Brian K. Vaughan

Brian K. Vaughan (born 1976) is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, and Saga.

Vaughan was a writer, story editor and producer of the television series Lost during seasons three through five. He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the fourth season. The writing staff was nominated for the award again at the February 2010 ceremony for their work on the fifth season. He was formerly the showrunner and executive producer of the TV series Under the Dome.

Wired describes Vaughan's comics work as "quirky, acclaimed stories that don't pander and still pound pulses". His creator-owned comics work is also characterized by "finite, meticulous, years-long story arcs", on which Vaughan comments, "That's storytelling, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Something like Spider-Man, a book that never has a third act, that seems crazy." Erik Malinowski, also of Wired, has called Vaughan "the greatest comic book visionary of the last five years", comparing him to Frank Miller, Alan Moore, Paul Pope, and Steve Niles, and praised his addition to the TV series Lost as redeeming that series' third season.

Early life

Brian K. Vaughan was born in 1976 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Geoffrey and Catherine Vaughan. He grew up in Rocky River and Westlake. Vaughan and his older brother are both fans of writer Peter David, and according to Vaughan, their adolescent comics reading was largely defined by a shared love of David's 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk. Vaughn also cites Joss Whedon as the reason he wanted to become a writer, a decision he made while attending St. Ignatius High School, from which he graduated 1994. He then attended New York University to study film. While a student there, Vaughan took part in Marvel Comics's Stan-hattan Project, a class for fledgling comic book writers.

Career

Vaughan's first credit was for Marvel Comics' Tales From the Age of Apocalypse #2 (December 1996). He would eventually write for some of the highest-profile characters at Marvel, including X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain America. He would also write Batman and Green Lantern for DC Comics, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight for Dark Horse Comics.

From 2002 to 2008, Vaughan, who came to prefer writing his own characters, wrote the creator-owned monthly series Y: The Last Man, a post-apocalyptic science fiction series about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal on Earth. The series was published in sixty issues by Vertigo and collected in a series of ten paperback volumes (and later a series of five hardcover "Deluxe" volumes). The series received Eisner Awards in 2005 and 2008, and numerous other nominations. The film rights to the series were acquired by New Line Cinema. Vaughan wrote his own screenplay for the project, though it was reported in March 2012 that Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia were in final negotiations to write their own version.

In 2006, Vaughan published the graphic novel Pride of Baghdad, which centers on a group of lions who escape from an Iraqi zoo after the start of the Iraq War. The book was praised by IGN, who named it the Best Original Graphic Novel of 2006, calling it a "modern classic", and lauding it for combining a tale of survival and family with a powerful analogy of war, and praising Vaughan for representing various viewpoints through the different lion characters.

From 2004 to 2010 Vaughan wrote another creator-owned series, Ex Machina, a political thriller that depicts the life of Mitchell Hundred, a former superhero known as the Great Machine who, in the wake of his heroism during the September 11, 2001 attacks, is elected Mayor of New York City. The story is set during Hundred's term in office, and interwoven with flashbacks to his past as the Great Machine. Through this, the series explores both the political situations Hundred finds himself in, and the mysteries surrounding his superpowers. New Line Cinema purchased the film rights to the series in July 2005, and commissioned Vaughan to write one of the two commissioned scripts, which he was reported to be working on in 2007. Following the conclusion of Ex Machina in 2010, Vaughan reiterated his previous statement that he would concentrate on creator-owned work, saying, "I realized when I turned in this final Ex Machina script that it would be the first time I wasn't under some kind of deadline at Marvel or DC since 1996. That's a huge chunk of my life to spend with those characters. I love them, and I still read Marvel and DC's superhero books. I just think I'm better when I'm working on my own creations. When there are so many talented creators out there who are better at that stuff than me, I should leave those characters to them. I should do what I'm fortunate enough to be in the position to do, which is to create more new stuff."

Vaughan was a writer, executive story editor and producer for seasons 3 to 5 on the ABC TV series Lost, a job he earned on the basis of his work on Y: The Last Man, of which Lost co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof was an ardent fan. Lindelof showed that book to series showrunner and executive producer Carlton Cuse. Lindelof relates, "And I told him, 'We need a guy like this on the show, but I don't think he'd ever do it. I don't think he even works in L.A.' And the next thing we knew, he was on the show." He began his stint on the series as executive story editor with the episode "The Man from Tallahassee", which premiered in March 2007. Vaughan continued as story editor on several episodes until he began writing episodes, beginning with the episode "Catch-22", which Vaughan co-wrote with Jeff Pinker, and premiered in April that year. That episode was praised by Wired writer Erik Malinowski, who stated that the themes that Vaughan's carried over to Lost from his comics work, including intricately weaved storylines typified by pathos and hope, as well as pop culture references, redeemed that series' third season.

Vaughan would write a total of 12 episodes, the last of which was the April 2009 episode "Dead Is Dead". He was first credited as a producer with the fourth season premiere "The Beginning of the End", eventually acting as producer on a total of 29 episodes. He was also a co-producer on Lost: Missing Pieces, a spinoff Internet short film series produced during the hiatus between the show's third and fourth seasons.

In November 2011 Steven Spielberg selected Vaughan to adapt the Stephen King novel Under the Dome into a television series for Showtime, which is Vaughan's first television work since Lost. Vaughan was the showrunner and executive producer of the series. He exited the show before the second season premiered in 2014.

On March 14, 2012, Image Comics published the first issue of Vaughan and Fiona Staples' epic space opera/fantasy series, Saga, which he conceived to be a concept strictly relegated to comics, and not adapted to other media. Although Vaughan was a child when he first conceived of the ideas for the bookâ€"which owes its inspiration to Star Warsâ€"it was not until his wife became pregnant with his second child that he began to write the series, which harbors parenthood as an underlying theme. The series depicts two aliens from warring races trying to survive with their newborn daughter. The book is Vaughan's first publication for Image Comics, and represents the first time he has employed first-person narration in his comics writing. The first issue sold out of its first printing ahead of its March 14 release date, with a second printing ordered for April 11, the same release date for issue #2. The series has received positive reviews from MTV, Ain't it Cool News, Comic Book Resources, IGN, Publishers Weekly and Time magazine. It has also appeared on the New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller List, won three 2013 Eisner Awards, and was nominated for a Hugo Award and seven Harvey Awards.

At the Image Expo in January 2015, it was announced that Vaughan would release two new books through Image Comics in 2015: Paper Girls with Cliff Chiang and Matthew Wilson, and We Stand on Guard with Steve Skroce.

Personal life

Vaughan and his wife, a playwright, live in Los Angeles and have two children. They also have a pet Dachshund named Hamburger that has been repeatedly referenced as Vaughan's aide in selecting letters for the Saga letter column, including appearing in an illustration of Vaughan and Staples that was included in a 2013 Time magazine story on Saga.

Awards and nominations

Wins

• 2005 Eisner Award for Best New Series for Ex Machina (with Tony Harris, and Tom Feister)
• 2005 Eisner Award for Best Writer, for Y: The Last Man, Runaways, Ex Machina
• 2007 Wired magazine Rave Award
• 2008 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for Y: The Last Man (with Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr.)
• 2008 Eisner Award for Best New Series for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (with Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty and Andy Owens)
• 2013 Eisner Award for Best Writer for Saga
• 2013 Eisner Award for Best New Series for Saga (with Fiona Staples)
• 2013 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for Saga (with Fiona Staples)
• 2014 Eisner Award for Best Writer for Saga
• 2014 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for Saga (with Fiona Staples)

Nominations

• 2005 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue or One-Shot for Ex Machina #1: "The Pilot" (with Tony Harris, and Tom Feister)
• 2005 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for Ex Machina #2â€"5: "State of Emergency" (with Tony Harris, and Tom Feister)
• 2005 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for Y: The Last Man #18â€"20: "Safeword" (with Pia Guerra and José Marzan Jr.)
• 2005 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for Y: The Last Man (with Pia Guerra and José Marzan Jr.)
• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Single Issue or One-Shot for Ex Machina #11: "Fortune Favors" (with Tony Harris, and Tom Feister)
• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for Ex Machina #12â€"14: "Fact v. Fiction" (with Tony Harris and Tom Feister)
• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Serialized Story for Y: The Last Man #37â€"39: "Paper Dolls" (with Pia Guerra, Goran Sudzuka, and Jose Marzan Jr.)
• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series for Ex Machina (with Tony Harris, and Tom Feister)
• 2006 Eisner Award for Best Writer for Ex Machina, Y: The Last Man and Runaways
• 2009 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story for Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores.

Bibliography

Marvel Comics

• X-Men:
  • Tales from the Age of Apocalypse #2: "Sinister Bloodlines" (with John Francis Moore, Steve Epting and Nick J. Napolitano, 1996) collected in X-Men: The Complete Age of Apocalypse Epic Volume 1 (tpb, 376 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1714-8)
  • Cable #43: "Broken Soldiers" (with Todd Dezago, Randy Green and Chap Yaep, 1997)
  • Wolverine #131: "It Fell to Earth" (with Todd Dezago and Cary Nord, 1998)
  • X-Men Unlimited #22: "Cat & Mouse" (with Patrick Gleason, 1999)
  • Icons: Cyclops #1â€"4: "Odyssey" (with Mark Texeira, 2001)
  • Icons: Chamber #1â€"4: "The Hollow Man" (with Lee Ferguson, 2002â€"2003)
  • X-Men 2 Movie Prequel: Wolverine (with Tom Mandrake, one-shot, 2003)
  • Mystique (with Jorge Lucas, Michael Ryan and Manuel Garcia, 2003â€"2004) collected as:
    • Drop Dead Gorgeous (collects #1â€"6, tpb, 144 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1240-5)
    • Tinker, Tailor, Mutant, Spy (collects #7â€"13, tpb, 168 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1555-2)
    • Ultimate Collection (collects #1â€"13, tpb, 312 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-5511-2)
  • Ultimate X-Men:
    • Volume 5 (hc, 312 pages, 2005, ISBN 0-7851-2103-X) collects:
      • "The Tempest" (with Brandon Peterson, in #46â€"49, 2004)
      • "Cry Wolf" (with Andy Kubert, in #50â€"53, 2004â€"2005)
      • "The Most Dangerous Game" (with Stuart Immonen, in #54â€"57, 2005)
    • Volume 6 (hc, 256 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2104-8) collects:
      • "A Hard Lesson" (with Steve Dillon, in #58, 2005)
      • "Shock and Awe" (with Stuart Immonen, in #59â€"60, 2005)
      • "Ultimate Sacrifice" (with Tom Raney, in Annual #1, 2005)
      • "Magnetic North" (with Stuart Immonen, in #61â€"65, 2005â€"2006)
  • Logan #1â€"3 (with Eduardo Risso, 2008) collected as Wolverine: Logan (hc, 112 pages, 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3425-5; tpb, 2009, ISBN 0-7851-3414-X)
• Ka-Zar Annual '97: "The Shadow of Death" (with Walter A. McDaniel, 1997) collected in Ka-Zar Volume 2 (tpb, 216 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5992-4)
• What If...? #112: "New York... The New Savage Land... No Escape!" (with Koi Turnbull, 1998)
• Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (hc, 360 pages, 2011, ISBN 0-7851-4963-5) includes:
  • "The Great Pretender" (with Mark Waid and Doug Braithwaite, in #5, 1999)
  • "An Ending" (with Steve Harris, in #7, 1999)
• The Hood #1â€"6 (with Kyle Hotz, 2002) collected as The Hood: Blood from Stones (tpb, 144 pages, 2003, ISBN 0785110585; hc, 2007, ISBN 0785128182)
• 411 #2: "The Clarion Call" (with Leonardo Manco, 2003)
• Runaways:
  • Volume 1 (hc, 446 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-1876-4) collects:
    • "Pride and Joy" (with Adrian Alphona, in v1 #1â€"6, 2003)
    • "Teenage Wasteland" (with Adrian Alphona, in v1 #7â€"10, 2003â€"2004)
    • "Lost and Found" (with Takeshi Miyazawa, in v1 #11â€"12, 2004)
    • "The Good Die Young" (with Takeshi Miyazawa, in v1 #13â€"17, 2004)
    • "Eighteen" (with Takeshi Miyazawa, in v1 #18, 2004)
  • Volume 2 (hc, 320 pages, 2006, ISBN 0-7851-2358-X) collects:
    • "True Believers" (with Adrian Alphona, in v2 #1â€"6, 2005)
    • "Star-Crossed" (with Takeshi Miyazawa, in v2 #7â€"8, 2005)
    • "East Coast/West Coast" (with Adrian Alphona, in v2 #9â€"12, 2005â€"2006)
    • "Free" (with Skottie Young, in X-Men/Runaways one-shot, 2006)
  • Volume 3 (hc, 296 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2539-6) collects:
    • "Dead Ringers" (with Adrian Alphona, in v2 #13, 2006)
    • "Parental Guidance" (with Adrian Alphona, in v2 #14â€"18, 2006)
    • "Dead Means Dead" (with Mike Norton, in v2 #19â€"21, 2006)
    • "Live Fast" (with Adrian Alphona, in v2 #22â€"24, 2007)
• Spider-Man/ Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure #1â€"5 (with Staz Johnson, 2003â€"2004) collected as SM/DO:NE (tpb, 120 pages, 2004, ISBN 0-7851-1330-4)
• Dr. Strange: The Oath #1â€"5 (with Marcos Martín, 2006â€"2007) collected as Dr. Strange: The Oath (tpb, 128 pages, 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2211-7)

DC Comics

• Batman: False Faces (hc, 160 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1640-4; tpb, 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2228-5) collects:
  • Gotham City Secret Files: "Skull-Duggery" (with Marcos Martín, 2000)
  • Wonder Woman v2 #160â€"161: "A Piece of You" (with Scott Kolins, 2000)
  • Batman #588â€"590: "Close Before Striking" (with Scott McDaniel, 2001)
  • Detective Comics #787: "Mimsy were the Borogoves" (with Rick Burchett, 2003)
• The Titans #14: "Chain of Command" (with Devin Grayson and Cully Hamner, 2000)
• Young Justice (with Scott Kolins):
  • Sins of Youth (tpb, 320 pages, 2000, ISBN 1-56389-748-2) includes:
    • "Coming of Age" (in Sins of Youth: Wonder Girls, one-shot, 2000)
  • "Other Interests" (in #22, 2000)
• JLA Annual #4: "Ruins" (with Steve Scott, 2000)
• Superman Annual #12: "Whispers of the Earth" (with Francisco Gerardo Haghenbeck, Oscar Pinto and Carlo Barberi, 2000)
• Green Lantern: Circle of Fire (tpb, 224 pages, 2002, ISBN 1-56389-806-3) includes:
  • Green Lantern: Circle of Fire #1â€"2 (with Norm Breyfogle and Robert Teranishi, 2000)
  • Green Lantern/Adam Strange: "We Rann All Night" (with Cary Nord, one-shot, 2000)
  • Green Lantern/Atom: "Unusual Suspects" (with Trevor McCarthy, one-shot, 2000)
• 9-11 Volume 2: "For Art's Sake" (with Pete Woods, graphic novel, tpb, 224 pages, 2002, ISBN 1-56389-878-0)

Vertigo

• Swamp Thing v3:
  • "Sow and Ye Shall Reap" (with Roger Petersen, in Vertigo: Winter's Edge #3, 2000)
  • "In Lieu of Flowers" (with Roger Petersen, in #1, 2000)
  • "A Tree Falls in the Forest" (with Roger Petersen, in #2, 2000)
  • "Kill Your Darlings" (with Roger Petersen, in #3, 2000)
  • "Killing Time" (with Roger Petersen, in #4â€"6, 2000)
  • "Bitter Fruit" (with Cliff Chiang, in Vertigo Secret Files & Origins: Swamp Thing, 2000)
  • "Arcane" (with Roger Petersen, in #7â€"9, 2000â€"2001)
  • "Silk Cut" (with Roger Petersen, in #10, 2001)
  • "Red Harvest" (with Roger Petersen and Giuseppe Camuncoli, in #11â€"17, 2001)
  • "Last of the Loose Ends" (with Giuseppe Camuncoli, in #18, 2001)
  • "Rootless" (with Giuseppe Camuncoli, in #19, 2001)
  • "Saga" (with Giuseppe Camuncoli, in #20, 2001)
• Y: The Last Man:
  • Volume 1 (hc, 256 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1921-7) collects:
    • "Unmanned" (with Pia Guerra, in #1â€"5, 2002â€"2003)
    • "Cycles" (with Pia Guerra, in #6â€"10, 2003)
  • Volume 2 (hc, 320 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2235-8) collects:
    • "One Small Step" (with Pia Guerra, in #11â€"15, 2003)
    • "Comedy & Tragedy" (with Paul Chadwick, in #16â€"17, 2004)
    • "Safeword" (with Pia Guerra, in #18â€"20, 2004)
    • "Widow's Pass" (with Goran Parlov, in #21â€"23, 2004)
  • Volume 3 (hc, 320 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2578-0) collects:
    • "Tongues of Flame" (with Pia Guerra, in #24â€"25, 2004)
    • "Hero's Journey" (with Pia Guerra, in #26, 2004)
    • "Ring of Truth" (with Pia Guerra, in #27â€"31, 2004â€"2005)
    • "Girl on Girl" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #32â€"35, 2005)
    • "Boy Loses Girl" (with Pia Guerra, in #36, 2005)
  • Volume 4 (hc, 296 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2888-7) collects:
    • "Paper Dolls" (with Pia Guerra and Goran Sudžuka, in #37â€"39, 2005â€"2006)
    • "The Hour of Our Death" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #40, 2006)
    • "Buttons" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #41, 2006)
    • "1,000 Typewriters" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #42, 2006)
    • "Kimono Dragons" (with Pia Guerra and Goran Sudžuka, in #43â€"46, 2006)
    • "The Tin Man" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #47, 2006)
    • "Gehenna" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #48, 2006)
  • Volume 5 (hc, 320 pages, 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3051-2) collects:
    • "Motherland" (with Pia Guerra, in #49â€"52, 2006â€"2007)
    • "The Obituarist" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #53, 2007)
    • "Tragicomic" (with Goran Sudžuka, in #54, 2007)
    • "Whys and Wherefores" (with Pia Guerra, in #55â€"59, 2007â€"2008)
    • "Alas" (with Pia Guerra, in #60, 2008)
• Pride of Baghdad (with Niko Henrichon, graphic novel, hc, 136 pages, 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0314-0)

Other US publishers

• Image:
  • Noble Causes: Extended Family #1: "The Widow" (with Mitch Breitweiser, 2003) collected in Noble Causes Archives Volume 2 (tpb, 598 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-58240-931-5)
  • Saga #1-ongoing (with Fiona Staples, 2012â€"...)
• Dark Horse:
  • Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #3: "To Reign in Hell" (with Roger Petersen, 2004) collected in Michael Chabon Presents the Amazing Adventures of the Escapist Volume 2 (tpb, 160 pages, 2004, ISBN 1-59307-172-8)
  • The Escapists #1â€"6 (with Eduardo Barreto, Philip Bond, Jason Shawn Alexander and Steve Rolston, 2006) collected as The Escapists (hc, 208 pages, 2007, ISBN 1-59307-831-5; tpb, 160 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-59582-361-1)
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #6â€"9: "No Future for You" (with Georges Jeanty, 2007) collected in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 2 (tpb, 120 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-59307-963-X)
• Wildstorm:
  • Ex Machina (with Tony Harris, Chris Sprouse and John Paul Leon, 2004â€"2010) collected as:
    • Volume 1 (collects #1â€"11, hc, 272 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1814-8)
    • Volume 2 (collects #12â€"20 and Special #1â€"2, hc, 272 pages, 2009, ISBN 1-4012-2677-9)
    • Volume 3 (collects #21â€"29, Special #3 and Inside the Machine one-shot, hc, 272 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2800-3)
    • Volume 4 (collects #30â€"40, hc, 272 pages, 2010, ISBN 1-4012-2845-3)
    • Volume 5 (collects #41â€"50 and Special #4, hc, 320 pages, 2011, ISBN 1-4012-2999-9)
  • Tom Strong #28: "A Fire in His Belly" (with Peter Snejbjerg, America's Best Comics, 2004) collected in Book Five (hc, 136 pages, 2005, ISBN 1-4012-0624-7; tpb, 2006, ISBN 1-4012-0625-5)
  • Midnighter #7: "Fait Accompli" (with Darick Robertson, 2007) collected in Volume 2 (tpb, 160 pages, 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1670-6)
• Panel Syndicate:
  • The Private Eye

Other works

Television

• Lost (2006â€"2009)
  • 3.17 â€" "Catch-22" â€" April 18, 2007 (with Jeff Pinkner)
    • Missing Piece #3 (PC #101) â€" "King of the Castle" â€" November 20, 2007
    • Missing Piece #5 (PC #106) â€" "Operation: Sleeper" â€" December 3, 2007
  • 4.02 â€" "Confirmed Dead" â€" February 7, 2008 (with Drew Goddard)
  • 4.08 â€" "Meet Kevin Johnson" â€" March 20, 2008 (with Elizabeth Sarnoff)
  • 4.09 â€" "The Shape of Things to Come" â€" April 24, 2008 (with Drew Goddard)
  • 5.04 â€" "The Little Prince" â€" February 4, 2009 (with Melinda Hsu Taylor)
  • 5.09 â€" "Namaste" â€" March 18, 2009 (with Paul Zbyszewski)
  • 5.12 â€" "Dead is Dead" â€" April 8, 2009 (with Elizabeth Sarnoff)
• Under the Dome (2013)

Films

• Y: The Last Man (screenplay)
• Ex Machina
• Runaways
• Roundtable (screenplay)

References

External links

• Brian K. Vaughan at the Internet Movie Database
• Brian K. Vaughan at the Comic Book DB
• "Brian K. Vaughan Shares His Thoughts on the End of Ex Machina". Things From Another World. September 28, 2009
• September 2006 Comic Book Resources interview with Brian K. Vaughan
• Brian K. Vaughan at Library of Congress Authorities, with 27 catalog records