Chuck Austen was born Chuck Beckum.[1] He grew up a
military brat,[4] and after his parents divorced, he was raised by his single mother in a
housing project.[5] At the start of his career Austen used his birthname; he later abandoned out of a desire to disassociate from his father's family name.[1] After marrying he and his wife picked a new name, inspired by
Jane Austen.[6]
Career
Austen began his career as an artist in the 1980s. Due to not knowing many comics fans he developed a habit of
inking his own
pencils.[6] After working on
Eclipse Comics titles such as Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds, his work came to the attention of
Alan Moore, who selected him to take over from
Alan Davis on Miracleman, recently added to the company's portfolio. He met Moore for the first time at the 1985
San Diego Comic Con, where he was also announced as the new artist on the title. As the series initially reprinted material from the British
anthologyWarrior he worked on the main strip until Miracleman #6,
cover dated February 1986. Austen's run on the title was short-lived - after contributing a framing sequence to Miracleman #8 he left, something he blamed on Eclipse
editor-in-chiefCatherine Yronwode making an angry telephone call to his grandmother.[6]
Austen returned to comics in 2001, feeling burnt out after finding little success in the film and television industry. He began looking at comics again and sent samples of his art to
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief
Joe Quesada, who was impressed enough to offer Austen the chance to illustrate the new
Marvel KnightsElektra series, written by
Brian Michael Bendis.[6] He would remain as the title's artist until Elektra #8. Soon after being commissioned he also began writing and illustrating the weekly maxi-series U.S. War Machine for then-recently launched
Marvel MAX imprint.[4] The series drew controversy not only for its violent content, but also because it debuted the day after the
September 11, 2001 attacks. In 2003, Austen followed up with U.S. War Machine 2.0, which was published the day after U.S.
President George W. Bush's March 17, 2003 ultimatum to Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq,[7] prompting Austen to jokingly comment, "I feel like I should stop doing this book so the world will stay at peace."[8] Using the creative liberties provided due to the fact that series was set outside the mainline
Marvel Universe, Austen wrote Rhodes' boss
Tony Stark as more pacifist and business-minded than his mainstream counterpart, and Rhodes himself as the proactive protector.[4] Also in 2003, Austen launched another series for Marvel MAX, the six-issue The Eternal with artist
Kev Walker, a reimagining of
Jack Kirby's Eternals.[8]
In 2002, Austen took over Uncanny X-Men with issue #410[9] and remained on the title until #443. The two-year run was the most lengthy writing assignment in Austen's mainstream career,[1] although it was not well received by the fans of the franchise.[10][11][12] His controversial[13][14] run saw the return of
Havok[15] and
Polaris[16] to the
X-Men, the introduction of Havok's love interest
Annie Ghazikhanian,[17] and the addition of several existing characters to the X-Men team, including
Northstar,[18]Juggernaut,[19]M,[20] and
Husk.[21] The most controversial storyline revealed the identity of
Nightcrawler's father: an immortal mutant known as
Azazel.[22][12][11] Austen moved to New X-Men as part of the
X-Men Reload initiative, and wrote the series for nine issues.[23][24] During this run, he showcased the beginning of the relationship between
Cyclops and
Emma Frost following the death of
Jean Grey[25] and introduced new versions of the character
Xorn[26] and the
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.[27] Michael Aronson of
Silver Bullet Comics, while praising Austen's characterization of
Professor X and Annie Ghazikhanian, excoriated Austen for what Aronson saw as his obsession with relationships and sex, and the sexist nature of his characterization of
Husk.[28] According to Thor K. Jensen of
UGO Entertainment, fans disliked the romantic pairing of
Angel and Husk; Jensen cites that storyline as emblematic of critical reception to Austen's run on X-Men.[29]
In 2003, Austen wrote a brief run on Captain America, finishing the storylines that were started by the outgoing writer
John Ney Rieber.[30] In 2004, Austen took over The Avengers, introducing a new, female
Captain Britain (since renamed
Lionheart), a single mother thrust into the realm of super-heroes after being killed as an innocent bystander during a fight between the
Avengers and the
Wrecking Crew, only to be resurrected by the original Captain Britain.[31] The second arc, which saw Austen writing former Avengers
U.S. Agent and
Namor the Sub-Mariner attempting to liberate a Middle Eastern country from its corrupt leadership, served as launching pad for the short-lived New Invaders series.[32][33][34] Non-superhero Marvel work of the time includes The Call of Duty, a project consisting of several mini-series conceived in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks that were written primarily by Austen (with one series written by
Bruce Jones) and featured firefighters and emergency service workers dealing with paranormal phenomena in the Marvel Universe,[35][36] as well as Eden's Trail with artist
Steve Uy, a series in "Marvelscope" (landscape) format created to capitalize on the burgeoning manga market which resulted in controversy when Uy publicly disowned the project, calling it a "bad dream".[37]
Also in 2003, Austen returned to
DC Comics with the limited series Superman: Metropolis which followed the life of
Jimmy Olsen and other citizens of the eponymous fictional city.[38] After the series concluded with issue #12, Austen took over the writing duties of the ongoing series Action Comics. Fans criticized Austen for resurrecting the long-forgotten
Silver Age feud between
Lois Lane and
Lana Lang over the love of
Superman, with Lana in particular divorcing her longtime husband
Pete Ross in the process.[5] Austen left the title after ten issues,[39] and the following two issues were scripted by a writer named "J.D. Finn". While readers suspected Finn to be Austen, he speculated that Finn was actually then–Action Comics editor
Eddie Berganza and denied using the pseudonym.[5][11]
In 2004, Austen began self-publishing WorldWatch, a superhero series which he described as similar to
Warren Ellis's The Authority with more explicit depictions of sex, violence and
realpolitik.[40] The last page of Worldwatch #2 featured an announcement from the publisher stating that Austen had been fired, and that he would be replaced by a writer named Sam Clemens (which is the real name of American writer
Mark Twain). In a subsequent interview, Austen revealed that this was intended as a joke (since he himself was the publisher and thus could not be fired from the book) and expressed disappointment in the fact that most readers had not understood it.[5]
In 2006, Austen wrote Boys of Summer, an English language
adult-themed manga illustrated by
Hiroki Otsuka and published by
TokyoPop.[2] Copies of the first volume were pulled from a number of bookstores in May that year due to its graphic content.[39]Publishers Weekly named Boys of Summer one of the Top Ten
manga/
manhwa of 2006, calling it both "a titillating and edgy reading experience."[41] Subsequent news reports indicated that the series had been cancelled even though the other two volumes were completed and both creators had been paid for the work.[39]
During his stint at the Big Two, Austen used the expression "Seven Deadly
Trolls". In Austen's point of view, there was a small group of people, not representative of the wider comics readership, that used
internet message boards,
blogs and
newsgroups to attack him on a professional and personal level.[45] Austen has stated that he received death threats from fans and had certain comic book store owners refuse to stock any comics written by him.[5] He also admitted to taking online criticism of his work personally, and made a decision to stop doing interviews in August 2003.[46] In a 2004 interview, Austen explained that decision as a result of a "bad day".[45]
Austen is divorced.[6] He has two daughters[4] and a son.[3]
He identifies himself as humanitarian and anti-racist.[5] In Austen's view, the
Republican Party discriminates against women, and he especially disliked the
Bush administration.[4]
In 2014,
Marvel re-released these stories in Miracleman #7–8 (where Moore is credited as "The Original Writer") as part of the series' reprint with remastered and recolored art.
The remastered and recolored versions of the stories are collected in Miracleman: The Red King Syndrome (hc, 224 pages,
Marvel, 2014,
ISBN0-7851-5464-7)
Zot! #19: "Getting to 99" (as artist, written by
Scott McCloud, 1988) collected in Zot! The Complete Black and White Collection (tpb, 576 pages,
It Books, 2008,
ISBN0-0615-3727-6)
Samurai Penguin #3–4 (as layout artist, finishes by
Mark Buck (#3) and
Basilio Amaro (#4), 1987)
Samurai Penguin #5 (as letterer, 1987)
Hero Sandwich #1–5 (as artist, written by Dan Vado, 1987–1988) collected in The Works: The Hero Sandwich Collection (tpb, 200 pages, 1997,
ISBN0-9431-5106-6)
Strips #1–12 (script and art, with issues #1–9 published by
Rip Off Press in 1989–1991 and #10–12 self-published as
White Buffaloe in 1997)
In 1997, White Buffaloe also began reprinting the early issues with additional material as Strips: The Special Edition, but stopped only after two issues.
The only other publication by White Buffaloe besides the five issues of Strips was White Buffaloe HomePage, written and drawn by Austen, also in 1997.