John Steele Layman (born August 2, 1969) is an American comic book writer and letterer. Layman is most known for his writing published by Image Comics: Chew (Tony Chu: Cannibal Detective), its spin-off/midquel series Chu (Saffron Chu), the stand-alone Outer Darkness, and the crossover series Outer Darkness/Chew, as well as the Marvel Comics series Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness and Cyclops: A Pirate's Life for Me.

Career

Once an editor for Wildstorm, a branch of DC Comics, Layman turned to writing comics full-time in 2002, mainly for Marvel Comics. He also worked on several comic books based on licensed properties, such as Xena: Warrior Princess and ThunderCats, as well as crossovers like Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness. From 2007 –2010 he worked as a writer for Cryptic Studios, a video game developer in Los Gatos, California. Layman has written a number of creator-owned titles at Image Comics, such as the graphic novel Puffed, and Chew, with artist Rob Guillory. Chew has gone on to achieve much success, being nominated for two Harvey Awards, two Eagle Awards, and winning an Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2010. In April 2022, Layman was reported among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to Operation USA's benefit anthology book, Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Layman and Rob Guillory teamed up to contribute a new Chew story to the anthology.

AfterShock Comics

Image Comics

Wildstorm

Marvel Comics

Oni Press

Dynamite Entertainment

IDW Publishing

DC Comics

Dark Horse Comics