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Masterpiece ComicsIs The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art the smartest kid in class? Their fall education programs make me want to hit Hotwire for a cheap flight to NYC and spend a few months with a laptop and some pencils.

My old friend Danny Fingeroth, the Senior VP of Education for MoCCA, gets a tip of my cap for putting together an excellent slate of programs.

Here’s a peek at the list:

Robert Sikoryak and Kriota Willberg are teaching “Anatomy For Cartoonists Workshop” (4 sessions). “This course will teach students how to create real or imaginary characters — in any style — that are consistent and believable.” Bonus: “nude models will be employed.” Nude models should never be unemployed, even in a recession.

Sikoryak is the author of the recently released Masterpiece Comics and his work appears frequently on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Kriota Willberg teaches anatomy for cartoonists and illustrators at The Center For Cartoon Studies.

Click to continue reading MoCCA: Paul Levitz, Stephen DeStefano, Robert Sikoryak


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Spider-Man MovieDigital comics are here to stay, and publishers who avoid them or fear them will lose to them. To that end, Disney’s Marvel Comics is looking for a Senior Producer/Product Manager for Marvel.com.

This “creative and highly motivated” person will “oversee day-to-day production of Marvel.com and to help define and manage the evolution of our Digital Comics products.”

Your responsibilities include a lot of buzzwords like “end users,” “stakeholders,” and “pipelines,” but you’ll basically be growing Marvel’s digital business – developing plans, implementing new programs, and rolling out new features and support for new products.

You’ll also get to monitor trends and news in “the digital comics space” (which I believe is also called “the internet”), collect feedback, conduct research, grow subscriptions and increase ad revenue.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Marvel.com


Kamandi 1Happy Birthday to Jack Kirby, who was born 93 years ago and who I think is the greatest creator of comic books ever. I just love his stuff. If you want to know more about Jack the man, Mark Evanier has a bunch of great stuff about him that’s well worth your time.

If you want some visual proof of Kirby’s greatness, Tom Spurgeon at The Comics Reporter has assembled a fantastic array.

If you want to read some of the classic monster stories that Kirby illustrated, the Monster Blog has a selection of 39 of them that have yet to be reprinted.

I met Kirby only once, at the San Diego Comic Con years ago, so I don’t have any personal anecdotes to share since all I did was shake his hand and burble something inconsequential. My pal Dave Olbrich, back when he was the publisher of Malibu Comics, was an occasional guest in the Kirby house - Malibu’s offices were in the same town as the Kirbys. I was too nervous to try to tag along. I love re-reading Kirby’s long run on Marvel Comics’ The Fantastic Four - it starts slow and builds to greatness. But I really like his stuff for DC Comics in the 1970s - his Fourth World books, especially Mister Miracle and, yes, Jimmy Olsen. Kirby’s the only creator who’s made that cub reporter interesting. I also love Kamandi and The Demon.

In the discussion and debate over Kirby’s many inkers, I go Joe Sinnott #1 and Mike Royer #2.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

[Artwork: The cover to Kamandi #1, by Jack Kirby, © DC Entertainment.]


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Spider-Man CakeWhat do you like on your pizza? Pepperoni? Mushrooms? Spider-Man?

DecoPac, one of the leading cake decorating companies, already has a deal with Marvel Entertainment for cake toppers featuring Marvel Comics characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man and more.

And following a Direct Market tradition, the company has even created a series of limited edition cake decorations.

Click to continue reading Marvel Team-Up: Comics + Pizza


Batman & RobinIf you want to break into comics via by following the traditional corporate path instead of freelancing, you might try your luck at being an intern.

There’s usually no money involved, you can get some college credit and you’ll be doing important comic book work like getting coffee for the office or picking up someone’s dry cleaning.

But you’ll get to see how a comic book company works from inside its cubicles and that will either thrill you or horrify you. Companies often hire from their old intern pool when staff jobs become available so this is also a way in, should you do a good job, impress the heck out of the right people, and network like all those books tell you.

Viz Media, the San Franciso-based manga and anime company has a 2010 Fall Internship Program bursting with part-time opportunity in a number of departments: Animation Production, Design, Editorial, Information Technology, Licensing, Magazines, PR & Marketing, and Sales & Retail Development.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Marvel, Viz, Tokyopop and Time Warner Interns


Depression Era Job SeekerI love checking out Craigslist. It’s like channel-surfing with classified ads. You can always find interesting things, and before you know it, several hours of your day have vanished. Let’s see what comic book jobs are out there:

In New York, A.P.N.G. Enterprises has a “bold comic book series” called New-Gen, which they’re rolling out “for multiple platforms including movies, TV, video games and of course more comics, distributed by Marvel.”

And they need a couple of interns for three-months, rewarded with college credit. Specifically, they want “people who know and have a passion for comic books and science fiction to help us get the word out about the world of New-Gen.”

If you’re up on the social media apps, and aren’t afraid to go old-school by handing out fliers or working their booth at the New York Comic Con in October, poke your resume over there.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Checking Out Craigslist


Manhattan Beach VolleyballMarvel Studios, the entertainment (think TV, movie, online) division of Marvel Comics which is itself a division of the vast Disney empire, is hiring yet again. They’re looking for a Digital Distribution Manager which sounds very now. I smell an iPad in your future if you get this job.

As DDM, you’ll be responsible for managing “numerous aspects of Marvel Entertainment’s digital distribution and will report directly to the Vice President, Games & Digital Distribution.”

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Who’s Hiring? Marvel Studios (Again)!


Scott Pilgrim 2I can’t believe the Spider-Man musical will hit Broadway on December 21. Are there really enough little old ladies who want to take the bus in from Long Island on a Wednesday afternoon to see an all-singing, all-dancing super-hero? That’s quite a bit different from Starlight Express and Cats, right? My prediction: It’ll close before the Tonys are announced, but then a touring version will criss-cross America for years with Jake Lloyd, Mischa Barton, Gabe Kaplan and Angela Lansbury in key roles.

Now let’s see what else is going on:

Scott Pilgrim I: Over at John Scalzi’s Whatever, guest blogger John Anderson bows down before the triumph that is Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World.

Scott Pilgrim II: The Early Word takes a look at how a comic book movie adaptation might help sales of said comic and then delivers a slap to the way DC Comics handles itself. “However, those intrigued by the Green Lantern movie are unlikely to be engaged by the continuity-heavy, you-must-buy-every-single-collection tale like Blackest Night. The folks buying Blackest Night? They are already Green Lantern comics fans.”

Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Breyfogle, Ellis, Craven, and Spider-Man Sings!


Sub-MarinerMarvel Comics continues to make the hiring news with two new positions opening up. Since DC Comics hasn’t posted a new job listing in weeks, Marvel would seem to be the only major company that’s still located in Manhattan that’s in a hiring phase. Make of that what you will.

First up, the House of Ideas needs a Project Manager in Promotions that sounds like a lot of fun. You’ll get to “oversee and manage all aspects of a robust co-promotional program with worldwide partners including television, print media, premiums, digital and online content and promotional campaigns.”

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Who’s Hiring? Marvel Comics


SuperHero Squad HulkMarvel Studios is at it again. This is at least their third job listing in two weeks. Either people are leaving – which seems doubtful – or they’re growing, which given the number of movie and TV projects they have in development and production seems the more likely explanation.

Marvel Studios, the entertainment entity of Marvel Comics and part of the overall Disney Empire is looking for a Senior Accountant for their Manhattan Beach, CA office.

The successful employee will be “focusing on the corporate side of the business (as opposed to our one accountant who is dedicated to supporting productions) based in LA supporting NY based accounting efforts and LA based tracking and analytical efforts.” Whew!

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Who’s Hiring? Marvel And Electronic Arts


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