Tom King is a leading DC Comics writer, authoring ongoing series such as Mister Miracle and Batman, after rising to prominence via work such The Omega Men – and he's now revealed he once worked as a counter-terrorism officer for the US Central Intelligence Agency. He's far from the first former spy to make the leap into the entertainment industry.
King made his admission on NBC program Late Night With Seth Meyers. Meyers, a long-time comic fan who frequently invites creators onto his show, asked the Batman braintrust if he also did comic book work wile employed by the CIA.
King confirmed he did, and even suggested there was an “odd benefit” to being a comic book “nerd” on sensitive missions, such as when he needed to enter other countries without alerting national authorities to his espionage activities.
“Most of my colleagues, bless them, wore suits, looked very much like James Bond. I would always cross [borders] as the super nerd comic book writer. I'd go on an airplane, spill on myself, read comic books, I'd have graphic novels with me. I'd basically be me, and they'd be like ‘That guy could not ever be CIA. Let him in, please. No, he could do no damage to anything!'” King boasted.
Career Change
King may go down in history as the first comic book author to have a CIA past — but the ranks of many other fields of entertainment the world over are crammed with former spies, and long have been. For instance, Joseph…
