Francois Vigneault And Shanna Matuszak Join Study Group Comics In Senior Positions

Study Group Comics has formally announced that Francois Vigneault has formally joined the publishing house as Art Director, while Shanna Matuszak will take on the dual role of Accounts Manager and Co-Editor at studygroupcomics.com. They join founder and Editor In Chief Zack Soto and Study Group Magazine Editor Milo George at the small, Portland-based publisher. Vigneault and Soto recently teamed to run the first, successful Linework NW, an art-comics and illustration show.

Family Style, Vigneault's small comics imprint, will be a casualty of the move.

Vigneault's experience includes a webcomics serial called Titan with Study Group, publishing through Family Style, editor at Scout Books and an organizer at San Francisco Zine Fest.

Matuszak is a former intern with Study Group and will focus on retail accounts and distribution. She is a student at Portland Sate and an employee at iconic NW retailers Floating World and Reading Frenzy.

Reached for comment, Vigneault provided the following.

"After ten years, I've decided to cease publishing new work under the Family Style banner for the foreseeable future. I've felt for a while now that Family Style had been suffering due to neglect on my part; after two years of being a part of Press Gang -- along with Floating World Comics and Study Group Comics -- I was starting to feel that I wasn't keeping up with my partners Jason [Leivian] and Zack, who have both had tons of great stuff come out in that time... Object 10, Study Group Magazine, It Will All Hurt, DIY Magic, and much more. The only comic I have published in that time is the first issue of my own series, Titan, which had in fact started out (and continues) as a webcomic on Zack's site, studygroupcomics.com. I was finding it harder and harder to pull together the cash to publish new books, and even though Family Style has usually been a profitable venture, it could be a financial strain.

"Perhaps more importantly, I don't know if there is much need for Family Style as a publishing house any longer... We are living in a great period of small and micro-publishers, folks like Uncivilized Books, Retrofit, Oily, etc -- not to mention Floating World and Study Group! A lot of the creators I would want to work with are already being published, often at several publishers at once. We are really living in a great time for micro-publishers and indie cartoonists.

"The main thing that I feel I can add is my personal taste and editorial/design skills, and happily I have some fantastic outlets for that: I am the Editor at Scout Books, and I will now be working with Zack Soto and the rest of the the team at Study Group Comics as the new Art Director. I'm really excited by the opportunity to contribute to Study Group's already super-impressive lineup of creators and publications... I've already gotten the chance to design Sam Alden's first graphic novella, Haunter, and I'm currently working with Zack and Milo George on the design of the upcoming Study Group #3D. I'm also planning to republish some of the Family Style back catalog, such as stories from ELFWORLD, as part of studygroupcomics.com, as well as seeking out new creators for the website in collaboration with Zack and his website co-editor Shanna Matuszak.

"In practical terms, I will still be fulfilling any orders placed at www.family-style.com, but I won't be publishing any new work under the Family Style banner. I am proud to say my forthcoming Titan #2 will be published by Study Group Comics. I have some unpublished short stories that were scheduled to run in ELFWORLD #4, and I am hoping that some of these will be able to find a home of the studygroupcomics.com website as well, though of course I have to discuss that with the creators."

Zack Soto told CR he welcomed the assistance with the publishing house, and thought it well-timed. "Adding Francois and Shanna to the mix will hopefully allow me to step away a bit for the first several months of fatherhood without having to sideline Study Group, and keep orders flowing through the mail, comics getting updated on the site, and so on." He was particularly effusive in his praise for Matuszak's skill set: "Having [Matuszak] step in as Accounts Manager -- as well as co-editor of the site -- is perfect, since she's super detail oriented and on-point. I have been up and down in my ability to keep stores stocked with SG books consistently, and with Shanna taking over that part of the business, our retail presence should only improve."


 
posted 6:05 pm PST | Permalink
 

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