Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, J. M. DeMatteis was a professional musician and rock music journalist before entering the comic book field. DeMatteis has written almost all of the major DC and Marvel icons — including memorable runs on Spider-Man (his classic 'Kraven’s Last Hunt' was voted number one in a 2012 Comic Book Resources poll of Spider-Man stories and number twelve in a 2017 CBR poll of the greatest comic book stories of all time. The Hollywood Reporter called KLH 'perhaps the greatest Spider-Man standalone story' and Justice League winning DeMatteis and his collaborators, Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire, comics’ highest honor, the Eisner Award.