To Begin Monthly Store Visits

Chris La Torre - Southern California

Bill Noftz - Seattle, Washington

Stacy Lott - Southern California

Ben Freeman - Nashville, Tennessee

Matt Rector - Northern Virginia/Washington DC

Daniel Kibodeaux - Pacific Northwest

Jean Grey - Central Florida

Tony White - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Ed Catto - Central New York

AfterShock Comics has hired the initial cohort of its AfterShock Army, planned as at least 30 brand ambassadors based in 15 regions across North America, the company announced. The brand ambassadors will work one-on-one with comic retailers to enhance communication between the company and the stores that sell its products, and to maximize opportunities to increase sales.The brand ambassadors will report to AfterShock Senior Retailer Relations Manager RuthAnn Thompson, who is recruiting the new staff, and be supported by Senior Retail Sales Development Manager Marc Hammond (see " New AfterShock Hires Strengthen Retail Presence ").The program builds on the experience of CCO and Publisher Joe Pruett, who visited over 80 stores since the company launched, part of an initial 300 stores visited by members of the AfterShock team (see " ICv2 Interview: Aftershock’s Joe Pruett and Michael Marts ").The initial nine members of the team and their territories were revealed as:

"More and more, we’re seeing that success for a publisher like us - one that’s been surgically aggressive in bringing fresh creator-owned content to market - is reliant on relationships at the shop level," Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing Steve Rotterdam said in conjunction with the announcement. "No two comic shops are exactly alike - even ones owned by the same retailer. That’s why we sought out service-oriented ambassadors who were as good at listening as they were at promoting."