Knowing is half the battle. And Josh Blaylock knew.

He was a force behind the return of G.I. Joe and Cobra logos to the T-shirts of hipster geeks everywhere--and then continued the party by bringing the warring armies roaring back to the pages of comic books.

Like I said in my interview with Dreamwave's Adam Fortier, some industry execs were puzzled by the '80s comeback, but not guys like Josh and the millions of kids who were now older and ready to spend their disposable income on the icons of their youth. As you'll read below, Josh's story, if not rags to riches, is certainly an "American Idol" saga of one man with vision and passion who seized an opportunity to live his dreams.

So how did a guy who no one had heard of snag the license that the big boys would now kill for? What are his plans for Cobra Commander and Co.? And what did he steal from a Wizard party? Let's find out as we go Behind The Curtain with the founder of Devil's Due, Josh Blaylock!

BEHIND THE CURTAIN: Let's start with the Devil's Due office itself. Where is it located, how many people work there, and how would you describe its vibe?

JOSH BLAYLOCK: We're located on the Northern end of Chicago. We're nowhere near the 'burbs, but a little ways from downtown. We're nearing almost a dozen in-house staffers, if you count the rotating artists working here, and we have about 50 freelancers to keep track of at any given time.

It's a hectic vibe and the days fly by for everyone. It's stressful a lot of times, but it's a dream come true to not be staring at the clock all day. Everyone's here because it's something they really want to be doing, or they at least enjoy the role they play. I like to think I'm an easy boss to work for and provide a spiffy work environment.

Basically, we hire people and then ruin them for life for any other company--haha! Where else are they going to go where they can have colored hair or refer to the company president by "dude", or wear pants on their head? Okay, no one's done that last one... yet.

BTC: What is your title and role in the company, and what's your typical day at Devil's Due Central?

G.I. JOE: COBRA INSIGNIA WALL SCROLL

JOSH: I'm the president, so that means I get to be the one who makes sure that at the end of the day, everything gets done. I arrive at about 8:30 on a typical day, and leave at around 7:00. I try to hit the gym after that, and wrap miscellaneous office stuff at night via my laptop. The ski machine at Bally's is my official new place for getting scripts read. Recently I've been spending a lot of time working late at home, so I'll come in around 10:00, but sometimes its 7:00, so it varies. Everyone here tries to take advantage of the Chicago nightlife on the weekends to make up for all the hard work.

Honestly, over half of my day is spent talking on the phone, negotiating prices with artists, talking to one of our licensers about approvals, or answering interviews (ha!). Recently, Marshall Dillon took over as our head of Product Development, which means he's handling a lot of traffic control and duties that used to fall under my responsibility. This takes a major load off and leaves me free for more creative work. It's funny, though. Years ago I would bust my ass at a day job, doing comic book work at night and on the weekends, and now that comics are my day job, the weekends and evenings are still when I get most of my creative work done.

Continued here...

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