Kelly Sue DeConnick

Kelly Sue DeConnick (born July 15, 1970) is an American comic book writer and editor and English–language adapter of manga. Kelly Sue DeConnick was first introduced to the comics industry by writing copy for photos in adult magazines. She eventually moved on to posting her own stories on a message board for fellow comic book author Warren Ellis. He invited her to work on his new website at the time, artbomb.net, where she wrote catalog entries for comic-book issues. Later in life, she got a job adapting translations of Japanese manga comics for Tokyopop and Viz. In order to make sure the dialogue she was adapting to English still followed the story arcs, she worked with a translator. DeConnick did this for seven years, and estimates she wrote more than 11,000 comic-book pages. About her work in foreign adaptation she said “...when people say dialogue is the best part of my scripts, it’s because I had a lot of practice.” DeConnick's first published comic book story was a five-page text story published in CSI: Crime Scene Investigations – Dominos #5 (Dec. 2004). She wrote the Osborn limited series in 2011 which was drawn by Emma Ríos. DeConnick began writing DC's Aquaman with issue #43 in December 2018. She was interested in writing the character because he's not as well known as his Justice League counterparts. In a 2018 interview, DeConnick said "Aquaman is [...] considered second-tier. [...] [T]hat makes him an underdog to start with, which is a place I really like to work from." In response to those worried about her changing the character, DeConnick said "I'm writing my Aquaman. I've done my research...Taking an interest in a character is one thing, but crafting your own unique approach is another."