Tuesday, February 19, 2019 marked the 70th birthday of versatile comic book writer-artist William Francis Messner-Loebs. From Aardvark-Vanaheim to Zenescope Entertainment, Messner-Loebs has worked for comic publishers of practically every letter of the alphabet. As he celebrates his platinum birthday, now is the ideal time to trace his industrious creative history.
William Francis Messner-Loebs was born in 1949 in Ferndale, Michigan. Due to a cancerous tumor, he had his right arm amputated above the shoulder in infancy. As a result, Messner-Loebs writes and draws using only his left hand. Growing up, Messner-Loebs was a close friend of Kevin Siembieda, even playing in Siembieda’s roleplaying group in Detroit. Messner-Loebs’ mother even loaned Siembieda the money to print the first roleplaying book for his company Palladium Games – The Mechanoid Invasion.
Venturing in the comic field, Messner-Loebs first published work was for the Power Comics Company and on Noble Comics’ Justice Machine with Mike Gustovich. His first ongoing title was Journey: The Adventures of Wolverine MacAlistaire for Aardvark-Vanaheim and Fantagraphics. This series, which he wrote and illustrated, centered around 19th century Michigan frontier life. It was followed with the limited series Journey: Wardrums. Over at Comico, Messner-Loebs wrote the 31-issue Jonny Quest series from 1986 to 1988. He later collaborated with artist Adam Kubert on the Jonny Quest spinoff series, the Jezebel Jade limited series.
In 1988, Messner-Loebs began working on The Flash for DC Comics beginning with #15 and continuing through #61. Along with artist Greg LaRocque, the pair introduced Linda Park as a supporting character in the series. Messner-Loebs later reintroduced the Pied Piper as a reformed villain and established the character as gay. He also wrote for such titles as Dr. Fate, Jaguar, Hawkman, Impulse, Brave Old World, Epicurus the Sage, and The Maxx. Messner-Loebs became the writer of the Batman newspaper comic strip and wrote the strip until its cancellation. After taking over writing duties on Wonder Woman, he created the character Artemis of Bana-Mighdal, which spawned the miniseries Artemis: Requiem.
Additional comic credits include Aardwolf, The Uncanny Dave Cockrum... A Tribute and The Three Tenors: Off Key for Aardwolf Productions, Many Happy Returns for About Comics, Doc Stearn...Mr. Monster and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis for Dark Horse Comics, Born to be Wild for Eclipse Comics, Images of Omaha for Kitchen Sink Press, Moonstone Monsters: Witches and Moonstone Noir: Bulldog Drummond for Moonstone, Flint Comix & Entertainment for Ted Valley, and Mankind: The Story of All of Us for Zenescope Entertainment, among others.
More recently, Messner-Loebs has worked for the Boom! Studios titles Necronomiconand Zombie Tales. He also did illustration work for the 2005 fantasy novel Legerdemain, the 2007 humor book Chicken Wings for the Beer Drinker’s Soul, along with drawing a monthly cartoon for the Livingston Parent Journal. In 2011, he wrote the DC Retroactive: The Flash –The ’80s and DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman –The ’90s one-shots.
Across his long career, the comic book veteran has received an Inkpot Award, the first GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for his work on The Flash and the 2017 Bill Finger Award for Writing Excellence.
