surrogates'' in July 2002, and after finishing the script that December, he gave it to Staros, who decided to publish it through Top Shelf, despite the fact that it was not typical of the material they usually published. The first issue of the five-issue miniseries was published in July 2005,[ and the fifth in March 2006. The prequel ''Surrogates: Flesh & Bone'', was released in September 2009, the same month as the release of the feature film adaptation of the first miniseries, starring ]Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
.
In May 2012 Venditti began writing the '' X-O Manowar'' series for Valiant Entertainment. Venditti began his first work for DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
when he took over from Paul Cornell on '' Demon Knights'' beginning with issue #16, and took over ''Green Lantern
Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
'' and ''Green Lantern Corps
The Green Lantern Corps is a intergalactic Peacekeeping, peace keeping agency appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the plan ...
'' in June 2013.[Phegley, Kiel (November 30, 2012)]
"Robert Venditti Redrafts "Hellblazer" As 'Constantine'"
Comic Book Resources.
Personal life
As of 2008, Venditti lives in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
.[
]
Bibliography
Top Shelf Productions
*''The Surrogates
''The Surrogates'' is a five-issue comic book Limited series (comics), limited series written by Robert Venditti, drawn by Brett Weldele, and published by Top Shelf Productions from 2005 to 2006. In 2009 it was followed by a prequel graphic novel ...
'' #1-5 (limited series, July 2005-April 2006)
**''The Surrogates'' (tpb, 208 pages, 2006, ) collects:
*** "Chapter One: Field Test" (with Brett Weldele, in #1, 2005)
*** "Chapter Two: Life Unfiltered" (with Brett Weldele, in #2, 2005)
*** "Chapter Three: Revelations" (with Brett Weldele, in #3, 2005)
*** "Chapter Four: Biologics" (with Brett Weldele, in #4, 2006)
*** "Chapter Five: Pulse" (with Brett Weldele, in #5, 2006)
*'' The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone'' (graphic novel, with Brett Weldele, tpb, 144 pages, July 2009, )
*''The Homeland Directive'' (graphic novel with Mike Huddleston, June 2011, tpb, 144 pages, )
*'' The Surrogates: Case Files'' #1-2 (with Brett Weldele, July–September 2012)
Valiant Entertainment
*''4001 A.D.: X-O Manowar'' #1 (2016)
*''Armor Hunters'' #1-4 (2014)
*''Armor Hunters: Aftermath'' #1 (2014)
*''Book of Death'' #1-4 (2015)
*''Book of Death: The Fall of X-O Manowar'' #1 (2015)
*'' Eternal Warrior: Awakening'' #1 (2017)
*''Wrath of the Eternal Warrior'' #1-14 (2015-2016)
*'' X-O Manowar'' vol. 3 #0-50, ''Annual 2016'' (2012-2016)
*''X-O Manowar: Commander Trill'' #0 (2015)
*''X-O Manowar: Valiant 25th Anniversary Special'' #1 (2015)
DC Comics
*'' Damage'' vol. 2 #1-16, ''Annual'' #1 (2018-2019)
*'' Demon Knights'' #16-23 (2013)
*''The Flash
The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
'' vol. 4 #30-49, ''Annual'' #3 (2014-2016)
*''The Flash: Futures End'' #1 (2014)
*'' Freedom Fighters'' vol. 3 #1-12 (2019-2020)
*'' Future State: Green Lantern'' #2 (2021)
*'' Generations: Forged'' #1 (2021)
*''Generations: Shattered'' #1 (2021)
*''Green Lantern
Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...
'' vol. 5 #21-52, 23.1, ''Annual'' #2-4 (2013-2016)
*''Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular'' #1 (2020)
*''Green Lantern: Futures End'' #1 (2014)
*''Green Lantern Corps
The Green Lantern Corps is a intergalactic Peacekeeping, peace keeping agency appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing on the plan ...
'' vol. 3 #21-27, ''Annual'' #2 (2013-2014)
*''Hal Jordan
Harold "Hal" Jordan, one of the characters known as Green Lantern, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created in 1959 by writer John Broome (writer), John Broome and artist Gil Kane, and f ...
and the Green Lantern Corps'' #1-50 (2016-2018)
*''Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps: Rebirth'' #1 (2016)
*''Hawkman
Hawkman is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, the original Hawkman first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1, published by All-American ...
'' vol. 5 #1-29 (2018-2020)
*''Justice League
The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). Writer Gardner Fox conceived the ...
'' vol. 3 #32 (2018)
*''Justice League'' vol. 4 #40-47, ''Annual'' #2 (2020)
*''New Gods
The New Gods are a fictional extraterrestrial race appearing in the eponymous comic book series published by DC Comics, as well as selected other DC titles. Created and designed by Jack Kirby, they first appeared in February 1971 in ''New Gods'' ...
: Godhead'' #1 (2014)
*''Secret Origins
''Secret Origins'' is the title of several comic book series published by DC Comics which featured the origin stories of the publisher's various characters.
Publication history
''Secret Origins'' was first published as a one-shot in 1961 and c ...
'' vol. 3 #3, 7 (2014)
*''Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...
'' vol. 7 ''Annual'' #2 (2020)
*'' Wesley Dodds: The Sandman'' vol. 1 #1-6 (2023-2024)
Other publishers
*''Marvel Comics Presents
''Marvel Comics Presents'' is an American comic book anthology title that was published in three series by Marvel Comics: from 1988 to 1995; 2007 to 2008; and in 2019.
Volume 1
The first volume was released on a bi-weekly basis and lasted for ...
'' vol. 2 #6, "4F" (with Jeremy Haun, February 2008, Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
)
*'' Iron Man: Iron Protocols'', one-shot, "The Ark" (with Mark Nelson, October 2009) collected in ''Iron Man: Tales Of The Golden Avenger'' (tpb, 128 pages, 2010, , Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
)
*''Percy Jackson & the Olympians
''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a fantasy novel series by American author Rick Riordan. The first book series in his ''Camp Half-Blood Chronicles'', the novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century. The series foll ...
'', Disney-Hyperion:
** "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, October 2010, tpb, 128 pages, )
** "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, July 2013, tpb, 128 pages, )
** "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, October 2013, tpb, 128 pages, )
*'' Blue Bloods'' (graphic novel with Alina Urusov, January 2013, hc, 112 pages, , HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
)
*'' The Heroes of Olympus'', Disney-Hyperion:
** "The Lost Hero: The Graphic Novel" (graphic novel, with Nate Powell, October 2014, hc, 192 pages, )
** "The Son of Neptune: The Graphic Novel" (graphic novel, with Antoine Dodé, February 2017, hc, 192 pages, )
*''Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde'' (book, illustrated by Dusty Higgins, June 2015, hc, 304 pages, , Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
)
*''Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Rise of the Robot Army'' (book, illustrated by Dusty Higgins, June 2016, hc, 304 pages, , Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
)
References
External links
*
Audio interview with Robert Venditti
"Robert Venditti"
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, originally owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock with a small staff. Currently an imprint of IDW Publishing, Top Shelf is based in Marietta, Georgia.
Top Sh ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venditti, Robert
University of Florida alumni
University of Central Florida alumni
Living people
People from Pembroke Pines, Florida
American comics writers
American writers of Italian descent
Year of birth missing (living people)