King interned both at
DC Comics and
Marvel Comics, where he was an assistant to
X-Men writer
Chris Claremont, before joining the
CIA counterterrorism unit after
9/11. King spent seven years as a counterterrorism operations officer for the CIA before quitting to write his debut novel,
A Once Crowded Sky, after the birth of his first child.
A Once Crowded Sky, King's debut superhero novel with comics pages illustrated by
Tom Fowler, was published on July 10, 2012, by Touchstone, an imprint of
Simon & Schuster, to positive reception. In 2014, King was chosen to co-write
Grayson for DC Comics, along with
Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin on art. After penning
Nightwing No. 30, King, Seeley, and Janin launched
Grayson in May 2014, featuring
Dick Grayson leaving behind his Nightwing persona at age 22 to become Agent 37, a
Spyral spy. King and Seeley plotted the series together and traded issues to script separately, with King providing additional authenticity through his background with the
CIA. A relaunch of classic DC Comics series
The Omega Men was published in June 2015 by King and debut artist Barnaby Bagenda, as part of the publisher's relaunch DC You. The series follows a group of rebels fighting an oppressive galactic empire, and feature
White Lantern Kyle Rayner. The Omega Men, created in 1981, are DC's cosmic equivalent to Marvel's
Guardians of the Galaxy, though significantly more obscure. King's and Bagenda's use of the nine-panel grid, popularized by
Alan Moore's and
Dave Gibbons'
Watchmen, has been praised by reviewers. In San Diego Comic-Con 2015,
Vertigo revealed a new creator-owned project written by King with art by Mitch Gerads titled
The Sheriff of Baghdad. The project, a crime series in the vein of Vertigo titles like
Preacher and
Scalped, was set to launch in late 2015, and was inspired by King's time in Iraq as part of the CIA. Initially an eight-issue miniseries, it was later re-titled
The Sheriff of Babylon and expanded into an ongoing series. The first issue launched in December 2015 to critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its "deeply personal" storytelling and the "intriguing" and "captivating" personalities of its characters. That same year, DC announced "
Robin War", a crossover storyline set for December that would run for five weeks through titles
Grayson,
Detective Comics,
We Are Robin, and
Robin: Son of Batman; King was set to orchestrate the crossover's story-line and pen two one-shots to open and close the series. As part of
Marvel Comics'
All-New, All-Different relaunch, King was announced as the writer of
The Vision, a new ongoing following the titular character and his newly created family, with artist Gabriel Hernández Walta, colorist
Jordie Bellaire, and covers by
Mike del Mundo, launching in November 2015.
The Vision has been well received by the public, with reviewers calling the series one of Marvel's "biggest surprises" and praising the narration, art, and colors. In September 2015, DC cancelled King's
The Omega Men, along with four other titles, with the series ending with issue seven. After negative fan response to the cancellation,
Jim Lee, DC's co-publisher, announced that they would be bringing back
The Omega Men through at least issue 12. Lee described the decision to cancel the series as "a bit hasty," crediting the book's critical acclaim and fan social media reactions as the reason the title would go on for the planned 12-issue run. King penned a
Green Lantern one-shot that ties into the "
Darkseid War" storyline, titled "Will You Be My God?", which James Whitbrook of
io9 praised as "one of the best" Green Lantern stories. King and co-writer Tim Seeley announced they would leave
Grayson after issue No. 18, with King clarifying on Twitter that they were working on something "big and cool" and needed time. King and Seeley officially left the series in February with issue No. 17, with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly taking over for its last three issues with issue No. 18 in March. DC Comics announced in February 2016 that King had signed an exclusivity deal with the publisher, which would see him writing exclusively for DC and Vertigo. King revealed via his Twitter account that he would stay on
The Vision as writer through issue 12, finishing the story arc he had planned from the beginning. In March 2016, it was announced that King would be writing the main bi-weekly
Batman series beginning with a new No. 1, replacing long-time writer
Scott Snyder, as part of DC's Rebirth relaunch that June. King has stated that his run would be 100 issues total, with the entirety being released twice-monthly, though this was later curtailed to 85 issues and 3 annuals, with a 12 issue followup maxiseries
Batman/Catwoman to finish the story.. This added up to 100 installments. In August 2017, King and regular collaborator Mitch Gerads launched the first issue of their
Mister Miracle series, with a planned total run of twelve issues. In June 2018 DC Comics announced King would be writing
Heroes in Crisis, a limited series centering around a concept he introduced in
Batman. In July 2018, he received the
Eisner Award for Best Writer for his work on
Batman,
Batman Annual #2,
Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1 and
Mister Miracle, sharing the award with
Marjorie Liu. In May and June 2019, King, Jim Lee, and
CW series actresses
Nafessa Williams,
Candice Patton, and
Danielle Panabaker toured five U.S. military bases in
Kuwait with the
United Service Organizations (USO), where they visited the approximately 12,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in that country as part of DC's 80th anniversary of Batman celebration. In September 2020,
DC Comics announced that King would be among the creators of a revived
Batman: Black and White anthology series to debut on December 8, 2020. From 2021 to 2022, King was the writer on the eight-issue miniseries
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow with artist
Bilquis Evely. David Harth, for
CBR, commented that since
Omega Men, "King has mostly stayed away from sci-fi, going for a more psychological take on superheroes instead". Harth highlighted that
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow "is very much a sci-fi epic" and that the series is "even more imaginative than
Omega Men's sci-fi, as it has King flexing his muscles in different ways". In November 2022, it was announced that King would be writing both
Batman: The Brave and the Bold and
The Penguin, as a part of the 2023 relaunch
Dawn of DC. In January 2023, it was announced that King's
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow miniseries would be adapted into
a feature film by
DC Studios. It was also announced by DC Studios co-chairman and co-CEO
James Gunn that King will serve as one of the architects of the new
DC Universe media franchise of feature films and other media that would succeed the
DC Extended Universe. In March 2023, it was announced that King would be writing the new
Wonder Woman relaunch as a part of
Dawn of DC. In July 2023, it was announced that King would work on a new creator-owned series for
Boom! Studios, with
Peter Gross serving as the illustrator. The series would later be revealed to be
Animal Pound, a modern reimagining of
George Orwell's
Animal Farm set in an animal shelter. In May 2024, it was announced that King would be the writer and the executive producer of the television series
Lanterns for
DC Studios alongside
Damon Lindelof and Chris Mundy. In June 2024,
HBO gave an eight-episode, straight-to-series order to the series. Per the official logline, the series follows “new recruit
John Stewart and Lantern legend
Hal Jordan, two intergalactic cops drawn into a dark, earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland.” In June 2025, during the
Annecy International Animation Film Festival, it was announced that an adult animated series based on King and Gerads'
Mister Miracle miniseries was
greenlit, with King serving as executive producer and
showrunner. In August 2025, it was announced that King would pen the screenplay to a film based on
Archie Comics for
Universal Pictures, with
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller serving as producers. ==Personal life==