David Pepose

David Pepose
Born	David Pepose
Area(s)	Writer
Notable works	Spencer & Locke, The O.Z., Savage Avengers, Punisher, Space Ghost, Cable: Love and Chrome
www.davidpepose.com

David Pepose is an American comics writer and former crime reporter who has written for Marvel Comics and independent comics. His book Spencer & Locke was nominated multiple times for the Ringo Awards[1][2] and he won in 2021 for Best Single Issue for his self-published comic The O.Z.[3]

Career

Pepose worked as a reviewer and editor at Newsarama before deciding to write his own comics.[4] His first comic, Spencer & Locke, was published through Action Lab Comics in 2017 with artist Jorge Santiago. It was described as "What would you get if you crossed Calvin and Hobbes and Sin City?"[5] It was optioned for a movie by Adrian Askarieh, the producer of the Hitman films,[6] and was nominated for Best Series at the 2018 Ringo Awards.[1] In 2019, he and Santiago put out a sequel, Spencer & Locker 2,[7][8] which satirized Beetle Bailey, which was also nominated in the 2020 Ringo Awards.[2] He also wrote an action-comedy called Going to the Chapel.[9]

In 2020, he ran a kickstarter to fund self-publishing The O.Z., a comic which recasts Oz as a war zone.[10] Per Pepose: "The O.Z. is like what if The Hurt Locker took place in The Wizard of Oz — we’re reimagining Dorothy Gale killing the Wicked Witch of the West as something akin to a botched regime change, and when Dorothy returned home to Kansas, she inadvertently left Oz in a horrific power vacuum that would spiral into brutal civil war."[11] The book won the 2021 Ringo Award for Best Single Issue or Story.[12] He also published the post-apocalyptic comic Scout's Honor through AfterShock Comics, about a cult in the aftermath of a global disaster that has built itself around a single artifact: a Boy Scouts manual.[13]

In 2022, he and artist Carlos Magno were announced as the creative team for the new Savage Avengers book from Marvel.[14][15] He also wrote two issues of Fantastic Four set during the A.X.E.: Judgment Day crossover.[16][17] In 2023, he wrote stories for Carnage Reigns and Extreme Venonverse,[18][19] as well as a five-issue mini-series Moon Knight: City of the Dead,[20] which introduced a new Scarlet Scarab similar to the one on the Disney+ show.[21][22] In July 2023, at San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that he would be writing a new Punisher mini-series about a brand new Punisher, Joe Garrison.[23][24][25]

In 2024, Dynamite Entertainment announced that Pepose would write a new Space Ghost comic series with artist Jonathan Lau.[26] In September 2024, it was announced that he and artist Mike Henderson would be the creative team for a new Cable mini-series, Cable: Love and Chrome.[27][28][29] In November 2024, it was announced that he would be writing a new Speed Racer series from Mad Cave Studios starting with a Free Comic Book Day issue.[30] In January 2025, it was announced that he would write a new Captain Planet comic for Dynamite Entertainment. This would be the first Captain Planet series in three decades.[31]

Personal life

Pepose graduated magna cum laude from Brandeis University. He studied American Studies, creative writing and theater arts.[32]

Bibliography

Marvel Comics

• Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #1-6 (2022), #43-48 (2023)
• Cable: Love and Chrome #1-5 (2025)
• Carnage Reigns Alpha #1, short story "Flesh and Blood" (2023)
• Elektra: Black, White & Blood #3, short story "Weapons of Choice" (2022)
• Extreme Venomverse #2, short story "The Prisoner" (2023)
• Fantastic Four vol. 6 #47-48 (2022)
• Hulk Annual vol. 3 #1 (2023)
• Moon Knight:
  • Moon Knight: Black, White & Blood #2, short story "A Hard Day's Knight" (2022)
  • Moon Knight: City of the Dead #1-5 (2023)
• Punisher vol. 14 #1-4 (2023-2024)
• Savage Avengers vol. 2 #1-10 (2022-2023)
• Spider-Verse Unlimited Infinity Comic #37 (2023)
• Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White & Red #2, short story "The Endless Mercy" (2023)

Other Comics

Action Lab Comics

• Going to the Chapel #1-4 (2019-2020)
• Spencer & Locke #1-4 (2017)
• Spencer & Locke 2 #1-4 (2019)

AfterShock Comics

• Scout's Honor #1-5 (2021)

Dynamite Entertainment

• Space Ghost #1-present (2024-present)

Mad Cave Studios

• The Devil That Wears My Face #1-5 (2023-2024)
• Speed Racer #0- (2025)

Other

• Cthulhu Is Hard To Spell, short story "The Master of Kung Fthulhu" (2022) (Wannabe Press)
• HELP: The Hero Initiative Anthology, short story "S.O.S." (2022) (Hero Initiative)
• Nightmare Theater: A Cinematic Horror Anthology, short story "Die, Die, Danger Ronin!" (2021) (Bloodline Comics)
• The O.Z. #1-2 (2020-2021) (self-published)
• Project Big Hype, short story "Roxy Rewind" (2021) (Jumpstart Comics)

References

1. "2018 Ringo Awards". Ringo Awards. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
2. "2020 Ringo Awards". Ringo Awards. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
3. "2021 Ringo Awards". Ringo Awards. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
4. Brooke, David (2017-02-28). "Writer David Pepose On New Series Spencer & Locke, Comic Criticism And More!". AiPT. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
5. Kassen, Harry (2019-02-14). "'Calvin and Hobbes was Just the Tip of the Iceberg': David Pepose, Jorge Santiago talk Spencer & Locke 2". Comics Bookcase. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
6. Kit, Borys (2017-07-10). "'Spencer & Locke' Getting Movie Treatment From 'Hitman' Producer (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
7. Schedeen, Jesse (2019-01-25). "Our Favorite Calvin & Hobbes Crime Parody Returns (Spencer & Locke 2 #1 Review)". IGN. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
8. McMillan, Graeme (2018-07-12). "Cult Noir Comic 'Spencer & Locke' Returns This Winter". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
9. McMillan, Graeme (2019-03-14). "Indie Comic 'Going to the Chapel' Is 'Die Hard' at a Wedding". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
10. Estrella, Ernie (2020-08-16). "The Wizard of Oz meets The Hurt Locker in David Pepose's latest comic 'The O.Z.'". SYFY. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
11. Quaintance, Zack (2020-08-18). "INTERVIEW: Writer David Pepose talks smash-hit Kickstarter comic, THE O.Z." The Beat. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
12. Chiu-Tabet, Christopher (2021-10-24). "2021 Ringo Award Winners Announced". Multiversity Comics. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
13. McMillan, Graeme (2020-09-29). "Post-Apocalyptic Comic 'Scout's Honor' in the Works". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
14. "The Biggest, Baddest, Most Dangerous Team of Avengers Returns in 'Savage Avengers' #1". Marvel Entertainment. February 3, 2022. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
15. Dar, Taimur (2022-02-03). "SAVAGE AVENGERS returns with David Pepose & Carlos Magno at the helm in May". The Beat. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
16. Chiu-Tabet, Christopher (2022-08-18). "Exclusive First Look: "Fantastic Four" #47". Multiversity Comics. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
17. Couch, Theron (2022-09-22). "Fantastic Four #47: Die Hard in the Baxter Building". Comic Watch. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
18. McMillan, Graeme (2023-04-01). "Marvel promises more Carnage, more Misery, and... the Death of the Venomverse?". Popverse. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
19. Riddell, Roger (2023-04-03). "Spider-Man Gets Set To Enter The VENOMVERSE At C2E2". Monkeys Fighting Robots. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
20. Brooke, David (2023-04-19). "'Moon Knight' gets anniversary special and new miniseries 'City of the Dead'". AiPT. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
21. Remley, Hilary (2023-04-22). "Scarlet Scarab Makes the Leap From 'Moon Knight' to Comics". Collider. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
22. Grunenwald, Joe (2023-04-19). "MOON KNIGHT's Scarlet Scarab makes her comics debut in July". The Beat. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
23. "SDCC 2023: A New Punisher Makes His Marvel Comics Debut". Marvel Entertainment. July 21, 2023. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
24. Lapin-Bertone, Joshua (2023-11-16). "How did Marvel's Punisher get replaced? New sold-out series explores the transition from Frank Castle to Joe Garrison". Popverse. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
25. Salmon, Will (2023-11-02). "The new Punisher battles some Inner Demons in a tense preview of the new series". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
26. Anderson, Jenna (2024-05-01). "Space Ghost's David Pepose Talks the Hanna-Barbera Hero's Epic New Era". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
27. Adams, Tim (2024-09-18). "X-Men: Cable Embarks on a New Time-Traveling Adventure in Love and Chrome (Exclusive)". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
28. Brooke, David (2024-09-18). "New X-Men series 'Cable: Love and Chrome' to explore Techno-Organic Virus". AiPT. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
29. Marston, George (2024-09-18). "Cable is back in his own X-Men solo comic that sends him to a dystopian future". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
30. Salmon, Will (2024-11-20). "Mad Cave brings classic manga Speed Racer to comics next Free Comic Book Day with a special #0 from Savage Avengers and Space Ghost writer David Pepose". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
31. Brooke, David (2025-01-21). "'Captain Planet' #1 rockets into comic shops in April 2025". AiPT. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
32. "David Pepose '04". Whitfield School. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved 2025-01-20.