Jenette Kahn
Jenette Kahn | |
---|---|
![]() Portrait of Jenette Kahn by Michael Netzer | |
Born | May 16, 1947 |
Nationality | American |
Area(s) | Publisher |
Awards | Library of Congress Living Legends, 2000 Inkpot Award, 2010 |
Jenette Kahn (born May 16, 1947)[1][2] is an American comic book editor and executive. She joined DC Comics in 1976 as publisher, and five years later was promoted to President. In 1989, she stepped down as publisher and assumed the title of editor-in-chief while retaining the office of president. After 26 years with DC, she left the company in 2002.
Biography
Education and early career
Jenette Kahn grew up in Pennsylvania. Her father was a rabbi.[3] Her brother, Si Kahn, is a singer-songwriter and activist. She was an avid comics fan, a practice supported by her parents, with particular favorites being Batman, Superman, Little Lulu, Uncle Scrooge, and Archie.[3]
After graduating from Radcliffe College with a degree in art history,[1] she eventually founded three magazines for young people. The original publication, Kids, was entirely written by children for one another.[3][4] Its subject matter included drug abuse, diversity, animal protection, and the environment. Kahn's second magazine was Dynamite, for Scholastic Inc..[4] Kahn followed with Smash for Xerox Education Publications.[4]
DC Comics
Kahn was 28 years old on February 2, 1976, when she became publisher of DC Comics,[5][6] a division of Warner Bros. and home to over five thousand characters, including Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Sol Harrison served as the company's president.[7] Kahn stated in a 2012 interview that "I can't really say that Sol and I had much of a working relationship. He, more than anybody, resented my being hired because he felt that the job [of publisher] was rightfully his."[8] In February 1981, she became president following the retirement of Harrison.[9][10][11] She was the youngest person in the company to become president of a division, and the first woman.
Kahn initiated the "DC Explosion" of new titles and formats[12] which was followed in 1978 by a company downturn referred to as the "DC Implosion.[13] Along with editor and executive vice president Paul Levitz[3] and managing editor Dick Giordano, Kahn then revitalized the company through the remainder of the decade and the 1980s, including the introduction of "Dollar Comics" publications,[14][15] as well as limited series to allow for more flexible arrangements for the talent. Kahn supported creators' rights in an industry in which royalties and other traditional publishing rights were not the norm.[3][16] In 1989, she assumed the title of editor-in-chief while retaining the office of president but stepped down as publisher.[17]
Kahn oversaw the launch in 1993 of the Vertigo imprint and of Milestone Media, a minority-founded and ethnically diverse line of comic books that DC published for several years and from which Static Shock, the animated show on The WB television network, was developed. Kahn is credited with overseeing a successful period of reinvention for DC's classic characters, including the death and rebirth of Superman. Giordano commented that Kahn had no editorial restrictions on creators, as far as he could tell.[18] Under Kahn’s leadership, DC became known for pushing boundaries in subject matter by addressing issues of domestic violence, sexual orientation, gun violence, homelessness, racism, and AIDS in the company’s mainstream titles. One exception to this editorial stance was Kahn cancelling an issue of Swamp Thing where the title character interacts with Jesus, which led to the writer and artist Rick Veitch quitting, citing censorship concerns.[19]
She oversaw a diversification of the originally overwhelmingly male staff at DC, to the point where when she left, almost half the employees were women.[3] Kahn left DC Comics in 2002 after 26 years with the company[20] to pursue a career as a film producer.[21]
Double Nickel Entertainment
Kahn is a partner in Double Nickel Entertainment, a film production company she co-founded with Adam Richman after leaving DC Comics. Double Nickel's first film was The Flock (2007) starring Richard Gere and Claire Danes and directed by Andrew Lau. Its second was Gran Torino (2008), starring Clint Eastwood, who also directed.
In addition, Kahn serves on the boards of Exit Art and Harlem Stage, and is an advisor to The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She is a founding member of The Committee of 200, a nationwide forum of key women in business. Her first book, In Your Space, was published by Abbeville Press in 2002.
Awards
Kahn received the Library of Congress Living Legends award in the "Writers and Artists" category in April 2000 for her significant contributions to America's cultural heritage.[22] She received a Inkpot Award in July 2010.[23]
President Ronald Reagan honored Kahn for her work on drug awareness, and she has been honored by the Clinton Administration, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the United Nations, and the Department of Defense for her work on land mines.
The FBI honored Kahn for her efforts on gun control, as did former Governor Douglas Wilder of Virginia, who credited her with helping to pass stricter gun control legislation in his state.
She has also been honored by the World Design Foundation for outstanding creative achievements. In addition, Kahn created The Wonder Woman Foundation in honor of Wonder Woman’s 40th Anniversary. In its three years of existence, the foundation gave out more than $350,000 in grants to women over 40 in categories that exemplified the inspirational characteristics of the DC heroine: women taking risks, women pursuing equality and truth, women striving for peace, women helping other women.[24]
Personal life
In 1983 or 1984, Kahn married Morton J. Fink, a former president of Warner Home Video.[1][25]
Bibliography
- In Your Space: Personalizing Your Home and Office (Abbeville Press, 2002) ISBN 0-7892-0755-9
References
- ^ a b c Gutis, Philip S. (January 6, 1985). "Turning Superheroes into Super Sales". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
...Jenette Kahn, DC's now 37-year-old president and publisher...; And in the Central Park West apartment that she shares with her two cats and her husband of one year, Morton J. Fink, a former president of Warner Home Video.
{{cite news}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Jeannette Kahn... also known as name Jenette S Kahn". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Contino, Jennifer (May 2001). "A Chat with Kahn". Sequential Tart.
- ^ a b c Kahn, Jenette (w). "And Now... We Interrupt this Comic to Bring You a Word from Your New Publisher..." Batman, no. 285 (March 1977).
- ^ Levitz, Paul (March 15, 2016). "Jenette Kahn Interview". PaulLevitz.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
Jenette Kahn arrived at National Periodical Publications in 1976 as a 28 year old ...; ...Groundhog's Day [February 2], 1976, when you arrived at DC.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1970s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9.
Jenette Kahn replaced Carmine Infantino as publisher of a struggling DC Comics.
{{cite book}}
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has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Levitz, Paul (2010). 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking. Cologne, Germany: Taschen America. p. 452. ISBN 978-3-8365-1981-6.
Replacing [Carmine] Infantino in 1976 was a balance of experience and the improbable: 55-year-old production exec Sol Harrison, who had worked on National's very first comics as a color separator before being moved up to president. He was teamed with an unlikely equal partner as publisher, a 28-year-old woman from outside comics, Jenette Kahn.
- ^ Greenberger, Robert (July 2012). "The Path of Kahn". Back Issue! (57). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 12.
- ^ Levitz (2010) p. 455
- ^ Catron, Michael (June 1981). "Harrison Retires From DC Presidency". Amazing Heroes (1). Stamford, Connecticut: Fantagraphics Books: 31.
- ^ Catron, Michael (June 1981). "Executive Shifts at DC". Amazing Heroes (1). Stamford, Connecticut: Fantagraphics Books: 25.
- ^ Kahn, Jenette (September 1978). "Publishorial: Onward and Upward". DC Comics. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "The DC Implosion". The Comics Journal (41). Stamford, Connecticut: Fantagraphics Books: 5–7. August 1978.
- ^ Kahn, Jenette (w). "And Now... Still Another Message of Untold Importance from our Prolific Publisher!!" Batman, no. 286 (April 1977).
- ^ Romero, Max (July 2012). "I'll Buy That For a Dollar! DC Comics' Dollar Comics". Back Issue! (57). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 39–41.
- ^ Daniels, Les (1995). DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. p. 173. ISBN 0821220764.
DC's royalties plan, inaugurated in 1981, gave percentages to writers and artists on all comics that sold beyond the break-even point of 100,000 copies.
- ^ Levitz (2010) p. 567
- ^ Groth, Gary (March 1981). "The Dick Giordano Interview (Part One of Three)". The Comics Journal (62). Stamford, Connecticut: Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on November 8, 2013.
{{cite journal}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Comic Books: Swamp Thing's Quagmire". Time. July 10, 1989. Archived from the original on February 10, 2014.
{{cite journal}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Weiland, Jonah (February 6, 2002). "DC Comics President Jenette Kahn to step down". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on February 11, 2014.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Levitz (2010) p. 638
- ^ "Living Legend: Jenette Kahn". Library of Congress. n.d. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Wahl, Andrew (July 24, 2010). "CCI: Jenette Kahn Earns Her Inkpot Award". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Mangels, Andy (July 2012). "A Heroine History of the Wonder Woman Foundation". Back Issue! (57). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 48–55.
- ^ "Series 2: Printed Materials > Wedding invitation for Jenette Kahn and Mort Fink". School of Visual Arts Archives. n.d. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
External links
- Jenette Kahn at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Jenette Kahn at the Grand Comics Database
- Jenette Kahn at IMDb
- Kimball, Kirk. "Explosion and Implosion," part one of "Secret Origins of the DC Implosion," Dial B for Blog
- Interview with Jenette Kahn on YouTube at the Chicago Humanities Festival, December 4, 2013
- Jenette Kahn Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
- 1947 births
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- 21st-century American businesspeople
- American business executives
- American Jews
- American magazine publishers (people)
- American women business executives
- Businesspeople from Pennsylvania
- Comic book editors
- Comic book publishers (people)
- DC Comics
- Inkpot Award winners
- Living people
- Radcliffe College alumni
- Women editors