Alumni Class Note: Heather Antos

A lot of kids dream of being superheroes, but as they grow up, they find that radioactive spiders or vials of Chemical X are difficult to come by. Although Eastern Michigan University graduate Heather Antos never acquired X-ray vision or superhuman strength, she got the next best thing—a job as an assistant editor for Marvel Comics.

Photo Courtesy | Heather Antos

  A Niles native with a degree in electronic media and film production and theatre arts, Antos (BS13) befriended a Marvel editor via social media and began receiving advice on how to break into the comics industry. The editor later invited her to interview for a position at the publisher of pop culture icons like the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men.

“It’s my dream job, hands down,” says Antos, a lifelong comic book fan who now works on the Star Wars and Deadpool comics. “Getting to where I am took a mix of a little bit of luck and a ton of hard work.”

She now lives just outside Manhattan with her German Shepherd, Flash, and is happily engaged. Her life has changed dramatically since graduation, although she looks back favorably at her experiences at Eastern, where she was heavily involved with EMU Theatre and the production of her own weekly news show, projects that helped her grow professionally and personally.

“If something went wrong, it was up to us to fix it,” Antos says. “This is such a crucial skill for people to learn both in the theatre and film worlds and the ‘real world’—at the end of the day the show—or rather, life—must go on. You either can be the person who just sits and watches while it falls apart because you didn’t react or you can be the one who helped it run smoothly. EMU taught me to be the latter.”’

Appropriately, Antos finds herself inspired by stories where “normal average people” do “extraordinary things, despite all odds being against them.” She cites Marvel anti-hero Deadpool as a character she is particularly fond of, as he is a deeply flawed person who tries to better himself.

“These characters, their stories are what helped me push forward,” Antos says. “If they could do it, then so could I. The stories I read growing up meant a lot to me and I always dreamed of being able to inspire people with stories I was a part of creating. It’s kind of weird to think that that’s very well possible now.