John Wooley
Writer, Tulsa and Foyil
John Wooley is best known as a newspaper entertainment writer and critic and as the author of seventeen books and four movies, but he also successfully worked for years as a writer of comic books.
In the independent comics field, he created or co-created such titles as The Twilight Avenger, The Miracle Squad, The Uncanny Man-Frog, Plan Nine from Outer Space: 30 Years Later, and Tor Johnson: Hollywood Star. Perhaps his best-known work in comics was the script for the graphic-novel adaptation of Edward D. Wood’s Plan Nine from Outer Space.
His books include Ghost Band; From the Blue Devils to Red Dirt: The Colors of Oklahoma Music, one of only three books commissioned by the Oklahoma Centennial Committee; the vampire-televangelist tale Awash in the Blood; and Voices from the Hill, the first book-length history of the Oklahoma Military Academy.
Wooley’s earlier horror-fantasy tale, Dark Within, was a finalist for the 2001 Oklahoma Book Award for Best Novel, and his first, Old Fears, co-written with fellow newspaper writer Ron Wolfe, was optioned by both Wes Craven and Paramount Pictures.
John’s own movie credits include scripting the made-for-TV feature Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective (aka The Raven Red Kiss-Off) with Marc Singer and Tracy Scoggins; the award-winning independent film Cafe Purgatory; Hauntings Across America (narrated by Michael Dorn); and Still Swingin’, a full-length musical documentary which he also associate-produced. Originally released internationally by VCI in 1994, an enhanced DVD version was issued in 2005, the 100th anniversary of Bob Wills’s birth.
He jointly edited Thrilling Detective Heroes with John Locke, and he and Michael H. Price have collaborated on several movie-related projects, including the acclaimed Forgotten Horrors book series. Their most recent effort is the Big Book of Biker Flicks, one of HAWK Publishing Group’s top-selling titles, as well as the ongoing “Forgotten Horrors” column in Fangoria, the world’s No. 1 horror magazine.
His resume also includes writing trading cards, press biographies, album liner notes, and thousands of magazine and newspaper stories, most of them in conjunction with his work as the music and horror-movie writer for the Tulsa World, a position he held from 1983 through most of 2006.
Wooley also is the producer and host of the highly rated “Swing on This,” Tulsa’s only western-swing radio program, heard every Saturday night on NPR affiliate KWGS (89.5 FM).
As a result of his efforts on behalf of his state’s music and musical figures, he became, in 2003, the first writer to be inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Wooley lives in rural Foyil, Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He was born in St. Paul.
Biography courtesy of The Toy & Action Figure Museum, Pauls Valley, Oklahoma