Laaker leaves Yahoo! to join social comics startup Graphicly
(Mountain View) — After six awesome years at Yahoo!, Micah Laaker today announced his transition to lead product experience at Graphicly, a multi-platform social comics and entertainment experience working to bridge comics, characters, and conversations.
Since joining Graphicly, Laaker has led the charge begin incorporating its first wave of social features in the product’s Web app, launch its Android application, release a rudimentary distributable Web widget, update its iPad application, and define the company’s product roadmap.
“For anyone that has known me since I was very young (or has ever looked at my gift wish list or library record), joining forces with Graphicly is a perfect match,” said Laaker from his new Palo Alto working location. “I have loved comics since I was very young, continue to collect and debate the nuances of story and art with anyone who shows the slightest willingness to listen, and have spent my past 6 professional years working on platforms to help producers get their content/experiences in front of wider audiences (and means for users to socialize them).”
Most recently leading product management, user experience, marketing, and partner relations for Yahoo!’s developer platforms (which make Yahoo! products and services available to 3rd-party developers and publishers), Laaker helped lead Yahoo!’s game partnership deal with Zynga while continuing to push for primary access to Yahoo!’s APIs through YQL.
Originally envisioning his future as the industry’s star comic penciller, Laaker moved into design and product development where he was able to stay close to the visual storytelling media he’d always aspired towards. He led the design teams for the launch of comic legend Stan Lee’s foray into the online world, the Flash-based animated music video for MF Doom, the relaunch of media brand Def Jam Recording’s label site, and the original Flash-based, animated trivia game for the Disney Channel’s Vault Disney. Additionally, he continued his illustration work via board game design and e-cards for Barnes & Noble, among personal projects.
Partnering with the only Micah who has more Twitter followers (sadly by a factor of 10), Laaker joins a strong core team based in Boulder, CO, while continuing to work with a growing West Coast operation in AOL’s Palo Alto incubator lab space.
Stephen Garcia said,
February 25, 2011 @ 4:55 pm
Congrats Micah! Graphic.ly is really lucky to have you. Will definitely be following your releases closely. Rawk!
Micah Baldwin said,
February 25, 2011 @ 4:57 pm
Im the cooler Micah.
Micah said,
February 25, 2011 @ 5:06 pm
Maybe. But which one of us knows how to use punctuation correctly?
Erik said,
February 25, 2011 @ 5:18 pm
So did you like Snowcrash? 😉
Puja said,
February 25, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
His press release says one thing while his official blog bio says another. Once again, Mr. Laaker shows he cannot be trusted. Such a pity really. He seemed like such a promising up-and-comer. 😉
Micah said,
February 25, 2011 @ 9:28 pm
Alas the power of the moderator, who can bend time to his suiting…
Micah said,
February 25, 2011 @ 9:34 pm
You mean Whiteout? I read the two graphic novels here over the holiday break. Great stuff. Loved the Mignola-like subtractive minimalism to the art. Although I can’t lie… the entire time I read them, I kept wishing the story would transition into Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, with the Old Ones coming up and wiping out the whole lot of them. I will forever equate Antartica with that story. So, so awesome.
xian said,
February 26, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
just realized we need to talk. or rather I need your advice.
Erik said,
February 26, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
I meant Whiteout, of course. I had Stephenson on the brain when I wrote that for some reason. Anyhow, glad you liked it. As for At the Mountains of Madness, did you hear del Toro + Cameron are on for production starting this year? 🙂 Schweet.
Micah said,
March 1, 2011 @ 11:42 am
Yeah! Excited to see what that’s set to look like. I just love that tale, as well as “The Haunter of the Dark” and “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” I rarely go back to re-read books, but those have seen several re-readings on my part.
mike vargas said,
March 5, 2011 @ 6:14 am
You always were such a self-promoter! :-))) Seriously, what are the odds of two Micah’s in a company that size??? Congratulations Micah!