Man of Action
American comicbook writer and one of the four founders of Man of Action Studios, creators of Ben 10 and Generator Rex. Mostly known in comics for the fact that he seems to be two writers - one who writes straightforward and fun superhero stories, including miniseries set in the early days of the X-Men and The Avengers, and another who writes metafictional and often deeply offbeat and weird stories.
His work includes:
- Adventures Of Superman, where he famously didn't have Superman throw a punch for a whole year.
- A short run on Uncanny X-Men opposite Grant Morrison. He feels it was a bit of a creative failure, but it touches on some themes he would later develop in...
- WildCATs 3.0, where Spartan, now just Jack Marlowe, decides to better the world by spreading advanced technology using the HALO Corporation.
- Mr. Majestic, a Spin-Off from WildC.A.Ts that explores the career of Flying Brick Majestros.
- The Intimates, a short-lived series about life at a school for teen superheroes, co-created by Jim Lee.
- Gødland, a "cosmic" series inspired by the work of Jack Kirby.
- Automatic Kafka, an early work for Vertigo, heavy on the Metafiction.
- A number of Marvel miniseries about the early days of The Avengers and the original X-Men, as well as the six-issue miniseries Vengeance, a spiritual predecessor to Kieron Gillen's Young Avengers and the first appearance of America Chavez.
- Sex, currently published by Image Comics.
- Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers, a revival of a Jack Kirby property.
- All-America Comix A one-shot with America Vasquez, a version of America Chavez with the
Serial Numbers Filed Off.
Tropes Casey is known for:
- Card-Carrying Villain: He has a stated like for villains with enough self-awareness to realize they're evil, but don't care. His Marvel villain Zodiac might the best example.
- Cool Shades
- Corporate-Sponsored Superhero: Inverted with Wild C.A.T.s (WildStorm) 3.0, which explored the idea of a MegaCorp as a superhero-sponsored altruistic endeavor.
- Crimefighting with Cash
- Lemony Narrator: In Catalyst Comix and Gødland, he often sounds like the unholy offspring of Stan Lee and Grant Morrison.
- Metafiction
- Mind Screw: In his more out-there work. He is often regarded as the American counterpart to Grant Morrison.
- One for the Money; One for the Art: Casey freely admits that his work in animation pays his bills, freeing him up to only do comics projects he really cares about.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Casey characters often make serious attempts to avert this, usually with the aid of the cash mentioned above.
- Stealth Sequel: Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers made even more explicit the link between Kirby's series and his earlier Fourth World saga.
- Transatlantic Equivalent: Joe is often considered the American counterpart to Grant Morrison, as both writers love both deeply weird metafictional stories and straightforward, reconstruction-minded action adventures and Arc Welding Silver Age stories into the modern day. Both also have also written stories inspired by recreational drug use, too.
