Talk:Chris Ryall

Uncited material in need of citations
The following material was moved here from the article pending sourcing. Nightscream (talk) 21:20, 26 February 2014 (UTC)

Early life
Christopher Ryall was born in Long Beach, California. He is the son of Ken and Patricia Ryall, who encouraged Chris’ creativity from an early age. In particular, Patricia’s love for pop culture would begin to influence Chris’ own sensibilities, providing him with a healthy balance of and appreciation for high art to the low brow. It was not uncommon for there to be discussions about Richard Matheson's short stories while a KISS album or Steve Martin comedy record was playing on the stereo. Patricia would often act as a sounding board and barometer for her son’s tastes, coupled with his own insatiable appetite for reading and writing (skills that would surface in Chris’ early work in such various capacities as a music reviewer for local newspapers, an advertising copywriter, a technical automotive writer, and a corporate speechwriter).

Ryall says he has known he wanted to be a writer since the age of ten, and gives credit to Stan Lee and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles for fostering his love of the written word.

In 1995 Ryall graduated from Cal State Fullerton.

Career
After a brief stint working as a Project Director writing for Dick Clark Communications, one that would leave Ryall feeling unfulfilled personally and stifled creatively, he made a concerted effort to break into the entertainment industry on his own terms while still working as an advertising copywriter in Santa Monica, California. After an encounter with filmmaker Kevin Smith, who contacted Ryall after disagreeing with an online review Ryall had posted about Smith’s take on the Green Arrow comic book, the two exchanged emails with a tone that eventually shifted from defensive to friendly.

In 2003 it was named one of Entertainment Weekly’s "100 Sites to Bookmark Now", along with receiving write-ups in USA Today, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, L.A. Business Journal, Los Angeles Times, and mentions on CNN Headline News. It was also named Yahoo.com’s Site of the Week for July 2002.

With Ryall's direction, IDW Publishing made the decision to pursue a partnership with Hasbro on the Transformers franchise. The toy company subsequently awarded IDW the G.I. Joe and Dungeons & Dragons properties.

July 2010 saw Ryall promoted to IDW's Chief Creative Officer. In March 2010, IDW attained Premier status with the sole comic distributor, Diamond, the first time ever an indie publisher has attained this status.

Sony Pictures and director Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company announced in February 2011 that they acquired the rights to co-produce the film adaptation of Ryall and Wood’s Zombies vs. Robots.

Editors at IDW
Since the article mentions he was the second Editor in Chief at IDW, it seems proper that there be a frame at the bottom that lets the reader navigate to his predecessor or successor (when there is one). BTW, the first EiC was Jeff Mariotte (see http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=1701 ). Hope this helps! Darci (talk) 14:42, 7 July 2014 (UTC)