Alan Zelenetz

American film producer

Alan Zelenetz
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Writer

Alan Zelenetz is an American film producer and comic-book writer best known for co-creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics and a founder of Ovie Entertainment. Zelenetz also wrote several issues of Marvel's Moon Knight series, several issues of Thor and a run of Conan the King (issues #16–28).

Biography

Before becoming a film producer, he was a junior high school principal at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, an Orthodox Jewish school in Brooklyn, and Solomon Schechter High School of New York.^[1] One of the science teachers under his supervision was the father of Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi (1998) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).

Alan Zelenetz quit his job as a high school principal and worked his way through a position at Marvel. He did some volunteer proofreading work for a while, and then started to write for Thor, Conan the Barbarian, and Moon Knight. For Moon Knight, he introduced the Jewish identity of the character in the storyline.^[1] In 1982, in Thor Annual #10, Zelenetz introduced the first Nigerian hero, Shango (recruited by Thor to confront Demogorge), in the history of Marvel.^[2]

While working for Marvel Comics, Zelenetz was the main author and researcher for The Official Handbook of the Conan Universe,^[3] a guide to the Hyborian Age, the fictional setting of the Conan the Barbarian stories.

He is also director of ICI, the Institute for Curricular Initiatives in New York City.^[4]

Selected filmography

Pi (1998) (Judaica advisor)
Darkon (2006) (producer, executive producer;)
The Funeral Party (2007) (co-producer)
Andorra scheduled in (2007) (producer)

Selected comics bibliography

Alien Legion (1984) #1-20
Alien Legion (1987) #1
Amazing High Adventure #4
The Avengers vol. 1 #224
Bizarre Adventures #32
Conan the Barbarian #145
Conan the King #20-27
Epic Illustrated #30
Official Handbook of the Conan Universe
King Conan #16-19
Kull the Conqueror #1-10
Kull the Vale of Shadow
Marvel Age Annual #1
Marvel Fanfare vol. 1 #13, #34-37
Marvel Graphic Novel #15, #25
Master of Kung Fu vol. 1 #123-125
Moon Knight vol. 1 #18, #21–22, #27, #32 (backup stories); #36-38 (main stories)
Moon Knight vol. 2 #1-4
The Savage Sword of Conan #83, #86, #88, #95
Thor vol. 1 #329–336, Annual #10-13
What If? vol. 1 #35, #39, #41

References

^ ^a ^b PJ Grisar (February 23, 2022). "He made Moon Knight Jewish. He doesn't care if Disney+ has other ideas". Forward.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
^ "Nigerian Characters in the Marvel universe". Bookshy. August 2017. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
^ The Official Handbook of the Conan Universe Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, as mentioned in Comicvine
^ "Born in Another Time". Jewishideas.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2022.