A Day In The Life
Because you demanded it…
A Day* in the Comic Book Mines:
8:00 AM - Arrive at work.
8:04 AM - Clock in.
8:06 AM - Check email. Save any files (scripts, art, naughty photos) that have come in via email, then print them out in duplicate.
8:30 AM - Check the printer. Discover that the files I had attempted to print have not transferred correctly. Re-try.
8:35 AM - Voucher creators for any work that came in overnight.
8:55 AM - Get documents out of the printer. Discover that some of them have printed sidewise. Re-print them.
9:00 AM - Update issue files with new material. Put duplicates of new material on editor’s desk.
9:15 AM - Check network calendar for meetings. Remind editor that we have a review meeting at 11:00.
9:25 AM - Check printer. Discover that someone ahead of me is printing a several-hundred-page PDF file.
9:30 AM - Check email. Discover an irate note from creator’s spouse, who wants to know when creator’s check will arrive.
9:35 AM - Email accounting department to see if creator has any outstanding vouchers or checks, and request that those be expedited. Assure irate spouse that I will get in touch as soon as I have any new information.
9:45 AM - Collaborate with proofreader and editor to determine grammatical minutiae not covered in The Chicago Manual of Style.
10:00 AM - Get coffee with Matt. Come up with intricate plan for superhero comic starring an anthropomorphic jar of No-Dose. Scrap idea.
10:20 AM - Check email. Save any files (scripts, art, naughty photos) that have come in via email, then print them out in duplicate.
10:30 AM - Check forums. Reassure irate fans that Dark Horse does not hate them. Politely snark at the guy on the DH Conan forum who keeps calling me “girl.”
10:45 AM - Check printer. Discover that it has run out of paper midway through several-hundred-page-long PDF. Refill paper.
10:50 AM - Verify Cimmerian burial practices for writer.
11:00 AM - Editorial Review Meeting. Go over outstanding and upcoming deadlines. Look tired and shell-shocked. Exchange amusing anecdotes about drunk creators. Observe that these meetings would be much better with donuts. Prioritize rest of day.
12:30 PM - Return to desk in state of mild panic. Call creator to ask when we’ll get the script / pencils / inks that were due last month.
12:45 PM - Relay answer to editor, who informs me that we’re all gonna die. Reassure editor.
12:50 PM - Check email. Discover that creator with irate spouse has a check due out next week. Arrange to have the check expedited and FedExed, then email spouse with news.
1:20 PM - Retrieve documents from printer.
1:23 PM - Update issue files and give editor copies.
1:30 PM - Start assembling letter columns for upcoming issues. Notice that the same three people seem to write an awful lot of letters. Try to fit 1200 words worth of letters into 800 words worth of space. Shuffle letters. Retry.
2:45 PM - Check email. Discover that you need to make a dummy book.
2:46 PM - Receive large stack of proofs to review.
2:50 PM - Assemble and photocopy dummy book. While at the photocopier, geek out with the director of the design department about how awesome the first New Mutants series was.
3:10 PM - Proofread. Notice subtle errors involving the shapes of dialogue balloons. Add commas.
3:50 PM - Call creator with questions about minutiae of Hellboy continuity.
4:00 PM - Research Nazi occult organizations.
4:45 PM - Call creator with suggestion for new name for Nazi Occult Bureau. Feel extraordinarily proud of myself when creator approves it.
4:55 PM - Check email. Realize that I forgot to eat lunch. Email new name of Nazi Occult Bureau to Jason Hall.
5:00 PM - Receive email with files that require immediate and detailed attention. Deal with them.
5:20 PM - Clock out.
5:25 PM - Observe how convenient it is that there’s a bar right across the street from Dark Horse’s main office.
*A bunch of you have asked what I do during a typical day of work. The above is mostly fictitious**, but it gives a decent sense of a typical busy day. I stuck with most of the more mundane parts of my job, which varies a lot depending on specific projects and their demands–I do everything from clerical work, to proofreading, to story editing, to fact checking and research, to reading submissions, to…you get the idea.
**I really did get to name the Nazi Occult Bureau in Hellboy. How cool is that?
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