Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III () is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, writer for the films Commando and Teen Wolf, and a writer and co-executive producer on the NBC TV show Heroes from its premiere in 2006 to November 2008.Cynthia Littleton. "'Heroes' duo get the ax" Daily Variety; November 2, 2008 From 2010 to 2019, Loeb was the Head of and Executive Vice President of Marvel Television.
A four-time Eisner Award winner and five-time Wizard Fan Awards winner, Loeb's comic book work, which has appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, includes work on many major characters, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Hulk, Captain America, Cable, Iron Man, Daredevil, Supergirl, the Avengers, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, much of which he has produced in collaboration with artist Tim Sale.
Early life Jeph Loeb was raised in a Jewish family in Stamford, Connecticut. He began collecting comic books in mid-1970.
Loeb's stepfather was a vice-president at Brandeis University. At Brandeis University, Loeb met one of his mentors and greatest influences in comic book writing, writer Elliot S. Maggin. Loeb attended Columbia University, where he was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's degree in Film."Jeph Loeb Named Marvel TV Honcho" , ICV2, June 28, 2010.Jeph Loeb profile , DynamicForces.com; accessed February 25, 2011. His instructors included Paul Schrader.
Career Film and television Loeb's debut in filmmaking was his collaboration with Matthew Weisman in authoring the script of Teen Wolf. The film was released on August 23, 1985, and was a notable starring role for Michael J. Fox. Loeb and Weisman then collaborated in writing the script of Commando. The film was released on October 4, 1985, and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. His next screen credit was the film Burglar, released on March 20, 1987. The plot was based on the novels of Lawrence Block about fictional burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. His collaborators were Weisman and Hugh Wilson.
The film was atypical for the time, featuring a female comedic role for starring actress Whoopi Goldberg. His second film that year was Teen Wolf Too, a sequel of Teen Wolf, which was co-written by Weisman and Tim Kring. The film was released on November 20, 1987. The film featured teen idol Jason Bateman and veteran actor John Astin. Loeb would re-team with Kring almost two decades later for the TV series Heroes. Four years later, Loeb was working on a script for The Flash as a feature with Warner Bros. While the script deal fell through, Loeb met then publisher Jenette Kahn who asked Loeb to write a comic book for DC Comics.
In 2002, Loeb wrote the script for the episode of Smallville, entitled "Red", which introduced red kryptonite into the series. He became a supervising producer and has written many episodes since then. He signed a three-year contract, and although producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough offered to keep him on for future seasons, Loeb left to care for his son, who had cancer.
Loeb later became a writer/producer on the ABC TV series Lost during that show's second season. Leaving Lost, Loeb went on to become Co-Executive Producer and writer on the NBC drama Heroes, which his colleague Tim Kring had created. Loeb wrote the teleplay for the first-season episodes "One Giant Leap" and "Unexpected". The show prominently features the artwork of Tim Sale, Loeb's longtime comics collaborator.George, Richard (October 26, 2010). "Loeb Talks Heroes" , IGN.com; accessed June 13, 2020.
The series was nominated for the 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, and a Writers Guild of America award for Best New Series. It won the People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama, as well the Saturn Award for Best Network Television Series. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Television Series.
Loeb and Tim Kring were presented with the Jules Verne Award for Artistic Achievement at the Jules Verne Festival in Paris, France, on April 22, 2007, for their work on Heroes. Loeb was also presented with a belated 2005 Jules Verne Award for Best Writing for his work on Smallville, which he had not previously been given because his trip to the Festival that year had been cancelled due to his son's ill health.
On November 2, 2008, Daily Variety reported that Loeb and fellow Heroes co-executive producer, Jesse Alexander, were no longer employed on the series. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Loeb stated, "As of today, Jesse Alexander and I have left Heroes. I'm incredibly proud to have been a big part of the success a show with eight Emmy nods and a win this year for NBC.com. I will miss the superb cast and writing staff and wish everyone the best." At the time, Loeb had completed writing and producing the third-season episode, "Dual".
On June 28, 2010, Marvel Entertainment, as part of its expansion into television, appointed Loeb to the position of Executive Vice President, Head of Television of the newly created Marvel Television, in which Loeb would work with publisher Dan Buckley, to create both live-action and animated shows based on Marvel's catalog of characters. During his time as the head of Marvel Television, he executive produced live-action shows within the Marvel Cinematic Universe such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Inhumans, shows on Netflix such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher, Luke Cage, and the miniseries The Defenders, along with younger adult shows like Runaways and Cloak & Dagger, and other live action or animated shows based on Marvel characters like M.O.D.O.K., The Gifted, Legion, and Helstrom.
In October 2019, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, which includes Marvel Television, prompting Loeb to leave the company after nearly a decade. Loeb had been planning his departure prior to Feige's promotion.
Comics career Loeb is known for his extensive use of narration boxes as monologues to reveal the inner thoughts of characters, though the character interactions he writes are sparse in terms of dialogue.
Loeb's first comic work was Challengers of the Unknown vol. 2 #1 – #8 (March – October 1991), which was the first of many collaborations with Tim Sale.Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale collaborations at the Grand Comics Database Their later collaborations included the "Year 1"-centered Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials; Batman: The Long Halloween,Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 275: "The acclaimed team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale reunited to chronicle a dark year of the Dark Knight's past with Batman: The Long Halloween, a thirteen-part limited series." a 13-issue limited series; and Batman: Dark Victory,Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 289: "The superstar team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale was back, and just as dark as ever. In this thirteen-issue [sic] sequel to the pair's acclaimed Batman: The Long Halloween maxiseries, the creative team picked up right where they left off during Batman's early years." a 14-issue limited series set in the first years of the hero's career. The Long Halloween was one of three noted comics that influenced the 2005 feature film Batman Begins, the others being Batman: The Man Who Falls and Batman: Year One.This is mentioned inside the front cover of the Batman Begins mini digest comic book that reprints portions of these three stories that comes with the DVD. Other Loeb-Sale collaborations at DC include the Superman for All Seasons limited seriesManning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 284: "This four-issue prestige-format series was a bright counterpoint to Loeb and Sale's noir Batman collaborations." and Catwoman: When in Rome.Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 315: "Writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale returned to the Batman universe for a six-issue murder mystery starring Catwoman."
At Marvel Comics, Loeb worked on the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover storyline in 1995 and co-created the character X-Man with artist Steve Skroce.Manning "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 273: "Created by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Steve Skroce, X-Man was perhaps the most popular character to emerge out of the 'Age of Apocalypse' event." Loeb wrote the "Heroes Reborn" version of Captain America in 1996–1997.Manning "1990s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 280: "Steve Rogers earned a fresh start in the Heroes Reborn universe by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Rob Liefeld." He and Tim Sale crafted several limited series for Marvel including Daredevil: Yellow,Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 306: "The creative team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale...examined the early life of some of Marvel's iconic characters. First they tackled Daredevil in this six-issue miniseries." Spider-Man: Blue,Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 312: "Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale reunited for their second examination of the origins of Marvel's icons with this six-issue miniseries." and Hulk: Gray.Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 317: "The team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale united once again for this six-issue miniseries retelling the Hulk's origin."
Loeb became the writer of Superman with issue #151 (Dec. 1999). His tenure on the title, largely drawn by Ed McGuinness, included the "Emperor Joker"Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 296: "A nine-part saga that stretched over all the Superman titles, starting in Superman #160 with script by Jeph Loeb and art by Ed McGuinness." and "Our Worlds at War"Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 300: "The multipart story 'Our Worlds at War' dominated the Superman books for the August and September cover dates...The opening chapter, written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Ed McGuinness, began with Superman investigating the missing Pluto." crossovers. He left Superman with issue #183 (August 2002). At the end of 2002, Loeb teamed with artist Jim Lee to create the year-long story arc "Batman: Hush",Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 307: "The 'Hush' story arc [begun] in Batman #608 was artist Jim Lee's first major work since he joined DC...Written by Jeph Loeb, 'Hush' brought profound changes to the life of the Dark Knight." which spawned three lines of toys, posters and calendars, and sat at the #1 spot for eleven of the twelve months it was in publication. The following year, Loeb and McGuinness launched Superman/Batman.Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 311: "Writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness created a tale befitting such A-list characters in 'Public Enemies', the six-part story that launched the new series." Loeb's run on the title spawned a new ongoing Supergirl series,Cowsill "2000s" in Dolan, p. 321: "Superman's cousin Kara Zor-El received her own title. Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Ian Churchill, the fourth [ongoing] series featured a Supergirl still getting accustomed to her life on Earth." and an animated film adapted from Loeb's "Public Enemies" story arc.
After signing an exclusive contract with Marvel in September 2005, Loeb launched Hulk with artist Ed McGuinness, in which he introduced the Red Hulk.Manning "2000s" in Gilbert (2008), p. 340: "The Hulk's adventures began anew in this ongoing series by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Ed McGuinness."
In 2006, Loeb chose his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut, to be devastated by Nitro in the first issue of the 2006–2007 Marvel miniseries Civil War, the central title of the crossover storyline of the same name. That same year, Marvel announced an untitled Spider-Man series by Loeb and J. Scott Campbell, to be released "sometime in 2007". The series was subsequently cancelled and then brought back on the schedule in 2010, with a 2011 article mentioning it was "still being worked on". In 2021, Campbell confirmed that the project has been cancelled despite having two fully pencilled issues.