Jennifer de Guzman
Jennifer de Guzman to handle PR and marketing at Image
Jennifer de Guzman
As we reported this morning, longtime editor-in-chief Jennifer de Guzman left SLG Publishing Friday after 10 years with the company. It’s now known that she began work today as Image Comics’ new PR and marketing coordinator.
Sarah deLaine, who was promoted to that position a year ago, has been named Image’s event coordinator.
“My decade [at] SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere,” de Guzman wrote on her blog. “I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)
An award-winning writer who contributes graphic novel reviews and articles to Publishers Weekly Comics Week, de Guzman was named Friends of Lulu’s 2006 Woman of Distinction. She and husband Brian Belew also collaborated on a series of comics/columns for Robot 6 in 2009.
- January 17, 2012 @ 02:00 PM by Kevin Melrose
Comics A.M. | De Guzman leaves SLG, Powell joins Diamond
Jennifer de Guzman
Publishing | Jennifer de Guzman announced that, after 10 years, she has left her position as editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing: “My decade SLG was, I suspect, like no other decade anyone has spent working anywhere. I had great co-workers and got to work with fantastic creators, all of whom I will miss very much. (Though because this is comics and a community like no other, we will always stay in contact.)” [Possible Impossibilities]
Retailing | Chris Powell, current general manager and chief relationship officer for Texas-based comic chain Lone Star Comics, has accepted the newly created position of executive director of business development for Diamond Comic Distributors. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund board member will start his new position in March. [ICv2]
- January 17, 2012 @ 06:55 AM by JK Parkin
Incoming | A roundup of publishing news
It seems like my Google Reader and email box are getting full, so here’s a quick roundup of several new and new-ish announcements and information about upcoming comics and graphic novels.
The Twelve
• Marvel has announced plans to finally release the last few issues of The Twelve, starting in January. “It’s taken a long while, but finally, FINALLY, the balance of The Twelve has been completed and we’re ready to ship it all to our long-suffering fans,” said Tom Brevoort, senior vice president and execuitve editor. “We appreciate everybody’s patience, and both hope and expect that the conclusion will live up to the wait. And for folks who missed out the first time, we’re making it easy to get back on board no matter how much or how little of the previous eight issues you may have already read, though the release of the softcover trade paperback of the first six issues, and a Marvel Must-Have containing #7 and #8. So you’ve got no excuse not to experience one of the best reviewed, best beloved and long-awaited series Marvel has ever produced as it reaches its ultimate climax.”
• Fantagraphics has released their publishing catalog for Spring/Summer 2012, which includes their first two EC Comics collections, Gary Panter’s Dal Tokyo, more manga from Shimura Takako and Moto Hagio, and new volumes of Peanuts, Mickey Mouse, Carl Barks, Captain Easy, among others. The full catalog is available as a PDF.
- November 8, 2011 @ 11:00 AM by JK Parkin
Talking Comics with Tim: A Friendly Game Creators
A Friendly Game
SLG Publishing‘s booth at SDCC [Booth #1815, right next to DC Comics] is going to be extremely busy this year with a number of SLG creators making appearances. Three first-time graphic novelists, Joe Pimienta, Lindsay Hornsby, and Lauren Affe, will be debuting their book, A Friendly Game, at SDCC–and will be at the SLG booth as well. The book (which SLG gave a 10-page preview here) is described as follows: “Friends play many kinds of games with each other: cops and robbers, checkers, tag. The best of friends will make up their own games. Todd and Kevin’s friendship is built on such a game. However, the rules and premise are far from the typical childhood games. A dispute amongst the two splits them into very different directions: one sees the game for the cruel act that it is, while the other decides it must move to the next level. Imagine No Country for Old Men crossed with Lord of the Flies, or even imagine if Johnny the Homicidal Maniac were once a little kid. There you have a Friendly Game.” Thanks to assistance from SLG’s Dan Vado and Jennifer de Guzman, I was able to email interview all three characters. If you’re at SDCC, be sure to check this book out while you’re there–and even if you’re not, once you read the preview–SLG’s made it quite convenient for you to order the book. It was a pleasure to interview the three creators and I hope this is the first of many times we’ll be seeing their names in years to come.
Tim O’Shea: Did the idea for this story find its start at Savannah College of Art and Design ([SCAD] where all three of you attended)?
Joe Pimienta: Yes. It originally started as an 8-page story I did for scripting class. But part of the assignment was to have drawn pages and character designs, so, I asked Lindsay to do that. Once I finished the assignment, I put it away and didn’t think about it until 6 months later when Lindsay took advanced scripting and asked me if we could develop the story more. I was surprised, since the subject matter was so different from what she normally does. We talked about a bigger story arc, making my short story only the first pages for the final story arc. It wasn’t until senior project, 2 years later, that we actually started drawing pages for it.
- July 21, 2010 @ 01:00 PM by Tim O'Shea
Congratulations to Jennifer de Guzman and Brian Belew
Mateo Bernard de Guzman Belew
Congratulations to SLG Publishing’s Jennifer de Guzman and her husband Brian Belew on the birth of Mateo Bernard de Guzman Belew, who was born on Jan. 15. “Brian and I are in enchanted with him,” Jennifer wrote on her LiveJournal.
- January 18, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by JK Parkin
SDCC ’09 | Autographs, sketchbooks and a free T-shirt
San Diego Comic Con starts next Wednesday. NEXT WEDNESDAY. So catch on your sleep before then. But before you tuck yourself in, drop me an email and let me know what you have going on at the con, so I can post it right here.
I’ve got a lot of stuff in my in-box, so expect these updates to become a little more frequent between now and next week.
Free T-shirts | Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth will be giving away 50 T-shirts for Stumptown, their long-awaited series from Oni that was announced, I think, two years ago at the con. They’ll be giving them away at the Oni panel on Thursday.
Autographs | The SDCC has released their official auotgraph area schedule, which includes signings by James Jean, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, Adam West, Hope Larson, Thomas Jane, the Honky Tonk Man and many more.
Anime | The con folks have also posted the schedule for anime screenings, which they’ll be showing late into the night.
- July 15, 2009 @ 09:58 AM by JK Parkin
Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now: Happy Father’s Day!
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
It’s a day late, but I’m sure my dad wouldn’t have minded. He was very forgiving when it came to his little girl. Yesterday marked the sixth Father’s Day I spent without my dad, and it was as hard as ever. But I take a lot of solace in memories of him, and among them is the important role his influence had on my pop culture education.
My dad and I spent many an afternoon sharing a bowl of Cheez-Its and watching kung fu movies. As always, I was drawn to the glamorous young women in gorgeous costumes — who could hold their own in a rumble with the rival kung fu school! And there will always be something iconic for me about crazy old men in trees and the nefarious sifu who meditated on beds of nails. My dad was a sifu, a kung fu teacher, himself (among my memorbilia of him are two spears and a photograph of him breaking a cinderblock with his fist) but, alas, I never learned much beyond ma from him, to my everlasting regret.
Kung fu fiction is called wuxia in China and includes prose, movies, and comics. I saw a few wuxia graphic novels in Shanghai when I was there three years ago, but I didn’t by them, also to my regret. If anyone knows of good kung fu comics available in the U.S., please recommend them to me here!
Happy (belated) Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Share what you love with your daughters, even if you think they won’t like it because it’s not tea parties and princesses. They love all the attention and time they can get from their dads. I know I did.
- June 22, 2009 @ 11:24 AM by Jennifer de Guzman
Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now 2.2
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Yes, of course I know now that his name is Sven and he’s not Mexican, but when I was seven, I wouldn’t have questioned anything my cousin Greg told me about Voltron. He was the one who introduced me to it in the first place and was my ambassador to shape-changing robots, evil fish-headed Kings and courageous princesses.
Eventually, my older cousin Marisol claimed the role of Princess Allura, Greg came around to the idea that being daredevil Lance was better than being Sven, and I took the role of Princess Romelle, who didn’t pilot a lion but did lead a rebellion against Prince Lotor — plus, she had horses. So it all worked out.
Those old Voltron cartoons are silly and simple to me now (though still hold a lot of nostalgic appeal), but they inspired my cousins and me, in our make-believe games, to re-enact and invent stories involving teamwork and bravery — and a little melodrama. Voltron has since become a comic published by Devil’s Due, but, honestly, I don’t think anything can compare to the Voltron stories my cousins and I made up in our family rooms and backyards.
And my cousin Greg? He’s the one who became the real pilot. He’s a captain in the Air Force and currently serving in Iraq, where he’s helping to train the Iraqi Army. This Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now is dedicated to him.
- May 9, 2009 @ 12:24 PM by Jennifer de Guzman
Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now 2.1
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 2.1
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Welcome to the new “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now,” re-vamped for Robot 6! After the craziness that was the female superhero discussion last month, I started to think about what shapes our tastes as comics readers. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, so I’m going to use the next few months to explore what the pop culture obsessions I’ve had throughout my life have shaped who I am.
I wrote about my love for Wonder Woman as a little girl in my Publishers Weekly column last month, but and while I addressed what her shortcomings are for me now that I’m an adult, I didn’t write about why I idolized her when I was four.
The reasons are not very complicated and, to be honest, fall pretty squarely in “Things That Make My Husband* Say ‘You’re Such a Girl’”:
1. Wonder Woman has dark hair. (Like me!)
2. Wonder Woman is beautiful and glamorous.
3. Wonder Woman wears a sparkly outfit while she runs around fighting bad guys.
There was one point in the otherwise illogical and ill-argued opinion piece that sparked the discussion that I can agree with: That it is not right to devalue what are generally considered to be feminine traits or tastes. And it seems that I had “typical” little girl tastes for glamor and glitter.
But at the time I was watching Wonder Woman re-runs and re-purposing a jump rope as a golden lasso, there was no shortage of dark-haired, glamorous women in sparkly outfits on television. What made Wonder Woman special is that she was a superheroine. Beauty is fleeting — but a woman who inspires fear and awe in bad guys? She’s something that ignites a little girl’s imagination.
*Brian Belew, also my artist.
- February 3, 2009 @ 01:01 PM by Jennifer de Guzman