Comic News: BOOM! Adds JENNY CHRISTOPHER As Sales Director

JENNY CHRISTOPHER GOES BOOM!

BOOM! Studios Adds Industry Vet As Sales Director


BOOM! Studios announced today that Jenny Christopher will be joining the BOOM! Studios team as their new Sales Director. In the position, Ms. Christopher will oversee BOOM!'s just announced mass market distribution relationships with Simon & Schuster and HarperCollinsCanada. Christopher will also oversee BOOM!'s burgeoning newsstand distribution through Kable Distribution Services, Inc.

Christopher joins BOOM! during a time of explosive growth that has seen the company rocket to the top of the Direct Market publisher short list with an aggressive publishing plan that includes original series, licensed comics and an all ages line, following the mantra of its new campaign for 2009: "Big. Bold. BOOM!" Along with Marketing Director Chip Mosher and Assistant Dafna Pleban, Christopher will add her talents to one of the largest and most aggressive marketing and sales teams currently in comics.

"Jenny is a rock star. During her time at Diamond, she's been the secret to BOOM!’s success over the last year. It's great to now have her officially onboard the BOOM! team full time," said Marketing Director Chip Mosher. "Nothing I could say can communicate how ecstatic I am to have Jenny's incredible spirit and vigor as part of BOOM!'s not-so-secret plans to conquer the world! With Jenny on board, we are going to kill it! Watch out world!"

Jenny Christopher was most recently a Purchasing Brand Manager at Diamond Comic Distributors, where she was responsible for day to day communications with a number of comic publishers including Viz, Tokyopop, and Top Shelf as well as book publishers such as Simon & Schuster, First Second, WW Norton, Titan, and Scholastic. While at Diamond her responsibilities included choosing product to be listed in the Previews catalog as well as working closely with publishers in developing exclusive editions such as Dave Gibbons' WATCHING THE WATCHMEN and Roman Dirge's full color edition of LENORE: NOOGIES.

Prior to joining Diamond she was a buyer and community liaison for Daedalus Books and Music in Columbia, Maryland. She was also elected this past year to the national board of directors of Friends of Lulu.

In the past year, BOOM! Studios has catapulted into the Top 10 Direct Market publishers - clocking in near 2 percent market share in April - with an aggressive publishing plan that includes original series, licensed comics and an all ages line.

Early in the year, Editor-in-Chief Mark Waid lead the way launching his blockbuster hit IRREDEEMABLE and its follow-up, THE UNKNOWN. Following on the heels of those releases, BOOM! has had some of the most successful launches of their original titles ever with the release of Mark Sable's UNTHINKABLE, Andrew Cosby and Michael Alan Nelson's DEAD RUN and J. Barton Mitchell's POE.

Late March saw the launch of the website www.boom-kids.com with the premiere books of Disney Pixar line of comics including THE INCREDIBLES: FAMILY MATTERS, THE MUPPET SHOW COMIC BOOK, and CARS: THE ROOKIE, all which have seen immediate sell outs.

This fall BOOM! Studios dramatically increases their licensed comics line with debuts of the ongoing series 28 DAYS LATER and DIE HARD, part of a wide ranging licensing deal with 20th Century Fox and the debut of DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, part of their licensing agreement with the Philip K. Dick Estate, Electric Shepherd.

BOOM! Studios most recently announced mass market distribution deals with Simon & Schuster and HarperCollinsCanada, with Simon & Schuster distributing BOOM! Studios and BOOM! Kids line of graphic novels in the United States and HarperCollinsCanada distributing in Canada.

The addition of Simon & Schuster and HarperCollinsCanada follows on heels of BOOM!'s announcement this past March of their newsstand distribution deal through Kable Distribution Services, Inc., best known amongst comic book fans for distributing Archie Comics throughout North America in the United States and Canada.