152 DIXON, CHUCK
itself, or that “A = A.” Still living in New York City, Ditko has become a reclusive fi gure,
refusing requests for interview and publicity, preferring to let his work speak for itself.
Ed Cunard
DIXON, CHUCK (1954–). Chuck Dixon was born in 1954 and grew up in Philadelphia,
where he developed his passion for reading and writing comics. His fi rst professional
publishing experience came in 1977, when he wrote several miscellaneous stories for
pulp magazine GASM, under the auspices of Country Wide Publications. Since then,
Dixon has written for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Devil’s Due Publishing (DDP),
as well as smaller comics companies like CrossGen, Bongo, Eclipse, and First Comics.
Dixon’s fi rst major comics publications came in 1985, when Marvel Comics editor
Larry Hama off ered him a run on Th e Savage Sword of Conan. He followed his Conan
work by writing issues of Tales of Terror and Airboy for Eclipse Comics in 1986, and
in 1987 began collaborating on Carl Potts’s Alien Legion under Marvel’s Epic Comics
imprint. During the late 1980s, Dixon also adapted J.R.R. Tolkien’s Th e Hobbit to a
three issue series for Eclipse.
Dixon is probably best known for his work during the 1990s on various Punisher
titles and Robin, Nightwing, and other Batman-related series. DC editor Dennis
O’Neil hired him to write a Robin miniseries, and its popularity led to more recurring
employment on later Robin titles as well as work on Green Arrow and Birds of Prey.
He was a major contributor to most major Batman storylines of the 1990s, including
KnightFall, Cataclysm, and No Man’s Land. He was instrumental in developing the
recurring character Bane, who broke Batman’s back during the KnightFall storyline.
Often focusing on the psychological lives of his characters, Dixon has written some
of the most infl uential detective stories in the Batman universe. While crafting stories
that appeal to adults as well as children, Dixon is fi rm in his belief that comics should
retain their appeal to younger readers. “As much as anyone might want to hold on to
their childhood fantasies by having their favorite superheroes grow up along with
them,” Dixon wrote on his Web site, “it is wrong to want it to be so. If Spider-man
uses foul language then it becomes a part of him and can never be taken away or ret-
conned out of existence.” Aside from writing comics, Dixon has contributed articles to
SKETCH magazine on creating villains and talking to editors. He also publishes other
comics-related articles and fi lm reviews on his web site Dixonverse.net.
After leaving DC to work on various other titles, such as Bongo Comics’ Th e Simpsons
and IDW’s Tra n sfo r m e r series for Free Comic Book Day, Dixon returned in 2004 to pick
up work on the defunct character Richard Dragon and work once more on several series
of the Batman family, including Nightwing and Batman and the Outsiders. His return to
DC also signaled his return to their Wildstorm imprint, for which he worked on Claw:
Th e Unconquered, the graphic adaptation of the fi lm Snakes on a Plane, and a comic book
version of the fi lm Nightmare on Elm Street. In June 2008, he severed his affi liation from
DC Comics, though the reasons for his departure remain unpublicized.
Grant Bain
