Missed It: A Major Comics Editor Of Modern Era Moves On

Alan Gardner caught this, for which I'm glad because I sure didn't. He says that Lee Salem has given up the basics of his connection to the Universal Uclick editorial department by formally relinquishing his Editor title to concentrate on the developmental duties of his syndicate presidency.

Salem started with Universal in 1974; he famously came to comics not as an insider working in sales or for a cartoonist as an assistant but as someone with a more literary perspective -- Salem had intended to become a teacher. He enjoyed a broad range of hits. While Doonesbury had been in place for a few years by 1974 (that was the strip around which the syndicate was built), I think Salem gets credit at one point or another for Calvin and Hobbes, Cathy, For Better Or For Worse, Bloom County, The Far Side and The Boondocks. Salem was also one of those responsible on the syndicate end for cartoonists retaining their copyright. That was frequently explained to me when I briefly worked in comic strips as not the big issue that you might think it is because of the nature of how the contracts work, but I imagine it felt like a big deal to comics-makers -- it did to me -- and certainly it facilitated cartoonists like Bill Watterson and Gary Larson retiring their strips the way they did when they wanted to do so. Salem's editorial run also includes the vacations policy that cartoonists like Garry Trudeau have utilized, another high-profile change in that business from its traditional roots. That's a very noteworthy career: certainly one not finished as of yet, just entering into a different phase.

Gardner writes the same memo suggests that John Glynn -- the long-time acquisitions and development person there -- will assume an "Editorial Director" title. He's been there about a dozen years and is well-liked by a lot of the newer talent with which he's worked.
 
posted 5:40 am PST | Permalink
 

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