Catching Up With Joe Sikoryak at Comic Arts

I was able to stop by and see our longtime art director Joe Sikoryak at ComicArtsLA yesterday, where he is selling his work including When We Were Trekkers. Visit his website for more info.

Joe and I just finished working in-depth on the Best of FSM 35th Anniversary book which is now at the printers, as well as the Filmation Music of Ray Ellis CD (both for our Kickstarter and to be fulfilled in January).

It was really great to be collaborating again and tackling a new challenge, like a 400+ page book covering 35 years’ worth of content. Call me old-fashioned but I always believe in the primacy of the reader’s experience: where are you, what is going on, what are you looking at?

These answers need to be as easy to find as possible. And it’s been a challenge on some of these box sets with multiple titles and composers and years and sources—but I can always count on Joe’s care and craft to find the most elegant solutions.

Like on the Star Trek box set for La-La Land:

All the color-coding and formatting was monstrous, but Joe always found a way to do it that was simple and pleasant and easily understood. And he never complained about the proofreading, which can be extensive.

It’s the kind of thing that you take for granted as an audience when it works—but believe me, if it’s not done well, it can ruin the whole experience.

So it’s been a great privilege to work with someone so talented, good-natured and kindhearted for over 30 years. Thank you, Joe!