Rik Offenberger

Rik Offenberger

Born January 30, 1964 (1964-01-30) (age 48)
Norwalk, California
Nationality American
Area(s) Editor
Notable works Archie Comics Public Relations Coordinator

Rik Offenberger (born January 30, 1964) is an American comic book journalist and publicity agent, an early utilizer of the Internet for distributing comics news, and currently the public relations coordinator of Archie Comics.

Contents

Career

Offenberger started his career in comics as a retailer at Paper Hero Comics in Chino, California. He began writing for the Comic Buyers Guide in March 1992, where he covered stories about retailers to help promote the comics shop. He broke stories on the formation of Image Comics and also covered the Marvel Retailers Summits. Following work on the Comic Buyers Guide, he began working for the British Borderline Comics Magazine until it was discontinued.[1] This was followed by a move to the Internet, where he worked as an interviewer and senior feature editor at Silver Bullet Comic Books (now Comics Bulletin),[2] conducting interviews with Paul Levitz, Dan Didio, Neal Adams and Grant Morrison, among others. In 2004 he began producing trend-oriented interviews for Newsarama[3][4] and by 2005 he was writing for both Newsarama and Comic Book Resources.[5]

In December 2005, Offenberger succeeded Alex Segura as Public Relations Coordinator of Archie Comics, where he currently works.[6][7][8]

Rik Offenberger is a voting member of the comic book related "Inkblot Awards".

Super Hero News

In October 1998, Offenberger founded Super Hero News, one of the earlier Internet-based news distributors in the comics industry, utilizing the Yahoo! List server.[2][9] While the service primarily distributes affiliate press releases, it's also been used as a vehicle for debate and contention by some of its members.[10]

First Comics News

In April, 2010, Rik Offenberger, Phil Latter and Ric Croxton founded First Comics News, a web-based division of Super Hero News.[9] The name is derived from one of the early independent comics publishers of the 1980s, First Comics. The site logo was also fashioned after the publisher's imprint trademark.[11] The site carries comics news, publisher solicitations, opinion columms, interviews, podcasts and reviews. Contributors include Beau Smith, Bob Almond, Holly Golightly, Ian Flynn, Michael Netzer, Mark Heike and cosplay actress Tanya Tate. The site maintains offices in Canada and Europe.

At the 2011 San Diego Comic Con International, under the auspices of First Comics News, Offenberger moderated a panel on How to Get News Coverage, in which he was joined by Rich Johnston and other journalists in a workshop for the benefit of small press publishers seeking news coverage for their publications.[12]

In January, 2011, First Comics News announced the winners of its first annual First Place Awards, among whom were publisher DC Comics, writer Ed Brubaker, artist Ivan Reis and DC Universe: Legacies writer Len Wein[13]

First Comics News is a source of reference for comics creators,[14][15] publishers,[16][17][18] entertainment & gaming[19][20] and comics news sites.[11][21][22]

References

  1. ^ Editorial introduction (March, 2003). "Paul & Fernando's Weird Archie Adventure". Borderline Magazine. http://www.box.net/shared/ahr4nu50hu. 
  2. ^ a b Editortial info (August 20, 2003). "Paul Levitz: Living In An Amazing World". Comics Bulletin. http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/106143682856239.htm. 
  3. ^ Heidi MacDonald (January 27, 2009). "Reactions to last week’s doom stories: Diamond, MAD". Publisher's Weekly The Beat. http://www.whenmonkeysattack.com/blog/2009/01/27/reactions-to-last-weeks-doom-stories-diamond-mad/. 
  4. ^ "List of interviews at Newsarama". Newsarama. http://www.newsarama.com/common/Search/new_search.php?cx=partner-pub-1894578950532504:jfha7e1amgi&cof=FORID:10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=offenberger&sa=Search&sa=Search. 
  5. ^ "List of interviews at Comic Book Resources". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/author/rik-offenberger. 
  6. ^ Brent Frankenhoff (September 11, 2008). "Archie Redesigns its Logos". Comics Buyer's Guide. http://cbgxtra.com/comics-news-and-notes/archie-redesigns-its-logos. 
  7. ^ Debbie Schlussel (January 8, 2007). "Archie Comics Responds to Schlussel: Wall Street Journal, Other Media Misreported Betty/Veronica Redo". Debbie Schlussel. http://www.debbieschlussel.com/2842/archie-comics-responds-to-schlussel-wall-street-journal-other-media-misreported-bettyveronica-redo/. 
  8. ^ JK Parkin (December 27, 2006). "Riverdale’s Extreme Makeover". Blog @ Newsarama. http://blog.newsarama.com/2006/12/27/thoughts-on-riverdales-extreme-makeover/. 
  9. ^ a b Michael Netzer (April 2, 2010). "Rik Offenberger’s First Comics News". Michael Netzer Online Portal. http://michaelnetzer.com/mnop/?p=1428. 
  10. ^ JK Parkin (March 9, 2007). "Tit for tat on the Super Hero News list". Blog @ newsarama. http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/03/09/tit-for-tat-on-the-super-hero-news-list/. 
  11. ^ a b Glenn Hauman (July 21, 2011). "First Comics, First Second Books, First Comics News, and firstcomics.com — Confused Yet?". ComicMix. http://www.comicmix.com/news/2011/07/21/first-comics-first-second-books-first-comics-news-and-firstcomics-com-confused-yet/. 
  12. ^ Comic-Con 2011 (July 19, 2011). "Saturday, July 23 Comic-Con 2011 Programming (room #24ABC, 3:30-4:30)". San Diego Comic-Con International. http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci11_prog_sat.php. 
  13. ^ First Comics News (July 19, 2011). "2010 First Place Award Winners". First Comics News. http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=18578. 
  14. ^ Jen Van Meter (April, 2010). "Interviews > In Print". Jen Van Meter. http://www.jenvanmeter.com/interviews. 
  15. ^ Jay Piscopo (February 22, 2011). "Spider #1 reviewed in Broken Frontier". Jay Piscopo. http://jaypiscopo.blogspot.com/2011/02/spider-1-reviewed-in-broken-frontier.html. 
  16. ^ Boom! Studios (October 26, 2010). "SOLDIER ZERO #1 Best-Selling Comic in BOOM! Studios History". Newsarama. http://www.newsarama.com/comics/soldier-zero-best-selling-boom-title-101026.html. 
  17. ^ Radical Publishing (June 23, 2011). "DAMAGED #1 "LEAVES YOU WANTING MORE"". Radical Publishing. http://radicalpublishing.com/2011/06/damaged-1-leaves-you-wanting-more/. 
  18. ^ Archie Comics (September 13, 2010). "MOST FASCINATING ARCHIE COMIC OF ALL TIME RETURNS!". Archie Comics. http://www.archiecomics.com/blog/news/2010/09/most-fascinating-archie-comic-of-all-time-returns.html. 
  19. ^ Bryan Rapp (July 7, 2011). "Daily Rapp Up". WrestlingDB. http://www.wrestlingdb.com/rappup/2011/07/07. 
  20. ^ James Newton (August 11, 2010). "Archie Writer Reveals Sonic Colours Comic, Hints at New Characters". Nintendo Life. http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/08/archie_writer_reveals_sonic_colours_comic_hints_at_new_characters. 
  21. ^ Kevin Powers (October 4, 2010). "First Comics News: Wynonna Earp Week!". Comics Bulletin. http://www.comicsbulletin.com/news/128622153640845.htm. 
  22. ^ Scoop (August 11, 2011). "First Comics News Covers Overstreet #41". Gemstone Publishing. http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=260&ai=111137. 

External links