My Secret Origin

If you work in the comics biz – if you’re a writer or artist, or a comics shop owner, or maybe a publisher – you might already know my name. But if you’re coming to newsletter just to see what it’s all about, well, let me tell you a little about myself over the first few releases before we dive into the business of marketing in the comics industry.

I grew up a die-hard comics fan, going from kiddie fare like Dennis the Menace to Archie Comics to Marvel to comic strips, underground comics, and beyond. I never lost interest in comics as a form, never took a break from buying comics, and I always loved discovering something new and exciting. Still do.

By the time I got to college I knew I loved to write about comics. I contributed a comics review column to my college newspaper, and before long had published a couple of articles in the Comics Journal. Thanks to my art school connections and fandom friends I’d made, I started writing for Marvel Age Magazine – and we’ll come back to that chapter of my career soon.

In November 1994 I joined the staff of DC Comics as their first (and, to date, only) copywriter. I was a member of the Creative Services department, writing ads and promotional text and managing projects for various departments. After attending a few conventions as part of DC’s formidable booth staff, I moved into the Sales and Marketing group. Before long I was getting to know the retailer community, attending the legendary RRP meetings, retailer roadshows, and the Top 10 meetings held at DC’s offices. My role at those meetings, aside from chatting with comic shop owners, was creating support materials: DC stuck with 35 millimeter slide shows way longer than was necessary, and I was more than happy to start building PowerPoints when I finally got the go-ahead. I wrote presentation scripts, ran A/V on site, delivered presentations, and lots more.

My most public legacy at DC was running the solicitations process, which changed over the years from sending text and art to Diamond Comic Distributors to, eventually, me creating layouts in InDesign for DC’s stand alone DC Connect catalog. What many people don’t know was that there was a job I did even at DC longer than solicitations: sending out weekly retailer emails about the latest news on new printings, shipping changes, corrections, etc. I still occasionally wake up on Tuesday thinking, “It’s newsletter day.”

I worked with distributors in both the comics shop and book markets, developed marketing plans and ordering incentives, and hosted Facebook live sessions for retailers. I planned, built, and presented well over 100 PowerPoints for panels at cons. There were some years at Comic-Con International: San Diego where I spent virtually the entire four full days of the show running from one panel to another. DC co-publisher Dan DiDio once said I was “the only person who could keep up with him” at a panel. (Dan never followed the running order he had agreed to – which kept me on my toes!)

I left DC in February 2021, and since then started up a marketing firm of my own for which this newsletter is named. A standing consulting gig with Dynamite Entertainment led to a full-time job there, mostly running their solicitations, and then the chance to flex some different muscles lured me to AWA Studios in 2023. I left AWA earlier this year…and while I may leave a particular job, I will never leave comics. Or, possibly, comics will never leave me.

I decided to launch this newsletter to talk about my life in comics. I’ll be writing about the business of marketing and selling comics, the wild experiences I’ve had (mostly good, some not so much), the friendships I’ve made, and yes, the comics I’ve read. We’ll start with a couple of episodes about my career, then get into some comics marketing basics.

Whether you’re a comics publishing professional, a writer or artist, a retailer or a fan, I think you’ll enjoy it!