Executive Summary: Voice Agency Comics has opened an impressively decorated Houston office under the direction of designer and project manager Todd Rathbone, whose artistic gifts are surpassed only by the mystery surrounding his recruitment. Founder Gordon Atkinson visits frequently but remains unwilling to explain how the two men met. Company officials consider the matter closed.
By Chet Masterson, Senior International Correspondent, Voice Agency News
HOUSTON, TEXAS — In yet another indication of its growing institutional strength, Voice Agency Comics has announced the opening of a major Houston design and production office under the direction of Todd Rathbone, a gifted young artist whose professional background has attracted considerable interest and surprisingly little documentation.
Rathbone, whose artistic tastes are widely regarded as adventurous, will oversee project management, cover design, illustration development, and the company’s rapidly evolving artificial intelligence production techniques.
The appointment places Rathbone at the forefront of one of the publishing industry’s most exciting technological revolutions, giving him access to powerful creative tools that, in the wrong hands, could produce results of unimaginable consequence.
Company officials insist that Rathbone’s are the right hands.
The Houston office occupies a particularly important position within the Voice Agency organization. Founder Gordon Atkinson, who continues to conduct much of his work from a private home office, is frequently in contact with Rathbone, as is Atkinson’s longtime companion, Glenda.
This proximity affords Rathbone considerably greater access to senior management than his colleagues in Austin and Port Aransas, although it remains unclear whether he regards this as a benefit.
Meanwhile, persistent questions surround the circumstances of Rathbone’s original association with Atkinson.
How did these two men meet?
Despite extensive inquiries, Voice Agency News has been unable to establish a satisfactory account of their first encounter.
Photographs confirm that the two men know one another. Beyond this, the historical record becomes increasingly difficult to penetrate.
Atkinson has declined to elaborate, and Rathbone has shown little enthusiasm for discussing the matter.
Nevertheless, the company’s editorial board remains enthusiastic about the Houston operation, whose sophisticated design facilities are expected to play a central role in the production of upcoming Voice Agency Comics issues.
With a growing portfolio of literary properties, an expanding network of regional offices, and a designer whose imagination appears to recognize few conventional boundaries, Voice Agency Comics continues its determined advance toward an uncertain but undoubtedly remarkable future.
As for Todd Rathbone, there is clearly much more to the story.
For the present, however, this correspondent has been advised that we have said quite enough.
Chet Masterson, reporting from Houston.