Lou Bank

Lou Bank began his career in entertainment marketing in 1987 when he joined Marvel Comics as a sales assistant in the Specialty Sales department. Less than four years later, at the age of 25, he became the head of the department, which then accounted for 70% of all of Marvel’s publishing revenue. During his six-year tenure at the company he spearheaded the marketing campaigns for X-Men #1, X-Force #1, and Spider-Man #1, the three best-selling comics of all time, with X-Men #1 clocking in at over 8 million copies; under his guidance, the Specialty Sales department at Marvel also set industry records for highest market share of all time (68%) and highest monthly sales of all time ($13 million).

Bank left Marvel in 1994 to become vice president of sales and marketing for Dark Horse Comics, which then was the fifth-largest comics publisher. Bank boosted the company’s profile and overhauled its marketing, and Dark Horse became the fourth-largest publisher in the industry and the leading publisher of graphic novels in the bookstore market. During his tenure Bank established new distribution for the company, including bookstore, newsstand, and toy-store distribution; he found greater revenues for the company by concentrating on premium publishing; and he wrote successful cross-marketing plans for such partners as Lucasfilm, Fox, Hanna-Barbera/Turner, MGM/UA, New Line Cinema, LucasArts, Nintendo, Toys ‘R’ Us, Kellogg, General Mills, Galoob, and Kenner/Hasbro.

Bank donates his marketing skills to various children's causes, such as For Us Northwest and The Dougy Center. He also volunteers with SMART and is on the board of advisors for PROTECT.