NICIEZA, FABIAN 443
Holding a bachelor’s degree in communication, Nicieza entered publishing in 1983,
in a production capacity at Berkley Books, a paperback publisher. In 1985, he applied
for a position at Marvel’s book department and was accepted, but soon joined the
company’s burgeoning advertising department instead before moving on to work as an
editor. In addition to being on staff at Marvel, Nicieza began to write for the publisher.
His fi rst professional comics work appeared in Psi-Force #9 in 1987, followed by a steady
stream of other stories.
Nicieza’s breakthrough as a writer came in 1990, when he launched Th e New Warriors
with artist Mark Bagley. Th e series proved a sleeper hit whose sales kept climbing. Later
that year, Nicieza joined artist and co-writer Rob Liefeld on New Mutants , where he
co-created the characters Deadpool, Domino and Shatterstar, among others. Liefeld and
Nicieza relaunched the series as X-Force in 1991, and its debut issue became the best-selling
American comic book since World War II. When Liefeld and fellow artist Jim Lee , who
had broken the sales record of X-Force #1 with X-Men #1 after only two months, left
Marvel to found Image Comics in 1992, Nicieza became the sole writer of both X-Force
and X-Men. By 1993, he was one of the most prolifi c writers in the industry, his name
sometimes appearing in more than 10 comics per month. During this period of wild
commercial success, Nicieza wrote series like Cable , Deadpool , and Nomad , among others.
In 1995, Nicieza, no longer on staff , left both X-Force and X-Men due to disagree-
ments with editorial. In 1996, while producing less and less work for Marvel, Nicieza
co-wrote the DC Comics miniseries Justice League : A Midsummer’s Nightmare. In
the same year, he joined Acclaim Comics, publisher of series such as Tu ro k and X-O:
Manowar , as editor-in-chief, eventually adding the roles of publisher and president.
Although the creators assembled by Nicieza included names like Kurt Busiek , Mark
Wa i d , and Garth Ennis , his line of comics failed to gain traction in an increasingly
diffi cult comics market. Nicieza resigned from Acclaim in 1999.
Between 1999 and 2008, Nicieza wrote numerous comics for Marvel, notably
the series Th underbolts , Gambit , and Cable & Deadpool , but also for other publishers,
including Buff y the Vampire Slayer for Dark Horse , various Superman and Batman proj-
ects for DC and Th e 99 for Kuwaiti company Teshkeel Comics. In 2008, Nicieza signed
an exclusive contract with DC. He has since co-written the weekly 52-issue series Trinity
with Busiek and is set to helm the monthly title Azrael starting in October 2009.
Selected Bibliography: Martin, Madalyn. “Acclaim Entertainment Names Fabian
Nicieza President and Publisher of Acclaim Comics.” (April 14, 1997). Acclaim Enter-
tainment, http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Acclaim+Entertainment+Names+Fabian+
Nicieza+President+and+Publisher+of... -a019309402; McLelland, Ryan. “Valiant
Days, Valiant Nights: Interview with Fabian Nicieza.” (September 8, 2003). Valiant Com
ics.com, http://www.valiantcomics.com/valiant/valiantdays/FabianNicieza-Interview.
doc; Wilson, Keri. “Fabian’s Th under: Fabian Nicieza.” Sequential Tart (November,
2001). http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/nov01/nicieza.shtml.
Marc-Oliver Frisch
