Charles Kochman was recently named Executive Editor of Abrams ComicArts, a new imprint at Harry N. Abrams.  The publisher rewarded Kochman with the promotion and imprint in recognition of his successful efforts to celebrate comic books and graphic storytelling with best-selling books.  Kochman, a former book editor at DC Comics, joined Abrams several years back and has published a wide variety works that have garnered reviews and award nominations starting with Mom’s Cancer. His Diary of a Wimpy Kid has earned a place atop The New York Times best seller list and merited national acclaim.

Recently, Kochman sat dfown with ComicMix to review his career and where things are headed next.

CMix: How did you first get involved with publishing?

Charles Kochman: After an internship at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, my first paid job in publishing was at PlayValue Books, the licensing division of the Putnam Publishing Group. I started there right after graduation from Brooklyn College, in July 1985, working with my mentor and now friend Michael Teitelbaum. Everything I know about editing, and being an editor, I learned working at his side. Besides being a great guy, Mike and I shared a lot of common interests in music and movies and comics. Together we created a modest publishing program for our parent company, MCA Universal.

The first book I edited with Mike was a Back to the Future movie storybook, adapted by Bob Fleming. In addition, we published books on licenses like Photon, The Bionic Six, and An American Tale. I also got to write many coloring and activity books, including ones on dinosaurs, unicorns, and the Universal monsters. It was good training. The dinosaurs coloring book actually hit the B. Dalton bestseller list for some reason, which shocked all of us, including our president. I still have the note he sent me where he wrote “Holy shit! Bravo!” on a copy of the list.

After PlayValue I worked at Bantam Doubleday Dell [from 1987–93], where I edited the Choose Your Own Adventure series. There I also edited books with LucasFilm on Star Wars and Young Indiana Jones, Encyclopedia Brown, and a great karate series called Dojo Rats. Given the complexity of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which I edited on a monthly schedule for five years, I got to sharpen my editorial skills in a way that I otherwise couldn’t have had I been working on other less “interactive” titles. The books were also successful, so it raised my profile in the industry, attracting the attention of some executives at DC Comics.
(more…)

Philadelphia’s Institute of Contemporary Art has opened an exhibit, "R. Crumb’s Underground", running through December 7.  As a part of ICA’s Comics, Animation and Graphic Novels at Penn – A Year-Long Celebration, the exhibit chronicles Crumb’s work from the pioneering early days of Underground Comix through his more modern works of art.

The 100+ works of art were originally selected and organized by Todd Hignite, the publisher and editor of Comic Art magazine in 2007 for San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts before coming east.

The retrospective was reviewed by The New York Timeswhich noted, “Whatever the aesthetic and formal attractions of his work, Mr. Crumb’s penchant for barging past the limits of good taste and political correctness into psychologically juicy and dangerously complicated territory is still the main draw. His most amazingly provocative creation is Angelfood McSpade, a young, inky black, big-breasted African woman in a palm leaf skirt who was inspired by racist caricatures of the ’20s and ’30s. Sweet-tempered and dimwitted, the long-suffering Angelfood is subjected to all kinds of sexual abuse in various episodes Mr. Crumb has drawn. In one hilarious strip in the exhibition she is abducted and molested by aliens in a U.F.O.”

The review also recommends visitors allot up to three hours to properly take in the exhibit. Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street, Philadelphia; (215) 898-7108.

Greg Berlanti is rapidly getting busier in Hollywood.  In addition to his work with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green on the screenplay to the Green Lantern feature film, he’s been working on the second season of ABC’s Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money and third season of Brothers & Sisters, all of which debut later this month. Variety reports that he must have a spare few minutes because he’s partnered with Rene Echevarria on The Return.  The science fiction series for ABC has a simple premise: aliens arrive on Earth.

Echevarria is now stranger to the genre having worked on Star Trek: Deep Space 9, The 4400 and Dark Angel.

The Chicago Tribune received an e-mail from creator Harold Ramis confirming the existence of Ghostbusters 3.

The e-mail missive reads:

"yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg.  judd apatow is co-producing year one and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level.  he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson.  the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity.  not much else to say at this point.  everyone is confident a decent script can be written and i guess we’ll take it from there.
best,
harold"

The very mention of Judd Apatow shows the savvy thinking going into the third film. Apatow is the current tastemaker in comedy and once he gets involved, he brings with him a cadre of talents.  Reading between the lines, if the original team is on hand in some minor role, it’s clearly to mentor the next generation of slime hunters.  Imagine, if you will, the original quarter teamed with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco and Michael Cera, Jason Segel and Craig Robinson.
 

Even if we are lucky enough to ever see another Serenity feature, there are far too many questions to be answered in one sitting. One of those is just who is Shepherd Book. Joss Whedon talks about why he chose character for a new Dark Horse mini-series, plus:

• Buffy gets an MMO, Firefly gets put on hold
• Ghostbusters ready for a revamp
• Who is Lady Bullseye?

A week’s worth of pop culture in one refresing blast – Press the Button!
 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!