Archie Comics has appointed Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa as its new Chief Creative Officer, the company announced today. In that role, new for the company, Aguirre-Sacasa will provide input into the company’s publishing initiatives, and also lead the company’s expansion into other media including film, TV, and animation.
Aguirre-Sacasa is currently scripting the series Afterlife with Archie, with art by Francesco Francavilla, for the company. He’s the writer on the Archie live action movie currently in development (see "Archie Movie Plot Reveals"). He’s previously worked for Marvel, where he shared a Harvey for “Best New Talent” in 2006 (see "Marvel Wins Five Harveys").
Aguirre-Sacasa has had a significant career in television, including writing and producing Glee and Big Love; he wrote the Glee-Archie crossover (see "'Glee' Storyline in 'Archie'") for the comics. He was a screenwriter for the 2013 Carrie remake.
His career began in the theater, and he was one of the writers for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. His first contact with Archie may have been as a playwright. A play he wrote received a cease and desist from the company back in 2003 for planning to tell a story about Archie coming out as gay, according to local reports.
Aguirre-Sacasa’s first deal as CCO was to bring in Lena Dunham to write a four part story (see "Lena Dunham to Write Archie Story").
Archie Publisher Jon Goldwater said of the hire, "Roberto epitomizes what Archie is about. He’s so tapped into pop culture and entertainment, and he loves these characters and knows exactly the steps we need to take to bring them to a wider audience."
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Posted by ICv2 on March 3, 2014 @ 9:33 pm CT