Ryan North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer. He is the creator and author of ''

Dinosaur Comics ''Dinosaur Comics'' is a constrained webcomic by Canadian writer Ryan North. It is also known as "Qwantz", after the site's domain name, "qwantz.com". The first comic was posted on February 1, 2003, although there were earlier prototypes. ''Dino ...

'', and has written for the comic series of ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'' and

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

' ''

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' was an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring Squirrel Girl. The solo series debuted in January 2015 and ran for 8 issues, and was relaunched in October 2015 as part of Marvel's All-New, Al ...

''. His works have won multiple

Eisner Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

and

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

and made ''New York Times'' Bestseller lists.

Comics

Webcomics

North started the webcomic ''

'' in 2003, during the last year of his undergraduate degree. ''Dinosaur Comics'' is a fixed-art webcomic which uses the same base art for every strip. North has produced over 3,500 strips. ''Dinosaur Comics'' was named one of the best webcomics of 2004 and 2005 by The Webcomics Examiner. ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'' listed ''Dinosaur Comics'' as one of "Five Webcomics You Can Share With Your Kids" and ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and have continued to the present d ...

'' included the comic in its "10 Wicked Awesome Webcomics" list.

Cracked.com Cracked.com is a website based on the humorous Cracked (magazine), ''Cracked'' magazine, which dates back to 1958. It was founded in 2005 by Jack O'Brien.Axon, SamuelStreamy Awards 2010: Here Are the Winners ''Mashable''. April 11, 2010. In 2007, ...

named ''Dinosaur Comics'' one of the 8 funniest webcomics on the internet. In 2005, it won "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic" in the

Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which established webcartoonists nominated and selected outstanding webcomics. The awards were held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a ''The New York Times'' column on webcom ...

. As well as ''Dinosaur Comics'', North also created ''Whispered Apologies'', a site where users could submit comic art without text and others would write text to match the art. Canada's ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' described North as a "pioneering webcomic creator".

Printed comics and graphic novels

North was the writer of the ''

comic book series a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

from 2012 to 2014. In 2013 the series won an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

(Best Publication for Kids) and a

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

(Best Original Graphic Publication For Younger Readers). North has written for several

series, including ''

Power Pack Power Pack is a superhero team consisting of four young siblings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Louise Simonson and artist June Brigman, they first appeared in their own series in 1984, which las ...

'', and ''Inhumans: Once and Future Kings''. On January 21, 2013, Shiftylook.com launched ''Galaga'', a comic written by North and illustrated by

Christopher Hastings Christopher Hastings (age ) is an American comic writer and artist. He is known for his webcomic '' The Adventures of Dr. McNinja'' as well as writing for ''Unbelievable Gwenpool'' and the ''Adventure Time'' comics. Biography Hastings attended ...

and colored by Anthony Clark, the creators of ''

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja ''The Adventures of Dr. McNinja'' is a webcomic written and drawn by Christopher Hastings, and inked formerly by Kent Archer and after 2010 by Hastings himself. Published three times a week on its own website, it features the fictional adventures ...

''. The comic is based on the 1981 arcade shooter of the same name. On July 21, 2017, two of North's projects were awarded

: "Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)" for ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' (with

Erica Henderson Erica Henderson is an American two-time Eisner Award-winning comics artist and animator, known for her work on ''The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl'' and ''Jughead (comic book), Jughead'', and for her animation work on ''Venture Bros.'' Early life Hend ...

), and "Best Humor Publication" for '' Jughead'' (with

Chip Zdarsky Steve Murray (born December 21, 1975), known by the pen-name Chip Zdarsky, is a Canadian comic book artist and writer, journalist, illustrator and designer. He has also used the pseudonym Todd Diamonte. He worked for ''National Post'' for over a ...

, Henderson, and Derek Charm). On September 15, 2020,

Archaia Archaia Entertainment, LLC, commonly known as Archaia (formerly known as Archaia Studios Press), is an imprint of American comic book and graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios. Archaia Entertainment, LLC was originally an American comic book pu ...

published a graphic novel adaptation of

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to h ...

, which was adapted by North and illustrated by

Albert Monteys Albert Monteys i Homar (Barcelona, 15 September 1971) is a Spanish comic writer and illustrator, mostly known for his work in the satirical weekly magazine ''El Jueves'' of which he was the director from 2006 until January 2011. Early life Albe ...

. In July 2022, North announced two upcoming comics projects via his newsletter. The first is ''Star Trek: Lower Decks'' —a

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

based on the animated series of the same name—with artist Chris Fenoglio; the first issue is scheduled to be published in September 2022 by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

. The second is a YA graphic novel, titled ''Danger and Other Unknown Risks,'' with artist Henderson; North and Henderson were co-creators on ''Squirrel Girl''. This graphic novel is described as a "dystopian fantasy" and is scheduled to be published in April 2023 by Penguin Teen. In November 2022, North launched a new volume of

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

with artist Iban Coello.

Webcomic tools

North created three tools to aid webcomic authors: Oh No Robot, a webcomic transcription tool that creates searchable text databases for comics; RSSpect, a method of creating

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

feeds for websites; and

Project Wonderful Project Wonderful was an advertising service created by programmer and webcomic author Ryan North in late 2006. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the service supported up thousands of webcomics and blogs with auctioned online advertisement, online ...

, a pay-per-day

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ex ...

-based

ad serving Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on Web sites, mobile apps, and Connected TVs. Ad serving technology companies provide software to Web sites and advertisers to serve ads, count them, choose the ads th ...

system. The first two were free, whereas the last took 25% of each sale. Only Oh No Robot remains.

Books and other writing

During his academic career, North co-authored three papers on computational linguistics. Some of North's original comedy writing appears on the website Madhouse, including ''Robot Erotica,'' and prank emails such as attempts to stop other people named "Ryan North" from using his name. In November 2006, Ryan North created the site ''Every Topic in the Universe Except Chickens'', which purports to provide a solution to

vandalism on Wikipedia On Wikipedia, vandalism is editing the project in an intentionally disruptive or malicious manner. Vandalism includes any addition, removal, or modification that is intentionally humorous, nonsensical, a hoax, offensive, libelous or degrading ...

, in that it encourages vandals to vandalize only the article on

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

s: "...instead of vandalizing Wikipedia in general, we all just vandalize the chicken article." North reasoned that it was worth trading the reliability of the chicken article if it meant freeing the rest of the encyclopedia from the threat of vandalism because "Dudes already know about chickens." The site received media attention. A collection of short stories titled ''

Machine of Death ''Machine of Death'' is a 2010 collection of science fiction short stories edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, and David Malki. The stories featured in ''Machine of Death'' were submitted by various writers since early 2007 and all focus on a ...

'' was released October 2010 through Bearstache Books. The book, featuring stories and illustrations by various authors and artists, was based on a ''

'' comic by North of December 5, 2005, with the premise of a machine that predicts the manner of a person's death accurately but in a difficult to understand manner. North was one of its editors, and contributed one of the stories. ''Machine of Death'' reached #1 on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

, beating

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

and drawing criticism from him as exemplifying a "liberal

culture of death A culture of life describes a culture, way of life based on the belief that human life at all stages from Human fertilization, conception through natural death is sacred. It opposes the destruction of human life at any stage, including abortion ...

". In November 2012, North launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

project to fund a book entitled '' To Be or Not to Be: That Is the Adventure'', a retelling of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' modelled on

Choose Your Own Adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...

novels. The project raised more than six times its $20,000 goal in less than a week, and closed on December 22, 2012 having raised $580,905, nearly thirty times their original goal, and a record for a ''Kickstarter'' publishing project at that time. The book allows readers to take the role of

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...

or Hamlet's father and make their own choices throughout the story; the latter characters, as well as over 100 colour illustrations by a range of artists, were added to the book as funding increased. The book made a New York Times Bestseller list. In 2016, Ryan published a similar book titled ''Romeo and/or Juliet''. There are 46,012,475,909,287,476 possible adventures in it. The book received generally positive coverage. In 2018,

Riverhead Books Riverhead Books is an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) founded in 1994 by Susan Petersen Kennedy. Writers published by Riverhead include Ali Sethi, Marlon James (novelist), Marlon James, Junot Díaz, George Saunders, Khaled Hosseini, Nick Hornby, ...

published Ryan North's "

How To Invent Everything How may refer to: * How (greeting), a word used in some misrepresentations of Native American/First Nations speech * How, an interrogative word in English grammar Art and entertainment Literature * ''How'' (book), a 2007 book by Dov Seidm ...

: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveller": a nonfiction guide to technology based around the fictional premise of a time machine stranding the reader in the past. It was named one of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's and

BBC Science Focus ''BBC Science Focus'' (previously ''BBC Focus'') is a British monthly magazine about science and technology published in Bristol, UK by Immediate Media Company Immediate Media Company Limited (styled as Immediate Media Co) is a British multin ...

's Best Books of 2018. In 2019, North helped develop the story and writing for an iOS game app called AVO! by Playdeo Limited North wrote the 2021 action-adventure video game ''

Lost in Random ''Lost in Random'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Zoink and published by Electronic Arts. Part of the EA Originals program, the game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One an ...

'', published by Electronic Arts. In April 2022, North was the writer for the six-episode

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

series ''Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show'' which is a direct continuation of the comic series he wrote; the series is produced by Radio Point, directed by Giovanna Sardelli and stars

Milana Vayntrub Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub ( , Russian language, Russian: ; born March 8, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, and activist. Born in the Soviet Union to Jewish parents, she began her career as a child actress shortly after immigrating to ...

as Squirrel Girl.

Awards

, - , rowspan=4, 2017 , ''

'' ,

: Best Publication for Teens (ages 13–17) , , Illustrated by

, - , '' Jughead'' , Eisner Award: Best Humor Publication , , Created by

, North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm , - , ''Romeo and/or Juliet: A Choosable-Path Adventure'' ,

Alex Award The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

, , , - , (multiple comics) ,

Joe Shuster Award The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards (or Joe Shuster Awards) are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadian comics, Canadi ...

: Outstanding Writer , , , - , rowspan=2, 2016 , ''

'' ,

: Best New Series , , Illustrated by

, - , (multiple comics) ,

: Outstanding Writer , , , - , rowspan=2, 2015 , (multiple comics) ,

: Outstanding Writer , , , - , ''

The Midas Flesh ''The Midas Flesh'' is a 2014 comic book limited series by Ryan North, with art by Braden Lamb and Shelli Paroline, exploring the legend of King Midas within a science fictional context. It ran for 8 issues, and was published by Boom! Studios. S ...

'' ,

: The Dragon Award (Comics for Kids) , , , - , rowspan=3, 2014 , ''Adventure Time'' ,

: Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' ,

: Special Award for Humor , , , - , (multiple comics) ,

: Outstanding Writer , , , - , rowspan=6, 2013 , ''Adventure Time'' , Eisner Award: Best Publication for Kids (ages 8–12) , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' ,

: Best Original Graphic Publication for Younger Readers , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' ,

: Special Award for Humor , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' , Eisner Award: Best New Series , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' , Eisner Award: Best Humor Publication , , , - , ''Adventure Time'' , Sushter Awards: Outstanding Writer , , , - , 2005 , ''

'' ,

: Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic , , In the same year, ''Dinosaur Comics'' was also nominated for Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Comedic Comic, and Outstanding Short Form Comic.

Personal life

North was born in Osgoode,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, in 1980. His parents are Anna and Randall North and said in an interview that he has a younger brother, Victor. In an interview, North said that his family lived in rural Osgoode and there was not a lot to do, so spent much of his time on the computer. After high school, he studied

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, then did his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in computer science at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, specializing in

computational linguistics Computational linguistics is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, comput ...

. North once hosted instructions on his website for building cardboard boxes designed to look like elements of ''

Super Mario Brothers is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...

'', designed by his friend

Posterchild Posterchild is the pseudonym of a street artist based in Toronto, Canada who may be best known for his Mario Blocks project, the purpose of which is to install homemade Mario blocks in public spaces. After being featured on Boing Boing the pro ...

. In 2006, a group of teenage girls in

Ravenna, Ohio Ravenna is a city in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Akron. It was formed from portions of Ravenna Township in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 11,323 in the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Por ...

were arrested after they created and distributed several of these blocks, over fears they were bombs. On August 18, 2015, North became stuck in a skate pit with only an umbrella, a leash, his phone, and his dog, Noam Chompsky, after rain made the surface too slick to easily climb with a dog in tow. He posted about his conundrum on Twitter, leading hundreds of Twitter users to reply with suggestions on how to combine the items in his "inventory" to escape, eventually leading to success. North is married to his wife Jenn Klug. As of 2016, they lived in

Leslieville Leslieville is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated east of the Don River. It is bounded by the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street to the north, McGee Street to the west, Eastern Avenue to south, and Coxwell Ave ...

, Ontario.

Bibliography

* Author, ''The Best of Dinosaur Comics: 2003-2005 AD'' (April 15, 2006, Quack!Media) * Author, ''Dinosaur Comics: Dudes Already Know About Chickens'' (2010, TopatoCo) * Editor and contributor, '' Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die'' (October 13, 2010, Machines of Death) * Author, ''Everybody Knows Failure Is Just Success Rounded Down: Dinosaur Comics'' (2011, TopatoCo) *Writer, ''

'' Issues 1-35 (2012-15, KaBOOM!) * Author, '' To Be or Not to Be: That Is the Adventure'' (2013, Breadpig) * Editor, '' This Is How You Die; Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death'' (2013, Grand Central Publishing) * Author, ''The Midas Flesh Vol. 1'' (2014, BOOM! Box) * Author, ''The Midas Flesh Vol. 2'' (2015, BOOM! Box) * Writer, ''

'' Vol. 1 Issues 1-8 (2015, Marvel) * Writer, ''

'' Vol. 2 Issues 1-50 (2015-2019, Marvel) * Author, ''Romeo and/or Juliet: A Chooseable-Path Adventure'' (2016, Riverhead Books) * Writer, '' Jughead'' Volume 2, Issues 9-11 (2017, Archie Comics) * Writer, '' Jughead'' Volume 3, Issues 12-14 (2017, Archie Comics) * Author, ''How to Be a T.Rex'' (2018, Dial Books) * Author, ''How To Invent Everything: A Survival Guide For The Stranded Time Traveler'' (2018, Riverhead Books) * Author, ''

: The Graphic Novel'' (2020, Archaia) * Author, ''How to Take Over the World: Practical Schemes and Scientific Solutions for the Aspiring Supervillain'' (2022, Riverhead Books)

Comics

Webcomics

Printed comics and graphic novels

Webcomic tools

Books and other writing

Awards

Personal life

Bibliography

References

External links