Simply earlier this week, we had been asking: What’s subsequent for Oni Press? Effectively, in a significant shake-up for the business (and Bleeding Cool Energy Checklist if I ever do one other one), Oni Press/Lion Forge has simply named comics publishing veteran Hunter Gorinson to the function of President & Writer, placing the previous Growth!, Valiant and Dangerous Concept Comics government on the helm of certainly one of indie comics’ most influential and longstanding publishing homes.
Per right this moment’s announcement, Gorinson will lead all divisions of Portland, Oregon-based Oni Press – together with editorial, advertising, operations, and gross sales – efficient instantly. As the brand new head of Oni’s publishing output in “the direct market, e book, digital, and e-commerce channels,” Oni’s PR states that Gorinson might be tasked with “constructing upon its decades-long relationships with among the comedian medium’s most famous creators; figuring out new artistic voices and partnerships; and increasing the Oni-Lion Forge model by way of new collaborative ventures rooted within the storytelling energy of the comedian e book medium.”
Again in 2018, we referred to as Gorinson one of many business’s “smartest and most extremely valued” publishing vets when he departed Valiant Leisure after a years-long stint heading the corporate’s advertising and PR, following its multimillion greenback acquisition by Chinese language media conglomerate DMG.
He subsequently joined Hivemind, producers of Netflix’s The Witcher and Amazon’s The Expanse, the place he served as SVP Model & Content material Technique and labored on producing variations of high-profile comics properties, like Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino‘s Gideon Falls, EC Comics’ Bizarre Fantasy sequence, and Robert Anton Wilson‘s Illuminatus! Trilogy novels.
He then went on to co-found the manufacturing firm Allnighter, which labored on bringing Justin Jordan & Tradd Moore‘s The Unusual Expertise of Luther Strode to the large display screen, in addition to a TV adaptation of the hit WEBTOON sequence Let’s Play.
Gorinson was additionally an early driving pressure behind experimental writer Dangerous Concept and its secure of titles by Matt Kindt, Lewis LaRosa, Robert Venditti, David Lapham, and extra, the place he served as Writer, previous to becoming a member of Growth Studios to steer the corporate’s enterprise improvement division in 2021.
Gorinson’s tenure at BOOM! noticed him oversee a plethora of recent initiatives for the business’s second largest impartial writer, together with final summer time’s collaboration between streetwear firm BAIT and Keanu Reeves‘ #1 best-selling BRZRKR sequence, in addition to an formidable slate of Kickstarter-driven, deluxe pre-order initiatives for sequence like Mark Waid & Peter Krause‘s Irredeemable, John Allison & Max Sarin‘s Big Days, Grant Morrison & Dan Mora‘s Klaus, and extra.
Based in 1997, Oni has produced among the greatest indie comics hits of the previous 20 years with sequence like Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s Scott Pilgrim and its long-running sequence of Ricky & Morty licensed comics, amongst many extra. The corporate merged with Lion Forge Comics in 2019, creating the Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Lion Forge founder David Steward II‘s media firm, Polarity, and taking over the most-banned e book in the USA Of America lately, Gender Queer.
Says Steward on Gorinson’s new function, “From our earliest conversations, it was clear that Hunter was the perfect chief to form the way forward for the Oni-Lion Forge model. With a deep understanding of each the artwork and enterprise of comics, Hunter is aware of how one can construct collaborative environments that foster creativity between creators and colleagues alike, and form content material that can resonate with followers all over the world. He has a strong imaginative and prescient for solidifying Oni–Lion Forge’s attain with creators, readers, and retailers within the direct and e book markets, whereas concurrently extending the extensive breadth of our library even additional with strategic partnerships that can showcase the most effective of Oni-Lion Forge, current and future.”
Gorinson’s appointment comes on the finish of a transitional interval for the writer, which noticed a number of key workers depart the corporate within the spring adopted by the corporate parting methods with writer James Lucas Jones and leisure VP Charlie Chu final summer time. There have additionally been critical considerations about unpaid comedian e book creators, with some questioning the charges being added to current royalty funds.
Additionally, since June, Oni-Lion Forge has been aggressively combating an obscenity lawsuit in tandem with the ACLU, CBLDF, and Barnes & Noble within the state of Virginia over the publication of Gender Queer – Lion Forge Comedian’s ALA Award-winning graphic memoir by cartoonist Maia Kobabe that has been the topic of many tried library bans by conservative legislators and college boards. Oni-Lion Forge lately emerged victorious in that swimsuit, and, within the meantime, the writer lately issued a brand new deluxe version of Gender Queer in hardcover, which continues to take a seat excessive on bestseller lists at Amazon and different booksellers.
Hunter Gorinson is actually an impressed alternative for the highest job at Oni, however he has lots of work to do. We’ll be following what comes subsequent intently within the weeks to return.
