Skybound has expanded its management team with five new hires, including a top comics editor and two senior video game executives, and a promotion to officer level, the company announced today.
Ben Abernathy, most recently a Group Editor at DC with oversight of the Batman titles and the Elseworlds imprint relaunch, has joined Skybound as Executive Editor, where he will oversee the Energon Universe and develop a new line of comics originals. Abernathy started at Dark Horse in the late 90s, and spent the bulk of the ensuing decades at DC, with stops at Marvel and at Madefire, where he was Editor-in-Chief.
Blake Kobashigawa has joined Skybound as Senior Director, Business Development; he was last at IDW Publishing as SVP of Sales, Marketing & Strategy (see “IDW Hires DC Vet”), after a seven-year stretch at DC in sales and marketing roles. In his new position, Kobashigawa will work on expanding Skybound’s sales outside of traditional distribution channels, creating new strategic partnerships, and managing licensor relations, retailer exclusive variant cover programs, foreign licensing, and, Skybound says, even more.
Alex Hargett is Skybound’s new Director, Brand, Editorial, a role in which she will lead day-to-day sales and marketing for publishing, charged with expanding bookseller and librarian relationships. She was hired at IDW Publishing as Book and Mass Sales Director in 2020 (see “IDW Announces Six Hires”), and left as VP of Sales last year. She also spent time in sales and marketing at DC, and in communications roles at Penguin and Perseus Books.
Arune Singh has been promoted to Vice President, Brand, Editorial; he was hired as Director, Brand, Editorial in 2021 (see “Arune Singh Lands at Skybound”), after a stretch as VP of Marketing at BOOM! Studios. Singh will manage a rapidly expanding Brand team to handle Skybound’s growing publishing output.
New executive hires, both from videogame giants, include Chris Paulson, who joined Skybound as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Games Publishing. He was most recently at Blizzard Entertainment, where he was Vice President, Product Management, Diablo. Jeff Chaiken has joined Skybound as Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Development and Strategy; he comes to Skybound after nine years at videogame giant Electronic Arts, where he had the same role.
Source: ICV2
