The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has added three new members to its Board of Directors: Amy Chu, Joe Illidge, and Pam Noles, all of whom have experience both inside and outside the industry. Illidge and Noles joined the board immediately, and Chu will take her seat in January.
Chu, a Harvard Business School graduate, is known to comics fans as the writer of Deadpool, Poison Ivy, Red Sonja, and Wonder Woman comics, as well as the middle-grade graphic novels Sea Sirens and Sky Island (with artist Janet Lee). She is also a writer for the Netflix animated series DOTA: Dragons Blood. Previously, Chu was the Executive Director of the Asian American Arts Alliance and the Manager of the Management Assistance Program for the United Way of New York City. She has a certificate in nonprofit management from Columbia University and teaches business and writing at the Kubert School. Illidge is the Executive Editor of Heavy Metal. He started his comics career at Milestone Media, then was a Batman editor at DC, guiding the development of characters such as Oracle and Cassandra Cain. He was a Senior Editor at Lion Forge Comics, Executive Editor at Valiant Comics, and Editorial Director for A Wave Blue World before taking his current position. Illidge has also worked with nonprofit organizations including the National Down Syndrome Society and the Harlem School of the Arts. Noles is a longtime volunteer at Comic-Con International at San Diego, where she has met many well known creators and performers while overseeing one of the restricted entrances to Hall H. She has several years’ experience with the ACLU of Southern California, where she worked in the communications department, and she also was a police reporter and features columnist. She now works as a stage manager, costume designer, and onstage storyteller.The CBLDF board lost three members last year, after the resignation of Executive Director Charles Brownstein (see “Three Board Members Leave CBLDF”). In addition to the three new members, the board consists of President Christina Merkler; Vice President Chris Powell; Secretary Dale Cendali; and members Jen King, Bob Wayne, and Gene Luen Yang