James David Hudnall (April 10, 1957 – April 9, 2019) was an American writer who began his career in the

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

field in 1986 with the series '' Espers'', published by

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

. He later worked for Marvel and DC on such titles as '' Alpha Flight'', '' Strikeforce: Morituri'', and his own creation ''Interface'', which was a sequel to ''Espers''. He also wrote graphic novels such as '' Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography'', ''Sinking'', ''Streets'' and ''The Psycho''. His series ''

Harsh Realm ''Harsh Realm'' is an American science fiction television series about humans trapped inside a virtual reality simulation. It was developed by Chris Carter, creator of ''The X-Files'' and ''Millennium'', and began airing on the Fox Network on Oc ...

'' was adapted to television by ''X-Files'' producer Chris Carter in 1998. Hudnall and co-creator Andrew Paquette sued Carter and Fox Television when they failed to give them credits on the show. The suit was later settled and as part of the settlement Hudnall and Paquette received credit in the opening titles of the show, Hudnall's other works includes: ''The Age of Heroes'', ''Aftermath'', ''Shut Up And Die'', ''Two to the Chest'', ''Chiller'', ''Devastator'', '' Hardcase'' and '' The Solution''. He wrote a libertarian leaning blog under the

Pajamas Media PJ Media, originally known as Pajamas Media, is an American right-wing subscription-based commentary website. It was founded in 2004, with its majority owner being software entrepreneur, billionaire and angel investor Aubrey Chernick, founder ...

group, a network of political blogs.

Early life

Hudnall's parents divorced when he was two and his mother remarried to a man in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. The family settled in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

in the 1970s, and after graduating from

Point Loma High School Point Loma High School is a public high school in the San Diego Unified School District in San Diego, California, United States. It is located in the Loma Portal neighborhood of Point Loma. The school serves the neighborhoods of Point Loma ...

, Hudnall joined the U.S. Air Force in 1976. He was stationed in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. After his discharge from the Air Force, Hudnall went to Coleman College in San Diego where he majored in

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 ...

. He worked as a computer software consultant in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

, Sonoma County, and briefly in England. On returning to the states, he settled in Orange County, Ca where he began to read comics again. This renewed his interest in the medium and got him interested in writing, which was an earlier ambition. Hudnall attempted to self-publish a comic in 1982.

Comics career

In 1985, he started working with Eclipse Comics as a marketing director. In 1986 his first comic, '' Espers''. From there, he went on to work for

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 ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, or a contestant that on paper should be unlikely to succeed but yet still might. Origin Th ...

and Malibu. Hudnall switched from writing comics to internet development in the late 1990s, while producing more limited work over the years, such as ''Trigs'' for Humanoids and ''2 To the Chest'' from his own company Dark Planet Productions. In 2009, he began writing for the

Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of '' HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of ' ...

blog

Big Hollywood ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 by ...

. Hudnall later went into digital comics in 2012 when David Lloyd created the online comics anthology ''Aces Weekly'' with Val Mayerik. In the fall of 2013, Hudnall released his first novel, ''The Age of Heroes: Hell's Reward'', which is part of a planned series. A second series of novels, the Secret Team, is slated to debut in 2015.

Bibliography

Comics work includes: * '' Espers'' * ''Rick Mason: The Agent'' () * '' Strikeforce: Morituri'' * '' Alpha Flight'' vol. 1 63, 67–86 * '' Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography'' * ''The Psycho'' * ''Interface'' * ''Chiller'' * ''Streets'' * '' Sinking'' * ''

'' (with

Andrew Paquette Andrew Paquette is an artist and writer, known primarily for his work as a CG artist in the feature film and video game industry. Born in 1965 in St. Paul, Minnesota, he has lived in several states within the US, primarily New York, Maine, Califor ...

)Kaplan, Don (October 19, 1999),
https://nypost.com/1999/10/19/harsh-creators-sue-for-credit/ 'Harsh' Creators Sue for Credit
" ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

''. Retrieved August 24, 2017 * ''Twister'' * ''HardcaseIssue Checklist for Creator James Hudnall
Grand Comics Database; accessed in 2022-July-13. In Memorian: James Hudnall
at "The Scoop" Comics Creator: James D. Hudnall
at the League of Comics Geeks.'' * ''The SolutionIssue Checklist for Creator James Hudnall
Grand Comics Database; accessed in 2022-July-13. In Memorian: James Hudnall
at "The Scoop" Comics Creator: James D. Hudnall
at the League of Comics Geeks.'' * ''The Age of Heroes'' * ''Devastator'' * ''Shut Up and Die'' * ''Trigs'' * ''2 to the Chest'' * Blue Cat * Devil's End FCBD 2019 (Lucky Comics, 2019) * Devil's End #1 (Lucky Comics, 2021) Novels * The Age of Heroes: Hell's Reward

Health

Hudnall had

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, which in 2015 led to the amputation of his right leg.James Hudnall Receives Prosthetic Leg Thanks to Hero Initiative Help
by Meagan Damore, at

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

; published November 4, 2015; retrieved September 4, 2017 He died April 9, 2019, one day prior to his 62nd birthday.Comic Book Veteran and Creator of Harsh Realm and The Psycho James Hudnall Has Passed Away
by John F. Trent, at Bounding Into Comics; published April 9, 2019; retrieved April 10, 2019

Awards and recognition

His graphic novel, ''Sinking'', which is the fictional

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

of a

schizophrenic Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...

, earned him an

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

nomination. The Brazilian translation of ''Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography,'' published by Editora Abril in 1990, won the Brazilian award Troféu HQ Mix for best special edition. In 2017 Hudnall received the Inkpot Award for his career in comics at San Diego Comic Con International.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*
Information on the Harsh Realm lawsuit
at

E! Online E! (an initialism for Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable channel which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of NBCUniver ...

Information on the Harsh Realm lawsuit
at NYPost
Information on the Harsh Realm comic
at

Information on James Hudnall
at Scripts and Scribes
Information on his health issues
at

Information on his health issues
at Comics Beat
Interview with Hudnall
at Alpha Flight.net
Interview with Hudnall
at First Comic News
Information on Hudnall's political opinions
at

Bleeding Cool Bleeding Cool is an Internet news site, focusing on comics, television, film, board games, and video games. Owned by Avatar Press, it was launched by Rich Johnston on March 27, 2009. Avatar Press also publishes an associated magazine, ''Bleeding ...

Work at Breitbart
at Comicbook.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudnall, James D. 1957 births 2019 deaths American comics writers American libertarians Writers from Santa Rosa, California Point Loma High School alumni American amputees