1. Celebrity Comic Book Writers
What's the point of fame and money if you can't use your wealth to do what you
want? In the case of these guys, what they wanted was to get in touch with their
collective inner geek and write comic books. While some of these stars might seem
like a case of Superman yearning to wear Clark Kent's nerdy glasses, others have
been lifelong fans of the art form and only now have the money to indulge their
comic-loving natures. In either case, more power to them for embracing their
dreams and producing some excellent comic books along the way.
Jonathan Ross, onetime BBC bad-boy presenter and muckraker, isn't content to
settle into his ITV1 chat show as his sole creative endeavor. Ross is famous among
comic aficionados for his personal collection of books and memorabilia, so it's no
surprise that he created his own comic, Turf, in collaboration with American
superstar comic book artist Tommy Lee Edwards. In the comic, vampires and
aliens duke it out in a stylish 1920s gangland; what's not to love?
Seth Meyers and Bill Hader collaborated on more than episodes of "Saturday
Night Live." In 2009, the two comedians got the call to co-write an edition of
Amazing Spider-Man called "The Short Halloween." While they haven't yet
followed their comic book debut with other examples of the art form, it's clear
from their interviews that they were delighted to be a part of the project and would
probably relish involvement with a sophomore project.
Rob Zombie hasn't yet met the artistic endeavor he didn't want to try, and comic
books are no exception. Not content to stack up Grammy nominations and
screenwriting credits, he's also directed a host of well-received gore-fest flicks that
stand as classics of their genre. The prodigious artist also worked with a number of
comic book greats including Dan Brereton and Steve Niles to put his mark on The
Nail, Bigfoot, and Nocturnals, the last of which he also helped illustrate. Zombie
was also working on a project of his own called Whatever Happened to Baron von
Shock, but the project appears to be in limbo at the moment.
Brian Posehn has deeper geek credentials than almost anyone else in Hollywood.
He's a fixture on Cartoon Network shows such as "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and
"Metalocalypse" along with his roles in "Just Shoot Me!" and the classic HBO
comedy "Mr. Show." In 2006, he got a chance to co-write a comic book, The Last
Christmas, with Gerry Duggan. Posehn also contributed to Treehouse of Horrors
and The Goon.

2. Patton Oswalt does a lot of stand-up comedy, but one of his biggest roles never
featured his face; he was the voice of Remy from the Pixar/Disney movie
"Ratatouille." Oswalt's also done voice work for RockStar Games' Grand Theft
Auto series and for the Cartoon Network's "Venture Bros." along with hosting a
panel at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, firmly establishing his nerd cred. His
comic book career is illustrious, too; with work on Batman, The Goon, and the
Dark Horse single-run Serenity: Float Out, he's got an impressive portfolio.
Kevin Smith rocketed to fame thanks to "Clerks," which the writer and actor is
continuing in comic book form. Batman and Daredevil comic books are also part
of Smith's portfolio. When the writer's script for the "Green Hornet" movie got
axed, he did an end-run around the naysayers and published his version as a comic
book.
Samuel L. Jackson is a titan in Hollywood. Not everyone knows, though, that the
Oscar-nominated actor's role as comic-loving Elijah Price in M. Night Shyamalan's
"Unbreakable" drew heavily on Jackson's own love of comic books. He's living his
dream now as co-writer of Boom! Studios' Cold Space, a four-part mini-series of
hard science fiction-focused comics.
Thomas Jane of HBO's "Hung" may have turned down a role in the film
adaptation of "Watchmen," but that doesn't mean he isn't a longtime comic book
nerd. The actor even has his own comic book studio, RAW, through which he
releases his own projects such as Bad Planet and Alien Pig Farm.
Mark Hamill has geek cred for life simply for having spent much of his youth
being Luke Skywalker and landing a later voice role as a memorable Joker. He
embraces his role as a nabob of nerdhood, though, and wrote a few episodes of The
Black Pearl for Dark Horse back in 1996 before comics gained cachet thanks to
blockbuster superhero movies. He also wrote for Treehouse of Horrors.
William Shatner is the only celebrity who could conceivably surpass Hamill in
geek superstardom. The original Captain Kirk has been a prodigious font of
creativity for decades, and one of his latest projects is translating his TekWar series
of novels into graphic form. Bluewater Comics released William Shatner Presents
The Tek War Chronicles in 2009, but Shatner likely has more in store for comic
fans.