Good Morning!

Well, the votes are in (thank you to everyone who voted), and it’s actually a write-in that garnered the most love, Mr. Jeph Loeb!. So, let us shine the spotlight on Mr Loeb shall we?

Jeph Loeb was born in 1958 in Stamford, Connecticut, under the name Joseph Loeb III. Jeph attended college at Columbia University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts, and later a Masters, in Film.

Loeb’s professional career began in film as well, collaborating with Matthew Weisman on two films in 1985, Teen Wolf (starring Michael J. Fox), and Commando (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger). Loeb followed up by scripting more films, including Teen Wolf Too, Burglar, and Model by day.

In 1991, Loeb wrote his first comic for DC comics, revamping CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN with Tim Sale. Over the next few years, Loeb wrote several small Batman stories for the title LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT, which eventually led to Loeb (again partnered with Tim Sale) crafting the year-one style story, BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN. THE LONG HALLOWEEN which served as a breaking out point for Loeb.

Jeph followed B:TLH up with more DC work, including SUPERMAN FOR ALL SEASONS, which helped him to become the regular writer on SUPERMAN for next two years.

At the end of his Superman run, Loeb moved to Marvel and produced several year-one type mini-series including DAREDEVIL: YELLOW, SPIDER-MAN: BLUE, and HULK: Grey, all of which again partnered Loeb with Sale.

Loeb does work with people other than Tim Sale. In 2002 Loeb partnered with Jim Lee on BATMAN: HUSH, a 12 issue run which topped sales charts for 11 of it’s twelve months of production.

Loeb would eventually move back towards moving pictures as well as comics, writing episodes of Smallville, and becoming a producer (as well as writer) for Heroes. Loeb also has continued to work with Marvel, writing THE ULTIMATES V3, ULTIMATUM, and the newest HULK series.

Jeph Loeb has won a number of WIZARD and EISNER awards, mostly for his work on THE LONG HALLOWEEN, but fan reaction to his work is just as negative as it is positive. Loeb relies heavily on narration boxes as a way to show character thought, but will often write very light amounts of dialogue. A common criticism of Loeb’s work is that there is action for action’s sake, and that Loeb lacks an understanding of the characters that he is writing.

Despite the polarizing effect he has on fans (or perhaps because of it), Loeb is undoubtedly one of the biggest writers in comic books. He is constantly in demand at conventions. For my money, Loeb writes action as well as anyone, as well as being able to give a large cast of characters each a distinct voice. Loeb also writes the most compelling Batman that I have ever read. Where Loeb falls flat for me is characters with a sense of humor, as an example, his Spider-man stories are somewhat dry.

That’s the spotlight for today folks, thanks for stopping in, and have a great day!