Felipe Smith

Felipe Smith (born 1978) is an American comic book writer and artist of Jamaican and Argentine descent. He is the creator, co-designer, and writer of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, and the author of Peepo Choo, a manga series debuting in 2008 in Kodansha's Morning Two monthly magazine. It was one of the first manga titles created and serialized in Japan by a Western creator before being licensed for an English-language release.

Early life and education Smith was born on June 17, 1978 to a Jamaican father and Argentine mother. When Smith was five years old, he moved with his family to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he studied at an international school, Asociación Escuelas Lincoln.

Post-college struggles & career Smith began his career in comics in 2005 and was living in Los Angeles when he wrote and drew his first three-volume graphic novel series, the semi-autobiographical MBQ. As the buzz about his series reached Japan, he was contacted by a prominent book agent who was interested in representing him in that country. Together they organized a meeting at San Diego Comic-Con in 2007 with an editor in chief from Kodansha, the largest Japanese publishing company at the time.

As a result, in 2008 Smith moved to Tokyo, Japan to publish his second three-volume graphic novel series, Peepo Choo, one of the first manga titles created by a non-Japanese native and initially serialized by Kodansha for a Japanese audience before it was later released in English by Vertical Inc. Smith worked four years in the Japanese market; when he returned to L.A. in 2012, he joined Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated TV series, first as a storyboard artist and then as a full-time character designer.

In 2014 Marvel Comics announced Smith as the writer of monthly All-New Ghost Rider and creator of its protagonist, Robbie Reyes. From the start, Smith was given complete freedom to create the character's personality and background and the setting in which events in the series take place; he also sketched the preliminary visual designs. Smith's co-creation for Marvel crossed over from publishing to television in 2016, when Robbie Reyes made his first appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..