Previously on Comics: Revolving Doors

Good morning. It’s been a few weeks since the last Previously On Comics! Apologies for that, I was once again writing about bad actors. Fortunately, having done that, I can keep it simple here.

The last few weeks have had some employee shakeups at a few comics companies. Let’s break them down by company:

VALIANT

EIC Warren Simons has stepped down after seven years in the position. Simons was hired on as part of Valiant’s new beginning in 2011, and he’s been a significant force in the tone and direction of their comics line since that time. His departure comes only a couple of months after Valiant’s purchase by DMG Entertainment and the departure of former Valiant CEO Dinesh Shamdasani, CFO Gavin Cueno, and chairman Peter Cuneo.

To balance out Simon’s departure, Valiant has also recently announced the hiring of Joseph P. Illidge as Executive Editor and Robert Meyers as Editorial Director. Which of those jobs, if either, are meant to replace the Editor In Chief position is unclear. Outside of the Editorial office, Valiant has also announced the advancements of Atom! Freeman to Vice President of Sales, Peter Stern to Director of International Publishing and Merchandising, Victoria McNally to Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, and Annie Rosa to Operations Manager.

LION FORGE

Lion Forge has had quite a lot of personnel news lately—our own former WWAC contributor Desiree Rodriguez was part of a crop of new editorial hires in late 2017, and the aforementioned Joseph P. Illidge departed a Senior Editor role at the company prior to being hired on at Valiant. The most recent changes now are co-founders Carl Reed and David Steward II stepping into editorial shoes as they oversee the new Catalyst Prime family of titles.

And Elsewhere

Moving out of hirings and departures, or I suppose tangentially staying on the same, indie creators Der-Shing Helmer and Taneka Stotts have founded Ascend Comics! Both have a reputation for really well-made indie works, so it’ll be exciting to see what the newly minted publisher does.

To really step out of hirings, the New York Times recently won a Pulitzer for an editorial cartoon! This is a great thing, and the award is going to an excellent cartoon with significant political relevance. It also highlights that the NYT is perfectly happy to reap the benefits of cartooning without actually hiring (I told you we were stepping out of hirings, we’ve stepped in to ‘active refusals to hire’) any cartoonists:

In other news, artist and Transmetropolitan co-creator Darick Robertson discovered that Society 6 user “Craggle” was selling illegal reproductions of his art on the website. Society 6 ostensibly exists as a means of allowing independent creators to sell products featuring their work—shirts, mugs, prints, etcetera—but in practice enables precisely this kind of art theft.

It was an infuriating exercise for Roberts, who went for three rounds with the website’s complaint form and even involved DC Comics’ legal team before a Society6 employee noticed his complaints about the issue on Twitter and immediately escalated it up the chain. Score another one for the weird customer service niche of social media?

Less infuriating is the story of Japanese cartoonist Nanae Yamano, who after gaining viral fame doing fan cartoons for the NBA team Oklahoma City Thunder, was flown out by the NBA to watch the team first hand. She also met OKC Mayor David F. Holt in a great example of outreach by both the NBA and the city. It’s a sweet story, and a lovely thing to start your week on.

Also sweet: Newspaper strip Nancy has its first female creator, as Olivia Jaimes takes over from Guy Gilchrist after his departure last February. Jaimes has already put quite the modern spin on the character, bringing her up to date with the times whilst keeping the strip’s signature style intact. Go check it out!

Finally, some quick hits:

  • IDW’s Sonic The Hedgehog #1 sold out of its first printing and its second, living up to the blue guy’s penchant for going fast. Issues two and three have also sold out first printings.
  • IDW has also tapped Spider-Man zinester Hannah Blumenreich to write a Big Hero 6 comic based on the Disney film adapted from the Marvel comic, another move in Disney’s fascinating practice of farming licensed comics out to other publishers instead of using that small comics company they bought a few years ago.
  • Lion Forge has also announced a second printing, this time of the Puerto Rico Strong anthology. They’ve also announced they’ll be matching 50,000 in profits to contribute to United Way’s relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
  • Jen Wang’s graphic novel The Prince and the Dressmaker has been picked up for a movie by Universal Pictures!
  • Are you a user of eManga? Better get on there and back your stuff up!
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Nola Pfau

Nola Pfau

Nola is a bad influence. She can be found on twitter at @nolapfau, where she's usually making bad (really, absolutely terrible) jokes and occasionally sharing adorable pictures of her dog.

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