Kelly Thompson


Kelly Thompson is an American writer of novels and comic books. She is best known for the Jem and the Holograms comic with co-creator and artist Sophie Campbell, a modern re-imagining of the 1980s cartoon of the same name, the Eisner-nominated Marvel comic Hawkeye with artist Leonardo Romero, which stars Kate Bishop and Captain Marvel featuring Carol Danvers with artist Carmen Carnero and colorist Tamra Bonvillain. Her other works include A-Force, West Coast Avengers, The Girl Who Would Be King, Jessica Jones and Mr and Mrs X among others.

Career

Thompson stated she had "been writing in some way shape or form for about as long as can remember." Thompson graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in Sequential Art. She got her start in the comics industry as staff writer for the website CBR, where she worked from 2009 to 2015 writing reviews and her column called She Has No Head!, centered around women in comics. She launched a kickstarter campaign in 2012, for her first novel called The Girl Who Would Be King and the crowdfund campaign ended with 330% of its original goal, it reached $26,478 and was released in September of that same year. The story involves two girls with extraordinary powers, one who uses them for good, one for bad, are about to meet for the first time. In 2014, the novel was optioned for a movie adaption by Logan Pictures, Thompson told io9, "We had a lot of interest in the book. I think we had at least half a dozen legitimate companies inquiring about the rights. We also had some more intimate interest from writers and smaller producers, a couple film agents also came calling.".
At the 2014 New York Comic Con, IDW Publishing revealed it got the comicbook license for the '80s rock-n-roll adventure cartoon Jem and the Holograms. A month later, IDW revealed that they hired Thompson to write the first Jem and the Holograms comic based on the cartoon with artist Sophie Campbell, it was a modern re-imagining of the series. She wrote the comic for two years, the first issue was released in March 2015 and the ongoing was concluded on June 14, 2017, with issue #26. During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, she co-wrote her first Marvel comic, a four issue tie-in series titled Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps with Kelly Sue DeConnick. In 2016, Thompson and Brenden Fletcher wrote a spin-off six-issue Power Rangers mini-series titled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Pink for Boom! Studios. The mini was focused on the Pink Ranger. She also wrote the solo series of Kate Bishop, who is the second Hawkeye. It follows Bishop, who opens her own detective company on the west coast of the United States. For her work on Hawkeye she was nominated for an Eisner for best continuing series in 2018. It was cancelled by Marvel after 16 issues in 2018.
In January 2018, Marvel Comics announced it had signed Thompson to an exclusive contract. That same month, the first issue of Rogue & Gambit was released, which was announced ahead of New York Comic Con 2017. It follows Rogue and Gambit, who reignite their relationship while investigating the disappearance of mutants at a vacation resort. Following the success of Rogue & Gambit, the two characters got married in X-Men Gold #30 in a surprise twist. Initially the wedding was for the X-Men Kitty Pryde and Colossus, but according to X-Men Gold writer Marc Guggenheim Marvel changed their plans. After the wedding issue was released, the planned ongoing called Mr. and Mrs. X also written by Thompson, was revealed to be about Rogue and Gambit as a married couple. She also wrote a five-issue Nancy Drew comic, it followed the titular character as a 17-year-old who has to return to the home she’d left behind and solve a mystery that involves childhood friends and someone who’s out to end Nancy's crime-fighting career permanently with her death. It was published by Dynamite. Starting that July, Thompson took over Jessica Jones from Brian Michael Bendis. Jessica Jones was the first line of 'digital original'-only titles, they were primarily focused on Marvel characters who have their own television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They were 40-page sized issues released every month over a course of three months, they were later released as physical trade paperbacks.
In October 2018, it was announced she also would write the new ongoing of Captain Marvel featuring Carol Danvers with artist Carmen Carnero and colorist Tamra Bonvillain, the first issue that was released on January 9, 2019, sold more than hundred thousand copies, Thompson first comic to reach this milestone. Starting in March 2019, Thompson also wrote a new five-issue Sabrina the Teenage Witch mini for Archie Comics, it concluded in September of that same year, The miniseries was met with critical acclaim and it won 2019's IGN People's Choice award. She was also co-writer of the X-Men storyline "X-Men: Disassembled".
In June 2019, Thompson joined the Shots Fired project to raise money to combat gun violence. The comic will be published by Comicker Press, it is scheduled to be released later this year after a successful Kickstarter funding campaign. The proceeds from the book's sale are going to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Community Justice Reform Coalition.
That same month, the team responsible for the Captain Marvel ongoing was added to the first issue of the all-female Marvel Fearless anthology. The four-issue mini-series explores various female superheroes, including Invisible Woman, Storm, Captain Marvel, Millie the Model and Jessica Jones. Every issue is created entirely by women, this includes variant covers and the first issue was released on July 24.
Thompson was one of the writers on a Spider-Man story called Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle #1, the comic follows Peter Parker, who goes on a globe-hopping adventure. It was released on October 23, 2019.

Awards

For her work on Hawkeye, Thompson was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2018. A year later, she was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best writer for her work on Nancy Drew ; Hawkeye, Jessica Jones, Mr. & Mrs. X, Rogue & Gambit, Uncanny X-Men and West Coast Avengers.

Books

IDW Publishing