Craig Titley can sometimes be seen taking his Marvel superheroes lunch box to work.
For a grown man, that might seem a bit unusual.
But for a writer and producer of a television show based on Marvel Comics, it’s just a typical day at the office.
Throughout his life, the Mattoon native has held onto his love of superheroes.
“I’ve always loved superheroes and still do,” said the self-proclaimed “dreamer” who may have landed his dream job as a consulting producer and writer on ABC’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
The TV series is based on the Marvel Comics’ organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division), a spy agency trying to keep the peace in a supernatural world.
“Growing up, I was always reading Marvel comic books,” Titley said from his home in California. “They’ve been such a big part of my life, my whole life.
“Comic books are probably the most important thing that shaped me. They shaped me as a thinker, reader, dreamer, imaginer — all those things came from comic books.”
Titley even credits comic books for leading him to his English major and his Ph.D. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University with degrees in English and business. He earned a master’s degree in motion picture producing from the University of Southern California in 1991 and is working on a doctorate in mythological studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute.
