Comics editor In 1974, Jones started her professional comic book career at
Warren Publishing. She went from assistant to senior editor In January 1980, Jones joined
Marvel Comics, where she initially worked again as an editor, most notably on
Uncanny X-Men, which she edited for almost four years (#137–182) and
Conan the Barbarian (#114–148 ). Simonson (as "Louise Jones") edited another X-Men spin-off,
The New Mutants, at its debut in 1983. After leaving the series, she
had a "cameo" in
New Mutants #21, drawn in as a slumber party guest by artist
Bill Sienkiewicz. During this period, she also edited Marvel's
Star Wars and
Indiana Jones comics. In 2017, she edited the graphic novel
Son of Shaolin for Image Comics.
Comics writer At the end of 1983, Jones quit her editing job at Marvel to try her hand at full-time writing as
Louise Simonson. She created the
Eagle Award-winning
Power Pack. The title, which debuted in August 1984, featured the adventures of four pre-teen superheroes. Simonson wrote the majority of the title's first forty issues, even coloring one issue (#18). Her other Marvel writing work included
Starriors,
Marvel Team-Up,
Web of Spider-Man, and
Red Sonja. Louise helped her husband
Walt Simonson color his "
Star Slammers" story in
Marvel Graphic Novel #6 (1983). In 1986
Bob Layton, writer of the X-Men spin-off
X-Factor, was running late on a deadline, and Simonson was called in to write a fill-in issue of
X-Factor. This story was never published, since Layton ultimately turned his story in on time, but while writing it Simonson found herself inspired by the characters, to the point where she brought a list of her ideas to editor
Bob Harras in the hopes that Layton might use them for the series. Instead, Layton ended up dropping
X-Factor shortly after, and at
Chris Claremont and
Ann Nocenti's suggestion, Harras chose Simonson as his replacement. a character who would go on to make
repeated appearances in the X-Men franchise. From #10 of the title, she was joined by her husband, Walt Simonson, on pencils. In #25, the creators gave the character,
Angel, blue skin and metal wings in a process which led to his being renamed as "Archangel". It was at Simonson's suggestion that X-Men writer Chris Claremont's "
Mutant Massacre" story idea was turned into a crossover through all the "X-books", the first of its kind. She ended her run on the title with #64 in 1991. In 1987, beginning with issue #55, she became the
New Mutants scripter. Similarly to
X-Factor, she was originally brought in as a fill-in writer so that Chris Claremont could launch two other titles, but ended up writing the series for three and a half years, ending with #97 in 1991. It was during this run that she and artist
Rob Liefeld introduced
Cable, another important character in the X-Men franchise. In 1988–89, she and her husband co-wrote the
Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown limited series painted by
Jon J Muth and
Kent Williams. In 1991, Simonson began writing for
DC Comics. She, artist
Jon Bogdanove, and editor
Mike Carlin launched a new Superman title,
Superman: The Man of Steel — a title she wrote for eight years until #86 in 1999. She contributed to such storylines as "Panic in the Sky" in 1992. Later that year, Simonson (along with Carlin,
Dan Jurgens,
Roger Stern, and others) was one of the chief architects of "
The Death of Superman" storyline, in which Superman died and was resurrected. It was during that storyline, in
The Adventures of Superman #500 (June 1993), that Simonson and Bogdanove introduced their character
Steel, who graduated to his own title in February 1994, with Simonson as writer until #31. The character went on to feature in an
eponymous feature film starring
Shaquille O'Neal in 1997. Simonson was one of the many creators who worked on the
Superman: The Wedding Album one-shot in 1996 wherein the title character married
Lois Lane. In 1999, Simonson returned to Marvel to write a
Warlock series, which featured a character from her previous
New Mutants run. That same year, she wrote a miniseries,
Galactus the Devourer, in which Galactus died temporarily. In 2005, she wrote stories featuring
Magnus, Robot Fighter for the publisher Ibooks, Inc. In 2007, Simonson wrote a one-shot starring
Magik of the New Mutants as part of a four-issue event known as
Mystic Arcana. In 2009, she wrote two issues of
Marvel Adventures featuring
Thor. The next year, she scripted the five-part limited series
X-Factor Forever and reunited with
June Brigman for a new
Power Pack story in
Girl Comics #3. Simonson also co-wrote the comic
World of Warcraft, based on the multi-million player internet game, for Wildstorm, and a manga story, based in the
Warcraft universe, for
Tokyopop. In 2011, DC hired Louise Simonson to write
DC Retroactive: ''Superman - The '90s
, pencilled by her Man of Steel''-collaborator Jon Bogdanove. Simonson wrote the "Five Minutes" chapter in
Action Comics #1000 (June 2018) and a twelve-part webcomic tie-in to
The Death of Superman animated movie. In 2019, she contributed two stories to
DC Primal Age #1 and teamed up with June Brigman again for the one-shot
Power Pack: Grow Up. In 2020 she scripted the comic adaptation of
Leigh Bardugo's novel
Wonder Woman: Warbringer as well as a comic tie-in to the movie
Wonder Woman 1984. Simonson revisited her runs on
X-Factor and
New Mutants with new stories for
X-Men Legends, pencilled by her husband Walt and published in 2021 and 2022. In April 2022, Simonson and her husband were among the more than three dozen comics creators who contributed to
Operation USA's benefit anthology book,
Comics for Ukraine: Sunflower Seeds, a project spearheaded by
IDW Publishing Special Projects Editor
Scott Dunbier, whose profits would be donated to relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees resulting from the February
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Simonson teamed up with artist
June Brigman to produce an original story with new characters created specifically for the anthology. In 2023, she wrote a four-issue
Jean Grey mini-series for Marvel Comics. In 2024, the five-issue retro series
Power Pack: Into the Storm by Simonson and June Brigman, with a story that takes place during their original run, was published by Marvel.
Novelist From 1993 through 2009, she wrote five picture books and eleven novels for middle-readers, many of which featured characters from DC Comics. Two YA novels,
Justice League: The Gauntlet and
Justice League: Wild at Heart, published by
Bantam Books, were based on the Justice League cartoon. She wrote an adult
Batman novel and the non-fiction
DC Comics Covergirls. ==Awards==