The Beat has confirmed that DC Senior Editor Bob Schreck was laid off yesterday. Other layoffs, expected in the wake of Warner Brothers’ companywide 10 percent reduction, include Subcriptions Manager Christine Sawicki and several MAD Magazine personnel. The magazine-related layoffs certainly reflect the general crumbling of the entire magazine business.

As for Schreck, the layoff is more of a surprise since he is generally considered one of the top editors in the business. Starting at Comico, he also worked at Dark Horse, where he edited SIN CITY and MADMAN, then co-founded Oni Press (with Joe Nozemack) and then moved to DC where he worked on THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES AGAIN, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, and ALL-STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN THE BOY WONDER. He moved to Vertigo two years ago, where his office was developing several new graphic novel projects, including THE NOBODY by Jeff Lemire.

Schreck’s departure won’t take effect for several months. Given his track record and long list of friends in the business, it’s unlikely he’ll be gone for long.

The Beat has confirmed that Diamond laid off 13 employees yesterday, including the managing editor and designer for the recently canceled Diamond Dialog magazine. In addition to the layoffs, wages for management and other staff were reduced. According to a letter sent to staff by COO Chuck Parker, the cost cuts were a result of the generally poor economy and a four percent decline in sales in 2008.

While these layoffs are confirmed, rumblings of layoffs at DC are rampant this morning. We’ll have details as they emerge.

• On Monday, Rich Johnston reported that Top Cow has laid off two of its top people, VP of Sales and Marketing Mel Caylo and VP of Editorial Rob Levin. We’ve received the email from Levin confirming this…but he will be attending New York Comic-Con with Top Cow for those who might wish to talk to him regarding potential projects. Caylo and Levin are both well respected, so the cuts are becoming deeper.

• Much talk about Warner Bros.’s plans to cut 800 jobs, but based on what has been reported, it doesn’t seem that DC Comics will be directly affected.

Warner Bros. Entertainment is eliminating 800 jobs, or about 10% of its global workforce, becoming the latest media company to take drastic cost-cutting measures amid a deepening recession.

About 600 people will be laid off across all divisions of the studio’s operations, and 200 cuts will come from open positions not being filled.

Following the layoff of Pantheon publisher Janice Goldklang last week, Random House’s Knopf division has completed its reorganization, Jim Milliot reports. Pat Johnson, formerly head of Knopf, will add Pantheon to her duties, with the title Executive Vice President, Publishing Director, Alfred A. Knopf and Pantheon. Editorial Director Dan Frank, who has spearheaded much of the graphic novel publishing at Pantheon, will remain in charge of Pantheon’s editorial direction.

Eight more staffers, including editor Bryce Coleman, were laid off from Tokyopop this week, as confirmed by marketing director Marco Pavia. The other staff cuts were from around the company. The move came in response to the bad economy. “It’s one of the worst selling periods in history,” Pavia said. “We’re trying to be responsive to the new realities, and unfortunately some very talented people have been cut.”

Pavia also noted that Tokyopop’s release schedule will be adjusted, with some releases spaced out more. Details are forthcoming. According to Amazon, upcoming Tpop releases include several volumes of Aria and Hannah Montana and High School Musical cine-manga.

Despite the setbacks, he emphasized that “Tokyopop is still in business, and we are still focusing on our core business.”

We’re hearing chatter about major layoffs at McFarlane Toys today, as many as a dozen people. More as it becomes available.

Also, Anjali Singh, the editor who acquired PERSEPOLIS and EPILEPTIC for Pantheon before moving on to Houghton Mifflin, was one of those let go last week in HMH’s housecleaning.

In addition, at the MTV Comics and movie blog, Splash Page, co-editor Casey Seijas was let go as part of Viacom’s 850 person bloodbath last week; apparently he will be staying on as a freelancer. The other editor, Rick Marshall, and the blog itself, survived the purge.

While the comics industry has thus ar been immune from the massive layoffs hitting the media sector, that could be changins. CBR reports that three staffers have been laid off at Devils Due:

CBR News has confirmed that Devil’s Due Publishing, the home of Tim Seeley’s “Hack/Slash” and Milo Ventimiglia’s “Rest,” among other titles, laid off two employees today: editor Cody DeMatteis and Marketing Manager Brian Warmoth.

Devil’s Due Publishing President Joshua Blaylock told CBR News Monday afternoon that he believed DeMatteis and Warmoth were the only two employees let go, and that their layoffs were “absolutely no fault of their own.”

“Right now, all I can really say is we’re going to be going through a little bit of restructuring, and I’ll be more than happy to talk further about it as soon as I can,” Blaylock said.

Edited to add: Editor Mike O’Sullivan has also had his status changed, although “things are ’still up in the air’ at this moment” according to CBR.

Through the grapevine, we’ve heard that Tokyopop also laid off seven employees from their LA office, last month, including one editor, the CTO, the HR manager, and two others from Media.

Our best to the newly unemployed in this harsh climate.

As mentioned in “Lying in the Gutters” this week, Vertical, best known for its manga line of Tezuka releases, but also a publisher of translations of various literary Japanese works, has had several layoffs. We can confirm that Steve Vrattos, Vertical’s marketing manager, has been let go. And another company joins the current holocaust in publishing.

Apparently, Vertical’s Black Jack release has had disappointing sales, which is sad, as it continues to get great reviews, including David Welsh at TCR:

He’s still a bit jarring to me, but in a good way. Or maybe it’s Tezuka who’s jarring, because I’m consistently amazed by the versatility of his skills as a cartoonist and storyteller. Instead of making Black Jack tough and leathery on the outside, sweetened oatmeal on the inside, he’s mostly an ass to the core. Tezuka doles out the doctor’s softer, more principled moments judiciously. He doesn’t feel the need to reassure the reader that Black Jack is the hero of the comic. Tezuka is comfortable with the fact that his hero is a jerk.

And io9’s Mangobot:

Mad scientists. Beautiful women who specialize in amputations. Supercomputers that threaten to starve an entire hospital full of patients. Tumors that take on human form. Sounds like a freakish B-list horror movie, right? Actually, these are all seminal elements of a classic cult favorite manga by Tezuka Osamu. Black Jack is one of his darkest yet most appreciated works, but it hasn’t had much exposure in the US market until now. This fall, Vertical Inc has started publishing this entire series, volume by volume, in English. It’s some of the best science fiction to ever come out of Japan.

Plagued by falling ratings and fan gripes in its third season, Heroes has announced a top-level shakeup with co-exec producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander being removed:

Both scribe-producers had been with the show since its first season and were known to have led the day-to-day production operation under the direction of creator/exec producer Tim Kring.

“Heroes,” produced by Universal Media Studios, has struggled in the ratings its third season. It’s understood that Alexander and Loeb were let go because of Peacock execs’ frustration with the creative direction of the show. The show is also said to have been grappling with hefty budget overruns this season, that are going well beyond its already sizable $4 million per-seg pricetag.

Ouchie. CBR got a comment from Loeb:

“As of today, Jesse Alexander and I have left ‘Heroes.’ I’m incredibly proud to have been a big part of the success a show with eight Emmy nods and a win this year for NBC.com. I will miss the superb cast and writing staff and wish everyone the best.”

In news that could probably best be described as a “when, not if” story, David Tennant announced that he will be leaving DR WHO after the last of the TV specials scheduled for 2009 and 2010.

Numerous websites have speculated on who Doctor # 11 will be, including Rich’s rumor about Patterson Joseph. Just who new executive producer Steven Moffat will tab is probably quite a while away from being announced, but that won’t stop message boards around the world from throwing out crazy suggestions.

Hey, since they didn’t pick him to be James Bond, how about Beat favorite Clive Owen as the Doctor? That would likely go a long way to keeping the female viewership that Tennant brought to the venerable BBC program.

Posted by Mark Coale

Via PR from Hachette: Yen Press, the manga imprint led by Kurt Hassler and Rich Johnson, will be folded into a new publishing division, Orbit, which will include Yen and the existing SF line, Orbit. In addition, Yen co-founder Rich Johnson will be leaving the division at the end of the month.

Hachette Book Group is to create a new publishing division, comprising two new imprints it launched last year: Orbit, its Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint; and Yen Press, its Manga and Graphic Novel imprint. The new division will take the Orbit name, and will strategically strengthen HBG’s presence in these increasingly vital segments of the book buying market.

Tim Holman, who relocated from London to New York in 2006 to help set up Orbit, has been appointed VP and Publisher of the new division, reporting to CEO and Chairman David Young. Reporting to Tim Holman will be Kurt Hassler, Publishing Director of Yen Press. Kurt will be assuming responsibilities previously shared with co-Publishing Director Rich Johnson, who will be leaving the company at the end of October. Alex Lencicki has been appointed Marketing and Publicity Director for the new division.

David Young commented: “This new publishing division gives us the perfect platform for building our business in two genres that have significant potential for future growth. Tim has grown Orbit to be the market-leading imprint in the UK, and his publishing experience is perfectly suited to the opportunities presented by both Orbit and Yen Press in the US market. We are of course sorry that Rich Johnson will be leaving the company, however as the Yen business has evolved it has become clear that a single Publishing Director for the imprint is most appropriate. The establishment of this new division reflects not only our belief that it makes publishing sense for Orbit and Yen Press to be more closely connected within the company, but also our commitment to the genres in which they publish.”

Tim Holman commented: “Orbit and Yen Press will continue to develop independently. However, as a single division, we’ll be able to combine our efforts in a number of key areas to great effect. Both Orbit and Yen Press are publishing in genres that can no longer be considered marginal. It is almost impossible to imagine popular culture today without them. Our challenge is to embrace this change, to be creative and forward-thinking, and to engage with the new audiences that we know are out there. I believe that we have the right publishing vision and the right publishing team, and I’m greatly looking forward to working with Kurt, Alex, and colleagues throughout the company to make the new Orbit division a great success.”

Observers who follow executive moves at the Big Two are buzzing this afternoon over word that James “Ski” Sokolowski is ankling DC for Marvel, where he’ll take the position of COO. He was director of Publishing Operations at DC. Ski is already a well-known industry figure from his first go-round at Marvel, back in the pre-Jemas days. He’s also worked at Curtis and High Times.

Linda Lee, who was formerly Director - International Business Development for DC has also left in recent weeks for a position at Nickelodeon.

Our email inbox is stuffed with word that Wizard COO Fred Pierce has been let go. Pierce was definitely the mover and shaker who ran Wizard’s day-to-day business and was probably much more involved than CEO Gareb Shamus for the last few years.

Newsarama reports:

The move (which is seen as cost-cutting by observers) is the latest in what seems to have become a steady stream of layoffs, departures and shifts within the company structure over the past two to three years. The business is soon to move to a new building as well, something also cited as a cost-cutting measure. With Pierce’s departure, insiders report that Gareb and his brother Stephen Shamus are running the day to day operations of the business.

Pierce was not well liked by many ex-Wizard staffers, as Sean T. Collins shows by breaking into an Ewok-style celebratory “yub nub” at the news.

Everyone knows that magazine publishing isn’t exactly a huge growth industry these days, but an observer can’t help but think that things must be very dire at Wizard World for a fixture like Pierce to be let go.

Who’s left? EIC Scott Gramling, Joe Yanarella and Mike Cotton are the best-known names.

Observers we spoke with were shocked, and the prognosis for Wizard’s continued health is considered questionable. Others, however, saw the often confrontational Pierce as a major impediment to moving forward with a new direction.

Developing, as they say.

More, from Tom Spurgeon:

Update: A few more reactions from the grapevine, including a publishing exec who told us, “Fred made it pretty clear to us that buying ad pages and getting editorial coverage were very much related.”

Media veteran Greg Goldstein has joined IDW as Chief Operating Officer, according to a press release excerpted below:

“We are thrilled that Greg has joined our growing family,” said IDW CEO Ted Adams. “Greg’s demonstrated leadership capabilities and solid background in consumer entertainment publishing make him the ideal person to help guide us through the next phase of our growth. We are especially excited to leverage his entrepreneurial spirit, creative skills and extensive relationships in the entertainment industry.”

As COO, Goldstein will manage the company’s day-to-day operations, as well as help guide IDW as it expands its existing product lines and enters new categories.

(more…)

• Flog reports that “Low Moon,” Jason’s comic strip for the NY Times Magazine, will be collected next year.

• ICv2 talks to the ComicMix folks about the GNs they are selling at Baltimore, but learns that it is something of an “test printing” and the motives behind and future of the plan are no clearer than Sarah Palin’s definition of a molecule:

ComicMix would not disclose any further publishing plans. “We’re not ruling out doing other books or even other editions of these books for other shows but we have no plans to do that right now,” the spokesperson said. “Otherwise, I’m not authorized to talk about our book publishing plans.”

• And…congrats to Wil Moss, who just started this week at DC Comics as an assistant editor. Wil has been one of our fine writers for PW Comics Week for a couple of years now, and while we’re heartbroken to see him move on, we’re sure his talent will take him far.

Technorati Tags: Jason

§ Sarah Glidden’s HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN 60 DAYS OR LESS has been picked up by Vertigo, she reports on her blog:

First, the most exciting news: I’ve just signed a contract with Vertigo, who will be publishing my first book, How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less! The book will be in color, 200 pages, and I’ll be working on it for the next year or so. I couldn’t be happier!

Because of this, there aren’t going to be any more chapters released as minicomics. I know I told some people at Stumptown and MoCCA that I’d have chapter 3 ready for SPX but well…sorry about that.

To make up for it I do have a new non-Israel mini for SPX. It’s called Eight Days Out, and its a sketchbook travelogue following my brother Dan and I as we drove across the U.S. in January. Its 80 pages long and you can see the first 30 pages in the comics section

.
§ Terry and Robyn Moore aren’t the only cartoon-related types who were in the path of Hurricane Ike. ICv2 updates the atatus of anime/manga pub ADV:

Anime company ADV Films remains closed, with its servers offline. According to an ADV source, “it’s day to day” as to when the company will re-open. Power is still out to much of the area, with many traffic lights not operating and streets dangerous to travel.

Best wishes to all our friends in the area.

§ ICV2 also reports on two new hires at the CBLDF: Mike Scigliano, formerly of Wizard and DC, and Jill Friedman. Good luck to both!

Scigliano comes to the Fund from Wizard Conventions, where he oversaw sales, marketing, and logistics. Prior to his stint at Wizard, Scigliano spent time at DC Comics in sales and marketing and in comic retailing. In his new position at the Fund, Scigliano will oversee the organization’s convention presence, improving the Fund’s membership premium offerings, and assisting in overall management.

Friedman has a background in comics retailing, digital marketing, graphic design, blogging, and office management. As Fundraising Manager, Friedman will oversee the organization’s membership program, online auctions, outreach, special events, and assist in mission communications.

§ Brendan Wright has joined Dark Horse as an assistant editor.

§ THE ALCOHOLIC, the graphic novel by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, got a shout out in today’s Page Six, pretty much the ultimate sign You Are Somebody:

MONICA Lewinsky is now a cartoon character. In “The Alcoholic,” a new graphic novel by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel, a booze-addled writer meets the Portly Pepperpot at a book reading. “I tried not to, but I couldn’t help myself - I stared at her mouth,” he explains. As the two dine with friends at Veselka in the East Village, Lewinsky ogles a plate of kielbasa. “When she said the kielbasa looked delicious, it was like all the sound drained out of a very noisy restaurant,” the character says. “The whole table went into collective shock. We all thought the same thing: ‘Monica thinks that [bleep] looks delicious!’ ”

§ Paul Dini’s Dinicartoons comics have moved over to Top Cow, led by a Jingle Belle special, drawn by Stephanie Gladden.

ITEM! Steve Rolston appreciates WINTERMEN:

At the core of the story, Kris is caught up trying to find the truth behind the kidnapping, smuggling and experimentation of a little girl with a deadly power. But there’s so much more to the story than that. There are all the nasty little errands assigned to a cop (Kalenov) working directly for the Mayor. There’s the constant political dealing and bribery that encompasses every part of life in Moscow. All the various dealings of criminal organizations, from organ smuggling to protection money to violent turf wars between rival gangs controlling Coke versus Pepsi. And all the cultural tidbits of Russian life that make the story feel real and give it texture.

Yesterday, we mentioned Marvel’s alll-new webcomics. Now, Todd Allen suggests that Marvel’s current hiring pattern reveals this initiative is going to get a lot bigger:

These positions tell us Marvel is looking at their various sites as an “audience network” and looking to staff network-wide. And the when the custom publishing manager has to have web-centric skills, you have to ask if Marvel is eyeing custom webcomics? They would not be the first publisher pursuing that, mind you. The Stephen King semi-animated webcomic “N” _may_ have been a custom project for Simon & Shuster, as it is being used as a promotional tool for the prose anthology “Just After Sunset.”

Consider Marvel has in the last few months also advertised for

* Sr. Producer/Product Manager for Digital Comics
* Manager of Premium Services
* Director of Premium Services

§ In addition, Marvel Kremlinologists will enjoy their presentation today for a Goldman Sachs investment meeting. Gee, wonder what everyone will be talking about? Considering that it was only last week that Marvel presented at a Merrill Lynch event, you’ve gotta think everyone at Goldman Sachs may be a teeeeeny bit nervous.

Finally, ya know how everyone is always saying that “If only Marvel and DC would advertise comics on TV, everything would be FINE?” Well, it seems Marvel has taken a baby step in that direction by running some ads for SECRET INVASION during a baseball game. From the PR:

It’s the comic book event that has everyone from Entertainment Weekly to The Wall Street Journal buzzing and now the years top-selling comic, “Secret Invasion”, makes its television debut on ESPN2 tonight! During tonight’s telecast of the Bricktown Showdown, the minor league baseball championship, beginning at 8pm EST, an ad for the Skrulls’ “Embrace Change” cause will run multiple times. As part of this partnership with MiLB, fans attending the game will also receive Thunder Stix promoting the upcoming Iron Man DVD & Blu-Ray discs (on-sale 9/30); Skrull Masks promoting Secret Invasion; and copies of Marvel Adventures: Iron Man #11and Marvel: Your Universe Saga.

Okay, so it was MINOR LEAGUE baseball.

Actually, both The Beat and Publishers Weekly need interns!

We mean it!

The Beat is still looking for an intern who can help with all sorts of exciting stuff. This could be a virtual position. No pay but lots of perks.

Publishers Weekly is looking for a physical intern who can come in and do all the dirty work. Duties include opening packages and mailing out packages, but there are also writing, lots and lots and lots and lots of free comics, and being part of the most exciting, dynamic team in comics.

Hours for the PW position are flexible. You can be in school. You might actually even be able to get credit for school.

If you want to be where it’s at in comics and spring to the top of the heap, email us your resume today:

heidi dot macdonald at gmail dot com.

Rich Johnston reports that associate editor Nachie Castro has left DC for a job at Disney. He has not left the band Skelter, however, and that’s the good news everyone wanted to hear.

Castro’s departure is the latest in a round of associates moving on from DC, including Tom Palmer Jr. and Jeanine Schaefer. The last named went to Marvel, but according to at least one anonymous Internet poster, the lower levels of editing at comic book companies are not exactly positions for job growth. A post on Glassdoor,com includes a frank appraisal from someone who seems to have actually been an assistant at Marvel:

“Working at Marvel is great if you’re dying to learn about or break into comics, but it’s no place to have a career.”

An excerpt:

Cons: Because so many people want to break into comics, it truly is a buyer’s market when it comes to entry-level editorial positions. The management knows that if a low-ranking editorial employee leaves, they’ll have a stack of resumes the next day with people dying to fill the spot, probably at a lower salary. Not surprisingly, this means extremely low salaries, no real desire to promote from within, and absolutely no concern for professional development. What at first seems like a great opportunity to do and learn a lot as an entry-level employee quickly reveals itself to be exploitation when you realize that you are underappreciated, undervauled and disrespected at every turn. Marvel also expects employees to act as if they are members of a team or a family, but goes nowhere near affording employees any of the same respect or courtesy. They even go so far as to view leaving the company as a type of betrayal. On top of all this, communication is a major problem at Marvel, with the upper management showing no real interest in explaining current initiatives or changes to lower-level employees.

Anyone who wants to break into comics at any cost would do well to remember this — so do a lot of other people.

[Thanks to “Windy” for the link]

§ Revolving door: Rick Marshall has joined MTV’s Splash page blog:

I’ll be joining the current editor, Casey Seijas, in helping to make this new spin-off from their already successful MTV Movies site an even more attractive online destination for comics and movie fans. It’s a lofty goal, though, as Casey and the Splash Page crew have been doing a great job on the site since it launched in late July. If you haven’t done so already, I hope you’ll bookmark Splash Page and subscribe to the Splash Page RSS Feed. As always, I’ll do my best to reward your support with the most interesting content I can provide.

§ Reporter Van Jensen has joined the Top Shelf brotherhood of the traveling pants.

§ Just a nice one: a profile of 88-year-old former Timely artist Marion Sitton:

Marion Sitton sat mum as Stan Lee looked over his artwork. Sitton studied the future Spider-Man creator’s face as he took in the OK Corral scene Sitton had completed the previous week.

Lee praised the authentic-looking boots and other lifelike features of his cowboys.

“You can draw,” he said, “I’ll give you that.”

Those words granted Sitton membership in 1948 into Timely Comics’ artists bullpen. During the next six years, he was one of dozens of artists at Timely, later renamed Marvel, who drew dueling cowboys, fedora-wearing mystery men and embracing lovers. Superheroes were not in his repertoire.

The grapevine is buzzing today with news that Executive Editor Brian Cunningham has been let go from his position at Wizard. Cunningham had been with the magazine since 1991 in one position or another, and was promoted to his current position only last year. He joins a long, long list of recent redundancies at the company, including Martha Donato, Mel Caylo, Rob Felton, Kiel Phegley, Sean T. Collins, Rick Marshall, Stewart Morales, and a lot more people we don’t even know.

The Beat wishes him well.

UPDATE: a lengthy Wizard message board thread about Cunningham.

On his blog, Rick Marshall notes he’s no longer at ComicMix:

As some of you have already heard, ComicMix and I are parting ways.

Despite some great accomplishments with the news element of ComicMix over the last few months, I was informed today that the company is shifting its focus away from the news side of the comics industry and refocusing its resources on the publishing side. Unfortunately, that puts me in the job hunt once again.

§ Just another contender to the throne: Casey Seijas has left his position as associate editor at Vertigo to blog about comics at Splash Page, the new MTV comics blog. Kevin Melrose runs the attached photo in his announcement of the move, showing that Seijas is definitely ready for MTV, or at least the Headbanger’s Ball era.

Melrose also picks up the recent departure of Tom Palmer Jr. from DC — Palmer was a 10-plus year vet but had never risen above associate, which, traditionally, is not that unusual at DC, where toiling for years and years without making the level of editor is SOP. That tradition was recently shattered when Elisabeth Gehrlein was promoted from Associate to full Editor after a tenure of a mere one year.

We’re told assistant Stephanie Buscema also left recently.

The New York Times once again scoops the big Comic-Con news: Robert Kirkman has been named an Image partner, the first new partner since the fabled original seven partners formed in the Days of Yore.

Mr. Kirkman was asked to join Image in part to reward him for his commitment to putting out his creations through the company for several years, said Eric Stephenson, who was promoted to publisher of Image last month. “Beyond that, Robert has a pretty strong vision of what he wants to do and what comes he wants to make,” Mr. Stephenson said. That vision includes Invincible, which he created along with the artist Cory Walker, which was first published in 2003. It follows the title character, a k a Mark Grayson, the son of Omni-Man, a superhuman with alien origins, as he copes with his legacy, college and more. The comic received an A minus from Entertainment Weekly, which called it “a charming antidote to the histrionics present in so many fights-and-tights books,” adding that it had “the strongest female character seen in many a moon: Mark’s stoic mom.”

In this week’s “Lying in the Gutters,” Rich Johnston alluded to this announcement and several other rumors that are swirling just about everywhere:

I’ve been told Robert Kirkman, writer of “Invincible” and “Walking Dead,” will be named as a new partner at Image.

I also hear reference to a number of big comics names signing projects with Image. Look for people who have recently chosen not to renew their exclusive contracts with Marvel and DC.

And there is gossip about an emerging new model of payments for certain creators and projects, with less of an emphasis on back-end payments and the introduction of page rates.

The rumor we’ve heard most is the one about a new business model for Image - but one that would allow the publisher to get royalties, of sorts. As it stands now, after they take their “fee” for publishing a book, it doesn’t matter if it sells 100 copies or 10,000, so there’s no incentive at Image Central to push a book past the initial solicitation. From the creators we’ve talked to, if giving their publisher more incentive for sales would result in higher sales, it could be a good thing.

Image Comics publishes a line of eclectic comics breathtaking in their variety. They are also breathtaking in their lack of discipline, but for offering a friendly home for creators who want to call their own shots, Image is still the only game in town. With Eric Stephenson’s recent ascension to the publisher spot, and now Kirkman coming on board, this could be Image’s biggest move in, like, forever.

That’s right, the premier magazine about entertainment has its first ever San Diego Comic-Con preview issues and the WATCHMEN get the cover treatment:

Over many months, and many meetings, Snyder persuaded Warner Bros. to abandon the Greengrass/Hayter script and hew as faithfully as possible to the comic. The key battles: retaining the ’80s milieu, keeping Richard Nixon (Moore did consider using an era-appropriate Ronald Reagan, but worried it would alienate American readers), and preserving the villain-doesn’t-pay-for-his-crimes climax. ‘’It was clear that Zack felt an intense obligation to the fans and the book,'’ says Warner Bros. Picture Group president Jeff Robinov. ‘’There was definitely a conversation about the best way to make it contemporary and relevant to today. Zack felt the best way was to go back to the roots of the novel.'’ It didn’t hurt Snyder’s case that by then 300 — another R-rated movie based on a hardcore graphic novel — was making a killing at the box office. ‘’Little by little, we got the studio on board,'’ says Deborah Snyder, the director’s producer, chief collaborator, and wife. ‘’300 really helped. It created a level of trust in Zack’s vision.'’

The section was spearheaded, as is all of EW’s comics coverage, by Nisha Gopalan. Word went around this week that Nisha is leaving EW after Comic-Con. While everyone will join in wishing her the best in the future, it’s a little sad too: as well as being a very talented editor and writer, Nisha is a true friend of comics, and the coverage she oversaw on the website and in the magazine has been consistently smart and has definitely helped the comics biz reach its current state of household acceptance. Let’s hope EW doesn’t drop the ball on the category.

So, good luck, Nisha! See you at the comics shop.

UPDATE: Nisha wants to point out that while she helped with the Comic-Con preview, the EW movies editor, Sean Smith, edited the whole Comic-Con package, and the entire movie staff helped greatly. “It’s really the open-minded Mr. Smith, who’s never even been to Comic-Con, yet possessed the undying enthusiasm and stamina to edit this truly awesome package,” she writes professionally and graciously.