Joseph “J” Torres’ website describes the award-winning comic book writer as “possibly Canada’s most valuable export.”
It could very well be true.
The creator of many comic books for which he has won many awards, the Filipino-born Canadian comic book writer won the Shuster Award for Outstanding Writer for his work on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Love as a Foreign Language and Teen Titans Go. He is also the writer of the Eisner Award nominated Alison Dare and the YALSA listed Days Like This and Lola: A Ghost Story. Other comic book credits include Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, Ninja Scroll, Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman, and WALL-E: Recharge.
J Torres was born in Manila and raised in Montreal, Quebec where he was educated at McGill University. Before writing comic books, Torres was an ESL instructor. He is married, has a son, and currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.
The writer debuted with the semi-autobiographical Copybook Tales, first published by Slave Labor Graphics in the early 90s and then later collected and reprinted by Oni Press. Next came Siren, a three-part miniseries published by Image Comics. Both titles were co-created with artist Tim Levins who Torres had first met in high school.
In 2002, Oni published Alison Dare, co-created by J. Bone, the first of a number of critically acclaimed all-ages titles for both the writer and publisher. Sidekicks with Takeshi Miyazawa came next, followed by Jason and the Argobots with Mike Norton, and Days Like This with Scott Chantler.
After some short assignments at Marvel Comics on titles like Black Panther, X-Men: Ronin, and X-Men Unlimited, Torres then went on to write the fan-favorite Teen Titans Go for DC Comics. The series was initially scheduled to end with issue #48 but a fan-driven campaign to save the title got it a temporary stay of execution until the series reached its 55-issue run.
With Teen Titans Go, Torres began to carve out a niche for himself as a popular and successful writer of kids comics. He went on to contribute to a handful of Johnny DC titles including Cartoon Network Block Party, Batman Strikes, Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, and the short-lived creator owned Family Dynamic. However, during this time he also contributed to some decidedly more mature titles such as Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Blue Beetle, Ninja Scroll, Wonder Girl, and Wonder Woman.
Torres’ works have earned nominations for the prestigious Eisner Award (Alison Dare, “Best Title for Younger Readers” 2003), Harvey Award (Sidekicks, 2001), and Shuster Award for which he has been nominated six times. He won the Shuster for “Outstanding Canadian Writer” in 2006 for his work on Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Love as a Foreign Language, and Teen Titans Go. His graphic novels Days Like This and Lola: A Ghost Story were also listed by YALSA in 2004 and 2010 respectively.
In 2006, Torres penned the Degrassi: Extra Credit series of graphic novels from Simon & Schuster as well as contributed writing to the Degrassi: The Next Generation animated and live action webisodes. Although the Extra Credit series underperformed, despite being the first graphic novel advertised on Canadian network television, they helped increase Torres’ profile especially in the book industry.
Torres has also written chapter books and activity books for Scholastic and Simon Says, short stories and comic strips for magazines including Kayak, YTV’s Whoa, and Nickelodeon Magazine (to which he contributed Avatar: The Last Airbender comics). He was also a staff writer on the Rugrats daily syndicated newspaper comic strip.
His animation credits include Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, Edgar & Ellen, and League of Super Evil.
His most recent comic book credits include Batman: The Brave and the Bold for DC, WALL-E for Boom Studios, and Lola: A Ghost Story for Oni Press.
Torres’ upcoming projects include the graphic novels Dead Goombas and Power Lunch for Oni, as well as new collected editions of Alison Dare from Tundra Books, Jinx for Archie Comics and Power Lunch for Oni Press.
He also helped edit the newly-released Yo Gabba Gabba anthology Comic Book Time.
The book features short stories starring DJ Lance, Brobee, Muno, Plex, Foofa, and Toodee as well as original fairy tales in the spirit of the show’s “Story Time” segment.
“I helped edit the anthology and contributed some comics illustrated by Alison Dare artist J. Bone and Salt Water Taffy creator Matt Loux. It makes a great addition to any library, especially that of a Gabba fan!,” said J Torres.
With his name appearing in the credits of the most popular comic titles in the world, the humble J Torres says, “I still can’t believe I share a credit box with these legends!”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek June 22-24, 2011 MDWK pg.2)
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