Valerie D'Orazio (born February 23, 1974) is an Americancomic book writer and editor. She is known as a vocal advocate for women in the comics industry, and for sharing stories of her own struggles with being bullied and harassed.[1]
Career
D'Orazio was hired as assistant editor at Acclaim in 1997. She joined the Creative Services Department at DC Comics in 2000. In 2002,[2] she became assistant editor to Editorial Art Director Mark Chiarello on titles such as Aquaman, Batman Black and White, and JLA.
After leaving DC in 2004, D'Orazio began a career as a blogger under a variety of pseudonyms. In 2006, she wrote a series of posts about her experiences with sexism in the American comic book industry, fandom, and her health struggles, entitled Goodbye to Comics.[3][4] Soon afterward, in the period 2007–2010,[5] D'Orazio was repeatedly bullied and harassed online by Chris Sims, an independent blogger.[6]
D'Orazio was President of Friends of Lulu,[10] a non-profit organization that promoted women comic book creators and readers.[11] She served from 2007 to 2010, after which the group was disbanded.[12][13]
From 2010 to 2013, D'Orazio was the editor of MTV.com subsidiary MTV Geek.[14]
In 2015, when Chris Sims was hired as a writer for Marvel, D'Orazio wrote about his prior harassment and bullying of her.[15] The issue was covered extensively in the comics press.[16][1]
