Biography

GARTH ENNIS (comic book writer; United Kingdom/USA)

Guest appearance: all days

Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish American comics writer. Ennis began his comic-writing career on his nineteenth birthday in 1989, with the series TROUBLED SOULS in the British anthology Crisis. Ennis began to write for the UK comics series 2000 AD, and later wrote stories for the title's flagship character, JUDGE DREDD, taking over from creator John Wagner for several years.

In 1991, Ennis took over the horror series HELLBLAZER, from DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. He wrote the series through 1994, with Steve Dillon becoming the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run. ennis and Dillon would later become regular collaborators on other comics. They created the 66-issue Vertigo series PREACHER. Running from 1995 to 2000, Preacher has been cited as Ennis's landmark work.

From 1993 to 1995, Ennis worked with artist John McCrea on another DC title, THE DEMON, during which the duo introduced superpowered contract killer Tommy Monaghan, a character Ennis and McCrea would go on to use in the character's own title, HITMAN.

Following the end of Hitman, Ennis was once again offered the chance to write THE PUNISHER at Marvel. The initial 12-issue miniseries was illustrated by Steve Dillon, who also illustrated much of Ennis's subsequent 37-issue run of the MARVEL KNIGHTS PUNISHER series. No longer finding violence comedic considering the September 11th terrorist attacks, Ennis relaunched THE PUNISHER under Marvel's MAX imprint, allowing for darker stories. His 60-issue run was released concurrently with several Ennis-penned Punisher miniseries such as BORN and multiple one-shots.

His work has won him recognition in the comics industry, including nominations for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. He won multiple of the highest comics industry awards, Eisner Award.