This month, we're kicking off a new feature in The Finish Line: capsule profiles of the DH editors -- a chance for you to get to know some of the folks who help bring you the finest in comics entertainment all year long. We toyed with different methods to determine the order in which we'd present these profiles (alphabetical, from most senior to most junior, etc.), but in the end deferred to the existing level of chaos and random chance. Our first unlucky victim turned out to be Rachel Penn, our newest assistant editor.

PROFILE: RACHEL PENN, ASSISTANT EDITOR

In office at Dark Horse's Milwaukie, Oregon headquarters, Rachel Penn is surrounded by copies of covers for upcoming issues of Blade of the Immortal, Gunsmith Cats, The Legend of Mother Sarah, and other manga titles, as well as wall-sized posters for Sin City, Madman, and Star Wars, and photos of her rottweiler, Rosie. Kind of a funny place to find a twenty-six year-old from Cleveland who, prior to coming to work at Dark Horse as a proofreader in 1996, had no real interest in comics.

"As a kid," says Rachel, "I always wanted to write and draw. I also liked horror, and I read individual horror comics -- along with stuff like Fangoria -- but I never got into reading comic-book series. I wasn't interested in superheroes." Her perception of the medium changed after she began reading comics as part of her job, and now she's a firm believer that many more people would discover the joys of comics reading, if they were just exposed to them.

"What's exciting to me is that comics aren't limited to telling stories from a single genre. I think of myself as a pretty typical representative of my generation, and I guess I was surprised to find that there were comics which spoke to my personal interests and concerns."

In addition to assisting editor Scott Allie on books like Hellboy and Groo, Rachel is Dark Horse's direct liaison with Studio Proteus and editor for most of its manga line. As if that weren't enough, Rachel has been instrumental in instigating several department-wide brainstorming sessions dealing with everything from new projects to revising in-house procedures, organizing an annual "Naked Lady" party (relax, it's not what you think it is), attending senior editor Diana Schutz's "junior editor training" classes, and making plans for her impending nuptials (sorry, guys).

Name: Rachel Penn
Nickname: Manga Girl*
Favorite comics: Blade of the Immortal, From Hell, Usagi Yojimbo
Favorite books: A Farewell to Arms, Watership Down
Favorite movies this year: Face Off and From Dusk 'Til Dawn
Favorite music: Louis Prima, Cowboy Junkies, Sting, Reverend Horton Heat
When I'm not at work I'm probably ... : having another of a million great schemes that never see fruition.
Career highlight: Making Paul Chadwick laugh during an interview.
Quote: "I like gross things. I don't know ... I guess that's why I kinda like this job. I still can't get over that scene in Metalfer (DHP #126) where the guy's skin gets ripped off. That was truly inspired work."

*Sung to the tune of Devo's "Mongoloid."