I know it’s hard to believe that most comic book jobs that you find listed are not in the traditional creative fields of writing, drawing and editing. It just doesn’t happen. Those all go to an editor’s girlfriend’s brother’s cousin at least according to the paranoids. When you do find some nifty jobs in the field, you can bet they’re some kind of office gig with Aeron chairs picked up from an internet start-up bankruptcy sale.

Marvel Comics, The House of Mouse That Jack And Stan Built, in New York has a couple of those jobs in their cubicle farm system and they both look like fun. And by that I mean interesting. And by that I mean jobs that pay.

First up, Marvel is looking for a Creative Services Coordinator “to support the Creative Services Department with day-to-day and inter and intra-departmental needs and duties.”

So what is a CS Coordinator? The lucky job-holder will “be a key manager of the relationship between Creative Services and all the other divisions within Marvel, as well as outside vendors and business partners…to create, refine and drive processes that will increase the accuracy and efficiency of Creative Services’ daily functions, project coordination, intra-departmental communications, network, and launching projects.” Whew! Say that three times fast. 

But it’s not all glamor. You’ll also be answering phones, shuttling documents from department-to-department, scheduling meetings and filing paperwork for all those processes you’ll be driving. Four years experience in project management and strong familiarity with intellectual properties is a must for this job. Also familiarity with some not-so-intellectual properties might help too.

If you’re more comfortable wearing the occasional suit and tie, Marvel would like you to know that they’re also looking for a Director Of Licensing “to generate revenue by identifying new opportunities and also working with existing partners and to further expand on programs currently in place.”

Lots of responsibilities here including “category research and development, licensee selection process, deal and contract negotiation, partner and category business planning, category reviews and exploitation meetings, retail development and placement strategy for individual categories.” And you’ll probably be going to all the cool licensing and toy shows and seeing movies before they’re released and all that other great insider stuff that makes you feel all warm and powerful, especially on the days when your assistant screws up your standing lunch order.

I’ve been around licensing people before and can tell you that one of the cool perks of the job is you get to see stuff in prototype form long before pretty much anyone else. You get to look at tie-in books, plushies, action figures, trading cards, everything there is, and in all their different stages. I once had an action figure made from one of my comic book characters and I got to see it evolve at each step of the labor-intensive process. It’s not a bad way to spend some time.

Marvel naturally recognizes “people as our most valuable asset.” They offer “competitive salary and benefits package” and that includes 401K, a cash bonus, dental insurance, medical insurance, disability benefits, prescription drug coverage, confidential employee assistance, life insurance, paid sick time, casual dress, paid company holidays, and paid vacation days” for their “smoke-free workplace.” And probably free tickets to an Iron Man 2 screening as well!
Good luck, jobsters!

[Artwork: A promotional image from Iron Man 2, © Marvel Characters]