Top Cow Productions Promotes Bryan Hill and Betsy Gonia; Highlights Importance of Diversity in the Comics Industry
It's not only about diverse characters, but diversity amongst the people who create them.
We talk a lot about diversity in comics when it comes to characters and representation. However, equally important is diversity behind the panels. Thankfully, there are comics publishers who are making diversity in the industry a priority! Top Cow recently announced two promotions that make it clear that they take this mission seriously.
As reported by The Beat, Top Cow promoted long-time collaborator Bryan Hill to the newly-created position of Story Editor in an attempt to put his storytelling strengths to good use. He’ll now be instrumental in helping to shape the stories across all of Top Cow’s books.
Meanwhile, the publisher has also promoted former Managing Editor, Betsy Gonia to Editor! Top Cow publisher, Matt Hawkins told The Beat, “Betsy…has proven herself the most organized, capable Editor I’ve ever worked with.”
Both Hill and Gonia will continue to write and color their own work, respectively, as they take on these new responsibilities, so fans of their individual work have no need to fret. As for the fact that Top Cow now has a person of color and a woman in two of its top positions, Hill had this to say:
A lot of companies talk about diversity, but how many hire writers of color? How many have people of color in editorial? Marc [Silvestri] and Matt don’t just hashtag the trend, they do the hard work of bringing in new voices, new people like me into comics and giving me the space and support to do my best work.
Well, we’re thrilled to hear it, and we only hope that it continues. (And PS – while we’re thrilled about Gonia, we certainly hope that more women join her soon!)
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