Joan Hilty (born December 27, 1966) is an American cartoonist, educator, and comic book editor. She was a Senior Editor for mainstream publisher DC Comics and currently works for Nickelodeon as Editorial Director for graphic novels, comics, and legacy properties. Hilty works independently as both a writer-artist and editor.
Early life and education
Hilty was born in Lexington, Kentucky, but grew up in Larkspur, California, just north of San Francisco.[1] At the age of 11, she took cartooning classes with Trina Robbins at College of Marin.[2] Hilty came out as a lesbian in high school.
Hilty received a B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University in 1989, as well as took classes on the side at Rhode Island School of Design.[3][4][1] After college, she returned to the Bay Area, where she received support from Trina Robbins, Caryn Leschen, Roxxie, Angela Bocage, and Robert Triptow.[1] Hilty was subsequently published in an issue of Wimmen's Comix.[2] While in San Francisco, Hilty also published in small title presses Rip Off Press and Fantagraphics Books. In 1992 she was a regular feature in The Advocate (LGBT magazine), and created the characters Immola and the Luna Legion, the first team of lesbian superheroes, appearing in Oh..., a female-oriented comics anthology.[5][6][1] She produced the syndicated strip Bitter Girl, about lesbian dating, from 2001 to 2012; the comic can be found on her website.[7][8]
Career
Hilty began as a freelance illustrator at Studio Kaibito, from 1990 until 2006, creating illustrations and editorial/essay comics. In 1995, she began as an Editor at DC Comics and then was promoted to Senior Editor in 2008.[9] As an editor, Hilty has worked with writers and cartoonists such as Neil Gaiman, G. Willow Wilson, Greg Rucka, Gene Luen Yang, Jim Ottaviani, and Kevin Baker.[7]
Hilty began with the company's mature-readers Vertigo imprint, for which she won the 1999 International Horror Guild Award for the Vertigo anthology Flinch.[4] She switched to editing superhero titles in 2000, established the Johnny DC imprint for young readers in 2004, and in 2008 began curating original graphic novels for Vertigo.[4][10][11]
In 2011, she co-founded 5E, a New-York-based organization of independent editors.[7][12] The following year she co-founded Pageturner, a "boutique book agency and content producer specializing in graphic novels, illustrated content and comics-related transmedia".[13] In 2016, she became Comics and Magazine Editor for Nickelodeon, and was also an Editorial Consultant at Studio Kaibito.[12][14]
Hilty continues to work on independent comic book projects with a variety of publishers, including The Curie Society (MIT Press) and Blue Man World.[7][15]