William Messner-Loebs is known for his work on his creator-owned properties 'Journey' and 'Bliss Alley', and for his scriptwork on several famous DC titles. He began his career as an artist in the <a href="/comics/underground.htm">underground comix</a> scene, with a short story for the underground comix magazine Bizarre Sex Comics at Kitchen Sink, as well as some back-up stories for Dave Sim's 'Cerebus the Aardvark'. He also inked 'Nightwitch' for Power Comics, and worked for Nucleus.
His independent comic 'Journey', about the life of an early 19th century frontierman, commenced publication in 1983. At the same time, he took up jobs inking 'Mr Monster' for Eclipse Comics and working as an artist on 'Grimjack' at First Comics. He then began scripting Comico's 'Johnny Quest' and Sam Kieth's 'Maxx', and did artwork on 'Wastelands' and 'Silverback'. In 1989, he began his creator-owned 'Epicurus The Sage, published by the Piranha Press imprint at DC in 1989. Later on, he created 'Bliss Alley'. He is best remembered for his long run scripting 'Wonder Woman' for Mike Deodato in the mid-1990s and his run on 'Flash'. Other titles he worked on are 'Grendel Saga', 'War Drums', and 'Dr Fate'. Bill has his own studio, called Turning Point Studios.
In his personal life, he hasn't been so fortunate. He was born with a cancerous tumor on his right arm, which had to be amputated when he was still an infant. In recent years, he has been in a car accident, lost his house, had his mobile home stolen and suffered from being unemployed. Thankfully, Messner-Loebs amassed a comic book fan following. His fans supported him morally and financially when his world fell apart. Note that the artist was born William Loebs, but his wife and he took each other's names when they were married.
