Robert " Bob" Schreck (; born February 2, 1955)
Personal life
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.
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 .
Under their stewardship Comico rose to the third best-selling comics publisher, after
Marvel Comics and
DC Comics.
Schreck was closely involved in the publication of titles such as
Mage and
Grendel,
Elementals,
Robotech, and
Jonny 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
["Comico Suspends Operations," The Comics Journal #138 (October 1990), p. 8.] and Schreck and Schutz left for greener pastures.
[Editorial column, Grendel #32 (June 1989)]
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"
[Modern Masters Volume 16: Mike Allred by Eric Nolen-Weathington (TwoMorrows, 2008), page 22] 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
[ Schreck profile , Prism Comics (April 10, 2008).] 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
Chasing Dogma 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
, 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 Quitely, and
All-Star Batman by Frank Miller and
Jim Lee. For DC's
Vertigo Comics imprint he produced the award-winning
Daytripper, Sweet Tooth, and the horror anthology
Toe Tags, which featured a story by film director George A. Romero
Post-DC publishing career and CBLDF
After leaving DC in January 2009, Schreck joined
IDW Publishing as a senior editor, where he also wrote the comic book series
.
In 2010, he was named editor-in-chief of Legendary Comics,
After retiring from Legendary, Schreck became Deputy Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) in 2019.
Editorial philosophy
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,
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
-
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
-
2002: Nominated for "Favorite Editor" Eisner Award, for Batman and Green Arrow
Notes
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