Jeff Lemire

Early life

Lemire was born and raised in a small farming town in Essex County, Ontario, near Lake St. Clair. Lemire attended film school, but decided to pursue comics when he realized that filmmaking did not suit his solitary personality.

Early work

After self-publishing the Xeric Award-winning comic book Lost Dogs in 2005 via his Ashtray Press imprint, Lemire found a home at Top Shelf Productions.

Lemire serializes a science-fiction strip called Fortress in the quarterly UR Magazine.

In 2006 Lemire's work was included in an international symposium gathering artists, scholars, curators, publishers, librarians, critics, and writers at the Banff Centre. Lemire's work was part of the "Comic Craze" exhibit, which showcased Canadian comics and narrative fiction.

Essex County

Lemire wrote and illustrated the Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated Essex County Trilogy for Top Shelf in 2008–2009.

On June 2011, visual effects artist John Dykstra will direct an adaptation of Essex County entitled Super Zero.

2012 saw the publication of a new graphic novel from Top Shelf called The Underwater Welder, which was released to critical acclaim.

On December 2015, it was announced that First Generation Films had optioned the rights to Essex County to develop the graphic novel as a television series from Canada's CBC. Aaron Martin is set as writer and showrunner, as well as executive producing with Lemire.

The Nobody

In 2009, DC Comics' Vertigo imprint published Lemire's The Nobody, a two-colour tale of identity, fear and paranoia in a small community.

Sweet Tooth

Lemire wrote and illustrated the full-colour Vertigo series Sweet Tooth.

DC Comics

Lemire signed an exclusivity contract with DC Comics on December 2010. He moved over to the DC Universe to write the one-shot Brightest Day: Atom, with Turkish artist Mahmud Asrar, designed to act as a springboard for an Atom story to co-feature in Adventure Comics. He also relaunched the Superboy series featuring the character Conner Kent. During Flashpoint he wrote Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown mini-series, then, as part of The New 52, he wrote the ongoing series Animal Man and Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E..

Further into the launch of The New 52 Lemire took over the writing duties on Justice League Dark with issue #9, while leaving Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. to newcomer Matt Kindt. He continued to write Animal Man into 2012, including teaming up with Swamp Thing writer Scott Snyder for a crossover between the two books called "Rotworld." In February 2013, Lemire replaced Ann Nocenti as the writer of Green Arrow. His work on the title, which had not been well-received under previous writers, was widely praised by critics and fans, and lasted until September 2014.

Lemire drew a Rip Hunter story for Time Warp #1 (May 2013) which was written by Damon Lindelof and published by Vertigo.

In 2014, Lemire joined a team of writers composed of Brian Azzarello, Keith Giffen, and Dan Jurgens to co-write The New 52: Futures End, a new weekly series set five years into the New 52's future. It ran from May 2014 through April 2015.

Lemire wrote Teen Titans: Earth One, and original graphic novel with art by Terry and Rachel Dodson published by DC Comics in November 2014. As part of DC's Earth One line, Teen Titans: Earth One takes place in an alternate continuity-free universe that re-imagines DC's characters.

Marvel Comics

After his exclusivity contract with DC came to an end, Lemire began working with other publishers. At the 2014 New York Comic Con, it was announced that Lemire would be writing All-New Hawkeye, his first Marvel Comics title, with artist Ramón Pérez, which began in March 2015, a follow-up to Matt Fraction's and David Aja's acclaimed run. The series ran for five issues until September 2015 before being relaunched as part of All-New All-Different Marvel.

Bleedingcool reported on April 2015 that Lemire had signed an exclusivity contract with Marvel, which excluded his creator-owned work with Image and Dark Horse Comics, as well as his work with Valiant Entertainment.

In June 2015, Lemire was announced as a writer for three titles in the All-New, All-Different Marvel branding: All-New Hawkeye, with artist Ramón Pérez, Extraordinary X-Men, with artist Humberto Ramos, and Old Man Logan, with artist Andrea Sorrentino. Three months later, it was announced he would pen relaunched Moon Knight title, with artist Greg Smallwood.

Extraordinary X-Men, billed as the flagship X-Men title, features a team led by Storm, deals with the fallout of the Terrigen Mist, and launched on November 2015. All-New Hawkeye debuted on November 2015, continuing with the story-line established in Lemire's and Pérez's previous run on the title. Old Man Logan launched on January 2016, and features a future version of Wolverine.

Valiant Entertainment

In December 2014, Lemire launched The Valiant, a four-issue limited series, featuring characters from all over the Valiant line, co-written with Matt Kindt with art by Paolo Rivera. His first work for Valiant Comics, the series sets the stage for the Valiant Universe moving forward.

Spinning out of The Valiant, Lemire began writing the ongoing series Bloodshot Reborn alongside artist Mico Suayan, with the first issue being released on April 2015. The series features Bloodshot, a character Lemire approached by distilling the issues he had him and twisting the prototypical action hero into a more emotionally-driven story. The second story arc, starting with issue 6 in September, featured art by Butch Guice. The third arc, debuting with issue 10 in January 2016, began publishing in the Valiant Prestige format, with art by Lewis LaRosa.

Descender

In March 2015, Lemire launched Descender, a creator-owned sci-fi series with art by Dustin Nguyen, from Image Comics. Announced on San Diego Comic-Con 2014, the ongoing series follows a robot named Tim-21 through his adventures in space, and is envisioned to run between 24 and 40 issues. Descender is Lemire's first creator-owned ongoing series not illustrated by himself.

On January 2015, Sony Pictures acquired the movie rights to Descender after a competitive bidding war. Josh Bratman is producing, with Lemire and Nguyen serving as executive producers. Jesse Wigutow, writer of the Tron: Legacy sequel, was announced as the screenwriter adapting Descender in February 2016.

Black Hammer and Plutona

On July 2014, Dark Horse Comics announced a new creator-owned superhero series written by Lemire with art by Dean Ormston, titled Black Hammer, set to be released on March 2015. However, on April 2015 Lemire stated that the series had been delayed indefinitely due to a cerebral hemorrhage suffered by Ormston. On February 2016 it was announced that the series would be launching on July of that same year.

Plutona, a five-issue limited series from Image co-written with artist Emi Lenox, was released on September 2015 to critical acclaim. Announced at Image Expo 2015, the series follows a group of kids who find the body of a dead superhero in the woods, and features colors by Jordie Bellaire. Lemire will be drawing backup stories featuring the last adventures of Plutona.

Roughneck and AD: After Death

On September 2013, Simon & Schuster acquired world rights to Lemire's newest graphic novel, Roughneck, for publication in 2016. The graphic novel, which Lemire wrote, illustrated, and painted, follows a former hockey player's slide into depression as interrupted by the arrival of his sister, and was scheduled to be published in October 2016. Comparing the project to Essex County, a book that found success in the mainstream, literary world, Lemire stated that he chose Simon & Schuster because wanted to find a publisher that would treat Roughneck as a novel instead of a comic, with his goal being finding success outside of the direct market.

AD: After Death, a graphic novel written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Lemire, was announced at Image Expo 2015 for release on November of that same year.

Secret Path

In 2016, Lemire collaborated with musician Gord Downie on Secret Path, a graphic novel accompaniment to Downie's solo album of the same name.

Royal City

In March 2017, Lemire released a new ongoing series entitled Royal City through Image Comics. He is the sole writer and illustrator. The series follows the Pike family who lives in Royal City where the ghost of the young Tommy Pike “is quite literally haunting them all still and holding them all back.”

Awards

Lemire won a Xeric Award in 2005 for his book Lost Dogs. He was a 2008 recipient of a Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award for Essex County Volume 1: Tales from the Farm. Lemire received a Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Award for Outstanding Cartoonist in 2008, and the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent in 2008. 2013 saw Lemire win another Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Cartoonist (recognizing his work on Sweet Tooth and The Underwater Welder).

Lemire has also been nominated for an Ignatz, a Harvey, and two Eisner Awards.

In 2011 Essex County was selected as one of five titles for Canada Reads, with the theme of "The Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade." Its celebrity champion was Sara Quin. Essex County was eliminated in the first round, but later placed #1 in a "People's Choice" poll with more votes than all other books combined.

Personal life

Lemire currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is married and has a son.