There’s a magic only found in comic books, Sequim’s Jenny Blenk has discovered.
“(It’s a) magical combination of communication methods, with so much power and potential when they’re combined in the right proportions to tell a particular story,” she said.
As an associate editor at Dark Horse Comics in Milwaukie, Ore., the Sequim High graduate said she sees “creativity that people have with how they use text and image together is just constantly inspiring.”
Blenk was recently promoted at the 35-year-old company, and now helps oversee popular titles such as Mike Mignola’s Hellboy stories, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra and Critical Role, along with translated books such as The Shadows, and creator-owned titles such as Renegade Rule.
“Getting to help make their work the best it can be is really an honor,” she said.
Along with the allure of helping usher in creative worlds, Blenk said she finds inspiration through the people at work whether in helping choose talent, collaborating with “amazing/supportive coworkers,” and/or securing fair and reasonable expectations for the creators.
First pages
Her first step into comics came in middle school, Blenk said, when she started reading Manga — comics and graphic novels originating from Japan — and after a friend loaned her a copy of volume four of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, “Seasons of Mists.”
After graduating from Sequim High School and then Western Washington University, Blenk was planning on a career in education until a new option came up.
“Honestly, publishing didn’t even cross my mind until I started working as a bookseller,” Blenk said. “That experience really opened up my eyes to the process by which ideas become books, and then make it into readers’ hands.”
Blenk’s career in comics came via an internship at Dark Horse during her graduate program at Portland State University. In the schools’ Comics Studies program, students can intern with creators, organizations and businesses involved in the comics industry, she said.
“I was so focused on the education side of things though, looking at comics from an academic perspective, that I didn’t even realize internships were a consideration until my advisor Dr. Susan Kirtley suggested I apply,” she said.
Blenk interned for comic creators Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Milkfed Criminal Masterminds and then Dark Horse to see the creators’ and publishers’ perspectives, which she called “insanely positive.”
After earning her Master of Arts from Portland State, Blenk did some freelance work as a proofreader for Dark Horse before being hired a few months later full-time as an assistant editor.
“Now almost four years later, I’m an associate editor and the intern coordinator,” she said.
Editors for the company, Blenk said, serve as project managers guiding “comics from start to finish through the publishing process.”
She adds that editors can also “receive and review pitches, put together creative teams, edit both creator-owned and licensed projects, review work at different stages (outline, script, layouts, pencils/inks, colors, letters, and a final review), manage schedules, and coordinate with other departments within the company to keep things on track for printing and distribution.”
Blenk said most of the pitches she sees come from creators whom she has some kind of relationship with but other opportunities do arise.
“I’m always chasing creative new ideas,” she said.
As for the first book she helped edit, Blenk said it’s hard to recall since “as an intern I didn’t always know which books I was working on (as she) only saw fragments.”
“But I very distinctly remember proofreading the second volume of the ‘gorgeous’ Moebius Library hardcover as one of my first tasks as a freelancer,” she said.
Her name first appeared in a 2018 comic called “Giles: From the World of Buffy the Vampire Slayer” No. 3.
“I still have maybe half a dozen copies of that random issue, for sentimental reasons,” Blenk said.
Giles No. 3 was the first comic that Jenny Blenk, a Sequim High grad, saw her name in for the first time. “I still have maybe half a dozen copies of that random issue for sentimental reasons,” Blenk said. Photo courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
Read and write
Growing up in Sequim, Blenk recalls being frustrated there wasn’t much for young adults to do.
“That meant I spent a lot of time running around outside and reading, which in the long run worked out great,” she said.
Some of her favorite spots were visiting the Sequim Library, Railroad Bridge Park and Lake Crescent with friends.
As for being an avid reader, she remembers “wearing out my paperback copy of ‘Mossflower’ by Brian Jacques as a kid, and my dad having to come into my room late at night to make me stop reading and go to sleep.”
Her first ‘book’ came out when she was around 8 years old.
“It was hand-written in a spiral-bound notebook and was about cat-people,” Blenk said.
She’s creatively written “as long as I can remember,” but never considered herself a “serious writer” with no formal editorial training prior to her post-grad work.
“I’d just read a lot of books, and I knew that some had been well written and others less so, and I was curious about what made the difference,” Blenk said.
Working as an editor, she finds it can be “hard to separate yourself and your own creative ideas from the work at hand, but a really good editor will help a creator make their work the best that it can be without influencing its style and voice too much.”
Dark Horse Comics’ Jenny Blenk, a Sequim High graduate, holds “The Art of The Dragon Prince” in 2020, a book she helped edit and considered one of her favorite books of last year.
Comics career
When asked about her career now, Blenk said it was comics as a medium that clicked with her more than editing.
“I loved studying how text and image work together to tell stories in unique and interesting ways that can’t be achieved with just one or the other,” she said. “It’s still something I’m incredibly passionate about. I think that wanting to really understand how comics function and communicate, and having had the opportunity to build an effective vocabulary around that, has made me really well equipped to take on a career editing comics specifically.”
Blenk said she’s happy editing comics and “can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Although, she’s set the goal to “keep working to bridge the gap between the published material and academia, connecting comics creators with the people who study and teach their work.”
That includes continuing to grow Dark Horse’s editorial internship program through work, and on her own accord continuing to advocate for more diversity and inclusion in comics and publishing.
Changes
Blenk said there’s “definitely been some recent, big changes in comics publishing surrounding diversity and inclusion as well as creators’ rights and addressing abuse.”
“I think it’s more than a single organized movement, it’s more of a groundswell of people from all corners of comics — fans, creators, publishing staff, booksellers and comics shop owners, and others — who are recognizing and demanding that comics as an industry do better,” Blenk said.
“A lot of that relates to the fact that comics readers don’t have to depend on large publishers alone for their content anymore.
“Options like self-publishing and web comics have helped to democratize comics as a medium, and they’ve demonstrated overwhelmingly that people want more than the stereotypical lens of cisgender, heterosexual, white, and male identities. Larger comics publishers are starting to catch on and move in that direction too.”
Blenk said she sees her position in publishing “as an opportunity to champion the kind of stories, characters, and creators that have been largely ignored by mainstream culture.”
She said she feels the industry is still dominated by historically white, cisgender and heterosexual male norms.
Even with more options for publishing, Blenk said “the fact remains that comics that are published and distributed by larger companies get more exposure. More exposure generally leads to better circulation and a wider readership, and therefore better sales.
“I acknowledge the fact that as an editor, I am a gatekeeper to that opportunity. Being a queer woman and a BLM activist (among other things) definitely makes me more aware of the kinds of decisions I make in my position of relative power, and why,” Blenk said.
“It doesn’t make me a flawless champion though, and I’m always still learning and trying to educate myself on struggles and conflicts outside my scope of experience.”
Prior to the pandemic, Jenny Blenk kept comics she was editing on a wall behind her desk at Dark Horse Comics to keep them organized. Some of the comics she edits, include Hellboy and Avatar: the Last Airbender. Photo courtesy of Jenny Blenk
Future
Looking ahead to the future of comics, Blenk said she sees an “increasing diversity in comics as the result of a collective effort by fans, industry professionals, and publishing staff who know that comics can do better.”
“We want to see characters and hear stories that reflect a wide variety of experiences and perspectives made by people who have lived those stories,” she said.
“And businesses that want to remain successful will acknowledge this demand and meet it. Someone like me can definitely be an advocate for those stories, but sometimes that involves pointing creators in another direction or putting them in touch with someone who’s better situated to support them. That’s why it’s also important to have people of all different backgrounds and identities in publishing, too; so that folks who can identify with diverse stories can be the ones to edit them and guide creators into communicating material in the most effective ways.”
As for how she feels about the future of comics?
“Intensely positive,” Blenk said.
“Some people will always be predicting ‘the fall of comics’ in the same way that folks have been lamenting the ‘downfall’ of the print book, but I don’t expect to see either anytime soon.
“People are embracing more and more the idea that comics aren’t just monthly issues about superheroes, but rather a unique form of communication and storytelling that can include any genre and any target audience. And that’s leading to some real innovations with what stories are being told, and by whom.”
For more about Dark Horse Comics, visit darkhorse.com.
Editor’s note: Blenk’s opinions are her own, she says and do not represent Dark Horse Comics.
Jenny Blenk quick Q&A
What do you do in your free time?
“I do read a lot of comics, even outside of work. I still dabble in academia as well, as a member of the Comics Studies Society and an independent scholar writing about queerness and disability representation in comics. I’m an avid gardener, chicken keeper, rabbit mom, knitter, and I play bass guitar.”
Is there a typo or error that haunts you today?
“Yes! Once we ended up with a typo on the spine of a very important book. Somehow nobody on our team caught it before it went to the printer! Luckily it was noticed before the book went on sale, so we were able to have it fixed. Close call! I still have a preview copy of the book with the typo on it squirreled away somewhere.”
Is there a phrase or advice you’ve been given that sticks with you to this day?
“A former coworker once compared being an editor to being a midwife, and I feel like that’s a really accurate way of describing it. A book is the creators’ ‘baby,’ and a good editor will coach them through the process of bringing it out into the world without unduly influencing the work itself. We help creators make a comic the best it can possibly be coming from them, but ultimately the work is theirs, not ours. It’s a very fine line to walk.”
How has COVID affected your work and fellow writers/artists/and other Dark Horse personnel?
“The shorter answer would be about how we haven’t been impacted. Everyone from our office, with the exception of our amazing administrative, maintenance, and shipping staff, has been working remotely since March of last year. Our truly incredible tech support team can’t be thanked enough for making that setup possible in such a short timeframe. But of course just as we were all settling in, COVID shut down printers, production facilities, and shipping companies around the world. That meant that a lot of the books we had scheduled to release in 2020 had to be delayed. It was really disheartening, as minor as it sounds in comparison with all the human tragedy that the pandemic has caused. I work with a number of creators who either had COVID or lost friends and family members to it. I’m grateful to have been in a position where I could try to support and accommodate creators as we all struggled. It’s hard to be creative or motivated when the world seems to be falling apart around you. I spent a lot of time on the phone with folks, just listening. We’re used to working with people all over the world, so not seeing creators in person (aside from comics conventions) isn’t very different from the norm. But it all /felt/ different this past year, and not being able to share that with coworkers and support one another face to face was hard.And it still is, but we’re making it through day by day.”
Jenny Blenk’s comics/graphic novels/books to highlight:
• Everyone is Tulip by Dave Baker and Nicole Goux.
“It’s a great look at the double-edged sword of social media fame and ‘going viral,’ but it doesn’t feel preachy or predictable. The story is very endearing, and the art is fabulous!”
Renegade Rule is “a near-future story about, among other things, an e-sports tournament,” said Jenny Blenk. “This book with its many one-liners is the perfect blend of salty and sweet, with enough unabashed queer joy to make me tear up every time I read it.“ Photo courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
• Renegade Rule by Ben Kahn, Rachel Silverstein, and Sam Beck.
“It’s a near-future story about, among other things, an esports tournament. This book with its many one-liners is the perfect blend of salty and sweet, with enough unabashed queer joy to make me tear up every time I read it. “
• Lady Baltimore series by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Bridgit Connell, with colors by Michelle Madsen and letters by Clem Robins.
“It takes place in an alternate universe where World War II is about to break in a world where the Nazis have openly allied themselves with powerful dark witches. It’s a classic horror story in that you have a small group of heroes standing against innumerable foes and beating them against all odds, but it’s told in such a way that even a horror fan like me finds something new and exciting about it. Plus, the monster designs are awesome!”
• Monstrous Women in Comics, edited by Samantha Langsdale and Elizabeth Rae Coody.
“It’s a fascinating look at ideas of monstrosity in pop culture, their relationship to ideas of femininity, things that are considered monstrous only when combined with ideas of femininity, and how all of this is present and represented in a variety of comics.”
Jenny Blenk, left, said she visits Sequim often, and visits her mom Susan, seen here doing a cleanup at Gardiner Beach with the Olympic Peninsula Paddlers kayaking group. Blenk said her parents moved to Sequim in the 1980s, and she was born and raised here before moving for college. Photo courtesy of Jenny Blenk
Jenny Blenk said Everyone is Tulip is “a great look at the double-edged sword of social media fame and ‘going viral,’ but it doesn’t feel preachy or predictable. Photo courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
Jenny Blenk said the Lady Baltimore series is classic horror that “takes place in an alternate universe where World War II is about to break in a world where the Nazis have openly allied themselves with powerful dark witches.” Photo courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
