Bob Layton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bob Layton is an American comic book artist.
He has worked for Marvel Comics, Valiant Comics and DC Comics.
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In 1978, with writing partner David Michelinie, Bob Layton re-imagined Iron Man for Marvel Comics, creating some of the best loved Iron Man stories and transforming it from a low-end book into one of Marvel’s all-time best sellers.
Bob also launched the first mini-series in comics’ history at Marvel with his highly praised Hercules—Prince of Power. That series, which Bob Layton wrote and drew, spawned a successful sequel, a graphic novel and is still available to this day in trade paperback format.
Layton also revived the original X-Men characters at Marvel with his series X-Factor. While at Marvel, Bob designed the highly successful Marvel Secret Wars toy line for Mattel
Layton co-created The Huntress (with current DC President, Paul Levitz) which has appeared most recently on the WB's Birds of Prey live-action television series.
Bob Layton was one of the chief architects of the Valiant Universe, along with Jim Shooter, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steve Massarsky, Jon Hartz, Kevin VanHook, and Janet Jackson. He co-created a number of the core characters including X-O Manowar which went on to become a great success. He later became Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President controlling the reins of the company during its most profitable period.
Layton was instrumental in the sale of Valiant (Voyager Communications, Inc.) to video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for 65 million dollars in 1994. During his tenure at Valiant, Layton created major story concepts and art designs for the highly successful Turok, Dinosaur Hunter video game (the largest selling game in Acclaim’s history--selling over 1.5 million units) and won the Editor of the Year award for 1993, as voted by the readers of Wizard Magazine.
In 1998, after a short retirement from the industry, Bob returned to the business of creating comics by teaming-up with his fellow Floridian and mentor, Dick Giordano, and head writer David Michelinie to form Future Comics. One of Future's stated goals was to revolutionize the distribution side of the comics business with the industry's first, totally-autonomous Internet comics company, selling to readers and booksellers alike directly through the world-wide web. Unsuccessful in their goal, Future Comics closed its doors after only two and a half years in business.
- The Thing (1983-86 series) #23
| Preceded by None |
X-Factor (vol. 1) writer 1986 |
Succeeded by Louise Simonson |
| Preceded by Bill Mantlo |
Iron Man writer 1978–1981 (with David Michelinie) |
Succeeded by David Michelinie |
| Preceded by Danny Fingeroth |
Iron Man writer 1987–1989 (with David Michelinie) |
Succeeded by Dwayne McDuffie |