An industry legend, Louise “Weezie” Simonson has been a guiding force in comics for over 40 years.  Beginning with Warren publishing in 1974, she quickly rose to senior editor before leaving in 1979 and joining Marvel in 1980.  This marked the beginning of a remarkable career with the “Big Two,” during which she oversaw and created several iconic storylines and characters, the impact of which I still felt today, in both comics and other media.

As an editor at Marvel, she had extended runs on Uncanny X-Men, and its spin-off series, New Mutants.  Deciding to try her hand as a full-time writer, Simonson created the Eagle Award-winning Power Pack, revolving around four pre-teen siblings who gain powers and become heroes.  Following her run on Power Pack, Louise began writing X-Factor, another X-Men spinoff.  It was in her fist issue that she introduced the notorious X-Men villain, Apocalypse, who has been a consistent foe for mutants since, and was the featured antagonist in Fox’s 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse. Writing the series for 58 issues and two annual, she concluded her X-Factor run with issue 64, a run that contains the co-creation of the Horsemen of Apocalypse with her husband Walt, and on her suggestion, the first of its kind crossover story in “Mutant Massacre”, which unfolded in the pages of Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and Thor, as well as single issues of Power Pack and Daredevil.  These issues also include “Fall of the Mutants”, “Inferno”, and “X-Tinction Agenda”, each a memorable and important story in the history of the X-Men.  Taking over the reins of Marvel’s New Mutants series with issue 55, Louise continued her success, again creating a popular and enduring character in Cable, whose appearance has been teased for the Deadpool movie sequel, as well as the subsequent X-Force movie.

In 1991, Louise began writing for DC Comics, launching Superman: The Man of Steel with artist Jon Bogdanove, a series she wrote for eight years and 86 issues.  It was during this run that she was a key member of the team that developed and wrote the hugely successful “Death of Superman” story, where Superman is killed, mourned, and replaced by four other powered “Supermen” before his return.  One of these replacement heroes was the character Steel, created by Simonson, who would go on to get his own comic series as well as his own movie, where he was portrayed by NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.  She also contributed to Superman: The Wedding Album, a one-shot covering Superman’s marriage to longtime love interest Lois Lane.
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Returning to Marvel in 1999, Louise wrote Warlock, focusing on one of the characters from her New Mutants run, as well as a mini-series focusing on the cosmically-powered Galactus.  Maintaining a steady presence in the industry since, she has contributed single issues and mini-series for both DC and Marvel characters, such as Wonder Woman and the X-Men, as well as writing World of Warcraft, based on the massively popular video game.  Her most recent work includes IDW’s Super Secret Crisis War!, DC’s Convergence series Superman: Man of Steel, and a story in Valiant’s Faith series.