US publisher BOOM! Studios has announced that it has promoted several key employees in the Marketing, Editorial, and Production Design teams, following a historic year in which the company launched the industry-breaking series premiere of Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR, due for release in collection in November.
The company also broke many of their previous series launch records with numerous new original series by highly acclaimed creators, earned nine Eisner Award nominations, continued to deliver industry leading on-time shipping (98%), and announced several live-action and animated projects in production, including R.L. Stine’s Just Beyond with Disney+ and Mech Cadets with Netflix, as well as the release of the supernatural horror film The Empty Man with Twentieth Century Studios.
The promotions include Michelle Ankley, has been promoted to Manager, Production Design. Michelle joined BOOM! Studios in 2014 and has been a critical force in the continued development and evolution of the company’s Production Design department, while contributing incredible design work to hit series including Something Is Killing The Children, Ronin Island, and BRZRKR.
Breanna Sarpy has been promoted to Marketing Lead, Digital. Breanna began as BOOM! Studios’ Executive Assistant in 2018, before moving to the Marketing team where she took on various aspects of BOOM! Studios’ digital marketing initiatives, including hosting the company’s digital video interview series, BOOM! Chat.
Sophie Philips-Roberts has been promoted to Editor. Since joining BOOM! Studios in 2016, Philips-Roberts has worked with BOOM! Box Senior Editor, Shannon Watters, on numerous award-winning, best-selling titles including Lumberjanes, Giant Days, Fence, The Backstagers, and many others.
Allyson Gronowitz has been promoted to Associate Editor. After interning with DC Comics, Allyson joined BOOM! Studios as an Assistant Editor in February 2019, and has been instrumental in the continued success of The Jim Henson Company publishing program.
Amanda Lawson has been promoted to Marketing Coordinator. Amanda joined BOOM! Studios at the end of 2018 as Marketing Assistant bringing with her experience in comic retail and has continued to expand her role to encompass all aspects of BOOM! Studios’ publicity and marketing.
In addition to these promotions, BOOM! Studios also recently hired Ryan Matsunaga, who’s joined as Director of Marketing. Previously, Ryan led marketing operations at Skybound Entertainment, where he oversaw campaigns across the company’s publishing, TV, gaming, events, and DTC initiatives. While there he also directed social media and digital strategy across Skybound’s diverse portfolio of IP, including The Walking Dead and Invincible.
Elizabeth Brei has also joined as an Editor, coming to BOOM! Studios from IDW Publishing, where she spent three years working as part of the editorial team. While at IDW, she edited original and licensed properties for Disney, Marvel, and Scholastic among others. She has launched series such as Marvel Action: Chillers, Sleeping Beauties, based on the novel by Stephen and Owen King, GLOW, based on the hit Netflix series, and the bestselling Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures as part of Lucasfilm’s High Republic publishing initiative.
Kathleen Wisneski has joined as an Editor, who was previously an editor at WEBTOON, leading a small editorial group focused on horror, thriller, and science fiction comics. Prior to that, from 2015 to 2020, she worked at Marvel Entertainment, assisting on a range of books in the Spidey-Office, eventually editing Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Saladin Ahmed and Javier Garrón and The Amazing Mary Jane by Leah Williams and Carlos Gomez.
Harley Salbacka has joined as Retail Sales Coordinator. Previously, Harley was Sales & Marketing Representative at Humanoids from 2018 to 2021 where she oversaw a variety of sales responsibilities. She also brings with her nearly four years in comics retail.
“It’s thanks to the dedication and hard work of our personnel that in the midst of global upheaval and industry-wide changes, BOOM! Studios has been able to share some incredible new stories with our readers and fans this past year. We’re very excited to acknowledge our team members’ contributions as well as welcome some brand new members to our team, ” said Filip Sablik, President of Publishing & Marketing, BOOM! Studios.
These promotions and new hires come after a historic year for BOOM! Studios which saw the launch of an array of new original series including BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, and Ron Garney; The Last Witch by Conor McCreery & V.V. Glass, Abbott: 1973 by Saladin Ahmed and Sami Kivela, Specter Inspectors by Bowen McCurdy & Kaitlyn Musto; ORCS! by Christine Larsen, Proctor Valley Road by Grant Morrison, Alex Child, and Naomi Franquiz; The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by Ram V and Filipe Andrade; Eve by Victor LaValle and Jo Mi-Gyeong; Basilisk by Cullen Bunn and Jonas Scharf, Save Yourself! by Bones Leopard, Kelly & Nichole Matthews, Good Luck by Matthew Erman and Stefano Simeone, Mamo by Sas Milledge, Dark Blood by LaToya Morgan and Walt Barna, and Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey and Pius Bak, as well the addition of worldwide pop culture phenomenon Magic: The Gathering to their exciting slate of fan-favourite properties.
BOOM! Studios was founded by Ross Richie in 2005, with the singular focus of creating world-class comic book and graphic novel storytelling for all audiences. Through the development of four distinct imprints – BOOM! Studios, BOOM! Box, KaBOOM!, and Archaia – BOOM! has produced award-winning original work, including Lumberjanes, The Woods, Giant Days, Klaus and Mouse Guard, while also breaking new ground with established licenses such as WWE, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Cartoon Network, and The Jim Henson Company properties. BOOM! Studios is also bringing their original series to life through a first-look relationship with Netflix.
• For continuing news on BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to www.boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comics, downthetubes Comics News, US Comics
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