Nielsen, a native Oregonian, has a strong background in design and promotional marketing, which will allow her to be an effective liaison between the creative and marketing sides of these projects. "Right now, Dark Horse has a significant opportunity to expand its merchandise into new and existing market channels. I'm pleased to contribute my talents and know-how to making this new division take off and fly," said Nielsen. She'll be working with such creators as award-winning sculptor Randy Bowen, who has produced many Dark Horse figurines.
"We've been meaning to produce more specialty merchandise as we've been growing as a company," said Dark Horse president Mike Richardson. "In Kimberley we've found the perfect person to spearhead a lot of exciting, new projects!"
With its new specialty product division, Dark Horse intends to offer merchandise that will both attract new customers to the comics market and appeal to the already-established customer base. Currently in production is a line of painted figures based on characters from the television series "The X-Files," and a series of bronze sculptures based on the characters from the Star Wars trilogy of films.