"Ryall is not going to be winning father of the year due to how the last living baby ends up in [Zombies vs Robots #2], but he does have the dubious honor of writing one of the best miniseries of the year. - AintItCool.com

What I Do Now

I'm the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of IDW Publishing, responsible for responsible for developing content, assigning creative teams, overseeing all editorial, and assisting in production of the entire publishing line, as well as developing press releases, solicitation copy, letters pages and editorial pages for all comic books and graphic novels. Blah blah blah.

I joined IDW as Editor-in-Chief in July 2004. In my time with the company, I've been involved in the acquisition of major comic book licenses for The Transformers with Hasbro, Shaun of the Dead, George Romero's Land of the Dead and Scarface for Universal, Star Trek with Paramount, Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show and other properties currently in development. I also took over as the company's Publisher in October 2005.

In addition to his duties guiding the publishing line, I've also written the comic book adaptations of Shaun of the Dead (with Zach Howard on art), George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (with Gabriel Rodriguez doin' the drawin'), "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road" for Masters of Horror (Jeremy Haun on art) and have adapted short stories from famous horror writers like Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch for the sadly prophetically named Doomed magazine. (I wrote all of Ms. Doomed's dialogue, too. Hopefully that's not a contributing factor to that mag failing)

I'm also nearing the end of my 12-part adaptation of Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show (also with Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos' amazing art).

My two-part creator-owned title, Zombies vs. Robots (co-created with artist Ashley Wood) debuted in November 2006. It was originally just set up as a two-part story, but we'll be continuing it in Ash's new D'airain Aventure comic, starting in January 2007 (or thereabouts). I'm also writing a new serialized story in that book called "Black Magick," too.

In 20006, I was nominated for two awards for writing: I received a 2006 Eisner Award nomination for Best Short Story for his adaptation of Richard Matheson's "Blood Son" (also with artist Ashley Wood), and was nominated by Spike-TV for their inaugural 2006 Scream Awards, Best Film-to-Comics (I received two nominations, one for Shaun of the Dead and one for Land of the Dead. Lost in both categories, too, but the Eisner, we lost to Paul Pope, so it's hard to be upset about that one. Of course, I still was...

In 2007, I'm co-wrote The Transformers Movie Prequel, a four-part miniseries that leads right into the big-screen movie that opens on July 4. And my 30 Days of Night set-visit piece should be running in Wizard Magazine sometime next Spring. Recently appeared on CNBC's "Market Watch" in a segment on our new Simmons Comics Group line with KISS co-founder Gene Simmons. I have a short, EC-style story in the debut issue of Gene Simmons House of Horror 1, due in July, and will be doing a 4-part adaptation of another movie and a single issue project that will be announced soon.

What I Did Then

Prior to joining IDW, I was responsible for turning filmmaker Kevin Smith's Web site, Movie Poop Shoot.com, into a legitimate pop culture venture. I served as Editor-in-Chief on that site for forty-four months, wrote three weekly columns and have had the work on the site featured on CNN Headline News, Variety, USA Today, and the Hollywood Reporter, among other venues. Left there and headed to Scott Tipton's Comics101.com, where I've continued my weekly TV column, which is into its fourth year now.

I'm also a former advertising copywriter and speech writer for American Honda Motor Corporation. I once spent nine torturous months writing proposals for Dick Clark Communications, working with Stan Lee Media, among other ventures.

What I Do Outside of Work

I live in San Diego with my wife, 15-month-old daughter (Lucy), cat (Fletch), and iPod (Fluffy).

Comic Book Writing

Shaun of the Dead 1-4* (art by Zach Howard)
*2006 Spike-TV Scream Award nominee
30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales 5 – prose short story
George Romero's Land of the Dead 1-5* (art by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos)
*2006 Spike-TV Scream Award nominee
Masters of Horror 1-2 -- "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road”(art by Jeremy Haun)
Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show 1-12 (art by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos)
Doomed 1 – Richard Matheson’s “Blood Son”(art by Ashley Wood),* David J. Schow’s “Blood Rape of the Lust Ghouls” (art by Eduardo Barreto), Robert Bloch’s “The Final Performance” (art by Kristian Donaldson)
*2006 Eisner Award nominee
Doomed 2 – David J. Schow’s “Bagged” (art by Ashley Wood)
Doomed 3 – “Circle Seven” (prose)
Doomed 4 – "Twenty Years On" (prose)
Zombies vs. Robots 1-2 (art by Ashley Wood)
D’Airain Aventure 1-present – “Black Magick” (art by Ashley Wood) and “Zombies vs. Robots” (art by Ashley Wood)
Transformers: The Movie Prequel 1-4 (co-writer Simon Furman; art by Don Figueroa)
Gene Simmons House of Horror 1 - "Circle Seven"

Miscellani

IDW's Web site is http://www.idwpublishing.com

http://www.Comics101.com

chris@idwpublishing.com. But no, we're not open to any new creator-owned pitches right now...

Ain't It Cool News interview 11-06

Fractal Matters review of Shaun of the Dead #1

My interview with Clive Barker at Newsarama

The Great and Secret Show featured at Clive Barker's Revelations site

Broken Frontier's review of The Great and Secret Show #1

22Pages.com's review of The Great and Secret Show #1

Dread Central's review of The Great and Secret Show #1

Comic World News's review of The Great and Secret Show #1

Ain't It Cool News review of The Great and Secret Show 1-6

Newsarama.com review of The Great and Secret Show 1-6:
Catch-Up Pellet: The Great and Secret Show #1-5 (IDW; by Troy): Adapted from the novel by Clive Barker, TGASS does a great job of capturing the essence of that author’s pet themes of dark magic, sexuality, the potential price of pleasure, and the mutability of reality. Setting the action against the recurring theme of The Art, the first issue establishes a tone and backstory; the second issue advances that, but it’s not until later that we meet the star-crossed couple that stands at the story’s center. Really, this one’s got it all: if you like horror elements, people with amazing powers, building suspense, and plenty of twists, you’ll like this. Credit Chris Ryall for deft handling of a tough adaptation and truly spectacular art and colors by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos.

Gravy Boy's audio review of The Great and Secret Show

Broken Frontier's review of The Great and Secret Show #7

Ain't It Cool News review of Zombies Vs. Robots #1

Fractal Matters review of Zombies Vs. Robots #1

The DC Universe review of Zombies Vs. Robots #1

Broken Frontier review of Zombies Vs. Robots #1

JogLikesComics review of Zombies Vs. Robots #1

Zombies Vs. Robots #1 called "Best Zombie Comic You're Not Reading"

Fractal Matters review of Zombies Vs. Robots #2

Ain't It Cool News review of Zombies Vs. Robots #2

Talkin' Zombies vs Robots at The Pulse

Video clip of me on the 30 Days of Night movie set in New Zealand

Transformers Movie Prequel #1 reviewed at TF Archive.com

Transformers Movie Prequel #1 reviewed at Fractal Matter

Transformers Movie Prequel #1 reviewed at Siebertron.com

Interview with The Norman Transcript re: Transformers Movie Prequel

Transformers Movie Prequel #2 reviewed at Your Mom's Basement