Kieron Michael Gillen (born 30 September 1975) is a British comic book writer and former video game and music journalist. In comics, Gillen is known for his creator-owned series such as Once & Future (2019–2022), Die (2018–2021), Phonogram (2006–2016), and The Wicked + The Divine (2014–2019), the latter two co-created with artist Jamie McKelvie and published by Image. He is also known for numerous Marvel Comics projects, such as Journey into Mystery, Uncanny X-Men, and Young Avengers in the early 2010s and Star Wars comics in the mid-to-late 2010s including Darth Vader, Star Wars, and co-creation of the character Doctor Aphra who starred in her own ongoing spin-off comic series Star Wars: Doctor Aphra of which Gillen wrote the first 19 issues. He returned to the X-Men in the 2020s with multiple series during the Krakoan Age for the Destiny of X, Sins of Sinister and Fall of X storylines. Gillen has won the British Fantasy Award twice for Die. He has been nominated for a Hugo Award seven times, once for The Wicked + The Divine, three times for Once & Future, and three times for Die. He also has been nominated five times for a GLAAD Media Award, winning once for Young Avengers.

Career

Journalism

As a reviewer, Gillen has written for publications such as Amiga Power (under the pseudonym "C-Monster"), PC Gamer UK, The Escapist, Wired, The Guardian, Edge, Game Developer, Develop, MCV/Develop, GamesMaster, Eurogamer and PC Format, as well as the PC gaming-oriented website Rock Paper Shotgun, In 2000, Gillen became the first-ever video game journalist to receive an award from the Periodical Publishers Association, for New Specialist Consumer Journalist. Gillen is a fan of the work of the video game developer Warren Spector, having written positive pieces on several Spector's games, most notably Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows, both produced by Ion Storm. In addition to his work as a reviewer, Gillen has acted as a guest speaker at numerous video game industry conferences. In video game journalism, he created the New Games Journalism manifesto. He co-founded the British video game journalism website Rock Paper Shotgun in July 2007. In a September 2010 post at Rock Paper Shotgun, Gillen announced he was leaving full-time video game journalism to devote his time to comic book writing.

Comics

2003–2013

Gillen's earliest work in comics was published in various British small-press anthologies and Warhammer Monthly. The Guardian highlighted that Gillen and the artist Jamie McKelvie "met in 2003 at a convention where Gillen was selling his first photocopied comics". Between 2003 and 2007, Gillen collaborated with McKelvie on a comic strip for PlayStation Official Magazine – UK, entitled "Save Point", following up with the pop music-themed urban fantasy series Phonogram, which was described by Gillen as his "first real comic". Veteran comics writer Warren Ellis dubbed the series "one of the few truly essential comics of 2006." The first issue, published by Image Comics, went on sale in August 2006, with the first series running for six issues. The sequel, a series of one-shots subtitled The Singles Club, launched in December 2008. On 14 April 2008, it was announced Gillen would collaborate with artist Greg Scott to expand on Warren Ellis' newuniversal series with "a story about killing the future" set in 1959. That year, he authored Crown of Destruction, a Warhammer Fantasy comic. Further Marvel assignments included a Dazzler short story and a Beta Ray Bill one-shot, which was followed by a three-issue mini-series. Gillen's workload at Marvel increased in late 2009. At HeroesCon, it was announced he would be writing a tie-in to the "Dark Reign" storyline, the mini-series Dark Avengers: Ares, and, during the 2009 Chicago Comic Con, it was announced he would collaborate with Steven Sanders on S.W.O.R.D, an X-Men spin-off series. Gillen took over Thor following a run by J. Michael Straczynski, writing issues #604 to 614. In late 2010, Gillen launched another X-Men spin-off Generation Hope that picked up plot threads from the end of the "Second Coming" storyline. Gillen wrote the title for twelve issues before passing it to James Asmus. After co-scripting a few issues of Uncanny X-Men with outgoing writer Matt Fraction, Gillen took over the series with issue #534.1. His time on the title saw the book through the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, a renumbering to #1 in the wake of the "Schism" storyline, and a tie-in with the "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline. After finishing his run with issue #20, Gillen penned a five-issue epilogue miniseries AvX: Consequences that dealt with the aftermath of that event. In 2011, Gillen returned to Marvel's Asgard with a run on Journey into Mystery (the original name of the Thor series, continuing its original numbering), starting with issue #622 and finishing with #645 in October 2012. As part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Gillen wrote two books: Iron Man (again taking over from Fraction) with art by his frequent Uncanny X-Men collaborator Greg Land, and Young Avengers with Jamie McKelvie.

2014–present

Between 2014 and 2019, Gillen and McKelvie collaborated on The Wicked + The Divine. This Image series won "Best Comic" at the 2014 British Comic Awards and received multiple award nominations such as the 2015 Eisner Award for "Best New Series", the 2018 Eisner Award for "Best Continuing Series" and the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. In 2015, the duo also returned to Phonogram after a long hiatus with the third and final volume titled The Immaterial Girl. ComicsAlliance highlighted that there was a three year delay between the volume announcement and its release "as everyone involved had rightly become superstars, but it was more than worth the wait". Gillen's other creator-owned work included Three (2013), a mini-series about the helots of Sparta, and The Ludocrats, initially announced in 2015 as a collaboration between writers Gillen and Jim Rossignol and artist David Lafuente. The series was eventually published in 2020 with art by Jeff Stokely. From 2015 to 2016, Gillen wrote the 25-issue Star Wars: Darth Vader series for Marvel. This series introduced the character Doctor Aphra; Gillen had originally planned to have Vader kill Aphra during the story, but realized a way that she could escape and still keep the integrity of both characters. Between 2016 and 2018, he wrote Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #1–#13, and then cowrote #14–#19 with Simon Spurrier. Gillen also took over writing the Star Wars ongoing series in November 2017 with issue #38; his final issue was #67 in June 2019. Gillen and Stephanie Hans began discussing a collaboration on a creator-owned ongoing comic following their collaboration on Journey Into Mystery. While they started with a different idea, they eventually settled on an idea which would become Die. It premiered in December 2018 and was published by Image Comics. In September 2021, the series ended its run with twenty issues total. Die won the 2021 British Fantasy Award for "Best Comic / Graphic Novel" and it was a finalist for the Hugo Award in "Best Graphic Story or Comic" three times. In 2018, Gillen announced that he was preparing a role-playing game based on Die. Gillen developed the game and the comic concurrently; ideas he developed for one would then crossover into the other. The hardcover edition of the DIE: The Roleplaying Game was released by British publisher Rowan, Rook and Decard in June 2023 following a successful Kickstarter campaign in May 2022 where the game was fully funded within 24 hours. Between August 2019 and October 2022, Gillen wrote the 30-issue creator-owned series Once & Future with artist Dan Mora. This series was a finalist for the Hugo Award in "Best Graphic Story or Comic" three times. In June 2020, Marvel announced that Gillen would write the limited series Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar, the first series in a line of Warhammer comics published by the company. In 2021, Gillen and McKelvie reunited with Batman: Black and White #5 for DC Comics. GamesRadar+ highlighted that they "have worked together on-and-off for the past 17 years" and that the Batman short story was their "first major project together since the conclusion of The Wicked + The Divine in 2019". Gillen commented that he started to do more "work for hire again" due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – "I didn't possibly think my brain could do creator-owned work, with everything that entailed. [...] So, I was certainly open to more work for hire (amongst other projects) and I've been enjoying it". Also in 2021, Gillen began writing the Eternals ongoing series, illustrated by Esad Ribić. This culminated in the 2022 crossover event A.X.E.: Judgment Day which focused on conflict between the Avengers, the X-Men and the Eternals. In March 2022, as part of the Destiny of X relaunch following A.X.E.: Judgment Day, Gilleon began writing the Immortal X-Men series with artist Lucas Werneck which focused on the Quiet Council of Krakoa; this series built plot points for the 2023 event Sins of Sinister. The final part of Krakoan Age of the X-Men, the Fall of X, began in 2023 following Sins of Sinister. Gillen is writer on multiple series in this era such as the ongoing Immortal X-Men conclusion, the limited series Rise of the Powers of X (January 2024) with artist R.B. Silva and the limited series X-Men: Forever (March 2024) with artist Luca Maresca. At Emerald City Comic Con 2024, Gillen announced a new Image series titled The Power Fantasy with artist Caspar Wijngaard and letterer Clayton Cowles; it is scheduled to release in August 2024. It will be set from 1945 to1999 and focuses on six super powered people that must never come into conflict. On the creative origins, Gillen stated that "The Power Fantasy emerged in a similar way to The Wicked + The Divine. I was doing a book at Marvel, and became aware of exactly the sort of things I could do with the reins taken off. As The Wicked + the Divine was to Young Avengers, this is to Immortal X-Men".

Awards and accolades

Gillen was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts by Staffordshire University in 2019 for his work both as a journalist and a comic book writer.

Early work

Boom! Studios

Image Comics

Marvel Comics

Avatar Press

Other publishers

Game design