Matt Fritchman (born December 1, 1975), better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, FF, The Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, and Hawkeye for Marvel Comics; Casanova and Sex Criminals for Image Comics; and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen and Batman for DC Comics.
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Early life
Matt Fraction was born on December 1, 1975, in Chicago Heights, Illinois. As a child, he developed an affinity for telling stories, and he enjoyed reading comic books and strips. The first comic he remembers buying was Batman #316 (Oct. 1979), and he liked newspaper comics Peanuts and Doonesbury. He became a regular weekly comic-book reader around the time that the 1985–86 DC Comics storyline "Crisis on Infinite Earths" ended, but he found that storyline bizarre and impenetrable and gravitated toward Marvel Comics instead. Spider-Man became his favorite character, and he read other Marvel publications such as Star Wars and G.I. Joe.
In the late 1990s Fraction worked as an employee at the Charlotte, North Carolina–based comics retailer Heroes Aren't Hard to Find, and participated in the Warren Ellis Forum under the username "Matt Fraction".
Career
Fraction started in the comics industry by working for smaller publishers including AiT/Planet Lar and IDW Publishing, many of which employed people that he had met on the Warren Ellis Forum; as such, he continued using the "Fraction" name as it was the one under which he had built a reputation. He became known early in his career for his creator-owned work on The Five Fists of Science and Casanova, before taking on a number of assignments for Marvel Comics.
Fraction wrote two columns for Comic Book Resources: "Poplife" and "The Basement Tapes", the latter with Joe Casey.
Fraction teamed with Ed Brubaker for a run on Marvel's The Immortal Iron Fist. The pair re-teamed on Uncanny X-Men for a short time, after which Fraction wrote the series solo until leaving it in 2011.
He wrote The Mighty Thor and The Invincible Iron Man, the latter of which led to his consulting work on the set of the film Iron Man 2 and writing the Iron Man 2 video game that tied into that film sequel.
In 2011, Fraction wrote the Fear Itself limited series, which was the central part of the crossover storyline of the same name. In December 2011, he revived the series The Defenders with artist Terry Dodson and, in August 2012, he started a new Hawkeye series with David Aja.
As part of Marvel NOW!, Fantastic Four was relaunched in November 2012 with the creative team of Fraction and artist Mark Bagley. Its spinoff series FF was produced by Fraction and artist Mike Allred. Fraction left both series due to other work commitments.
In February 2013, he was named on IGN's list of "The Best Tweeters in Comics", which described him as "the premier comics Twitter personality."
In 2013, Fraction and Chip Zdarsky co-created the Sex Criminals series for Image Comics. He and illustrator Christian Ward created the ODY-C series in 2014, a science-fiction retelling of the Odyssey with the characters' genders changed to female.
Personal life
Fraction is married to Kelly Sue DeConnick, a comic book writer and adapter of manga into English, whom he met when they were both participants on the Warren Ellis Forum. They have two children, Henry and Tallulah.
Awards
2008 Eagle Award for Favourite Newcomer Writer
2009 Eisner Award for "Best New Series" for The Invincible Iron Man (shared with Salvador Larroca)
2010 PEN Center USA Literary Award for "Outstanding Body of Work"
2014 Harvey Award
"Best Single Issue or Story" for Hawkeye #11, "Pizza Is My Business" (shared with David Aja and others).
"Best New Series" for Sex Criminals (shared with Chip Zdarsky).
2014 Eisner Award
"Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)" for Hawkeye #11, "Pizza Is My Business" (shared with David Aja).
"Best New Series" for Sex Criminals (shared with Chip Zdarsky).
2016 Inkpot Award
Nominations
2008 Eisner Award
Best Single Issue (or One-Shot) for The Sensational Spider-Man Annual (shared with Salvador Larroca).
Eisner Award for Best New Series for The Immortal Iron Fist (shared with Ed Brubaker, David Aja and others)
2013 Harvey Award
Best Writer for Hawkeye
Best New Series for Hawkeye (shared with David Aja and others)
Best Continuing or Limited Series for Hawkeye (shared with David Aja and others)
Best Single Issue or Story for Hawkeye #1, "Lucky" (shared with David Aja and others)
2013 Eisner Award
Best Continuing Series for Hawkeye (shared with David Aja and others)
Best Writer for Hawkeye and Casanova: Avarita
2014 Harvey Award
Best Writer for Hawkeye
Best Continuing or Limited Series for Hawkeye (shared with David Aja and others)
2014 Eisner Award
Best Continuing Series for Hawkeye (shared with David Aja)
Best Continuing Series for Sex Criminals (shared with Chip Zdarsky)
Best Writer for Sex Criminals, Hawkeye, Fantastic Four, and FF