Jonathan Hickman is an
Americancomic book writer and
artist, best known for his creator-owned series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as his lengthy stints as a writer on
Marvel's Fantastic Four, The Avengers and The New Avengers. Hickman's other notable work at Marvel includes the S.H.I.E.L.D. limited series, the creation of the Fantastic Four spin-off title FF, as well as two crossover limited series, Infinity and Secret Wars, both of which acted as centerpieces for the eponymous company-wide crossover storylines. Between 2019 and 2021, Hickman worked on "
Dawn of X", a relaunch of various
X-Men-related titles for which he provided the core storyline and concepts.
Early life
Jonathan Hickman was born and raised in
South Carolina. He graduated from South Florence High School in
Florence, South Carolina.[2] After high school, Hickman earned a degree in Architecture.[3]
In 2009, Hickman began his run on Fantastic Four with the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four limited series, illustrated by
Sean Chen,[15][16] taking over the series proper with issue #570, drawn by
Dale Eaglesham. In the storyline "Three", which concluded in Fantastic Four #587, the
Human Torch appeared to die stopping a horde of monsters from the other-dimensional
Negative Zone.[17][18][19] The series ended with the following issue and was relaunched as simply FF. Hickman finished his run on the
Fantastic Four and became the writer of The Avengers and The New Avengers as part of the
Marvel NOW! relaunch in late 2012.[20][21] Hickman's run on the titles spawned two company-wide crossover storylines, "
Infinity" in 2013[22] and "
Secret Wars" in 2015.[23] After taking a leave from Marvel to focus on his long-form creator-owned titles, Hickman returned to the publisher for "
Dawn of X", the 2019 relaunch of the
X-Men family of titles, which began with the
House of X and Powers of X limited series that laid out the new
status quo developed by Hickman. He subsequently wrote the core X-Men series while the creators of other titles worked closely under his supervision.[24] Hickman announced his departure from writing X-Men in August 2021.[25]
In August 2021, Hickman was among a group of creators with whom fellow comics writer
Nick Spencer formed a deal with the subscription-based newsletter platform
Substack to publish
creator-owned comics stories, essays, and instructional guides on that platform. Hickman indicated that he would collaborate with artists
Mike del Mundo and
Mike Huddleston and writer
Tini Howard on a new series, Three Worlds / Three Moons, which will give readers a behind-the-scenes look at the process of
building a fictional universe.[26]
In February 2023 it was announced that Hickman would write the miniseries Ultimate Invasion, with
Bryan Hitch doing artwork and the premise revolving around
The Maker attempting to bring back the
Ultimate Universe, the aftermath of which will lead to a brand new line of Ultimate Marvel comics, which Hickman is helping to spearhead. In September 2023, it was revealed that Hickman would write a relaunch of Ultimate Spider-Man in 2024, with Marco Checchetto serving as artist.[27][28][29]
In March 2023, it was announced that Hickman would work with artist Valerio Schiti on a brand new series at Marvel, entitled G.O.D.S., which involves a new character named Wyn teaming up with
Doctor Strange in order to stop a new threat. Hickman mentioned that he wrote the
series bible for G.O.D.S. alongside House of X when he first returned to Marvel.[30]
In April 2024, it was announced that Hickman and
Esad Ribić would reunite for the miniseries Aliens vs.
Avengers, which pits Earth's mightiest heroes against the
Xenomorphs. The first issue is set to debut July 2024.[31]
2013: Nominated for "Best Continuing Series" and "Best Writer" Eisner Award for The Manhattan Projects[34]
2014: Nominated for "Best Continuing Series" for East of West and "Best Writer" Eisner Award for East of West, The Manhattan Projects, The Avengers, and Infinity[35]
The Four Disciplines (collects #16–20, tpb, 144 pages, 2014,
ISBN1-6070-6961-X)
The Cold War (collects #21–25, tpb, 156 pages, 2015,
ISBN1-6321-5184-7)
The Manhattan Projects: The Sun Beyond the Stars #1–4 (with Nick Pitarra, 2015–2016) collected as The Manhattan Projects: The Sun Beyond the Stars (tpb, 136 pages, 2016,
ISBN1-6321-5628-8)
Secret #1–7 (with Ryan Bodenheim, 2012–2014) collected as Secret: Never Get Caught (tpb, 200 pages, 2014,
ISBN1-60706-622-X)
Liberty Annual '12: "Which Came First?" (2012) collected in CBLDF Presents: Liberty (hc, 216 pages, 2014,
ISBN1-6070-6937-7; tpb, 2016,
ISBN1-6070-6996-2)
Astonishing Tales: Mojoworld #1–6: "Bobby and Sam in Mojoworld" (written by Hickman, art by Hickman and Nick Pitarra, free
digital mini-comic, 2008–2009)
First published in print as a feature in Astonishing Tales vol. 2 #1–6 (anthology, 2009)
Collected in The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman (Omnibus Volume 1, hc, 1,192 pages, 2017,
ISBN1-3029-0708-5; The Complete Collection Volume 1, tpb, 336 pages, 2018,
ISBN1-3029-2509-1)
Includes the "Declaration" short story (co-written by Hickman and Brian Michael Bendis, art by Stefano Caselli) from Dark Reign: New Nation (one-shot, 2009)
In all subsequent collected editions, both series are compiled in the original release order (Fantastic Four #570–588 — FF #1–11 — Fantastic Four #600–604 — FF #12–16 — Fantastic Four #605–611 and FF #17–23 alternating between issues):
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Volume 1 (collects Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1–5, Fantastic Four #570–588, FF #1–5 and the short story from the Dark Reign: The Cabal one-shot, hc, 800 pages, 2013,
ISBN0-7851-6566-5)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Volume 2 (collects FF #6–23, Fantastic Four #600–611 and 605.1, hc, 832 pages, 2014,
ISBN0-7851-8900-9)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 1 (collects Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1–5, Fantastic Four #570–578 and the short story from the Dark Reign: The Cabal one-shot, tpb, 384 pages, 2018,
ISBN1-3029-1336-0)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 2 (collects Fantastic Four #579–588 and FF #1–5, tpb, 432 pages, 2019,
ISBN1-3029-1963-6)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 3 (collects FF #6–16 and Fantastic Four #600–604, tpb, 480 pages, 2021,
ISBN1-3029-2668-3)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 4 (collects FF #17–23 and Fantastic Four #605–611 and 605.1, tpb, 368 pages, 2022,
ISBN1-3029-3358-2)
Collected in The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman (Omnibus Volume 1, hc, 1,192 pages, 2017,
ISBN1-3029-0708-5; The Complete Collection Volume 2, tpb, 344 pages, 2019,
ISBN1-3029-2530-X)
Avengers World #1–5 (co-written by Hickman and Nick Spencer, art by Stefano Caselli, 2014) collected as Avengers World: The Complete Collection (tpb, 528 pages, 2019,
ISBN1-3029-1617-3)
In all subsequent collected editions, the issues of The Avengers vol. 5, The New Avengers vol. 3 and the 6-issue crossover limited series Infinity (see below) are compiled into one continuous story:
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Volume 1 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #1–23, The New Avengers vol. 3 #1–12 and Infinity #1–6, hc, 1,192 pages, 2017,
ISBN1-3029-0708-5)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman Omnibus Volume 2 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #24–44 and The New Avengers vol. 3 #13–33, hc, 1,088 pages, 2018,
ISBN1-3029-1181-3)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 1 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #1–5 and The New Avengers vol. 3 #1–6, tpb, 336 pages, 2018,
ISBN1-3029-2509-1)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 2 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #6–17 and The New Avengers vol. 3 #7, tpb, 344 pages, 2019,
ISBN1-3029-2530-X)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 3 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #18–23, The New Avengers vol. 3 #8–12 and Infinity #1–6, tpb, 512 pages, 2021,
ISBN1-3029-2647-0)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 4 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #24–34 and The New Avengers vol. 3 #13–23, tpb, 528 pages, 2021,
ISBN1-3029-2648-9)
The Avengers by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection Volume 5 (collects The Avengers vol. 5 #35–44 and The New Avengers vol. 3 #24–33, tpb, 528 pages, 2022,
ISBN1-3029-3351-5)
The series, which was initially announced to be only six issues,[55] was continued as an ongoing comic written by Costa solo,[56] drawn by various artists and collected as: