Jason Thompson (writer)

• 1. Introduction

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  Jason Thompson was born on the 13th of October, 1974, in San Francisco, California, and he grew up in the small town of Healdsburg. By the time he was 20, he had graduated from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied English, creative writing, and art. That is a compressed timeline for someone who would go on to help shape how English-speaking readers understand manga. The questions worth following are these: how does a kid from Northern California become one of the most important editors and critics in American manga history? And what does it mean to spend your career writing guides, comics, and columns about worlds that are not your own?

• 2. Viz Media Years

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  Thompson joined Viz Media in 1996, and he stayed for 14 years. Ten of those years he held the title of senior editor; four were spent as a freelancer. During that stretch he edited the English-language editions of more than 30 manga series. The list includes Naruto, which he notes is the bestselling manga in the US, along with Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Uzumaki, among others. Beyond individual titles, Thompson launched two national magazines out of Viz: Shonen Jump and Game On! USA. That is a significant footprint for any single editor, let alone one who was simultaneously building a creative life outside the office.

• 3. Manga: The Complete Guide

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  Thompson conceived the book that would make his name as a critic in the year 2000. Manga: The Complete Guide was published by Del Rey in 2007, and it earned an Eisner nomination. The Eisner Awards are among the most prestigious in the comics world, and the nomination placed Thompson alongside creators rather than just the editors and gatekeepers he had been professionally. The book was not the end of that project. Starting in November 2009, he posted daily manga reviews on Suvudu.com for a full year as an appendix to the guide. He also co-wrote the "House of 1000 Manga" column on Anime News Network alongside Shaenon K. Garrity, which he originally started as a way to write about lesser-known manga he found around his home.

• 4. Lovecraft and the Dreamlands

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  Thompson's relationship with H. P. Lovecraft's fiction stretches back to the 1990s. He self-published his first adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath in 1997, a project he considers his first real comic. He worked on the Kadath story from 1997 to 1999, eventually producing 122 pages. In 2003, that comic was adapted into a feature-length film using both Thompson's existing artwork and original pieces he contributed. The film premiered on the 11th of October, 2003, at the H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and was later released on DVD. In November 2011, Thompson ran a Kickstarter campaign for a hardcover edition of the full graphic novel, The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and Other Stories. The book gathered not just the Kadath story but three other Dreamlands adaptations: The Strange High House in the Mist, made from June 2009 to January 2011; The White Ship; and Celephais, made from March through September 2011. Books began shipping to supporters in March 2012.

• 5. Webcomics and Collaboration

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  Thompson launched his webcomic The Stiff in 2001. He describes it in two ways that sit in tension with each other: a "manga-influenced romantic comedy" and "a horrendous, gruesome horror story". The strip ran on Girlamatic between 2003 and 2006 as one of the platform's launch titles, and Thompson planned it to run 1,000 pages. His other major collaborative work is King of RPGs, created with artist Victor Hao. Thompson describes the series as a fusion between shonen manga and tabletop roleplaying games. He had first submitted a pilot for the concept to Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga competition, but eventually brought it to Del Rey instead. Del Rey connected him with Hao. The first volume was released in January 2010. Volume Two arrived on the 24th of May, 2011, and reached The New York Times Best Seller list. Thompson also illustrated The Legend of Bold Riley: The Serpent in the Belly in 2009, part of a series written by Leia Weathington, which was later published in print by Northwest Press in 2012.

• 6. Dungeons and Dragons Maps

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  Among Thompson's more unusual credits are the Dungeons and Dragons adventure walkthrough maps he produced for Wizards of the Coast. These appeared both on the Wizards of the Coast website and in print, including in the book Waterdeep Dragon Heist. Walkthrough maps are a distinctive format: they give players and dungeon masters a visual overview of an entire published adventure, tracing the path a party might take through its rooms and encounters. It is a niche that suits someone who has spent decades bridging the space between comics, games, and guides. Thompson's cameo appearance in Hiro Mashima's Fairy Tail suggests that the relationship between his editorial world and the creators he worked with ran in multiple directions.