Fred Van Lente makes improbable premises feel instantly readable, moving from superhero comedy and noir experiments to comics history and murder-mystery prose without losing the human hook.
Known for: Action Philosophers, Archer & Armstrong, Incredible Hercules, Marvel Zombies
Stan Lee wanted to be a celebrity, and through this bizarre set of circumstances, it was comics that got him there. And Kirby was a guy who wanted to create and be hunched over his drawing board — and that’s where he ended up. Both men used each other to get to their respective places.
Fred Van Lente on Splash Pages Comic Book Club Splash Pages interview March 18, 2026
Fred Van Lente started making comics in earnest in 2004 when he and artist Ryan Dunlavey launched Action Philosophers!, a long-form series dramatizing the lives and ideas of major philosophers — Plato, Nietzsche, Descartes, Lao-Tzu. The American Library Association named it a YALSA Best Book for Teens. It is the kind of book that makes you think philosophy is interesting, which is harder than it sounds.
Marvel noticed. Van Lente spent the next several years as one of the more reliably entertaining writers in the bullpen. His Incredible Hercules run with Greg Pak — spinning out of World War Hulk — remains one of the most fondly remembered Marvel books of the late 2000s: mythological adventure with big swings in tone, genuine comedy, and a willingness to treat the B-list seriously. Along the way, he introduced Helen Cho, a geneticist and Hercules ally who would later be adapted for Avengers: Age of Ultron by the MCU.
MODOK’s 11, his 2007 miniseries about the villain assembling a crew of D-list bad guys for a heist, became the loose conceptual basis for Hulu’s Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. animated series. His X-Men Noir applied a hard-boiled detective lens to the X-universe. His Cowboys & Aliens original graphic novel — written years before any film was in development — became the source material for the 2011 movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
When Valiant Entertainment launched its revival in 2012, Van Lente was handed Archer & Armstrong: a buddy comedy about a sheltered teenage assassin and an immortal drunk who has been alive since ancient Mesopotamia. Harvey-nominated and one of the most acclaimed titles from that era of Valiant, it demonstrated that Van Lente could carry an ongoing book with its own mythology and still land jokes.
Outside of superhero work, he has collaborated with Dunlavey on the bestselling Comic Book History of Comics (IDW) and the Action Presidents series, with one entry winning the Theodore Roosevelt Children’s Book Prize. His novels include Ten Dead Comedians, The Con Artist (set at San Diego Comic-Con), and Never Sleep (Publishers Weekly “taut series launch”). The play King Kirby, co-written with Crystal Skillman, was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. He lives in Brooklyn.
Van Lente and Dunlavey turn the history of philosophy into a gonzo comedy adventure. Each chapter dramatizes a philosopher's life and ideas with total commitment and no reverence. YALSA Best Book for Teens. A great starting point because it's genuinely funny and completely accessible.
A sheltered teenage assassin is sent to kill an immortal drunk — and they become best friends. Harvey-nominated. One of the most acclaimed titles from the 2012 Valiant revival and Van Lente's best-sustained superhero work. Start here if you want to see how he handles ongoing storytelling.
Pak and Van Lente took a B-list character and made him one of Marvel's most entertaining ongoing series. Big mythology, genuine comedy, and Amadeus Cho as an irresistible sidekick. This is the book that established Van Lente as a must-read Marvel voice.
A comprehensive history of the American comics industry told in comics form — from the Yellow Kid through the Comics Code, Wertham, the Silver Age, and beyond. Essential reading for any comics fan. Van Lente applies his Action Philosophers formula to the history of the medium itself.
