Tag Archive for 'job'

Sneaking Into Comics 005 - Tom DeFalco + Inappropriate Emails = Cracked.com

Published
by
nick marino
on October 9, 2008
in Comics and Sneaking Into Comics
. 7 Comments

I was on the phone with the human resources department at DC Comics when I missed a call from Tom DeFalco.

It was early 2005. I had been emailing humormag@yahoo.com for a couple weeks after finding a vague posting on Monster.com calling for humor submissions. I suggest you check out those emails (a.k.a. my wildly inappropriate attempts at employment), and then come back and finish this story.

In some sort of twisted way that I’ll never understand, the emails worked. The voicemail Tom left started something like this: “Nick, this is Tom DeFalco. How the hell am I supposed to hire you if you don’t pick up your phone?”

Incase you don’t know or need a quick refresher, Tom DeFalco is a seasoned comic book creator who served as Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief during the wildly successful years of 1987-1994. Tom currently writes Amazing Spider-Girl and other MC2 comics.

When I started sending my bizarre emails, I had no idea I had no idea that I’d be getting a personal call from a living comics legend. All I had to go on was an incredibly cryptic job posting for a new magazine.

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Sneaking Into Comics 004 - A String of Inappropriate Emails I Sent to Tom DeFalco in 2005

Published
by
nick marino
on October 2, 2008
in Comics and Sneaking Into Comics
. 0 Comments

The real meat of this story — which consists of comic book legend Tom DeFalco, Cracked.com, MAD Magazine, and poor judgment — will be the feature of next week’s Sneaking Into Comics. As a prologue to that highly ironic tale, I would like to provide a set of emails I sent to humormag@yahoo.com (an email address that, unbeknownst to me, was actually being checked by Tom DeFalco) in March of 2005:

from: nickmarino@gmail.com
to: humormag@yahoo.com
date: Thu, Mar 3, 2005 at 10:39 PM
subject: Humor Mag - hire me you bitches

Hey -

I found your info on monster.com. I am all about this Humor Mag thing. I kid you not. This what I do. I’ll send along my resume, but to really get a feel for why I am the new Renaissance man of comedy you need to see my videos, my music, read my articles, and see my cartoons. I could help getting multimedia for the website going, and I do A LOT of comedy music work (and my production skills are mint). I really would like to learn more about this, and I’m positive you would like to learn more about me.

Thanks, Nick

from: nickmarino@gmail.com
to: humormag@yahoo.com
date: Fri, Mar 4, 2005 at 12:30 PM
subject: Humor Mag - you still haven’t hired me

Hey “Humor Mag” -

Listen, I’m emailing because you still haven’t hired me. You should give me a mail address so I can send you some writing, music, video, and cartoon samples. Trust me, you really want all these. Hook me up. Then hire me.

Nick

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Sneaking Into Comics 003 - My DC Comics Interview for Assistant Editor to Joey Cavalieri and Joan Hilty

Published
by
nick marino
on September 25, 2008
in Comics and Sneaking Into Comics
. 1 Comment

It was the summer of 2004. I was a recent college grad constantly searching for work. I found a job listing for “Assistant Editor at DC Comics” on the Warner Bros employment website and I somehow managed to get my resume over to the right human resources people at Time Warner.

I’m not exactly sure who helped push my status along to help me land the interview. It could have been the DC editor that I had been communicating with via email. It could have been my dad’s friend who worked for Time Warner and passed along my resume. It could have even been Neal (of the AudioShocker), who interviewed with Warner Bros around that time and possibly mentioned my name to HR.

I was up for the position of Assistant Editor to Joey Cavalieri and Joan Hilty, both in working in the DCU proper at the time (Joan was also running the Johnny DC imprint). The physical application process with Warner Bros was daunting, akin to taking a standardized test. I had to dig so far back into my own personal history that I actually couldn’t remember some of the addresses, phone numbers, and names that they wanted to see.

Afterwards, Warner Bros HR sent me over to the DC Comics offices, part of a large building nestled into the upper edge of Times Square in New York City. I can’t speak for how they look nowadays, but the interior hallways were covered in giant paintings of DCU heroes with huge smiles on their faces. It was both awesome and unsettling at the same time.

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Sneaking Into Comics 002 - How I Got Fired from a High Profile NYC Comic Shop

Published
by
nick marino
on September 18, 2008
in Comics and Sneaking Into Comics
. 0 Comments

It was the end of 2004. While shopping at my New York City comic shop of choice (which shall go nameless), the idea came to me that I should work there and save a few bucks on my weekly haul.

Everything about my interview went smooth like butter until I was asked, “Do you read any online comic book reviews?” Not reviews, I told him, but I read news and interviews on Newsarama. A look of shock washed over my interviewer’s face as he asked, “What?! Why don’t you read Pop Culture Shock?”

I didn’t have a good answer for the guy. Maybe because I barely knew anything about Pop Culture Shock. Maybe because Newsarama was more comics-centric back then. Either way, there was an air of sadness in his voice that made absolutely no sense.

Eventually, I got the job. This was around the time that the Countdown to Infinite Crisis cover image was being teased. Everyone speculated that Batman was holding a dead Nightwing. As I was stuffing poly bags with back issues, I made an offhand comment about the Jim Lee art.

“Psssh, who cares if he dies?” I said jokingly, figuring that my sarcasm was inherent in my tone of voice. “Nightwing sucks anyway.”

“Don’t let Dave hear you say that,” another employee whispered. “Nightwing is his favorite character.”

“What?!” Dave shouted from across the room. “Who said Nightwing sucks? Nick, Why would you say that?!”

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