Career

Born May 18th 1958, Jonathan Maberry began his career as a professional writer and writing teacher in 1978. His first features were educational features on martial arts and then works touching upon the occult and paranormal.

Tying in with his work, Maberry has always been a follower of martial arts and has an 8th Degree Black Belt in Shinowara-Ryu Jiu Jutsu. One year after his final book on the subject in 2003, titled 'Ultimate Sparring', Maberry was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

Departing from the martial arts world, Maberry moved onto writing about horror myth and legend such as 'The Forensics of the Living Dead' (right). But it was in 2007 that he wrote his first novel, 'Ghost Road Blues' which won him the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel and set him on the path to great success.

Other Novels

His success with 'Ghost Road Blues' led to a trilogy known as the 'Pine Deep Trilogy' following with 'Dead Man's Song' and 'Bad Moon Rising'.

Maberry has also gone on to pen another series which has been picked up by Sony movie producer Michael De Luca, from the novels 'Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel', 'The Dragon Factory', 'The King of Plagues', 'Assassin's Code', and 2013's 'The Extinction Machine.'

Maberry has also written a series of post apocalyptic zombie thrillers including 'Rot & Ruin', 'Dust & Decay' and 'Dead of Night' in the same space of time that he has produced his other works and additionally worked for Marvel comics as a freelance writer!

Marvel

Maberry began writing for Marvel with Wolverine: Ghosts before going on to write for the Black Panther series in 2009 from #7 onwards after that he also wrote Doomwar before going on to write his most ambitious trilogy project for Marvel...

Marvel Universe vs. The Punisher

In this alternate reality of the Marvel Universe, Maberry tells a story from Punisher Frank Castle's perspective in the vein of such classic horrors as Richard Matheson's I Am Legend and Alex Garland's 28 Days Later, about a mysterious plague that reduces the world into raging cannibalistic mutants.

The Punisher is responsible for the accidental release of a toxin into the river when he gets the jump on a Russian Mafia meeting in an abandoned Brooklyn dock warehouse. Inocculated against the toxin by a superdose, he has been granted the ability to thrive in inhabitable atmospheres whereas the rest of the world has slowly succumbed to the effects of the toxins, turning them all into mostly mindless and bloodthirsty cannibals.

In the wastelands of New York, Frank Castle now hunts down and eliminates the last of the mutated superheroes and villains, on the lookout for "Patient Zero" without realising that this mysterious assailant is actually hunting him and looking to strike a deal that may change everything.

Frank Castle must now save the world he unwittingly destroyed!

Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine

Unconventionally, the first instalment was based in the past and then the post-apocalyptic future of the overall story and Wolverine's side of the story takes place in the first days of the plague, ending with the fate of New York at the hands of the infected.

During a mission in New York, Wolverine and Kitty Pryde are escaping the enemy when Kitty is murdered and cannibalised by a mysterious predator.

Shaken and grieving, Wolverine takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of the horror when he sees it spreading from mutants to humans. Teaming up with the Punisher to help their best scientists find a cure using Punisher's immune blood, they become the subject of infected and feral superpowered mutants looking to take all heroes out of the picture in the fight for dominion.

Looking to evacuate New York, when all else seems lost, Wolverine, Punisher, Captain America, Hawkeye and Deadpool seek to make a last stand against the feral hordes, led by a crazed, unstoppable and very hungry Hulk. It does not bode well for any surviving hero that hasn't fallen to the sickness!

Marvel Universe vs. The Avengers

The final instalment in the trilogy is based just before the plague hits New York and is centered on the Avengers and notably Hawkeye's relationship with them as a non-powered human. It is based around him but not told from his perspective as the rest have been based around Punisher and Wolverine.

When the plague hits, the heroes are banded together to fight off the enemy but quickly become weary as it turns out the enemy are none but the former allies, friends and loved ones of the Avengers.

Appearing suddenly to offer the cure in turn for their allegiance, Doctor Doom sets the heroes about controlling the infected, though seemingly for his own typical needs, but it turns out that Doom is only looking to use this horrific event to be rid of his own enemies and to become Earth's leader and saviour.

Needless to say, Doom is sicker than anybody could imagine and as the Avengers fall foul of his plans, so do they fall foul of the desperate situation in New York.

Teamed with The Punisher to Avenge what they could not save, the story descends into a literal bloodbath and a tragic one at that!

Other

Maberry is a speaker for the National Writers' Union, a writing mentor for the Horror Writer's Association and the Mystery Writers of America, a member of the International Thriller Writers and president of the NJ-PA Chapter of the Horror Writers Association!