David Matthew Gallaher (born June 5, 1975, in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

video game writer, graphic novelist, podcaster and editor, known primarily for his work in comics and video games: ''

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint'' is an online-only tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft. The game was released worldwide on 4 October 2019 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and on 18 Dec ...

'', '' Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''

Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar ''Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'' is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962. The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O'B ...

'', ''

High Moon ''High Moon'' is a horror Western webcomic series featuring werewolves. It was developed in 2004 with a debut in 2007 as a part of Zuda, DC Comics' webcomic imprint. The first season concluded on July 8, 2008. Season two ran from August 16 to ...

'', ''Box 13'', ''The Only Living Boy'' and 'The Only Living Girl'. His clients include

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book 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 Comics'' in ...

, the

CBLDF The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) is an American non-profit organization formed in 1986 to protect the First Amendment rights of comics creators, publishers, and retailers covering legal expenses. Charles Brownstein served as the organiz ...

Harris Publications Harris Publications Inc. was an American special interest media company, operating over 75 brands with print, digital, mobile and live event platforms prior to its sale to Athlon Media in 2016. It produced magazines that educate, entertain, inf ...

and

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...

. He also helped create ad campaigns for the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...

Early life

Gallaher's family did not own a television until he was five years old. The first film he saw was the 1978 ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

'' movie. When his family finally obtained a television, he enjoyed '' Shazam!'', ''

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends may refer to the following shows: * ''Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 cartoon series * ''Spidey and His Amazing Friends'' (2021 TV series), a 2021 Disney Junior cartoon {{Disam ...

'', ''

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...

'', '' The Incredible Hulk'' and ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

''. Shortly after, he read his first comic '' Power Man and Iron Fist''. When he was 7, his mother bought a book for Gallaher which featured superhero designs one could trace.Lien-Cooper, Barb
"Shadow Man: David Gallaher"

Sequential Tart In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called ...

. Retrieved September 30, 2015. During Boy Scout summer camp in '88, Gallaher and became an avid reader of ''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

'', ''

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 s ...

'', ''

West Coast Avengers The West Coast Avengers is a fictional group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in ''The West Coast Avengers'' #1 (Sept. 1984), created by Roger Stern and Bob Hall. It was the fi ...

'', and '' Speedball''. Gallaher cites John Byrne's "Vision Quest" storyline in ''West Coast Avengers'' as a story that had significant influence on him. He became a fan of Byrne's, particularly his work on ''

Namor Namor (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in early 1939, the character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies Inc ...

''. A graduate of Frederick High School, Gallaher attended

Hood College Hood College is a private college in Frederick, Maryland. In fall 2018, Hood enrolled 2,052 students (1,092 undergraduate students; 960 graduate students). Thirty-eight percent of students are either members of under-represented racial or ethnic ...

in Maryland, double-majoring in both

Special Education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

and

Psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

. During his junior year, despite his love for teaching, he felt compelled to write. He switched to

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

on learning that

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...

, and

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and Fantasy (genre), fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his :Xanth books, long-running novel series set in ...

studied there. The school allowed him to create his own curriculum to major in Comics. He also taught a comics class to seniors and juniors with the work of

Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970) is a Northern Irish–American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dar ...

and

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

included as part of the curriculum.

Career

After graduating from Goddard, Gallaher drew a crude version of his résumé as a six-panel comic strip and faxed it to

. The next day, he received a call to work at Marvel as an intern for the Interactive and Marketing department. After a week, he was hired as the department production editor, editing digital comics, training interns, researching material, writing character biographies and developing websites. His work as a creator at Marvel includes ''Hulk:

Winter Guard Winter guard (sometimes spelled "winterguard") is an indoor color guard sport and performance art derived from military ceremonies. Modern winter guard is a competitive, performance-based activity which incorporates choreographed staging, dance, ...

'' and '' Darkstar and the Winter Guard''. In late 2001, Gallaher met Joe Gentile of

Moonstone Books Moonstone Books is an American comic book, graphic novel, and prose fiction publisher based in Chicago focused on pulp fiction comic books and prose anthologies as well as horror and western tales. The company began publishing creator-owned co ...

at the Detroit Motor City Comic Con. Gentile encouraged Gallahar to submit for the Moonstone Noir Line and was hired to write ''

''. He wrote single issues of comics for ''Annex'' (Chalk Outline Studios), ''Immortals Gods and Heroes'' (Archaia), ''Deadlands'' (IDW and Image Comics), ''More Fund Comics'' (Sky Dog Press), and ''Vampirella'' #8-10 (Harris). He also wrote articles for Marvel Comics and ''Visual Opinions Magazine''. In advertising, Gallaher worked on several successful campaigns for the New York Police Department including a multimedia presentation CD Rom which won the 2007 CEA Award, and the 2008 "My NYPD" and "Only in NY, Only in The NYPD" campaigns which also won CEA Awards in 2008 and 2009. He also worked on books about marketing and computers, such as ''Introduction to Web Databases'' and ''Networking Tools 2.0''. In 2008, Gallaher was named as a 'Breakout Creator' by Comic Foundry magazine. In October 2009, Gallaher earned 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 we ...

for his work on the series ''

''. In July 2011, Gallaher worked as consulting editor on a broad range of titles for

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

including

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The se ...

, Gon, Negima and

Arisa Rosalba Pippa (born 20 August 1982), better known by her stage name Arisa, is an Italian singer and actress. Early life Arisa was born in Genoa, Italy. A week after her birth, her family moved back to their original hometown, Pignola, a villag ...

. In July 2012, he and artist Steve Ellis formed Bottled Lightning Studios to self-publish their comics. Gallaher wrote 2 issues of

Green Lantern Corps Green Lantern Corps is the name of a fictional intergalactic law enforcement organization appearing in comics published by DC Comics. They patrol the farthest reaches of the DC Universe at the behest of the Guardians, a race of immortals residing ...

for DC Comics during the "

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

" storyline. In 2018, Papercutz announced it would publish the spin-off series to The Only Living Boy, The Only Living Girl with David Gallaher and Steve Ellis resuming their young-adult children's adventure series. In February 2019, Gallaher became the co-host of the For The Love Of Comics podcast with Adam Vermillion. In June 2019, it was announced that David Gallaher would be one of the writers on

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

's Ghost Recon series. In October 2019, Gallaher and his studio were hired by the

Children's Tumor Foundation The Children's Tumor Foundation (CTF) is a 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to improving the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by NF, a group of genetic conditions known as neurofibromatosis or schwannomatosis. Their four- ...

to release a series of comic strips to promote the awareness of

neurofibromatosis Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a group of three conditions in which tumors grow in the nervous system. The three types are neurofibromatosis type I (NF1), neurofibromatosis type II (NF2), and schwannomatosis. In NF1 symptoms include light brown ...

Awards

*Gallaher's creation ''High Moon'' (with collaborator Steve Ellis and Scott O. Brown) won the "Best Online Comic" and was nominated for a ‘Best New Series’ Harvey Award for 2009. *Gallaher's was again nominated for a 2010 Harvey Award for "Best Online Comic" for ''High Moon'' *Gallaher (with collaborator Steve Ellis and Scott O. Brown) was nominated for a 2014

for "The Only Living Boy" in the "Best Graphic Publication for Young Readers" category *Gallaher was nominated for a 2016

for "The Only Living Boy" in the "Best Graphic Publication for Young Readers" category *Gallaher's work The Only Living Boy Omnibus received a nomination for "Best Presentation in Design" category *Gallaher's (and his team's work) on Ghost Recon: Breakpoint received the 'Best PC Game' in the Gamescom Awards 2019.

Personal life

Gallaher claims to have

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

.Gallaher, David. avidgallaher1.livejournal.com/profile User Profile

LiveJournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, a ...

. accessed October 2, 2011. Gallaher lives with his spouse, Val D'Orazio, whom he married in 2011, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Bibliography

Amazon Studios

* ''It Came In The Mail'' storyboards with artist Steve Ellis

Archaia

* ''Immortals: Gods & Heroes'' with artist Kevin Colden

Bottled Lightning

* ''The Altern80s'' with artist Kevin Colden

comiXology

* Box 13 (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis) * Box 13: The Pandora Process (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis)

DC Comics

- Zuda webcomic imprint (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis) *

(with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis)

Image Comics

* Deadlands: The Devil's Six Gun (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis)

Marvel Comics

* Iron Man: Threaded Web * Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Threaded Web * Hulk: Winter Guard * '' Darkstar and The Winter Guard''

Moonstone Books

* Vampire: The Masquerade Blood and Shadows * Yours Truly, Jonny Dollar: The Brief Candle Matter * Moonstone Monsters: Ghosts (incorrectly credited as Ken Wolak)Gallaher, David
"NUMBER EIGHT IS MISSING!"
Topica. August 19, 2003

Papercutz

* ''The Only Living Boy'' (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis) * ''The Only Living Girl'' (with artist and co-creator Steve Ellis)

Skydog Press

* More Fund Comics

Ubisoft

* Ghost Recon: Wildlands * Ghost Recon: Breakpoint

Notes

References

External links

*

graphic novel illustrated by Eric Theriault, written by David Gallaher

Interviews

Interview
at 2008's New York Comic Con with comiXology
Podcast interview
with David at comiXology

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallaher, David 1975 births American male bloggers American bloggers Goddard College alumni Hood College alumni Writers from Brooklyn Writers from Honolulu Living people American webcomic creators American comics writers Marvel Comics people People with epilepsy