Comic book writer Ted Naifeh is most well known for his gothic romance comic Gloomcookie. He is also the creator of the Courtney Crumrin series, which was nominated for an Eisner Award. His other series include Polly and the Pirates, Death Jr., and Unearthly. With his illustrations for the Goosebumps Graphix series, he adapts RL Stine's work into a cool, new graphic format. For his latest project, he has teamed up with New York Times bestselling author Holly Black to create The Good Neighbors series.

Ted’s first work was for Innovation Comics, drawing an adaptation of the respected fantasy/Sci-Fi novel Shadow of the Torturer. In the mid-90s, Ted and his friend Eric Burnham self-published three issues of a cyberpunk comic called Nicki Shadow. Early projects also include The Machine from Dark Horse Comics' now defunct supehero line, and a short story entitled The Grease Trap, written by legendary horror author Joe R. Landsdale.

Ted has also worked at Accolade in Silicon Valley creating both 2D and 3D art for videogames. He worked on the game Slave Zero. The game did not do well and Ted was ultimately disappointed by the limitations of the medium and found himself in need of a better outlet for his creativity. But his three-year stint in the electronic games industry was not entirely without benefit. He learned the computer skills that allowed him to digitally letter and color his comics. This was a key element in the creation of the independent goth romance comic Gloomcookie.

In the summer of 1998 Ted found himself staying all night at his office, photocopying 500 mini-comic samples of a project he and writer Serena Valentino had decided to call Gloomcookie, a series of related short stories about the goth community. Two days later they were handing out copies at San Diego Comic-Con International. Dan Vado of Slave Labor Graphics took an interest, and in a few months it was on the shelves. Response was immediate and enormous. The series was easily the most popular comic Ted had ever worked on, a success made even sweeter by the fact that it was his first creator-owned property.

Ted began putting together new series pitches from concepts he'd daydreamed about during the daily commutes between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. His most fruitful idea to date came shortly after his departure from the videogame industry, during a sleepless night spent pondering the creatures that inhabit the shadows and watch us while we sleep. Over the next few months, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things began to take shape.

Ted Naifeh currently lives in San Francisco, California. For more information about him, please visit www.tednaifeh.com