Brian K. Vaughan

Brian K. Vaughan (born 1976) is an American comic book and television writer. He is best known for creating the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, and graphic novel Pride of Baghdad, and was one of the principal writers of the television series Lost, during seasons three through five. He is the co-creator of Saga with artist Fiona Staples.

Life and career

Vaughan was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. As an undergraduate film student at New York University, Vaughan took part in Marvel Comics' Stan-hattan Project, a class for fledgling comic book writers. His first credit was Cable #43 (May 1997).

Comics

Vaughan went on to write for both of the major comic publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics. In 2002-2003, Vaughn rose to prominence as writer and co-creator of several critically-acclaimed comic book series: Y: The Last Man (60 issues, 2002-2008) was co-created with Pia Guerra and published by Vertigo. Runaways, a series created by Vaughan and Adrian Alphona featured a new group of superpowered teenagers set in the Marvel universe. He and artist Tony Harris created the science-fiction political seriesEx Machina (50 issues, 2004-2010) published by DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint.

Television

In 2006, Vaughan joined the writing staff of the television series Lost, co-writing seven episodes during its third, fourth and fifth seasons.

In 2011, Vaughan was hired to adapt the Stephen King novel Under the Dome as a miniseries for Showtime.

Film

Since at least 2005, Vaughan has been hired to write screenplays for potential film adaptations of his creations Y: The Last Man, Runaways and Ex Machina, although it's currently unclear what state of development each of these film projects is currently in.

In 2008 Vaughan sold his screenplay Roundtable to Dreamworks. Roundtable is a supernatural comedy in which Merlin gathers modern-day knights of the British Empire to battle an ancient evil. In 2010, his spec script The Vault garnered attention. It is reportedly a post-apocalyptic heist film about a thief tasked with breaking into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

Awards and nominations

• Eisner Award (2005) for Best Writer, for his work on Y: The Last Man, Runaways, Ex Machina and Marvel's Ultimate X-Men, and for Best New Series (along with artists Tony Harris and Tom Feister) for Ex Machina.
• Nominated for five Eisners in 2006: Best Writer; Best Single Issue, Best Serialized Story and Best Continuing Series for Ex Machina; and Best Serialized Story for Y: The Last Man.
• "Comic's Best Writer" (2006), Wizard magazine.
• Eisner Award (2008) for Best Series (along with artists Pia Guerra and Jose Marzan, Jr.) for Y: The Last Man.
• Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story (2009), Y: The Last Man, Volume 10: Whys and Wherefores.
• He was nominated as part of the writing staff of the fourth season of Lost for a 2008 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series.
• The Lost writing staff was nominated for the award again in 2009 for their work on the fifth season.