News
Viz to Review Portfolios at Comic-Con International (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
The North American manga publisher Viz Media will be looking for aspiring artists during its first ever portfolio review at Comic-Con International on July 27 in San Diego, California. Marc Weidenbaum, Vice President of Original Publishing, and Eric Searleman, Senior Editor, will be conducting the review from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Weidenbaum discussed his company's original comic plans at New York Comic Con in April.
While Viz has not held portfolio reviews at the convention before, it has commissioned or developed several projects outside Japan before. In particular, it published a Shojo Beat magazine cover by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Ashura Benimaru and Gerard Jones' Pokémon newspaper comic strip, and Annette Roman's 1 World Manga series for the World Bank.
Update: The ICv2 retail news site has posted an interview with Weidenbaum and Searleman in which they re-emphasize that they are looking for "long-form fictional escapades." They are also not limiting their choices by style, genre, or targeted audience and indicate (in French) that they are aiming beyond North America as well.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history