Steve Niles

Steve Niles (born June 21, 1965) is an American comic book author, novelist and former musician, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, Batman: Gotham County Line, Kick-Ass – The New Girl, and Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl. Prior to his writing career, he played bass in the post-hardcore bands Gray Matter and Three.

Niles is credited among other contemporary writers as bringing horror comics back to prominence.

Early life Niles was born in Jackson, New Jersey on June 21, 1965. He was raised in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, developing various creative interests in music, writing, and making amateur films. He worked in several comic book stores and played in the punk bands Gray Matter and Three, both of which released records on Dischord Records label in the 1980s and 1990s. He often credited late night television horror host, Count Gore De Vol, who was the local horror host on Channel 20, as an early influence. In 2004 Count Gore wrote the introduction to the graphic novel Aleister Arcane, which is about the horror host of the same name. Other influences included Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend, and the works of George A. Romero, John Carpenter and Bernie Wrightson, the latter two of whom he would later work with. He had no formal education in writing following high school, explaining that he learned to write through copious reading. who starred in eighteen issues of his own ongoing series.

In October 2007, Steve recorded an introduction to the Washington, D.C.'s International Horror Film Festival, The Spooky Movie Film Festival, in honor of opening night host, Count Gore De Vol, who was being honored for his 35 years in Washington, D.C. Posters for 30 Days of Night were given out, including one signed by Niles.

In 2007 Niles wrote a story for the DC Infinite Halloween Special called "Strange Cargo". Narrated by Poison Ivy, the story tells of Superman, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen uncovering zombies in a cargo tank owned by Lex Luthor. Superman kills most of them, but takes the rest and puts them on the moon. Niles also wrote City Of Others for Dark Horse Comics with artwork done by acclaimed artist Bernie Wrightson. City Of others was a four issue story.

In 2008 Niles wrote a twelve part Batman miniseries entitled Batman: Gotham After Midnight with art by Kelley Jones. He has also written a graphic novel for Zune called The Lost Ones with various artists and City of Dust for Radical Comics. Niles is part of the Convention Monsterplaza, which is from April 9 to 11, 2010 in Marriott Burbank Convention Center. An X-Files/30 Days of Night crossover in 2010 was co-written by Niles and Adam Jones, the guitarist for the band Tool, with art by Tom Mandrake. Niles wrote the script for the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment produced horror first-person shooter F.E.A.R. 3.

He also appeared on Spike TV series "Deadliest Warrior", in which he represented the vampire team in the "Vampires vs Zombies" episode, as one of the Vampire experts along with Scott Bowen the author of The Vampire Survival Guide.

In December 2011, Niles spoke out against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), commenting, "SOPA does more than go after so-called 'piracy' websites...SOPA takes away all due process, shuts down any site it deems to be against the law without trial, without notification, without due process...Nobody seems to give a shit, or either they’re scared. Either way, very disappointing. I guess when it affects them they’ll get mad… I know folks are scared to speak out because a lot of us work for these companies, but we have to fight. Too much is at stake."

In 2012, Niles will be collaborating with Bernie Wrightson on Frankenstein Alive! Alive! published by IDW Publishing.

In March 2012, Niles joined Halo-8 president/Godkiller writer-creator Matt Pizzolo and Epitaph Records owner/Bad Religion guitarist-songwriter Brett Gurewitz to form Black Mask Studios with the mandate of developing new ways to support creators and reach broader audiences beyond fandom. Black Mask will launch with the release of the Occupy Comics anthology to which Niles contributed.

In December 2013, IDW announced that Niles would be collaborating with Damien Worm on a 3-issue title Monster and Madman, a tale of Frankenstein's Monster with Jack the Ripper. The first issue was published on 12 March 2014, with the remaining issues due in April and May 2014.

In March 2014, IDW announced that Niles and Worm would again be collaborating on The October Faction, Niles' first monthly ongoing title, published in late 2014. In March 2015 it was confirmed, that he will executive produce along with Wes Craven the series adaption of Christopher Mitten's comic Disciples.

Adaptations 30 Days of Night was developed into a major motion picture, with Sam Raimi as producer. Niles and Ben Ketai scripted a sequel, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, to be directed by Ketai.

Niles' Remains, a zombie story was purchased by Synthetic Cinema International in 2010. It was released as part of Chiller Network'''s "Chiller Presents" series as "Steve Niles' Remains.

On September 28, 2018 it was announced that Niles' comic, The October Faction would be adapted into a TV show on Netflix with a first season consisting of 10 episodes. The show premiered on Netflix on January 23, 2020. On March 30, 2020, Netflix cancelled the series after one season.

Upcoming projects Other comics he has written that have been optioned for film include, Criminal Macabre, In the Blood, Aleister Arcane and Wake the Dead. Variety reported that Wake the Dead will be the next to enter production with Jay Russell in the director's chair. Freaks of the Heartland is being adapted by Peter Sattler and Geoff Davey, with David Gordon Green penciled in to direct it. The project is currently on hold, after differences with Overture film.

In May 2009, MTV reported that Radical Studios is developing a City of Dust movie. In November 2013, Outlier acquired the film rights of the Savage comic. In September 2014, Andrew Adamson is attached to direct the film adaptation of Breath of Bones. In June 2016, Variety reported that Jim Carrey will star in Eli Roth's film adaptation of Aleister Arcane for Amblin Entertainment.