Lion Forge Hires Andrew E.C. Gaska as Senior Development Editor

Continuing their hiring spree, Lion Forge has brought on Andrew E.C. Gaska to the position of Senior Development Editor. In the role, Gaska will help develop new IP for Lion Forge in both comics and animation. Gaska will also work with Lion Forge’s licensing department and Jill Gerber on developing educational graphic novel projects. And, of course, it’ll be his responsibility to stop by the Fotomat if someone needs a roll of film developed.

In observing the traditional hiring ritual, Gaska supplied a quote for the press release, and he even managed to fit the word “synergy” there. This one’s a keeper!

Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of contributing to and creating several series bibles for projects in development at Lion Forge. In the process, I’ve enjoyed a great synergy with the company, and we decided it was time to take our relationship to the next level.

Lion Forge Founder and CEO David Steward II completed the ceremony with a press release quote of his own:

Andrew’s work with Carl Reed and our Labs team has earned him respect throughout the organization, and we are thrilled he will be joining us full time as we step up our development efforts. With his extensive background in caring for some of the most beloved franchises in science fiction, there is no one more qualified to lead the efforts in creating and developing our own properties to ready them for audiences around the world.

Gaska also described his new responsibilities:

In this newly created position, I’m responsible for the creation and development of new intellectual properties at Lion Forge. I will not only be writing for these projects but also guiding the creative process through to completion. Tackling animation and comics from an author’s perspective and with an artist’s approach, I’ll be working closely with the creative teams and studios involved to ensure that both our vision and theirs are not lost in the translation.

Because of my longtime experience working directly with licensors, I am also now part of Lion Forge’s Licensing team. Our goal is to bring both new and legacy franchise projects to life under our banner. Additionally, I’ll be working with [Lion Forge director of education outreach and collections] Jill Gerber to bring historical and educational projects to life as graphic novels. This is an exciting time at Lion Forge and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it.

And if you thought we were just about done with this press release, you were wrong. It also contains a three paragraph bio of Gaska, recounting his entire life story:

With two decades of experience in the comics and video game industries, author Andrew E.C. Gaska is the senior development editor at Lion Forge LLC. Having previously freelanced for Lion Forge’s Labs division as a script, pitch, and proposal writer, he now generates original IP for the brand, developing both comics and animation projects while working closely with creative teams to guide their vision to fruition.

He is founder/creative director of the guerrilla integrated media studio BLAM! Ventures and has worked as a freelance franchise consultant to 20th Century Fox for the past three years, writing series reference bibles, maintaining continuity, streamlining in-universe canon, and creating detailed timelines for the legacy franchises of Alien, Predator,and Planet of the Apes. Andrew was a production assistant and colorist for Vanguard Productions, where he restored valuable comic and genre artworks for archival reproduction. He was also a sequential storytelling instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and he served as a visual consultant to Rockstar Games for seventeen years on theGrand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Revolver, and all other releases.

Known as “Drew” to his friends, his online sci-fi and sociopolitical essays on social media and rogue-reviewer.com draw controversial debate and discussion from all sides. His graphic novels and prose works include Critical Millennium: The Dark Frontier, Space: 1999—Aftershock and Awe, Classic Space: 1999—To Everything That Was, HAWKEN: Melee, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Draconian Fire Saga, Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes, Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone, and the upcoming novel Death of the Planet of the Apes.

Welcome aboard, “Drew!”

To go along with that massive bio, here’s an excessively large, close-up headshot of Gaska, his eyes looking directly into your soul as he ponders the meaning of life, provided by Lion Forge: