Comic Book Jobs: Random House, IGN and Blizzard

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Lots of good jobs out there this week, for those interested in the manga, the MMOs and the internets. Let’s check ‘em out:

Random House is looking for a Production Manager who can “handle all aspects of production, pre-press, and manufacturing related to manga titles.” This means “estimating, schedule generation and adherence, working with various groups including editors, designers, and compositors, routing, maintaining production specifications in an enterprise system, and resolving quality issues as needed.”

You need at least 5 years experience in trade book production, and preferably some manga or comics experience. If you’re one of those DC people getting downsized, please note that Random House is in New York.

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for a Franchise Development Producer which sounds like one of the coolest jobs ever. You’ll be tasked with creating “brand-extending merchandise for the next-gen MMO franchise, including: “Books / Novels, Action figures, Comics, Short movies and Apparel.” Have you clicked the link yet?

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British Comics: Graphic Short Story Competition!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

It sounds like some sort of awesome comic book team-up: Jonathan Cape, which is a publishing division of still-a-powerhouse Random House, the Comica Festival and England’s Observer newspaper (the sister paper to the Guardian) have joined forces to launch The Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Competition.

If you’ve dreamed of being published, if you’re already published but want a wider audience, or if you’ve just got something to say in comic strip form, this is your chance. They’re looking for an original 4-page comic strip that’s not been published anywhere before. Personal, introspective altcomics will probably do better here than your super-hero extravaganza, but that’s up to you to decide.

Alas, this British comics contest is not open to any former British colonies, just residents of Great Britain and Ireland, but still, this is a big chance for someone to score. The winning entry will receive £1,000 (which is around $1500US) and be published in the Observer Review, which is not a bad audience to tap into. Careers have been built on far less.

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Weekend Reading: Iron Man, Geek Chic, Chip and Dale and I Love Lucey

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

Lots of good stuff going on as we slide into the weekend. We’ve got Iron Man, Archie Comics, Douglas Adams’ Monty Python connection, Chip and Dale and tons more.

Let’s start with my pal Bob Greenberger, the noted comic book writer, novelist, tie-in writer, and a guy who actually knows how to make a physical comic book/graphic novel (all that production/printing/binding/press run/distribution stuff). He has a new book out. Iron Man: Femme Fatales has just been published by Del Rey and it should keep fans happy post-Iron Man I movie and pre-Iron Man II movie. Bob happily blogs about it at his website where he reposts this nice review. I haven’t read the book yet, but I snapped up a copy off the rack at Wal-Mart to feed a little royalty money Bob’s way. I also reshelved the remaining copies to give Bob a better display. That’s how I roll, people.

Harry Lucey: The animator John Kricfalusi has a nice gallery of great Lucey covers from assorted Archie titles at his blog. The covers are absolutely stunning in their simplicity. There’s a “Get Off My Lawn!” part of my brain that wishes the books still looked like this.

Geek Chic Daily: Nikki Finke has a few details about the Hollywood playas lining up behind Gareb Shamus’ new online presence.

George Tuska: Marvel and DC artist George Tuska, so prominent in the comics of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s has passed away at 93. Mark Evanier has a nice look at Tuska’s career. Here’s a real nice original art page by Tuska—no superheroes, just guns, gangsters, street scenes and a hot girl in a bikini. He was from the generation of comic artists who all knew how to draw people, horses, cars, the folds of clothing, and characters in hats who could still make a guy in an iron suit seem believable.

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