Joseph Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954), known professionally as
J. Michael Straczynski and informally as
Joe Straczynski or
jms, is an American writer and producer. He works in films, television series, novels, short stories, comic books, radio dramas and other media. Straczynski is a playwright, former journalist, and author of
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting. He was the creator and
showrunner for the
science fiction television series Babylon 5, its spin-off
Crusade, as well as
Jeremiah, a series loosely based on
Hermann Huppen's comics. Straczynski wrote 92 out of the 110
Babylon 5 episodes, notably including an unbroken 59-episode run through the third and fourth seasons, and all but one episode of the fifth season. He also wrote the four
Babylon 5 TV movies produced alongside the series. From 2001 to 2007, he was the writer for the long-running
Marvel comic book series
The Amazing Spider-Man. He also famously wrote for
Thor,
Superman, the original graphic novels,
Before Watchmen and
Wonder Woman.