MIKE PELLERITO

He must forever hide his identity to protect his loved ones and secret stash of Mighty Crusaders #1 from those who would do him harm. However,blindfolded and taken on an hour long car drive,Rik Offenberger was amazed to find himself standing in the presence of the Mighty P in the cavernous P Cave [don’t take that “P” the wrong way…its for “Pellerito”–nothing else!]. Er,so Rik got the interview but the identity is still hidden.
THANKS,Rik…and Mighty Mike

Comic Bits Online: How did you start at Archie Comics?

Mike Pellerito: Pure luck! Fernando Ruiz was a past teacher from The Joe Kubert School. We stayed in touch and one day he mentioned Archie was looking for production artists. Originally the interview was for a spot in the Digest department, but the then the digest editor passed. Victor Gorelick, then Managing Editor, shuffled some people around and had me working directly for him instead.
It was a tremendous opportunity. In the next couple of years I was fortunate enough to become the back to the Art Director, Production Manager, cover colorist—I pursued every opportunity to learn something new.
CBO: How long did it take you to become Managing editor?

MP: Before Managing Editor I was offered the opportunity to edit the Sonic the Hedgehog comic. At the time Sonic was just the monthly comic, and the feeling was the book had some room to grow and needed some new thinking. We tried a few new ideas, and sales took off. Eventually, we had a second Sonic monthly comic, Sonic X that morphed into the recently released Sonic Universe, and now the Sonic Archives and Sonic Select reprinting. From there, the folks at Archie and SEGA continued to let us try some new things. The fans were so tough early on, and extremely passionate, but they have really responded to what we have been doing.  Recently, Victor Gorelick moved up to Editor-In-Chief, and I was offered the opportunity to step into the Managing Editor position. Victor had held that position for decades, so it was extremely flattering to say the least. So that is a sort of quick way to answer that question. Incidentally, Victor just celebrated his 50th year at Archie and we snuck a surprise story into Archie Double Digest #193. It was really great to not only help honor him, but a real challenge to get this out and surprise him.

CBO: What are your responsibilities?

MP: It seems to change day to day to be honest! What is nice at a small company like Archie is to be able to get involved in so many different aspects of the industry, similar to those early days as a production artist. We just released some new cover designs to our books; in addition to helping oversee the project it was nice to flex some design muscle in helping designing some new things from logo to book designs. The real heavy lifting was done by Dan Parent, along with Jack Morelli and Tito Pena. Sonic Archives and the new Sonic Select Graphic Novel collections take up a lot of time—as well as working on more Archie New Look stories. We really have a great line-up of talent for the next few books. In addition to that, a lot of time is spent putting together material for the Graphic Novel collections and Digest books. Archie was nice enough to take me along to the San Diego Comic Con this past year. A reader, not a kid but really a life-long fan of Archie, was really just gushing about the new Best of the 60’s Book 2 in the Archie Americana Series. He went on about the story selection and how it made a narrative of the decade and it was probably his favorite of the series. That had been the first Graphic Novel Collection where the final selection of stories was up to me before Victor’s approval. That was really gratifying.  Plus the Archie Comics site (www.archiecomics.com) has been getting an overhaul and is probably my newest challenge. Learning new programs and trying new ideas in so many different areas is really the best part. From marketing to accounting, something of everything at a small comic company like Archie is always there to keep you on your toes.

CBO: Wasn’t Archie & Friends supposed to change to Archie All-Stars last year?

MP: Well, yes. We changed our plans a few times even just recently. But happily Archie & Friends is staying a monthly. Archie & Friends All-Stars however is a new series or Graphic Novel Collections starting up this year. We have Betty’s Diary, Veronica’s Passport and the Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton for the first three volumes. We have a lot more planned, but this is the Graphic Novel line that Archie fans have been demanding.

CBO: You recently started using Alex Simmons on Archie & Friends. How does a new writer join Archie Comics?

MP: At this point I can’t remember. Alex’s work has always been great. We started talking at his first Kids Con (and if you are anywhere near the Bronx for the next one, don’t miss it) and things started to just take off from there. With Alex Simmons writing a world tour story running from #117-120 with amazing art by Rex Lindsay, and a three-part Comic Con adventure with art by the equally awesome Fernando Ruiz taking us up to issue #123, it’s been a lot of action and laughs. And the four-part Cartoon Life of Chuck Clayton has been getting a lot of praise– and we have a lot more planned. Granted, not every writer has a Comic Con at his or her disposal. Every writer starts differently. Ian Flynn, the Sonic writer, just happened to send in a submission at the right time. Tania Del Rio was featured in a local paper and after a few conversations she started work on the Sabrina comic, giving it a Manga makeover.

CBO: Sabrina has been featuring different artists lately. Why the sudden change in art?

MP: Tania just moved cross country and to keep the book on time we asked Lindsay Cibos, a good friend of Tania, and Chad Thomas to fill in for a few issues. Chad was really just a shot in the dark. Just checking out some art blogs– his art was really eye catching. After a few conversations he was doing a two-issue story about Salem as an adult magician on a quest for a magical artifact that ties into modern day Sabrina. The story was so well received we are doing a four-part mini-series before Salem was turned into a cat for his magical misdeeds when he was just an adventurous magical boy. Chad will be doing the art and Ian Flynn came up with the idea and story, which starts in Sabrina #101 through 104.

CBO: What do you look for in new artists?

MP: Some kind of professional history. Beyond that, any skill at the drawing board. Most artists always know somebody looking for a project. Tracy Yardley met one of my best friends who later called and said, “You have to see this guy’s art, he’d be perfect for Sonic!” And the rest is history.

CBO: Is there any chance Harvey will get his memories back?

MP: I can’t answer that! Tania will beat me into the ground! You’ll have to wait and see. The big story arc is going to be the road to 100 and the fate of the magic kingdom!

CBO: Will Sonic and Sally be getting back together?

MP: That is the most asked question in recent Sonic history. Again, no way will you hear from me what happens! They have become very good friends again, so it might be a step in the right direction. However, with the events going on leading up to Sonic #200 they might not have the opportunity to rekindle their relationship. But hey, another long-time couple– Bunnie and Antoine did get married in STH #174!

CBO: When is Shadow going to reappear?

MP: We have a huge plan for Shadow coming up starting in Sonic X 40. That’s the last issue of the series and will tie directly into the NEW Sonic series, Sonic Universe.

CBO: Have the Sonic Archives brought new readers to the regular series?

MP: Yeah, definitely. And a lot of readers are coming back to the series after being away for years. The Sonic book is pretty unique, and it’s cool because it reaches so many types of readers and different age groups.

CBO: Recently we have seen Sonic as a wrestler in Sonic X. What type of reaction have you received from the fans?

MP: Mostly people thought we were crazy. But as the story circulated around the office everybody wanted to read it and find out what happened. We did a few more scripts before we even solicited the first issue, just because the office reaction was so good. Turned out to be a good thing, as a lot of people really liked those issues. Even a friend who is a writer in the WWE thought it was really cool.