Bob Schreck

Robert Schreck (; born February 2, 1955) is an American comic book writer and editor. Schreck is best known for his influential role as editor and marketing director at Dark Horse Comics in the 1990s, co-founding Oni Press, and for his subsequent stint as editor for DC Comics. He is currently the Deputy Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Career

Beginnings

In the mid-1970s, Bob Schreck began working for Creation Entertainment organizing and running conventions around the country, where he got to know most of the era’s comic book professionals, and met aspirants and up-and-comers such as Matt Wagner, who has called Schreck "a major force in the comics industry."Portland Life, Vol 5 No 5, October 1997 In the early 1980s he worked in the marketing department at Marvel Comics.

Comico

In 1985 Schreck and his future wife (now divorced) Diana Schutz were hired as, respectively, Administrative Director (in charge of marketing and publishing) and Editor in Chief of Comico Comics. Under their stewardship Comico rose to the third best-selling comics publisher, after Marvel and DC. Schreck was closely involved in the publication of titles such as ''Mage'' and ''Grendel'', '' Elementals'', ''Robotech'', and Johnny Quest, was responsible for several acclaimed graphic novels including Mike Baron's ''Ginger Fox'' and Doug Wildey's ''Rio'', and secured work from such luminaries as William Messner-Loebs, Steve Rude and Dave Stevens, among many others. Despite its success, by the end of the '80s Comico was spiraling into bankruptcy and Schreck and Schutz left for greener pastures.

Dark Horse Comics

After a brief stint at Graphitti Designs, Schreck worked at Dark Horse Comics from 1990–97, where he served as marketing director, editor and group editor. During this time Schreck brought several talents to a wider audience, including Mike Allred who explained, “In many ways he was my own personal marketing director.... For that and many other reasons Dark Horse launched ''Madman'' even higher into the stratosphere" and Paul Pope, who credits Schreck as an important factor in his career.Following Cerebus #5, Win-Mill Productions, August 2005 In addition to his work as marketing director and talent recruiter, Schreck was the editor of many titles including Frank Miller's ''Sin City'', ''The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot'', ''Madman'', Art Adams’s ''Monkeyman and O'Brien'', and the anthology title ''Dark Horse Presents'' which became one of the most important places for new talent to enter the field alongside well-known names doing often experimental or edgier work. Schreck was later instrumental in compelling Frank Miller to work with director Robert Rodriguez on a film version of ''Sin City''. During this time Dark Horse became the third best-selling comics publisher in the country.

Oni Press

Schreck left Dark Horse in 1997 and shortly thereafter co-founded Oni Press with Joe Nozemack. Oni's original goal was publishing comics and graphic novels the founders would want to read. Unsatisfied with the material that was dominating the industry, they believed firmly that sequential art could be used to tell virtually any story. Oni titles Schreck edited include Kevin Smith's ''Clerks'' and ''Jay and Silent Bob'' comics, '' Whiteout'', '' Bad Boy'' by Frank Miller and Simon Bisley, and the award-winning ''Oni Double Feature''.

DC/Vertigo

After having been courted by DC Comics for over a decade, Schreck left Oni to join them as editor of the Batman titles, which included the acclaimed storyline ''Hush'', and the mini-series ''The Dark Knight Strikes Again'', and '' Batman: Year 100'' as well as recruitment of writers Judd Winick, David Lapham, and Brad Meltzer with his first work in comics. Schreck was also the editor of the Green Lantern books, Green Arrow including the acclaimed ''Quiver'' series by frequent Schreck collaborator Kevin Smith, ''All-Star Superman'' by Grant Morrison and Frank Quirely, and ''All-Star Batman'' by Frank Miller and Jim Lee. For DC's Vertigo imprint he produced the award-winning '' Daytripper, Sweet Tooth'', and the horror anthology ''Toe Tags'', which featured a story by film director George Romero

Post-DC and Retirement

After leaving DC in January 2009, Schreck joined IDW Publishing as a senior editor, where he also wrote the comic book series ''Jurassic Park: Redemption''.

In 2010, he was named editor-in-chief of Legendary Comics, a division he co-founded with editor Greg Tumbarello, where they launched as a top ten publisher with their inaugural title '' Holy Terror'' by Frank Miller. Other works they published include the Eisner Award-nominated ''Annihilator'' by Grant Morrison and Frazer Irving, ''The Tower Chronicles'' by Matt Wagner and Simon Bisley, ''A Town Called Dragon'' by Judd Winick and Geoff Shaw, ''Shadow Walk'' by Mark Waid and Shane Davis, and ''Cops for Criminals'' by Steven Grant and Pete Woods, as well as NY Times #1 Best Selling graphic novel ''Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero'', NY Times Best Seller ''Godzilla: Awakening,'' and tie-ins to ''Warcraft, and'' ''King Kong''.

After retiring from Legendary, Schreck became Deputy Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in 2019.

Personal life and editorial philosophy

Bob Schreck grew up in Levittown, New York. An avid performer, he sang for progressive rock bands and Rocky Horror shows. He currently resides in Milwaukie, Oregon with his husband Randy.

Schreck has long been a source of editorial advice in the industry. He tells aspiring writers, "you can take the clunkiest of artists and make your story interesting, and force the artist to draw something, no matter how rudimentary, that makes my brain believe you know what you're doing. Those words really inform that picture. They make me think beyond and between the panels. If you can do that, you got it sold.... Quite honestly, you hear in the world there's something like only seven stories ever told. It's how you tell it... Go to Kinko's, create your own fun little ashcans. Tell stories. Tell stories in any format you can."

Frequent collaborator Paul Pope said of working with Schreck, “He knows how to get me working on it. Sometimes it’s flattery, sometimes it’s encouragement, sometimes it’s — well, he just opens Holy Hell before you."

Schreck credits his editorial philosophy in part to the influence of Archie Goodwin, explaining: "I try to provide very fertile topsoil. A place for these people to take root and grow... a certain amount of stepping back and compassion, just being able to listen to what it is... many times the writer or the artist you’re working with, they’re not quite sure what it is they want to say at this juncture. So you’re there to hear things that even they’re not picking up on and help them see it."

Awards

*1990: Won Inkpot Award
*1995:
** Won "Best Anthology" Harvey Award for ''Dark Horse Presents''
** Nominated for "Best Editor" Eisner Award, for ''Madman'', ''Dark Horse Presents'', '' Rascals in Paradise''1995 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees and Winners
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** Nominated for "Best Anthology" Eisner Award, for ''Dark Horse Presents''
*1997: Won "Best Anthology" Harvey Award for ''Dark Horse Presents''
*1998: Won "Best Anthology" Harvey Award for ''Dark Horse Presents''
*1999:
** Won "Best Anthology" Harvey Award for ''Oni Double Feature''
** Nominated for "Best Anthology" Eisner Award, for ''Oni Double Feature''1999 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees Winners
/ref>
*2002: Nominated for "Favorite Editor" Eisner Award, for ''Batman'' and ''Green Arrow''

Notes

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schreck, Bob
Living people
Bisexual men
1955 births
Comic book editors
American comics writers
LGBT comics creators
Bisexual writers
American LGBT writers
DC Comics people
American print editors
Marvel Comics people
Oni Press
People from Levittown, New York
Writers from New York (state)
Inkpot Award winners