Matt Fraction

Matt Fritchman (born December 1, 1975), better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of '' The Invincible Iron Man'', '' The Immortal Iron Fist'', ''Uncanny X-Men'', and '' Hawkeye'' for Marvel Comics; '' Casanova'' and '' Sex Criminals'' for Image Comics; and ''Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen'' for DC Comics.

Early life

Matt Fraction was born December 1, 1975 in Chicago Heights, Illinois. As a child, he developed an affinity for telling stories, and he enjoyed reading comic books and strips. The first comic he remembers buying was '' Batman'' #316 (Oct. 1979), and he liked newspaper comics ''Peanuts'' and ''Doonesbury''. He became a regular weekly comic-book reader around the time that the 1985–86 DC Comics storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths" ended, but he found that storyline bizarre and impenetrable and gravitated toward Marvel Comics instead. Spider-Man became his favorite character, and he read other Marvel publications such as '' Star Wars'' and '' G.I. Joe''.

In the late 1990s Fraction worked as an employee at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based comics retailer Heroes Aren't Hard to Find, and participated in the Warren Ellis Forum under the username "Matt Fraction".AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE WARREN ELLIS FORUM
by Joshua Rivera, at ImageComics.com; published December 5, 2018; retrieved December 21, 2018

Career

Fraction started in the comics industry by working for smaller publishers including AiT/Planet Lar and IDW Publishing, many of which employed people that he had met on the Warren Ellis Forum; as such, he continued using the "Fraction" name as it was the one under which he had built a reputation. He became known early in his career for his creator-owned work on ''The Five Fists of Science'' and '' Casanova'', before taking on a number of assignments for Marvel Comics.

Fraction wrote two columns for Comic Book Resources: "Poplife" and "The Basement Tapes", the latter with Joe Casey.

Fraction teamed with Ed Brubaker for a run on Marvel's '' The Immortal Iron Fist''. The pair re-teamed on ''Uncanny X-Men'' for a short time, after which Fraction wrote the series solo until leaving it in 2011. He wrote ''The Mighty Thor'' and '' The Invincible Iron Man'', the latter of which led to his consulting work on the set of the film ''Iron Man 2'' and writing the ''Iron Man 2'' video game that tied into that film sequel.

In 2011 Fraction wrote the '' Fear Itself'' limited series, which was the central part of the crossover storyline of the same name. In December 2011 he revived the series '' The Defenders'' with artist Terry Dodson and in August 2012 he started a new '' Hawkeye'' series with David Aja. As part of Marvel NOW!, ''Fantastic Four'' was relaunched in November 2012 with the creative team of Fraction and artist Mark Bagley. Its spinoff series '' FF'' was produced by Fraction and artist Mike Allred. Fraction left both series due to other work commitments.

In February 2013, he was named on IGN's list of "The Best Tweeters in Comics", which described him as "the premier comics Twitter personality."

In 2013, Fraction and Chip Zdarsky co-created the '' Sex Criminals'' series for Image Comics. He and Christian Ward created the '' ODY-C'' series in 2014, a science-fiction retelling of the ''Odyssey'' with the characters' genders changed to female.

In 2015, Fraction and Fabio Moon returned to ''Casanova'' with a new eight-issue mini-series, ''Acedia''. The series featured backup stories written by Michael Chabon with art by Casanova Co-Creator Gabriel Ba. Also in 2015, Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick's company, Milkfed Criminal Masterminds, signed a two-year deal with Universal Television to adapt some of their comic books, as well as original TV series concepts. They also planned to use Milkfed Criminal Masterminds as a TV launchpad for other comic creators’ properites.

In 2018, Milkfed Criminal Masterminds signed another two-year overall deal, this time with Legendary TV to adapt several of their creator-owned comics, as well as produce exclusive, original projects developed by the duo for television across traditional and non-traditional platforms.

In 2019, Fraction and Elsa Charretier co-created the graphic novella crime series, ''November'' for Image Comics, meanwhile Fraction wrote his first series for DC Comics, the twelve-issue series '' Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen'' which was drawn by Steve Lieber.

In 2020, '' Sex Criminals'' concluded with issue #69, volumes 2 and 3 of ''November'' were released, and ''Adventureman'', the long-anticipated series from Fraction and Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson began releasing from Image Comics, and his and Lieber's run on '' Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen'' concluded, with a collected trade paperback entitled ''Who Killed Jimmy Olsen?'' being released in October.

Fraction served as a consultant for the '' Hawkeye'' television miniseries, which was heavily inspired by his 2012 comic run. He also planned to make a cameo appearance as a member of the Tracksuit Mafia, but was unable to commit to this, due to complications stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

Fraction is married to Kelly Sue DeConnick, a comic book writer and adapter of manga into English, whom he met when they were both participants on the Warren Ellis Forum. They have two children, Henry and Tallulah.

Awards

*2008 Eagle Award for Favourite Newcomer Writer
*2009 Eisner Award for "Best New Series" for '' The Invincible Iron Man'' (shared with Salvador Larroca)
*2010 PEN Center USA Literary Award for "Outstanding Body of Work"
*2014 Harvey Award
** "Best Single Issue or Story" for ''Hawkeye'' #11, "Pizza Is My Business" (shared with David Aja and others).
** "Best New Series" for ''Sex Criminals'' (shared with Chip Zdarsky).
*2014 Eisner Award
** "Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)" for ''Hawkeye'' #11, "Pizza Is My Business" (shared with David Aja).
** "Best New Series" for ''Sex Criminals'' (shared with Chip Zdarsky).
*2016 Inkpot Award

Nominations

*2008 Eisner Award
** Best Single Issue (or One-Shot) for '' The Sensational Spider-Man Annual'' (shared with Salvador Larroca).
** Eisner Award for Best New Series for '' The Immortal Iron Fist'' (shared with Ed Brubaker, David Aja and others)
*2013 Harvey Award
** Best Writer for ''Hawkeye''
** Best New Series for ''Hawkeye'' (shared with David Aja and others)
** Best Continuing or Limited Series for ''Hawkeye'' (shared with David Aja and others)
** Best Single Issue or Story for ''Hawkeye'' #1, "Lucky" (shared with David Aja and others)
*2013 Eisner Award
** Best Continuing Series for ''Hawkeye'' (shared with David Aja and others)
** Best Writer for ''Hawkeye'' and ''Casanova: Avarita''
*2014 Harvey Award
** Best Writer for ''Hawkeye''
** Best Continuing or Limited Series for ''Hawkeye'' (shared with David Aja and others)
*2014 Eisner Award
** Best Continuing Series for ''Hawkeye'' (shared with David Aja)
** Best Continuing Series for ''Sex Criminals'' (shared with Chip Zdarsky)
** Best Writer for ''Sex Criminals'', ''Hawkeye'', ''Fantastic Four'', and ''FF''
*2014 Angoulême Sélection Officielle for ''Hawkeye, Vol 1'' (shared with David Aja)

Bibliography

Early work

*'' Double Take'' #6–8: "Rex Mantooth" (with Andy Kuhn, anthology, Funk-O-Tron, 2001–2002) collected as ''The Annotated Mantooth!'' (tpb, 96 pages, AiT/Planet Lar, 2002, )
*'' Last of the Independents'' (with Kieron Dwyer, graphic novel, sc, 104 pages, AiT/Planet Lar, 2003, ; hc, 112 pages, Image, 2020, )
* IDW Publishing:
**'' 30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales'' #1–8: "Juarez, or Lex Nova and the Case of the 400 Dead Mexican Girls" (with Ben Templesmith, co-feature, 2004–2005)
*** Collected, along with the leading feature, in ''30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales'' (hc, 200 pages, 2005, ; tpb, 2005, )
*** Collected in a separate volume as ''30 Days of Night: Juarez'' (tpb, 104 pages, 2009, )
**'' Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty'' #0 (untitled five-page story with Ashley Wood, 2005)
*** Collected in ''Metal Gear Solid Omnibus'' (tpb, 552 pages, 2010, )
*** Collected in ''Metal Gear Solid: Deluxe Edition'' (hc, 608 pages, 2014, )

Image Comics

*'' Four Letter Worlds'': "Fate" (with Kieron Dwyer, anthology graphic novel, 144 pages, 2005, )
*'' 24Seven Volume 1'': "Static" (with Frazer Irving, anthology graphic novel, 224 pages, 2006, )
*''The Five Fists of Science'' (with Steven Sanders, graphic novel, 112 pages, 2006, )
*'' Casanova'' (with Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon):
**''Casanova'' #1–14 (2006–2008)
*** Issues #1–7 are collected as ''Album 1: Luxuria'' (hc, 144 pages, 2007, ; tpb, 2008, )
*** A colorized and relettered version of these fourteen issues was published as two 4-issue limited series under Marvel's Icon imprint.
**''Casanova: Acedia'' (with the ''Metanauts'' back-up feature, written by Michael Chabon and drawn by Gabriel Bá, 2015–2017) collected as:
*** ''Volume 1'' (collects #1–4, tpb, 136 pages, 2015, )
*** ''Volume 2'' (collects #5–8, tpb, 136 pages, 2017, )
*'' Sex Criminals'' (with Chip Zdarsky, 2013–2020) collected as:
**''Big Hard Sex Criminals Volume 1'' (collects #1–10, hc, 256 pages, 2015, )
**''Big Hard Sex Criminals Volume 2'' (collects #11–20, hc, 256 pages, 2018, )
**''Big Hard Sex Criminals Volume 3'' (collects #21–30 and 69, hc, 320 pages, 2021, )
*** Includes ''Sex Criminals: Sexual Gary Special'' (written by Fraction, art by Rachael Stott, 2020)
*'' Satellite Sam'' (with Howard Chaykin, 2013–2015) collected as ''Satellite Sam'' (hc, 400 pages, 2015, )
*'' ODY-C'' #1–12 (with Christian Ward, 2014–2016) collected as ''ODY-C: Cycle One'' (hc, 400 pages, 2016, )
*'' Solid State'' (script by Fraction based on the concept by Jonathan Coulton, art by Albert Monteys, graphic novel, sc, 128 pages, 2017, ; hc, 2018, )
*'' Bitch Planet: Triple Feature'' #5: "Everyone's Grandma is a Little Bit Feminist" (with Elsa Charretier, anthology, 2017) collected in ''Bitch Planet: Triple Feature'' (tpb, 144 pages, 2017, )
*'' November'' (with Elsa Charretier, series of graphic novels):
**''Volume 1'' (hc, 80 pages, 2019, )
**''Volume 2'' (hc, 80 pages, 2020, )
**''Volume 3'' (hc, 80 pages, 2020, )
**''Volume 4'' (hc, 80 pages, 2021, )
*'' Adventureman'' (with Terry Dodson, 2020–ongoing) collected as:
**''The End and Everything After'' (collects #1–4, hc, 168 pages, 2020, )
**''A Fairy Tale of New York'' (collects #5–9, hc, 168 pages, 2022, )
*'' The Old Guard: Tales Through Time'' #4: "How to Make a Ghost Town" (with Steve Lieber, anthology, 2021) collected in ''The Old Guard: Tales Through Time'' (tpb, 176 pages, 2021, )

Marvel Comics

*X-Men:
**''X-Men Unlimited'' vol. 2 #9: " Dead Man Walking" (with Sam Kieth, anthology, 2005) collected in ''Astonishing X-Men Companion'' (tpb, 168 pages, 2020, )
**''Uncanny X-Men'' (with Terry Dodson, Greg Land, Yanick Paquette (#512), Whilce Portacio, Phil Jimenez (#522), Leonard Kirk (#527) and Harvey Tolibao (#529), 2008–2011) collected as:
*** ''Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction: The Complete Collection Volume 1'' (collects #500–511 and ''Annual'' #2, tpb, 384 pages, 2013, )
**** Includes the "Migas" short story (art by Jamie McKelvie) from '' X-Men: Divided We Stand'' #1 (anthology, 2008)
**** Issues #500–503 are co-written by Fraction and Ed Brubaker.
*** ''Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction: The Complete Collection Volume 2'' (collects #512–519, tpb, 368 pages, 2013, )
**** Includes the "How I Survived Apocalyptic Fire" short story (art by Daniel Acuña) from '' Dark Reign: The Cabal'' (anthology one-shot, 2009)
**** Includes the '' Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia'' one-shot (written by Fraction, art by Marc Silvestri, 2009)
**** Includes ''Dark Avengers'' #7–8 (written by Fraction, art by Luke Ross, 2009) as part of ''Utopia'' inter-title crossover.
**** Includes the '' Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Exodus'' one-shot (written by Fraction, art by Mike Deodato, Jr., 2009)
**** Includes the '' Dark Reign: The List—X-Men'' one-shot (written by Fraction, art by Alan Davis, 2009)
*** ''Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction: The Complete Collection Volume 3'' (collects #520–522 and 526–534, tpb, 336 pages, 2013, )
**** Includes the '' Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age'' one-shot (written by Fraction, art by Whilce Portacio, Steven Sanders and Jamie McKelvie, 2010)
**** Issues #531–534 are co-written by Fraction and Kieron Gillen.
*** ''X-Men: Second Coming'' (includes #523–525, hc, 392 pages, 2010, ; tpb, 2011, )
**** Includes Fraction's chapter of the epilogue from '' X-Men: Second Coming'' #2 (art by Terry Dodson, 2010)
*'' The Immortal Iron Fist'' (co-written by Fraction and Ed Brubaker):
**''The Last Iron Fist Story'' (hc, 160 pages, 2007, ; tpb, 2007, ) collects:
*** '' Civil War: Choosing Sides'': "The Immortal Iron Fist" (with David Aja, anthology one-shot, 2006)
*** "The Last Iron Fist Story" (with David Aja, Travel Foreman, Russ Heath and Sal Buscema, in #1–6, 2007)
**''The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven'' (hc, 216 pages, 2008, ; tpb, 2008, ) collects:
*** "Men of a Certain Deadly Persuasion" (with Howard Chaykin, Dan Brereton and Jelena Kevic-Djurdjević, in ''Annual'', 2007)
*** "The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven" (with David Aja, Roy Martinez, Scott Koblish, Kano, Javier Pulido, Tonči Zonjić and Clay Mann, in #8–14, 2007–2008)
**''The Book of Iron Fist'' (hc, 160 pages, 2008, ; tpb, 2009, ) collects:
*** "The Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay" (with Travel Foreman, Leandro Fernández and Khari Evans, in #7, 2007)
*** ''Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death'' (with Russ Heath, Mitch Breitweiser, Nick Dragotta and Lewis LaRosa, one-shot, 2008)
*** ''The Origin of Danny Rand'' (with Kano, two-page framing sequence for a reprint of ''Marvel Premiere'' #15–16, one-shot, 2008)
*** "The Story of the Iron Fist Bei Bang-Wen (1827–1860)" (with Khari Evans, in #15, 2008)
*** "Happy Birthday Danny" (with David Aja, in #16, 2008)
**''Omnibus'' (collects #1–16, ''Annual'', ''Civil War: Choosing Sides'', ''Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death'' and ''The Origin of Danny Rand'', hc, 560 pages, 2009, )
**''The Complete Collection Volume 1'' (collects #1–16, ''Annual'', ''Civil War: Choosing Sides'', ''Orson Randall and the Green Mist of Death'' and ''The Origin of Danny Rand'', tpb, 496 pages, 2013, )
*''Punisher War Journal'' vol. 2 (with Ariel Olivetti, Mike Deodato, Jr. (#4), Leandro Fernández (#11), Cory Walker (#13), Scott Wegener (#14–15), Howard Chaykin and Andy MacDonald (#26), 2007–2009) collected as:
** Issues #19–25 are co-written by Fraction and Rick Remender.
*** ''Civil War'' (collects #1–4, hc, 144 pages, 2007, ; tpb, 2007, )
*** '' Goin' Out West'' (collects #5–11, hc, 168 pages, 2007, ; tpb, 2008, )
*** ''Hunter/Hunted'' (collects #12–17, hc, 152 pages, 2008, ; tpb, 2008, )
*** ''Jigsaw'' (collects #18–23, hc, 144 pages, 2008, ; tpb, 2009, )
*** ''Secret Invasion'' (collects #24–26, hc, 120 pages, 2009, ; tpb, 2009, )
* Spider-Man:
**''The Sensational Spider-Man'' vol. 2 ''Annual'': "To Have and to Hold" (with Salvador Larocca, 2007) collected in ''Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Back in Black'' (hc, 336 pages, 2007, ; tpb, 2008, )
**'' The Amazing Spider-Man: Presidents' Day Celebration'' (with Andy MacDonald, digital one-shot, 2009) collected in ''The Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day'' (hc, 184 pages, 2009, ; tpb, 2010, )
*'' The Order'' (with Barry Kitson, Khari Evans (#5) and Javier Saltares (#9–10), 2007–2008) collected as:
**''The Next Right Thing'' (collects #1–5, tpb, 128 pages, 2008, )
**''California Dreaming'' (collects #6–10, tpb, 120 pages, 2008, )
*'' The Invincible Iron Man'' (with Salvador Larroca, Jamie McKelvie (co-features in #32–33), Kano + Nathan Fox + Carmine Di Giandomenico (#500) and Howard Chaykin (co-feature in #503), 2008–2012) collected as:
**''The Five Nightmares'' (collects #1–7, hc, 184 pages, 2008, ; tpb, 2009, )
**''World's Most Wanted Volume 1'' (collects #8–13, hc, 152 pages, 2009, ; tpb, 2010, )
**''World's Most Wanted Volume 2'' (collects #14–19, hc, 160 pages, 2010, ; tpb, 2010, )
**''Stark Disassembled'' (collects #20–24, hc, 136 pages, 2010, ; tpb, 2011, )
**''Stark Resilient Volume 1'' (collects #25–28, hc, 128 pages, 2010, ; tpb, 2011, )
**''Stark Resilient Volume 2'' (collects #29–33, hc, 136 pages, 2011, ; tpb, 2011, )
**''My Monsters'' (collects #500, 500.1, ''Annual'' and the co-feature from #503, hc, 168 pages, 2011, ; tpb, 2011, )
**''Unfixable'' (includes #501–503, hc, 120 pages, 2011, ; tpb, 2012, )
*** Includes the '' Free Comic Book Day 2010: Iron Man/Thor'' special (written by Fraction, art by John Romita, Jr., 2010)
**''Fear Itself'' (collects #504–509 and '' Fear Itself'' #7.3, hc, 168 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2012, )
**''Demon'' (collects #510–515, hc, 144 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2013, )
**''Long Way Down'' (collects #516–520, hc, 112 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2013, )
**''The Future'' (collects #521–527, hc, 152 pages, 2013, ; tpb, 2013, )
*Thor:
**'' Thor: Ages of Thunder'' (hc, 160 pages, 2009, ; tpb, 2009, ) collects:
*** ''Thor: Ages of Thunder'' (with Patrick Zircher and Khari Evans, one-shot, 2008)
*** ''Thor: Reign of Blood'' (with Patrick Zircher and Khari Evans, one-shot, 2008)
*** ''Thor: Man of War'' (with Patrick Zircher and Clay Mann, one-shot, 2009)
*** ''Thor God-Sized Special'' (with Dan Brereton, Doug Braithwaite, Mike Allred and Miguel Sepulveda, one-shot, 2009)
**'' Secret Invasion: Thor'' #1–3 (with Doug Braithwaite, 2008) collected as ''Secret Invasion: Thor'' (tpb, 96 pages, 2009, )
**''Thor'' #615–621 (with Pasqual Ferry, 2010–2011) collected as ''Thor: The World Eaters'' (hc, 216 pages, 2011, ; tpb, 2011, )
**''The Mighty Thor'' (with Olivier Coipel, Pasqual Ferry, Pepe Larraz, Giuseppe Camuncoli (#12), Barry Kitson (#12.1 and 22), Alan Davis (#18) and Carmine Di Giandomenico, 2011–2012) collected as:
*** ''Volume 1'' (collects #1–6, hc, 144 pages, 2011, ; tpb, 2012, )
*** ''Volume 2'' (collects #7–12 and '' Fear Itself'' #7.2, hc, 168 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2012, )
*** ''Volume 3'' (collects #12.1 and 13–17, hc, 136 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2013, )
*** '' The Mighty Thor/Journey into Mystery: Everything Burns'' (includes #18–22, hc, 216 pages, 2013, ; tpb, 2013, )
**** Issues #18–21 are co-written by Fraction and Kieron Gillen.
*'' Captain America: Who Won't Wield the Shield?'': "Doctor America" (with Howard Hallis and Brendan McCarthy, anthology one-shot, 2010) collected in ''Secret Wars Too'' (tpb, 208 pages, 2016, )
*'' Casanova'' (''Luxuria'' and ''Gula'' reprint the original Image series in colorized and relettered form with new short stories in ''Luxuria'' #1 (art by Fábio Moon) and ''Gula'' #4 (art by Gabriel Bá); published under the Icon imprint):
**''Casanova: Luxuria'' #1–4 (with Gabriel Bá, 2010) collected as ''Casanova: Luxuria'' (tpb, 160 pages, 2011, ; hc, 168 pages, Image, 2014, )
**''Casanova: Gula'' #1–4 (with Fábio Moon, 2011) collected as ''Casanova: Gula'' (tpb, 136 pages, 2012, ; hc, 168 pages, Image, 2015, )
**''Casanova: Avaritia'' #1–4 (with Gabriel Bá, 2011–2012) collected as ''Casanova: Avaritia'' (tpb, 152 pages, 2012, ; hc, 176 pages, Image, 2015, )
*'' Fear Itself'' #1–7 (with Stuart Immonen, 2011) collected as ''Fear Itself'' (hc, 240 pages, 2012, ; tpb, 2012, )
*'' Shattered Heroes'' (co-written by Fraction, Christopher Yost and Cullen Bunn):
**''Battle Scars

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