Janelle Asselin is an American former

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

editor and writer, known for creating the now-defunct publishing company Rosy Press. As of 2017, Asselin works as a

claims adjuster Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

and resides in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

Personal life

Asselin was born on April 10, 1983, and grew up in

Malvern, Iowa Malvern is a city in Mills County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,046 at the time of the 2020 census. The Wabash Trace—a railroad converted to a bicycle trail—passes through Malvern. The Mills County Fair is held here, although ...

, where she attended Malvern Community Junior Senior High School. She later attended

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with ...

, where she graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in English, and went on to receive a master's degree in Publishing in 2011 from

Pace University Pace University is a private university with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, United States. It was established in 1906 as a business school by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace. Pace enrolls about ...

. Asselin was married to a man she met while at DC Comics. Subsequent to their divorce, she identified herself as

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. Asselin has suffered from health issues such as depression and

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

Early career

Asselin began working for

Newsarama ''Newsarama'' is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website ''GamesRadar+'', also owned by Future US. Hi ...

as a pop culture reviewer and eventually moved to '' Fangoria Graphix'', where she performed various tasks such as proofreading and designing layout. After leaving ''Fangoria Graphix'' Asselin worked as a line editor and briefly returned to Newsarama before gaining employment with

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

in 2008. While at DC Comics Asselin worked on titles such as ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. The character Bette Kane, Betty Kane was introduced into publica ...

'', and ''

Birds of Prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

'' before leaving to work for Disney Publishing in 2011. Asselin later stated in 2017 that she left DC due to sexual harassment from a fellow employee, Eddie Berganza, and the company's response to complaints filed by her and other female employees. Asselin was laid off from Disney Publishing in 2013, after which she began investigating the possibility of creating her own publishing company, Rosy Press. Asselin also worked as a senior editor part-time at

ComicsAlliance ComicsAlliance is an American website dedicated to covering the comic book industry as well as comic-related media, and is owned by Townsquare Media. The site has been nominated for multiple awards including a 2015 Eisner Award win in the categ ...

Hire This Woman

Janelle Asselin created "Hire This Woman" while writing for

. "Hire This Woman" features a female comic artist or writer in order to help promote talented woman in the comic industry. "Hire This Woman" includes women that are up-and-coming newcomers along with more experienced women in the comic industry. Asselin hoped by creating this feature on ComicsAlliance she would be able to help women find more jobs in the comic book industry. Women featured in these articles include Marguerite Sauvage, Janine Frederick, and Aubrey Aiese. Women interviewed by Janelle Asselin were

writers, artists,

letterers A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic-book-reading experience. The l ...

, colorists,

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

s, and many more careers in the industry.

''Teen Titans'' #1 cover review

In 2014 Asselin published an editorial piece on comic book and pop culture website CBR, criticizing the cover artwork of the first issue of DC's

The New 52 The New 52 was the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire Line (comics), line of ongoing monthly superhero American comic books, comic books. Following the conclusion of the "Flashpoint (comics), Flashpoint" Fictional crossover, cros ...

''Teen Titans'' relaunch, specifically highlighting the artwork for

Wonder Girl Wonder Girl is the alias of multiple list of superheroines, superheroines featured in comic books published by DC Comics. They are associated with the superheroine Wonder Woman and possess Amazons (DC Comics), Amazonian powers. The Wonder Girl a ...

. Asselin criticized the work for what she saw as an unrealistic portrayal of a teenage female body and that Wonder Girl's was drawn inappropriately and disproportionally. After the piece was published, Asselin received multiple threats of rape and other bodily harm as well as derogatory sexual remarks questioning her professionalism and experience in the comic book industry. In response to these threats as well as content that site founder Jonah Weiland described as "a negativity and nastiness that has existed on the CBR forums for too long", the site's forums were closed in favor of a new forum that he hoped would be "inclusive, diverse, accepting and compassionate".

Rosy Press and ''Fresh Romance''

Asselin launched Rosy Press with the hope that she would be able to revive the genre of

romance comics Romance comics are a genre of comic book, comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military ...

. The company and its flagship anthology series, ''Fresh Romance'', was funded via a successful

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign. Asselin recruited several of her colleagues to work on the series, including

Kate Leth Katrina Jade "Kate" Leth (born 1988) is a Canadian comic book creator, known for works such as '' Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!''. Career Leth was born in Ottawa and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and attended NSCAD University, studying photogra ...

, Arielle Jovellanos, and Sarah Winifred Searle. The first volume of ''Fresh Romance'' was released in May 2015 as digital content and was followed up with a print release by

Oni Press Oni Press is an American independent comic book and graphic novel publisher based in Portland, Oregon, best known for publishing such series as '' Scott Pilgrim'' and ''Rick and Morty''. In 2019, it became an imprint label following the company's ...

in 2016. Prior to her announcement in 2016 that she was shuttering Rosy Press due to personal health issues and financial reasons, the ''Fresh Romance'' anthology series received nominations for a Dwayne McDuffie Diversity Award and a Harvey Award for Best Anthology. In November 2016 the ''Fresh Romance'' series was picked up by Emet Comics, which also purchased Rosy Press.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Asselin, Janelle Living people 1983 births 21st-century American women writers American women editors Comic book publishers (people) DC Comics people Southern New Hampshire University alumni Pace University alumni Writers from Iowa American comics writers American female comics writers LGBTQ comics creators LGBTQ people from Iowa