Ain't It Cool News: Interview with Robert Kirkman
BUG: Let’s talk about your new endeavor, the new imprint you are starting up? RK: Yeah, I formed my own imprint called Skybound through Image comics. I’m going to be scouring the internet for self-starters. Guys that are putting books together that look awesome, but may need a little assistance in making them all they can be. A perfect example of this is the WITCH DOCTOR book by Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner. It’s a book they’ve done 100% on their own and it’s amazing. But we’re taking it under our wing at Skybound and we’ve got it in the New York Times already and helping them out. We’ve got preview books here at the show. I’m going to try to work my magic a bit and have it reach the audience that I feel that they deserve. Moving forward, I’ll be releasing more Skybound originals under the company banner. We’re going to start small and we’ll have a narrow focus on each project. I don’t want to expand too fast, I just want to make sure the books get the attention they deserve. On top of that, all of my books will be Image Skybound imprinted now. BUG: So the help that you’re giving these books, is it purely on the PR level or will you provide editorial help as well? RK: We will help with editorial if needed. Brandon and Lucas are so independent, that they don’t really need the help. I’ll take a look at scripts if they ask me to, but I’m not giving them editorial notes. I’ll tell them what I think, but I’m not going to make them do changes because I like the purity of their creative vision. And aside from doing PR and editorial when necessary, we’re also going to be handling their foreign rights and how to get it translated in different countries and published overseas. And then representing it in Hollywood and helping them out on that end. BUG: I’m about to pick up a copy of WITCH DOCTOR myself over there when I’m done here. I can’t wait to read that.