5 Writers Whose Work Was Shaped By Amazing Pre-Comics Careers

1. Tom King - C.I.A. Counter Terrorism

Tom King Batman CIA
DC Comics

There are few things as exciting as super powered heroes battling outrageous and nihilistic villains. Infiltrating terrorist organizations as a spy would qualify as one of them. And that is exactly what Tom King did before becoming the Eisner winning author of Mister Miracle and Batman.

For seven years King worked for the C.I.A. as a counterintelligence officer. Serving deployments in Baghdad and near the Pakistan border, King would take part in pulse pounding missions, including the recruitment of former terrorists to fight current terrorists. Naturally, King is secretive about much of his time in the Agency, though it is clear his service in the blistering desert sun had a profound impact on his work.

PTSD is a recurring theme in many of King's books, serving as a thematic foundation for DC Comic's Mister Miracle and Heroes in Crisis. His 2016 Marvel series Vision focuses on The Vision attempting to live a normal and domestic life after an existence full of Avengers level combat. King's 2014 Vertigo series The Sheriff of Babylon was also directly inspired by his time as a counterintelligence officer.

Contributor
Contributor

Kody Schmitt is a freelance writer and musician from The Ozark Mountains of Southwest Missouri. His writings have appeared everywhere from pop-culture sites to political journals and regional news media. He is the lyricist, composer and bassist for the long-running theatrical power metal act Death May Die. Kody is always on the hunt for artists to collaborate on comics with, so feel free to hit him up.