Mike Carey (born 1959) is a British writer of comic books, novels and films. He is the first Liverpudlian to write John Constantine's adventures.
Early life and career[]
Carey was born in Liverpool, England, in 1959 - describing his young self as "one of those ominously quiet kids... [who] lived so much inside my own head I only had vestigial limbs". As a child, he maintained an interest in comics, writing and drawing primitive stories to entertain his younger brother. He earned a first class degree before becoming a teacher. He continued to teach for 15 years before moving on to writing comics.
Writing career[]
After a series of one-off jobs for independent comics companies, including a biographical comic of Ozzy Osbourne and a fantasy about the band Pantera, Carey gained regular employment at 2000 AD, where he created the original series Th1rt3en and Carver Hale.
Carey went on to write the entire run of the Eisner-Award-nominated comic book Lucifer and issues 175 to 215 of Hellblazer, a run on that title only exceeded in length by Garth Ennis. He also wrote the graphic novel The Sandman Presents: The Furies with John Bolton and All His Engines with Leonardo Manco.
Other work for Vertigo includes Faker, a six-part miniseries with art by Jock; God Save the Queen, a graphic novel with Furies colleague John Bolton, and Crossing Midnight, a Japan-set fantasy with Jim Fern. He also wrote the graphic novel Confessions of a Blabbermouth with his daughter Louise for DC's Minx imprint. Most recently he has been writing the ongoing series The Unwritten with art by former Lucifer artist Peter Gross.
Carey's first prose novel, The Devil You Know, was released in the UK by Orbit books in April 2006, and as a hardcover in the US in July 2007. Its sequel, Vicious Circle, was published in October 2006, and the following three novels in the series, Dead Men's Boots, Thicker Than Water, and The Naming of the Beasts, followed in September 2007, March 2009 and September 2009, respectively.
Carey's first feature film, the erotic ghost story Frost Flowers, was reported in June 2006 to be in pre-production, with filming to begin that September under the direction of Andrea Vecchiato. The film, which stars Holly Hunter, was reported in a July 2008 Los Angeles Times story to be scheduled for 2009 release. However little has been heard about the film since.
Novels[]
- Felix Castor:
- The Devil You Know (UK: 6 April 2006 & US: 10 July 2007)
- Vicious Circle (UK: 5 October 2006 & US: 28 July 2008)
- Dead Men's Boots (UK: 26 September 2007 & US: 23 July 2009)
- Thicker Than Water (UK: 1 March 2009)
- The Naming of the Beasts (UK: 3 September 2009)
- Unnamed Sixth Felix Castor Novel (Late 2011)
Films[]
- Frost Flowers (screenplay)
Short fiction[]
- now! and then! (an incomplete piece published in Murky Depths Issue 10 Winter 2009)
Poetry[]
- In Thule With Jessica (poem in Xconnect vol. 6 #2)
External links[]
- [1] Official website of Mike Carey and artist Peter Gross
- Mike Carey at Orbit Books
- Mike Carey chronological bibliography at Enjolra's World