For the last several years, Daniel Chabon has been toiling behind the scenes on some of your favorite Dark Horse titles, including “Dept. H.”, “Beasts of Burden”, and “Harrow County”. As part of our celebration of Dark Horse’s 30th anniversary, I sat down to speak with Mr. Chabon about what it’s like being an editor for a creator-owned project, what he thinks makes an interesting book, and about the general process from the editorial office.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about where you came from? How did you get involved with editing comics?
Dan Chabon: I moved from Kansas City, MO to Portland, OR in the late 2000s to attend graduate school at Portland State University. There I received a master’s degree in writing and book publishing at their publishing wing called Ooligan Press. While at Portland State, I had been talking to Dark Horse for some time about how to break into their editorial department. My brother Michael, whose “Escapist” comics were published by Dark Horse, put me in touch with editor Diana Schutz. Diana interviewed me initially and then put me in touch with Scott Allie, who had edited all the Mignola titles. I remember he interviewed me at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland while Mike Mignola was a guest there. It took some time before I got the gig — as there was no position open initially — but I eventually went on to assist on all the Mignola books and then moved on to editing my own.
The last four years I had been working full time at Dark Horse and going to law school at night. I graduated Lewis & Clark Law last May and now am able to focus solely on editing comics. My interests are primarily in creator-owned comics and I hope to utilize my law school degree towards helping creators understand their contractual rights.
Congratulations with that! What brought you to Dark Horse? What are some of the titles you worked on? Also, do you remember the books that made you go, “Yes! This is what I want to do with my life!”?
DC: I’ve always had comics in my blood. My grandfather worked at a print shop in New York where comics had been printed. My father was a huge collector of comics, sports cards, non-sports cards, and more. We lived in Washington D.C. when I was little and we’d go to comic shops and comic conventions almost every week — they seemed more frequent then. My oldest sibling, Michael, wrote “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”, a Pulitzer-prize winning fiction book on the comics industry.
Oh yeah? You’re probably tired of hearing this, but I’m a big fan of Michael Chabon’s work.
DC: Haha. No worries.
Anyway, I liked a lot of darker and weirder comics — my dad never censored me. I read all the EC comics. I loved “The Mask” when I was little, which is funny because it was a super violent comic for a kid to be reading. I liked the “Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight” comics, which were super twisted; I loved Matt Wagner’s ‘Faces’ arc. “Swamp Thing”, “Hellboy”, “The Sandman”, “Preacher”, etc. Oh, and I loved “Flaming Carrot” too! As I got older I was reading “Hellboy”, “Sin City”, and “B.P.R.D.” — which was actually my favorite comic for a long time (my dad’s too) so fate would have it that I’d eventually be able to work with all the amazing creators on those books. I guess I leaned toward stories that emphasized more on monsters and the macabre. Stuff most adults would say aren’t good for kids. I actually still remember meeting James O’Barr at a comic convention when I was a kid and he signed my trade of “The Crow”. That book was pretty Mature Readers, but I remember as a kid liking the comic and the film a lot — and the soundtrack! I guess it was fate to be able to help one day work with the Hellboy team and Mike Mignola. I’ve been very lucky.
These days I read whatever I can get my hands on.
Continued belowI’ve been working at Dark Horse for about seven years now. After working on all the Mignola titles I’ve now moved on to editing my own creator-owned line, including books like:
- “Angel Catbird” by Margaret Atwood, Johnnie Christmas, and Tamra Bonvillain
- “Beasts of Burden by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson
- “Black Hammer” by Jeff Lemire, Dean Ormston, and Dave Stewart
- “Bounty” by Kurtis J. Wiebe, Mindy Lee, and Leonardo Olea
- “Dept. H” by Matt and Sharlene Kindt
- “Harrow County” By Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
- “House of Penance” by Peter J. Tomasi, Ian Bertram, and Dave Stewart
- “Mae” by Gene Ha
There’s more on the way, and I’m also editing books by Dave McKean, Geof Darrow, and Neil Gaiman.
What do you think makes for an interesting comic? What makes you pay attention to a comic?
DC: I suppose a storyline that hasn’t been done before and is executed well. I also like art that’s outside of the mainstream too. It’s a hard question to nail down. I like what I like — and that stuff tends to be more unusual.
How do you think being an editor at Dark Horse differs from being an editor at other publishers?
DC: I’m not sure. My time at Ooligan was primarily copyediting, but at Dark Horse I am more of a project manager. I still edit copy, but also manage schedules, contracts, acquisitions, work conventions, help with storylines, and a million things more. There’s a lot to juggle.
What does editing a creator-owned book entail?
DC: Collaboration, support, and heart. I feel very close to all the projects I’m attached to. I’m invested in the books and the creators I work with. I’m not doing it to pile on notes and achieve a look, but to help guide who I work with towards success and to help make the best damn book possible.
How do you collaborate to help realize a project?
DC: Portland actually has a amazing comic book scene so the creators that I work with that live here I tend to hang out with a lot — and sometimes sing karaoke with.
Those that don’t live here I still get along with well. When I get a project approved here I help the creator the whole way through. I give notes on outlines, scripts, art, and lettering. Those notes don’t tend to be mandatory, but more suggestive — I usually want to make sure the storytelling is as clear as possible for the reader. I also try to push for my creators on social media as much as possible. There’s a lot of comics coming out each month so I’ve realized my role can’t be to just help make the comics with the creators, but to help them talk about them online as well.
As the editor, do you approach working with someone like Matt Kindt differently than Cullen Bunn or even Margaret Atwood? To my knowledge, Ms. Atwood has never written a comic before, so what’s the process like there, steering her to create a book?
DC: I suppose I was a little bit more casual starting off with Matt and Cullen over Margaret. Matt and Cullen I had met before working with them so that helped.
With Margaret I was initially super-nervous to give her editorial notes. When she started to turn in pages of script I kept thinking to myself: “Why on Earth would Margaret Atwood, of all people, need my notes?!” She’s such a brilliant and well-respected author so it was fairly intimidating. I’d re-read my emails several times before sending them off to her to make sure they were flawless — including my editorial notes. In the end, she was super-great to work with. Any notes that came from myself, Johnnie Christmas, or Hope Nicholson (who helped co-edit the book) Margaret was very receptive to. It’s really been an amazing experience and opportunity.
Do you have any advice for people wanting to work in comics? Not only writing or drawing them, but even getting involved at an editorial level.
Read what comes out now and read as much as you can. It’s good to know what the market is hungry for. And I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer for breaking into comics, but I do think it helps significantly to be a good comics reader and stay in touch with what folks had read in the past and what they’re reading now. I’ve met people working in this industry who tell me they don’t read comics and some have said they don’t read at all — which drives me crazy. I think you need to be a good reader to be good at this.
