Action Philosophers: Hooked On Classics

Fred Van Lente is a six-time New York Times bestselling comics writer, novelist and playwright whose work spans mystery/thrillers to historical fiction to superheroes to comedy. Van Lente burst onto the scene with his first collaboration with cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey, Action Philosophers, which became a YALSA Best Book for Teens and the NYT called “intensely goofy but intellectually rigorous”. From there he went on to a long career at Marvel, where he worked on titles like The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America and Marvel Zombies. He’s also written for DC, Archie Comics, Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, Dynamite Comics, and Valiant, where his run on Archer & Armstrong was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Continuing Series. Van Lente has continued writing non-fiction graphic novels, often with his artistic collaborator Ryan Dunlavey, including the bestselling Comic Book History of Comics and the middle grade series Action Presidents. Two entries in the series were nominated for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. In 2021, the third volume won the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s Theodore Roosevelt Children’s Book Prize.

Cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey is best known for the funny non-fiction graphic novels he co-creates with writer Fred Van Lente, including Action Presidents, The Comic Book History of Comics, and the award winning Action Philosophers. His other comics include Dirt Candy: A Cookbook (with chef Amanda Cohen), Li’l Classix (with writer Grady Hendrix), M.O.D.O.K.: Reign Delay, Tommy Atomic and G.I. Joe. He lives in New York City with graphic designer Liza Pagano and their two children.