Robert Venditti

Robert Venditti
Venditti at a signing for X-O Manowar Vol 3 #1 at Midtown Comics in Manhattan.
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer
Notable works	The Surrogates The Homeland Directive Green Lantern X-O Manowar
http://www.robertvenditti.com/

Robert Venditti is an American comic book writer, known for his work on the Top Shelf Productions title The Surrogates, which was adapted to a major motion picture starring Bruce Willis directed by Jonathan Mostow for Disney.^[1]

Early life

Robert Venditti was born in Memorial Hospital and raised in Hollywood, and Pembroke Pines, Florida. Though he says he always wanted to be a prose writer, he rarely read comics as a child, but would peruse the comics at the barber shop.^[2]

He later moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida where he received a B.A. in Political Science and English. After college he worked as a clerk at a law firm in southern Florida with aspirations to practice law, but found that work not to his liking. After subsequently worked pumping gas on a fuel truck, he moved to the Port St. John/Titusville area in Brevard County to which his parents had moved, where he attended the University of Central Florida, working at a Borders Books store in Winter Park, while earning his M.A. in Creative Writing. In about 2000, while working at Borders, a coworker recommended comics books as reading material to him. Though the skeptical Venditti initially thought of comics as solely for children, his reading of Kurt Busiek's Astro City impressed him enough to decide to change his career aspirations from prose to comics.^[2]

Career

In 2002 Venditti attended a convention and met Chris Staros from Top Shelf Productions, and was added to Staros' email list. That April, Staros subsequently sent out a mass email announcing that Top Shelf's distributor was going bankrupt, and asking recipients of the email to place orders to aid the distributor. Venditti contacted Staros to offer help, and ending up doing warehouse work for him. Venditti began working on The Surrogates in July 2002, and after finishing the script that December, he gave it to Staros, who decided to publish it through Top Shelf, despite the fact that it was not typical of the material they usually published. The first issue of the five-issue miniseries was published in July 2005,^[2] and the fifth in March 2006. The prequel Surrogates: Flesh & Bone, was released in September 2009,^[3] the same month as the release of the feature film adaptation of the first miniseries, starring Bruce Willis.

In May 2012 Venditti began writing the X-O Manowar series for Valiant Entertainment.^[4] Venditti began his first work for DC Comics when he took over from Paul Cornell on Demon Knights beginning with issue #16, and took over Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps in June 2013.^[5][6]

On March 26, 2016, it was announced Venditti would begin writing Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps.

Personal life

As of 2008, Venditti lives in Atlanta, Georgia.^[2]

Bibliography

Top Shelf Productions

• The Surrogates #1-5 (limited series, July 2005-April 2006)
  • The Surrogates (tpb, 208 pages, 2006, ISBN 1-891830-87-2) collects:
    • "Chapter One: Field Test" (with Brett Weldele, in #1, 2005)
    • "Chapter Two: Life Unfiltered" (with Brett Weldele, in #2, 2005)
    • "Chapter Three: Revelations" (with Brett Weldele, in #3, 2005)
    • "Chapter Four: Biologics" (with Brett Weldele, in #4, 2006)
    • "Chapter Five: Pulse" (with Brett Weldele, in #5, 2006)
• The Surrogates: Flesh and Bone (graphic novel, with Brett Weldele, tpb, 144 pages, July 2009, ISBN 1-603090-18-5)
• The Homeland Directive (graphic novel with Mike Huddleston, June 2011, tpb, 144 pages, ISBN 1-603090-24-X)
• The Surrogates: Case Files #1-2 (with Brett Weldele, July–September 2012)

Valiant Entertainment

• X-O Manowar vol. 3 #0-50 (May 2012-September 2016)
  • Volume 1: By the Sword (tpb, 112 pages, 2012, ISBN 0-979640-94-6) collects:
    • "Blades and Open Fields" (with Cary Nord, in #1, 2012)
    • "Escaping Eden" (with Cary Nord, in #2, 2012)
    • "The Road to Rome" (with Cary Nord, in #3, 2012)
    • "Then & Now" (with Cary Nord, in #4, 2012)
  • Volume 2: Enter Ninjak (tpb, 112 pages, 2013, ISBN 0-979640-99-7) collects:
    • "Clandestine Gatherings" (with Lee Garbett, in #5, 2012)
    • "Hunter & Hunted" (with Lee Garbett, in #6, 2012)
    • "Uneasy Alliances" (with Lee Garbett, in #7, 2012)
    • "Vauxhall Cross" (with Lee Garbett, in #8, 2012)
  • Volume 3: Planet Death (tpb, 144 pages, 2013, ISBN 1-939346-08-8) collects:
    • "Prelude to Planet Death" (with Trevor Hairsine, in #9-10, 2013)
    • "Planet Death" (with Cary Nord, in #11-14, 2013)
  • Volume 4: Homecoming (tpb, 112 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-939346-17-7) collects:
    • "Homecoming" (with Lee Garbett, in #15, 2013)
    • "Broken History" (with Lee Garbett, in #16, 2013)
    • "Dacia" (with Lee Garbett, in #17, 2013)
    • "Soft Targets" (with Lee Garbett, in #18, 2013)
  • Volume 5: At War With Unity (tpb, 112 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-939346-24-X) collects:
    • "Challenges" (with Cary Nord, in #19, 2013)
    • "Control" (with Cary Nord, in #20, 2013)
    • "Asylum" (with Cary Nord, in #21, 2014)
    • "The Price of Peace" (with Cary Nord, in #22, 2014)
  • Volume 6: Prelude to Armor Hunters (tpb, 104 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-939346-40-1) collects:
    • "Wreckage" (with Diego Bernard, in #23, 2014)
    • "Diplomacy" (with Diego Bernard, in #24, 2014)
    • "The Origin of X-O Manowar" (with J.G. Jones, in #25, 2014)
    • "The Fate of Kings" (with Bryan Hitch, in #25, 2014)
    • "The Armor Hunters in... "Burial"" (with Diego Bernard, in #25, 2014)
  • Volume 7: Armor Hunters (tpb, 112 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-939346-47-9) collects:
    • "Tail Tales" (with Diego Bernard, in #26, 2014)
    • "A Call to Arms" (with Diego Bernard, in #27, 2014)
    • "Among the Living" (with Diego Bernard, in #28, 2014)
    • "Slow Burn" (with Diego Bernard, in #29, 2014)
  • Volume 8: Enter: Armorines (tpb, 112 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-939346-55-X) collects:
    • "To the Hit" (with Clay Mann, in #0, 2014)
    • "Potential" (with Diego Bernard, in #30, 2014)
    • "Small Packages" (with Diego Bernard, in #31, 2014)
    • "Changing of the Guard" (with Diego Bernard, in #32, 2015)
  • Volume 9: Dead Hand (tpb, 144 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-939346-65-7) collects:
    • "What Lies Beyond" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #33, 2015)
    • "Dead Hand, Part 1: To the Last" (with Diego Bernard, in #34, 2015)
    • "Dead Hand, Part 2: Extinction Event" (with Diego Bernard, in #35, 2015)
    • "Dead Hand, Part 3: On Dead Ground" (with Diego Bernard, in #36, 2015)
    • "Dead Hand, Part 4: Red Earth" (with Diego Bernard, in #37, 2015)
  • Volume 10: Exodus (tpb, 160 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-939346-93-2) collects:
    • "The Wedding of... X-O Manowar" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #38, 2015)
    • "Exodus Part 1: Between Worlds" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #39, 2015)
    • "Exodus Part 2: Old Hatred" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #40, 2015)
    • "Exodus Part 3: First Shot" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #41, 2015)
    • "Exodus Part 4: The Bridge" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #42, 2015)
  • Volume 11: The Kill List (tpb, 160 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-682151-27-1) collects:
    • "X-O Generations" (with CAFU, in X-O Manowar: Valiant 25th Anniversary Special #1, 2015)
    • "Destiny" (with Francis Portela, in X-O Manowar: Commander Trill #0, 2015)
    • "The Kill List Part 1: Kill List" (with Robert Gill, in #43, 2016)
    • "The Kill List Part 2: Going To Ground" (with Robert Gill, in #44, 2016)
    • "The Kill List! Part 3: A Better Way Forward" (with Robert Gill, in #45, 2016)
    • "The Kill List Finale: One Truth Among the Species" (with Robert Gill, in #46, 2016)
• Armor Hunters #1-4 (limited series, June 2014-September 2014)
  • Armor Hunters (tpb, 128 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-939346-45-2)
    • "Part I: Quarry" (with Doug Braithwaite, in #1, 2014)
    • "Part II: Hunt" (with Doug Braithwaite, in #2, 2014)
    • "Part III: Trap" (with Doug Braithwaite, in #3, 2014)
    • "Part IV: Kill" (with Doug Braithwaite, in #4, 2014)
    • "Rollout" (with CAFU, in Armor Hunters: Aftermath #1, 2014)
• Book of Death #1-4 (limited series, July 2015-October 2015)
  • Book of Death (tpb, 160 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-939346-97-5) collects:
    • "Part 1: Foretold" (with Robert Gill and Doug Braithwaite, in #1, 2015)
    • "Part 2: Fractured" (with Robert Gill and Doug Braithwaite, in #2, 2015)
    • "Part 3: Darque Visitations" (with Robert Gill and Doug Braithwaite, in #3, 2015)
    • "Part 4: The Final Death" (with Robert Gill and Doug Braithwaite, in #4, 2015)
• Wrath of the Eternal Warrior #1-... (November 2015 – present)
  • Volume 1: Risen (tpb, 112 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-682151-23-9) collects:
    • "Risen" (with Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, in #1, 2015)
    • "Risen Part 2: From the Ashes" (with Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, in #2, 2015)
    • "Risen Part 3: Hellscape" (with Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, in #3, 2016)
    • "Risen Part 4: The Iron Door" (with Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, in #4, 2016)

DC Comics

• Demon Knights #16-23 (January 2013-August 2013)
  • Volume 3: The Gathering Storm (tpb, 256 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-4269-3) collects:
    • "The Gathering Storm" (with Bernard Chang, in #16, 2013)
    • "Demon Bound" (with Bernard Chang, in #17, 2013)
    • "Reunions" (with Bernard Chang, in #18, 2013)
    • "As Goes Paradise, So Goes The World" (with Bernard Chang, in #19, 2013)
    • "The Stone Door" (with Chad Hardin, in #20, 2013)
    • "One Way" (with Chad Hardin, in #21, 2013)
    • "Comeuppance" (with Chad Hardin, in #22, 2013)
    • "The Balance of Things" (with Phil Winslade, in #23, 2013)
• Green Lantern Corps vol. 3 #21-27 (June 2013-January 2014)
  • Volume 4: Rebuild (tpb, 208 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-4745-8) collects:
    • "Chain Reaction" (with Van Jensen and Bernard Chang, in #21, 2013)
    • "Meltdown" (with Van Jensen and Bernard Chang, in #22, 2013)
    • "A Date with the Executioner" (with Van Jensen and Bernard Chang, in #23, 2013)
    • "Light's Out, Part Two: Oa's Last Stand" (with Van Jensen and Bernard Chang, in #24, 2013)
    • "Lights Out, Part Five: The Source" (with Van Jensen and Sean Chen, in Green Lantern Annual vol. 5 #2, 2013)
    • "Powers That Be" (with Van Jensen, Victor Drujiniu, Ivan Fernández and Allan Jefferson, in #25, 2013)
    • "Homecoming" (with Van Jensen and Bernard Chang, in #26, 2013)
    • "Forensics" (with Van Jensen, Bernard Chang and Sean Chen, in #27, 2014)
• Green Lantern vol. 5 #21-52 (June 2013-May 2016)
  • Volume 4: Dark Days (hc, 200 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-4744-X) collects:
    • "Dark Days Ahead" (with Billy Tan, in #21, 2013)
    • "Green" Lanterns (with Billy Tan, in #22, 2013)
    • "Unknow" (with Billy Tan, in #23, 2013)
    • "Fall of the Lightsmiths" (with Rags Morales, in #23.1: Relic, 2013)
    • "Lights Out, Part One: Dark Days" (with Billy Tan, in #24, 2013)
    • "Lights Out, Part Five: The Source" (with Van Jensen and Sean Chen, in Annual vol. 5 #2, 2013)
    • "Resistance" (with Billy Tan, in #25, 2013)
    • "Superior Force" (with Billy Tan, in #26, 2013)
  • Volume 5: Test of Wills (hc, 272 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-5089-0) collects:
    • "Harsh Realities" (with Dale Eaglesham, in #27, 2014)
    • "Red Alert" (with Billy Tan, in #28, 2014)
    • "Shipping Out" (with Billy Tan and Martin Coccolo, in #29, 2014)
    • "Death and Life" (with Martin Coccolo, in #30, 2014)
    • "Battle of Wills: Uprising, Part One" (with Billy Tan, in #31, 2014)
    • "Uprising: Part Three, Sea Change" (with Billy Tan, in #32, 2014)
    • "Uprising, Part Five: Last Stand of the Lanterns" (with Billy Tan, in #33, 2014)
    • "Incursion" (with Billy Tan and Martin Coccolo, in #34, 2014)
  • Volume 6: The Life Equation (hc, 184 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5476-4) collects:
    • "Godhead Act I, Part II: Dead Worlds" (with Billy Tan, in #35, 2014)
    • "Godhead Act II, Part I: Dark Alliance" (with Francis Portela and Scott McDaniel, in #36, 2014)
    • "Godhead Act III, Part I: Wall" (with Francis Portela and Scott McDaniel, in #37, 2014)
    • "Godhead Finale: Fall of the Gods" (with Billy Tan, in Annual #3, 2014)
    • "Leave" (with Admira Wijaya, in #38, 2015)
    • "Ripple Effect" (with Billy Tan, in #39, 2015)
    • "Resolutions" (with Billy Tan, in #40, 2015)
  • Volume 7: Renegade (hc, 208 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6125-6) collects:
    • "At Odds" (with Billy Tan, in #41, 2015)
    • "Written in Stone" (with Billy Tan, in #42, 2015)
    • "A Wounded Universe" (with Ethan Van Sciver, in #43, 2015)
    • "Emergency Stop" (with Billy Tan and Martin Coccolo, in #44, 2015)
    • "In the Gray" (with Pascal Alixe, in Annual #4, 2015)
    • "Idle Hand" (with Billy Tan, in #45, 2015)
    • "Laid to Rest" (with Billy Tan, in #46, 2015)
  • Volume 8: Reflections (hc, 200 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6523-5) collects:
    • "The Comforts of Home" (with Martin Coccolo and Billy Tan, in #47, 2015)
    • "Close to Home" (with Martin Coccolo and Billy Tan, in #48, 2016)
    • "The Roar of Silence" (with Martin Coccolo and Billy Tan, in #49, 2016)
    • "Reflections" (with Billy Tan and Vicente Cifuentes, in #50, 2016)
    • "State of Transformation" (with Rafa Sandoval, in #51, 2016)
    • "Agents of Gray" (with Billy Tan, in #52, 2016)
• The Flash vol. 4 #30-49 (April 2014-February 2016)
  • Volume 6: Out of Time (hc, 208 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5427-6) collects:
    • "Lost Time" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #30, 2014)
    • "Slip" (with Van Jensen, Ron Frenz and Brett Booth, in Annual vol. 4 #3, 2014)
    • "Through a Glass Darkly" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #31, 2014)
    • "Cold Call" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #32, 2014)
    • "A Step Behind" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #33, 2014)
    • "Collision Course" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #34, 2014)
    • "Impact Velocity" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in The Flash: Futures End #1, 2014)
    • "Out of Time" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #35, 2014)
  • Volume 7: Savage World (hc, 144 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-5875-1) collects:
    • "The Chase" (with Van Jensen and Miguel Sepulveda, in Secret Origins vol. 3 #7, 2014)
    • "Castaways" (with Van Jensen, Brett Booth and Andre Coelho, in #36, 2014)
    • "The Savage World of the Speed Force!" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #37, 2014)
    • "Skeletons in the Closet" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #38, 2015)
    • "Power Loss" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #39, 2015)
    • "The End of the Road" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #40, 2015)
  • Volume 8: Zoom (hc, 224 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6366-6) collects:
    • "Yellow" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #41, 2015)
    • "Blood is Thicker" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #42, 2015)
    • "Getting the Drop" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #43, 2015)
    • "Bubble" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #44, 2015)
    • "Thunderdome" (with Van Jensen, Brett Booth, Alé Garza and Vicente Cifuentes, in #45, 2015)
    • "End of the Hunt" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #46, 2015)
    • "Reunion" (with Van Jensen and Brett Booth, in #47, 2015)
  • Volume 9: Full Stop (hc, 112 pages, 2016, ISBN 1-4012-6925-7) collects:
    • "Public Enemy" (with Van Jensen and Jesús Merino, in #48, 2016)
    • "New Blood" (with Van Jensen and Philippe Briones, in #49, 2016)
• Secret Origins vol. 3 #3, "Freedom from Fear" (with Martin Coccolo, June 2014) collected in Volume 1 (tpb, 160 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5049-1)
• Green Lantern: Futures End #1, "The Next Life" (with Martin Coccolo and Aaron Lopresti, September 2014) collected in Futures End: Five Years Later Omnibus (hc, 912 pages, 2014, ISBN 1-4012-5129-3)
• New Gods: Godhead #1, "Godhead Act I, Part I: Genesis" (with among other artists, October 2014) collected in Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead (hc, 424 pages, 2015, ISBN 1-4012-5847-6)
• Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #1-... (with Rafa Sandoval and Ethan Van Sciver, July 2016 – present)

Other Publishers

• Marvel Comics Presents vol. 2 #6, "4F" (with Jeremy Haun, February 2008, Marvel Comics)
• Iron Man: Iron Protocols, one-shot, "The Ark" (with Mark Nelson, October 2009) collected in Iron Man: Tales Of The Golden Avenger (tpb, 128 pages, 2010, ISBN 0-78514-279-7, Marvel Comics)
• Percy Jackson & the Olympians Disney-Hyperion:
  • "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, October 2010, tpb, 128 pages, ISBN 1-42311-710-7)
  • "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, July 2013, tpb, 128 pages, ISBN 1-42314-550-X)
  • "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse" (graphic novel, with Attila Futaki, October 2013, tpb, 128 pages, ISBN 1-42314-551-8)
• Blue Bloods (graphic novel with Alina Urusov, January 2013, hc, 112 pages, ISBN 1-42313-446-X, HarperCollins)
• Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde (book, illustrated by Dusty Higgins, June 2015, hc, 304 pages, ISBN 1-48140-542-X, Simon & Schuster)
• Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Rise of the Robot Army (book, illustrated by Dusty Higgins, June 2016, hc, 304 pages, ISBN 1-48140-557-8, Simon & Schuster)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Venditti.

• Robert Venditti at the Comic Book DB
• Audio interview with Robert Venditti
• "Robert Venditti" Top Shelf Productions
• Robert Venditti at Library of Congress Authorities, with 26 catalog records