Chester Bror Cebulski (/səˈbʌlski/[2]) is an American writer and editor for Marvel Comics, known for his work on titles such as Marvel Fairy Tales. As of November 2017, he holds the position of editor-in-chief.[3]
Early life
Chester Bror Cebulski[1] is of Polish descent.[4] Since he was 20 years old, C. B. Cebulski has lived off and on in Japan, where members of his family reside.[5]
Career
1990s–2000s
Cebulski's early career included working as a translator and a freelance writer.[6]
In the early 2000s, Cebulski did his first work at Marvel Comics, assisting Associate Editor Brian Smith as a consultant on the Marvel Mangaverse, a line of books that reimagined classic Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and the X-Men in the style of manga (Japanese comics).[7][9] In January 2002, he was hired full time as an Associate Editor under Ralph Macchio,[7][6][8] in part because of his fluency in Japanese and his ability to recruit top artists from Japan to work for Marvel.[7][9] As he rose through the ranks, he oversaw the launch of titles such as Runaways, Wolverine: Snikt, and NYX.[7][6][8]
In 2003, Cebulski created the pseudonym Akira Yoshida, under which he began soliciting work from other companies. His work on the Dark Horse Comics books Conan and Hellboy impressed another Marvel editor who, unaware of Yoshida's real identity, asked Cebulski to pitch as well.[9] Cebulski continued to use the pseudonym for a number of Japanese-themed comic books he wrote for Marvel in 2004 and 2005, including Thor: Son of Asgard, Elektra: The Hand, and several X-Men titles.[10][11][12] Cebulski did this to circumvent a company policy prohibiting Marvel's editorial staff from writing or drawing comic books without special permission, or in the case of being granted such permission, being paid for doing so. Before Joe Quesada became editor-in-chief in 2000, editors used to write comics for other editors' departments, though this was seen as a corrupt practice, since it gave such editors an advantage over other writers.[5][9] Cebulski created an elaborate backstory for Yoshida, stating in interviews that he was a Japanese man who grew up reading manga, and had discovered American comics when he lived in the United States as a result of his father's career as a traveling businessman.[12] When questioned about whether or not he was actually Yoshida, Cebulski separately claimed to have met Yoshida and cited unspecified office visits and convention appearances.[5][13] When Cebulski took a position at Marvel that allowed him to openly write as well as edit, Yoshida abruptly disappeared, leading to persistent rumors that Yoshida had been a pseudonym used by a Marvel staffer. When Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston asked Cebulski in early 2006 if he was Yoshida, Cebulski said he was not. Marvel also denied the rumors, with editor Mike Marts stating that he had lunch with Yoshida when he visited the U.S. Former Marvel staffer Gregg Schigiel stated in a podcast that several people at Marvel knew about the deception, though he did not give the author's real name, and his superiors took no action on the matter.[9]
Cebulski was the head writer on the 2006 video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which features a character named after him. In a sub-quest, the player needs to recommend one of two hackers to help Weasel hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. files and determine whether the Black Widow is a double agent. One of them is named after Cebulski, and is revealed to be the correct choice, since the other, Beroge, is a squealer.[14]
His other projects include the 2009 miniseries X-Infernus, the sequel to the 1989 storyline "Inferno", which featured the return of the character Magik,[23][24][25][26] and the miniseries War of Kings: Darkhawk, a character he had previously written in The Loners.[27]
2010s
In 2013, Cebulski was named on IGN's list of "The Best Tweeters in Comics" for his advice on breaking into the industry.[28]
In 2016, Marvel sent Cebulski to work and live in Shanghai as their Vice President of International Business Development & Brand Management, with which he was tasked with developing the company's brand in Asia. Cebulski brokered several deals during this tenure, including partnership with the Japan-based publisher Kodansha, the Korea publisher Daum, and China's NetEase. He also spearheaded Marvel's publication of localized stories that debuted in several Asian markets. That year during the August 26 to 28 Asia Pop Comic Convention Manila, Cebulski hosted the inaugural Hall M, a showcase of Marvel content in the fields of gaming, television, and movies.[29][30]
On November 17, 2017, Cebulski was promoted to Editor-in-chief, succeeding Axel Alonso.[6] After the announcement of his promotion, Image Comics Branding Manager David Brothers challenged comics journalists on Twitter as to why Cebulski "chose to use the pen name Akira Yoshida in the early 2000s to write a bunch of Japanese-y books for them," prompting much discussion on social media. Rich Johnston resumed his investigation into the matter, having failed to definitively substantiate the rumors in 2006. On November 28, Bleeding Cool broke the story that Marvel determined that Yoshida was a pseudonym of Cebulski's in 2006 after Johnston reported on Gregg Schigiel's podcast. Cebulski confessed to Marvel executives that in 2003, he had been planning to leave Marvel, and devised the pseudonym to establish himself as a writer for other companies like Dreamwave and Dark Horse, only for another Marvel editor to hire him on the basis of that work.[5][9] Cebulski publicly admitted to having used the pseudonym Akira Yoshida, leading to accusations of cultural appropriation and yellowfacing[5][10][13] because of the stereotypical tropes Cebulski employed in his Yoshida stories, such as ninja, samurai, and yakuza. Comics critic and scholar Kelly Kanayama stated that in those stories, Cebulski "presented a vision of Japanese culture that was just different enough to seem exotic, but that aligned with Western biases about what Japanese culture—and Japanese people—were really like."[9]
Cebulski addressed his use of the pseudonym,[9] stating:
I stopped writing under the pseudonym Akira Yoshida after about a year. It wasn't transparent, but it taught me a lot about writing, communication and pressure. I was young and naïve and had a lot to learn back then. But this is all old news that has been dealt with, and now as Marvel's new Editor-in-chief, I'm turning a new page and am excited to start sharing all my Marvel experiences with up and coming talent around the globe.[12]
Personal life
Cebulski lived in Shanghai for 18 months as part of his duties as Marvel's Vice President of International Business Development & Brand Management. He returned to New York City when he was promoted to Editor-in-chief in November 2017.[6][8]
