486 PRIEST, CHRISTOPHER
IGN.com. Independent publishers had directly dealt with the Iraq War by 2006 and
both Marvel and DC had evoked parallels with Iraq (through often unnamed Middle-
Eastern countries or even Kahndaq, the Middle-Eastern kingdom of DC Comics’ Black
Adam). Pride of Baghdad , however, was the fi rst wide-release comic to deal directly with
the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Lance Eaton
PRIEST, CHRISTOPHER (1961–). Christopher Priest (born James Christopher Owsley)
has been active in comics for over three decades, carving out a reputation as a writer
of compelling, sophisticated, and original adventure genre stories. Priest also holds
the distinctions of being the fi rst African American editor at Marvel Comics (1984)
as well as at DC Comics (1990), and of being the fi rst African American to pen stories
for either of the two major publishers without a collaborating writer. He is sometimes
referred to as Christopher J. Priest to distinguish him from the well-known British
science fi ction and fantasy author Christopher Priest.
Priest began his career as an intern (as James Owsley) in 1978 at Marvel Comics,
where he formed a friendship with writer and editor Larry Hama, an important early
mentor. Priest eventually became Hama’s assistant editor and soon began to try his
hand at writing as well. He contributed several short pieces to Crazy , Marvel’s humor
magazine, and published his fi rst superhero work with 1983’s Th e Falcon limited series.
Promoted to editor in 1984, Priest was given the reins of Marvel’s three regular Spider-
Man titles, where he helped launch the careers of renowned creators such as, Peter David,
Kyle Baker, and Joe Quesada. After an editorial shake-up at Marvel, Priest left for DC,
where he contributed stories for Action Comics We e k l y and wrote the Unknown Soldier
miniseries (1988). In 1990, Priest became an editor at DC, where he was eventually
placed in charge of the Impact Comics line, DC’s attempt to reach a younger audience.
Priest was also instrumental in the genesis of Milestone Comics , a creator-owned line
distributed by DC that featured an ethnically and racially diverse creative team and cast
of characters. After changing his name for personal reasons in the early 1990s, Priest
eventually left his editorial post but remained active in comics as a writer.
Th ough Priest’s work is wide-ranging and diverse, a survey reveals several distinctive
characteristics, including the (frequently humorous) defamiliarization of genre conven-
tions, the examination of the ethical and political ramifi cations of the superhero, and
a nuanced and mature approach to non-white characters in a genre with a long his-
tory of racial stereotyping. Th ese themes are evident in early works, such as his 1987
Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one-shot, a story that places the title characters in physical
and ideological confl ict over the morality of killing, and his run on Power Man and Iron
Fist (#111–25, 1984–86), in which Priest off ers a complex treatment of Luke Cage
(Power Man), a character whose depiction was to that point still largely tied to his roots
in the blaxploitation genre.
Priest’s later career includes such notable work as his lighthearted adventure series
with frequent collaborator M. D. Bright, Quantum and Woody (1997–98), as well as
