John Ostrander (born April 20, 1949[1]) is an American writer of comic books, including Suicide Squad, Grimjack and Star Wars: Legacy.

[5] Ostrander made his DC Comics debut by plotting the miniseries Legends, which was scripted by Len Wein and penciled by John Byrne.

Following Legends, Ostrander and artist Luke McDonnell launched the Suicide Squad into their own title in 1987[8] and developed several characters for the series.

[11] From 1987 until her death from breast cancer in 1997, Ostrander frequently co-wrote with his wife Kim Yale including on the Manhunter series.

[13] Ostrander's in-depth explorations of morality were used in his work writing The Spectre,[14] a DC Comics series about the manifestation of the wrath of God.

His focus on the character's human aspect, a dead police detective from the 1930s named Jim Corrigan, and his exploration of moral and theological themes.

[4] An unreleased Doctor Who audio drama titled "Deadman's Hand" was written by Ostrander for Big Finish Productions.

[9] Ostrander maintains an online presence on the World Famous Comics Network[23] and writes a weekly column on the ComicMix site.