Sometimes it just takes an honest question to bring out honest answers. Writer Marc Bernadin’s frank questioning over the relative sales failure of his Wildstorm mini-series The Highwaymen has got a lot of people talking. perhaps because Bernadin is a seasoned writer in another field (he’s an editor at Entertainment Weekly) and writing comics isn’t his main gig, he’s coming right out and saying what other people are only thinking? At any rate, the responses both in our own comment section and elsewhere have raised more questions than they answer, perhaps.
Jason Michelitch suggests that the book’s failure is more relative than anything else.

Because as far as I can tell, Highwaymen did sell.

What’s that? How can I say that, when as Jim Lee just said, it hasn’t performed sales-wise, and is being cancelled?

Well, let’s take a look at the numbers*.

Highwaymen #1 (June 2007) 9,360
HIghwaymen #2 (July 2007) 6,108 (-35%)
Highwaymen #3 (August 2007) 5,718 (-06%)

Now, sure, if we’re comparing Highwaymen to Batman, the numbers don’t look too great. Like Bernardin said, opened near 10,000 and went over a steep drop from issue one to issue two. But let’s keep in mind: the steep drop-off between first and second issues is more or less an industry axiom. It’s a rare runaway hit that doesn’t suffer a similar drop. And the fact that orders for issue three only dropped a further 6% is, believe it or not, pretty good.

Michelitch compares THE HIGHWAYMEN numbers to other Image miniseries which are considered successes a lower sales levels, a not entirely apt comparison, to be sure, since IMage does have a much lower sales threshhold.

As usual, Valerie D’Orazio comes out and says what everyone is thinking:

What might have been the problem with “Wildstorm?”

Branding.

What IS Wildstorm?

A wing of DC?

A publisher of “Old Imagey” type comics like “Gen 13,” etc?

The edgy publishers of “The Authority?”

Purveyors of fine Alan Moore products?

A prestige artist’s studio?

Vertigo II?

Publisher of licensed product like “World of Warcraft?”

What is Wildstorm?

What does the Wildstorm brand promise me so that I would run into “The Highwaymen” in the store and take a chance on it?

Johanna is similarly blunt.

There is no reason to buy a miniseries any more. If you’re going to do all that promotional work (and they did), then you should be pushing something that will keep selling. That’s true of series — if a reader signs on, there’s another one every month to buy — and books — as long as they’re kept in print, new customers can be found on an ongoing basis — but not of limited-run projects. What’s the point in pushing it when three or five months later, your hard work doesn’t have any more payback?

For his part, Bernadin takes it all in and remains philosophical:

Maybe, finally, the answer to the “why” is: The market just isn’t set up to support a book like this because, ultimately, the readers don’t want a book like this. If they did, there’d be more of them. There’d be more romance books, and more action books, and more war books, and more straight sci-fi books, and more police procedural books. I’d say it was as myopic as TV, but then you’d have to posit a TV landscape where there were only sitcoms set in a bar.

A lot of the answers take the Wildstorm brand itself to task. It’s worth noting that the imprint is in a bit of a state of flux now — Executive Editor Scott Dunbier was removed several months ago, a major personnel move covered only in a so-called “gossip column” and some now removed message board joking. We have several thoughts about this — the first being that Dunbier is a dear friend of ours, and we wish him all the best.

The second is just how wacky comics book “news” is. While the executive shuffle in Hollywood is covered on a minute-by-minute basis by the entertainment trades, no one seems to have even asked about Dunbier’s departure at a Wildstorm panels mere days after the news “got out”. Either comic books are too piddly to really bother with, or the comics press wouldn’t know a juicy story if it bit them on the ass. (I include myself in that, but my friendship with Dunbier more or less recused me from the story.)

At any rate, Ben Abernathy has been promoted to Senior Editor at Wildstorm, and things seem to have settled down a bit or at least be regrouping. Which still doesn’t answer the question of whether anyone wants to read miniseries about new characters. That question seems to go on and on.

Blogger and gentleman Sean T. Collins announces he’s been laid off from his editorial position at Wizard. Tom has biographical details. Good luck, Sean! We are sure you will land on your feet, or at least have more time to blog.

PR:

David Hyde has been promoted to Vice President of Publicity, DC Comics, it was announced today by Paul Levitz, DC Comics President & Publisher. Hyde will continue to report directly to John Cunningham, VP of Marketing.

Hyde, who joined DC Comics in November of 2003 as Director of Publicity, oversees the publicity campaigns for all graphic novels, trade paperbacks, and the 80-plus monthly ongoing periodical titles published by DC Comics, Vertigo, MINX, WildStorm, CMX, Zudacomics.com and MAD Magazine. He has spearheaded publicity campaigns for numerous individual titles, including 52, Identity Crisis, The Quitter, Pride of Baghdad, Y: the Last Man and the Absolute Edition of Watchmen, as well as the press announcements of DC’s recent initiatives, including the launch of CMX, MINX and Zudacomics.com and the unveiling of a new company logo.

In his new position, Hyde will continue to represent DC in coordinating publicity opportunities for Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Licensed Publishing releases of DC comics-related properties.

Levitz commented, “David has played an important role in raising the profile of DC and of graphic novels, and I look forward to his increased opportunity to build our business in his new position.”

Before joining DC, Hyde served as the Assistant Director of Publicity at Anchor Books, a division of Random House. It was there that he worked on the publicity campaigns for Alexander McCall Smith’s The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Robert Lanham’s The Hipster Handbook and Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. He began his career in publicity as an assistant at Vintage Books, a division of Random House, and worked his way up to Senior Publicist during his time there. He personally worked on campaigns and tours for Rick Russo’s Empire Falls, Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe, Ernesto Quinonez’s Bodega Dreams, Erik Larson’s Isaac’s Storm, Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn and Robert Kaplan’s The Coming Anarchy.

Following an editorial talent search at San Diego, IDW has hired Andrew Steven Harris as their newest editor:

IDW Publishing is pleased to announce the newest member of the IDW team. Andrew Steven Harris, a former Los Angeles Times editor and one of the founding writers for Wizard Magazine, will oversee IDW’s Transformers and Star Trek comic book titles, two of the company’s most prominent licenses, along with several other books in the IDW publishing line. He will report directly to IDW Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall.

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Chip Mosher will be joining BOOM! Studios as Marketing and Sales Director, and evidently begin writing a lot of press releases; viz:

BOOM! Studios has appointed Chip Mosher as Marketing and Sales Director, where he will be in charge of all marketing and sales initiatives with the direct, library, and mass market. Mosher began his relationship with BOOM! Studios this past May when he made his comics debut creating and writing the espionage thriller LEFT ON MISSION.

“Chip’s mix of comic book industry experience and fresh business vision is unparalleled in comics,” said BOOM! Studios Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ross Richie. “He’s got the attitude and heart of a warrior, and deeply loves the comic book publishing medium. But what makes him truly dangerous is that his new ideas are compelling and practical. The sparks are really going to start to fly now at BOOM!.”

“Chip’s exactly what this company needs and the kind leader that will take us to the next level,” said BOOM! Studios Chief Creative Officer and co-founder Andrew Cosby.

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Expert editor Stuart Moore is back in the chair at Virgin:

Virgin Comics and the SCI FI Channel announced today that Stuart Moore has been appointed Editor on the first titles from the new imprint.

The new ‘SCI FI / Virgin Comics’ venture was announced earlier this year, with a stated goal of utilizing the global creative and synergistic resources that exist both at SCI FI Channel, part of NBC Universal, and Virgin Comics to create new stories for comic books, television, movies, digital, gaming, licensing and merchandising.

“This was an impossible opportunity to turn down. Virgin and SCI FI are two of the most vital entertainment companies around, and we’re all excited about crafting the best possible speculative fiction projects for the 21st century,” commented Stuart Moore. “For my part, Virgin’s been great about working out a deal that lets me exercise my editing muscles again, without interfering with my writing projects at various other companies. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

“Stuart is not only one of the greatest editors, but also one of the greatest people in this industry,” said Virgin Comics CEO & Publisher, Sharad Devarajan. “His wealth of experience is only matched by his wonderful reputation for guiding numerous creators to reach new heights in their work.”

Moore is an award-winning editor with a prolific career in the industry. At DC Comics, Stuart was a founding editor of the Vertigo imprint, where he won the Will Eisner award for Best Editor 1996 and the Don Thompson Award for Favorite Editor 1999. From late 2000 through mid-2002 Stuart edited the bestselling Marvel Knights comics line.

“We’re thrilled to have a seasoned comic book veteran like Stuart involved in the development of these new properties which are being created from the ground up for multi-media application,” added Adam Stotsky, SRVP Marketing for the SCI FI Channel.

“Simply put: Stuart Moore rocks. Ask any writer or publisher he’s worked with (and we did) and you hear nothing but the best things said. With Stuart aboard, I feel confident we’re going to deliver on our bold prediction to re-imagine sci-fi,” added Gotham Chopra, Virgin Comics Chief Creative Officer.

The first SCI FI/Virgin comic titles are expected to hit shelves later this year and the imprint is currently reviewing story pitches from numerous comic book and television writers.

Over at the IDW site, it has just been announced that Clifford Meth has joined the company as Executive VP of Strategies/Editorial. Meth is best known recently for putting together The Uncanny Dave Cockrum tribute book, as well as helping Cockrum get a royalty settlement in his waning years. He’s also known as a fiction writer.

Most recently working with IDT Entertainment as VP of Creative Development, Meth will now serve as the Executive VP of Strategies/Editorial at IDW, where he will put his vast network of entertainment industry relationships to work in order to create new opportunities for the burgeoning publisher.

“I’m thrilled that Cliff has joined the IDW family,” said Ted Adams, President of IDW. “He’s a terrific writer and has a huge Rolodex that includes many of the greats from the worlds of comics and science fiction. He’s already got some great projects in the works that I can’t wait to announce.”

Via Comic Foundry move that Laura Hudson has joined the marketing team at Virgin Comics. We knew the girl was good! Congrats.

§ Bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s run on Wonder Woman continues to get press, including this piece at CNN.com:

“My kids looked at me and they were like, ‘Mom, you totally have to write ‘Wonder Woman!’ ” she told USA Today. (Gallery: Wonder Woman and Picoult)

So Picoult rearranged elements of her hectic work schedule and dove into research. (She admits to not being much of a “Wonder Woman” fan growing up — “X-Men” was more her speed.) Looking back on the character’s six decades in comics, Picoult found the story focused more on Wonder Woman’s exploits as a superhero and less on the life of her alter ego, Diana Prince.

That angle baffled her. Diana Prince is a far more interesting character, she says, and offers plenty to work with.

§ DC Group Editor Peter Tomasi has left his day job and gone exclusive with DC to pursue his writing career. Always highly regarded as both a writer and editor, Tomasi has sold a screenplay and has many comics projects in the hopper:

“It’s titled Black Adam: The Dark Age and it picks up right where 52 left off and leads into the start of Countdown. It’s being drawn by Doug Mahnke, inked by Christian Alamy and edited by Mike Siglain. The pages that have come in are pretty damn spectacular! It follows Adam in Kahndaq and around the rest of the globe as he searches for the magical word he lost in 52.”

And after that? Where will Tomasi show up next at DC?

“Honestly, I’m interested in everything here. There’s a great stable of characters at DC that I would love to write. I’ve edited quite a wide variety of books in my tenure here, so I’m looking forward to casting my net pretty wide and tackling established characters along with developing new properties. No reason to limit myself at this juncture when so many doors are open.

§ Also over at Newsarama, Kazu Kibuishi announces a “Flight light” for kids. FLIGHT EXPLORER will be out from Ballantine in Spring 2008 and will include strips like “Jellaby” by Kean Soo, “Missile Mouse” by Jake Parker, “Zita the Spacegirl” by Ben Hatke, Steve Hamaker’s “Fish N Chips”, Johane Matte’s cat story, Phil Craven’s “N” and an unpublished “Copper”story.

Newsarama: So, at what point did the idea for Flight Explorer come into the picture?

Kazu Kibuishi: I had been hearing a lot of librarians and booksellers talk about how much they wanted good comics for younger readers, and I saw how there was so little of it out there with the exception of Jeff Smith’s Bone. Flight always contained a high percentage of material that would be perfect for young readers, but the more mature content often steered parents and librarians away from sharing the books with kids. A few of the Flight artists are also parents, and I could often feel their desire to be a part of a book that was more appropriate for their children, and the voices in their own stories reflected that. On top of this, I could feel that for some of the artists, the kid-friendly material was starting to impinge on their desire to tread more into the older kids’ fare, and the last thing I wanted was for artists to feel that they had to write for younger audiences and not for themselves. I mean, really, I think that it’s just when you have kids, your kids become that self that you write for.

When Flight 4 came together, we ended up with more material than we expected and all of it was of the highest caliber work we’ve seen so far. We overshot the expected page count by 80 pages. People often told us that we should just hold extra material back for the next volume, but knowing that we’ll have even more material on top of that when the deadline for the next one comes around (as well as the fact that the artists would like to be included in the most current volume), I decided I needed to come up with a different solution. And since I still didn’t feel we were ready to raise the frequency of publication, I decided it would be a good idea to create a new kids’ version of Flight.

§ Ah exhibit on African-American contributions to comics at Jackson State U in Mississippi shows that Comic books have become hot again thanks to the successes of NBC’s ‘Heroes,’ the Spider-Man films and the revived Superman and Batman franchises.:

The exhibition ‘Other Heroes: African-American comics, creators, characters and archetypes’ focuses on topics such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and racial stereotypes.

‘The show really wants to focus on racial representations through that particular medium,’ said John Jennings, co-curator of the exhibit, which runs through the end of June at the historically black university. He curated the exhibit with comic book partner Damien Duffy. Jennings said he is talking to other universities about having the exhibit tour.

Some images have been taken out of the comic setting, enlarged and mounted on gallery walls in the university’s art building. More than 50 artists contributed to the exhibit including some selections by Denys Cowan, artist for ‘Hardware,’ which depicts a man who turns high-tech vigilante to stop his employer, who has links to organized crime and drugs.

‘I think people are going to be surprised at the mastery of the storytelling,’ said Jennings, who describes the works as anti-mainstream and trying to break misconceptions.

§ Whatever happened to the rest of Hill andWang’s non-fiction graphic novel series, we were wondering just the other day. WEll, ICv2 answers the question:

Hill and Wang plans to release Ronald Reagan: A Graphic Biography, written by Andrew Helfer (Malcolm X: A Graphic Biography) with art by Steve Buccellato and Joe Staton in September, after it was originally announced for last November (see “Three Non-Fiction Graphic Novels: From Hill and Wang”).

The lines first offering, the (/11 Report graphic novel adaptation was a best selling, and we hear the Malcolm X book did well, too.

§ Sequential reports on last week’s Festival de la bande dessinee de Quebec .

§ Devil’s Due is hiring:

Devil’s Due Publishing is currently hiring for the position of Webstore and Inventory Manager to build upon an already established 6 year online store and pick up and run with the newly available position.

§ Danielle Corsetto is running GIRLS WITH SLINGSHOTS licensing herself again.

I recently re-acquired the licensing rights to Girls With Slingshots from 360ep, the company I signed with a few years ago. This was a mutual break that was made because, basically, I can’t do simple math. The contract was for 36 months, and for some reason my mental calculator told me that 36 months = 2 years.

So I started planning to have the rights back in my hands this year, before I realized that our contract wouldn’t be up until much later! Fellow art majors, do yourselves a favor and take a math class before you go into business for yourselves.

That said, I’d like to extend a big “thank you” to the 360ep team for getting me started and giving me a ton of confidence in myself!

§ Listen to WE ARE ON OUR OWN’s Miriam Katin on NPR’s Studio 360:

Miriam Katin was only a toddler when she and her mother hid from the Nazis in the Hungarian countryside. Now, more than 60 years later, she’s turned their harrowing story of escape and survival into a graphic memoir called We Are On Our Own.

A variety of PR that dropped into our mailbox from Dark Horse recently.First off, Jeremy Atkins has been promoted to Director of Publicity. Way to go, Jeremy!

They also announced that they will be releasing the cult hit manga MPD-PSYCHO

MPD-Psycho was deemed too shocking for other publishers, with violent images that most thought were too graphic for the American public.

But coming this June, the most-requested manga series in recent memory will be presented uncut and uncensored from Dark Horse Comics. Brace yourself for a dark journey into madness: Eiji Otsuka and Sho-u Tajima’s MPD-Psycho.

Police detective Kobayashi Yousuke’s life is changed forever after a serial killer notices something “special” about the detective. Kobayashi is stable police detective until he witnesses the killer he’s hunting mutilate Kobayashi’s own girlfriend. The event triggers several dormant personalities that push Kobayashi into a complex tempest of deviants and evil forces, ultimately creating a multiple personality detective.

Earning praise for its consistently shocking plotlines and Sho-u Tajima’s clean, arresting art style, MPD-Psycho is the manga event of the decade. The title was rated the eighth most wanted Japanese series in U.S. fan polls and has sold more than four million copies in Japan.

MPD-Psycho is written by novelist and manga visionary Eiji Otsuka, author of The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, with sleek, stylish art from Sho-u Tajima. MPD-Psycho comes shrink-wrapped and carries an 18+ content advisory.

The trade paperback arrives on sale June 6 and retails for $10.95. Prepare for gory!

Finally, Charles Vess has sculpted a “FAIRY PRINCESS” statue for Dark Horse. Picture below, PR in the jump.

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Former Milestone and DC editor Joe Illidge has come back to the fray at Archaia, where he will be editing their creator owned line. PR and a list of new titles in the jump.

On the heels of announcing its new lineup of creator-owned titles for 2007 and unveiling its catalog (freely downloadable at www.aspcomics.com), ASP is pleased to announce the hiring of the man who will help bring these titles to readers: Joe Illidge. Illidge’s extensive background both as a comic book editor and as an entertainment guru are well suited to ensure that ASP’s books are well done, on time, and that they continue to live up to the high quality fans and readers have come to expect from the publisher of such titles as ARTESIA, THE KILLER, OKKO: THE CYCLE OF WATER, THE SECRET HISTORY, and MOUSE GUARD.

Illidge first cut his teeth at Milestone, the first Black-owned comic book company, where he edited Milestone’s flagship title, Hardware. Afterwards, Illidge became the associate editor of the Batman line of comic books for DC Comics. He helped kick off “No Man’s Land,” the year-long story in which Batman’s city was torn apart. He was also the editor on DC’s Birds of Prey series, helped develop the series bible for the Birds of Prey television show on the WB network, and took over the editorial reigns for Batman Beyond. Most recently, Illidge has been busy with his own Verge Entertainment, a production company with numerous award-winning short films to its credit.

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Wizard has hired former FHM EIC Scott Gramling to take over as EIC of the entire Wizard Magazine empire. Hiring a former lad mag guy to take over is a pretty smart guy, and our magazine industry peeps all have good things to say about Gramling (who once worked at Wizard) so…this could be very interesting. PR via the Wizard website.

Wizard Entertainment announced today Scott Gramling as the new Editor-In-Chief of Wizard. Gramling will take the helm effective immediately overseeing all content for the company, including the four publications; Wizard, InQuest Gamer, ToyFare and Anime Insider as well as wizarduniverse.com and The Wizard World Tour, which kicks off March 16 in Los Angeles.

In making the announcement Wizard Entertainment President and COO Fred Pierce said, “We are thrilled that Scott is returning to the Wizard family and extremely confident he is the right person for the job. His experience, knowledge and expertise make him an invaluable asset as we continue to build the circulation and awareness of the Wizard brand.”

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Joel Ehrlich, a former exec at both Marvel and DC, has joined the International Fight League as Chief Marketing Officer and President of Sales. You’ll recall that the IFL is co-owned by Wizard’s Gareb Shamus.

The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, announced today that Joel Ehrlich has been named to the newly-created position of Chief Marketing Officer and President of Sales. Ehrlich, one of the most well-known and respected brand builders in the industry for over 25 years, will begin the new full-time position immediately. He will oversee and coordinate all of the sales efforts as well as creating, identifying and implementing new strategic relationships with IFL partners.

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Cartoon Network head Jim Samples has been forced to resign following a marketing stunt gone awry.

The head of the Cartoon Network resigned Friday following a marketing stunt that caused a security scare in Boston. The announcement about Jim Samples resigning was made in an internal memo sent to Cartoon Network staffers. In a statement to employees, Samples said he regrets the stir that the stunt caused. “It’s my hope that my decision allows us to put this chapter behind us and get back to our mission of delivering unrivaled original animated entertainment for consumers of all ages,” Samples said.

It’s official. The terrorists have won.

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Via the PR:

DC Comics announces that Michael Freeman has been promoted to Administrator - Direct Sales.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for me, and a great chance to expand my skill sets,” says Freeman. “I’d like to thank everyone who believed in me here at DC and in the retail community. I hope to serve everyone with the same enthusiasm and quality that I always have.”

“It’s always a pleasure to work with Michael, and his dedication never wavers,” says Vince Letterio, Manager - Direct Sales. “We’re very happy to see his hard work pay off, and we’re looking forward to even better things from him in the future.”

Freeman joined DC Comics in November 2001. Before that, he worked in Marketing for the American Red Cross and Kaplan Educational Centers, and as a Sales & Marketing intern at Marvel Comics.

Having installed a marketing guy, Avatar is now sending out press releases, and the first one is announcing a talent hunt for artists!

Want to work on an Alan Moore or Warren Ellis project?

Avatar Press is looking for artists for a number of projects over the coming year, including Alan Moore and Warren Ellis comics. Also needed are artists for licensed books that require the ability to draw good likenesses, artists for future Lady Death series, and over a dozen other high-profile projects.

“We currently have 22 artists working on comics for Avatar Press, and we’re still not where I’d like to be in terms of having artists available to assign to upcoming projects,” says Avatar Press EIC William Christensen. “We are focused on making inroads into addressing the scheduling issues we have had in the past, but one thing I need to do to continue to make progress on that is to hire more artists. I’ve got a number of already-written or in-progress upcoming projects currently without artists attached that I’d like to get firmed up on the schedule, so Avatar is looking for pencilers or penciler/inkers who can work in a variety of genres.”

Penciler/Inkers or pencilers may send their submissions or links to their samples to submissions@avatarpress.net.

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§ Ruwan Jayatilleke has been upped to Vice President of Development, Publishing at Marvel. Congrats, Ruwan.

§ Viz announced a new VP of Content Management, Linda Espinosa.

Espinosa will spearhead the strategy for acquired animation properties, providing creative direction for the Consumer Products division and supervising the Approvals and Content Management teams. Espinosa effectively joined the Company on January 8, 2007 and will report to Executive Vice President, Akira Fujita.

Espinosa has over 20 years experience in entertainment branding, licensing and product design for a variety of high profile global clients. For the past seven years, she owned and operated Piece O Cake Design, Inc. in New York City which specialized in the same services. Her previous experience has included directing product design for the Viacom properties Nickelodeon, Nick@Nite, MTV and Paramount, and she served as Creative Director for retail at Warner Bros. and Creative Director for Consumer Products at the Walt Disney Company.

Avatar Press has been around for a long time, and published work by folks like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis and more — but you’ll probably be hearing a lot more about these projects and more as they have just hired a marketing guy.

Avatar Press has announced the addition of David Marks to the staff to begin handling press, marketing, and other communications responsibilities. The hire is the first of many announcements in a year of major new projects and evolution within the company itself. A new position at Avatar, the addition is intended to help the publisher better address the needs and concerns of audiences and the industry alike during a year which Avatar expects to be a growth period for the company.

“We have such a strong lineup of projects coming out on a continuous basis these days that we can no longer operate like the small indy company that started in 1997 with a couple guys writing and publishing their own books,” notes Avatar EIC William Christensen. “We’ve talked about doing this for a while, but I’ve always been wary of trying to force expansion — the history of the Direct Market is littered with the corpses of companies who have tried to bulk up too much. So we’re going to take some steps this year to help us change carefully and organically. We’ve put some things in place over the past few months to help us address scheduling concerns, for example. We’re going to start seeing the results of that slowly but surely. The next step is getting better at getting our message out. Bringing in David Marks as Marketing Director is the most important staffing hire we’ve made since the early days. Avatar will always have that indy-publisher heart, but we hope to build some big-publisher muscles to help us address the needs and concerns of the marketplace.”

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Gonzalo Ferreyra upped to VP Sales, Publishing & Home Video. He replaces Dudley Jahnke, who left last month. Moneka Hewlett is also now Director of Sales, Publishing, Sales, and Brian Ige
has been promoted to Director Of Sales, Home Video

Ferreyra assumes his new position immediately and will oversee all VIZ Media’s book publishing and home video sales efforts in North America and Canada. He will continue to report directly to VIZ Media’s President and CEO, Hidemi Fukuhara. In addition to Ferreyra’s promotion, Brian Ige, formerly Sales Manager, has been named Director of Sales, Home Video, and Moneka Hewlett has joined the publishing division as Director of Sales. Previously Hewlett held the Director of Consumer Marketing position for VIZ Media’s Magazines Division. Both Ige and Hewlett will report to Ferreyra.

Ferreyra brings to VIZ Media over 16 years of experience in the book publishing industry, and was previously Director of Sales for Home Video with VIZ Media. Prior to joining VIZ Media, he served as Director of Sales and Marketing for Ten Speed Press. His background includes working at Borders Group, Inc. in various capacities including Buyer and Associate Director of Bargain and Custom Publishing.

“We are pleased and excited to have Gonzalo Ferreyra take on this new critical role at VIZ Media,” states Hidemi Fukuhara, CEO of VIZ Media. “He has demonstrated and proven his expertise in handling the sales arena, and he will no doubt be as much of an asset on the publishing side as he was on home video. We are confident that these changes in the Sales department will continue to strengthen our partnerships with retailers and our distributor, Simon & Schuster, as we continue to build the future of Japanese manga throughout the world.”

“I am very excited to take on this new responsibility given my background in publishing sales,” adds Ferreyra. “Manga is the fastest growing arena in the publishing industry, and it’s great to be part of the continued growth of such best-selling titles as NARUTO, BLEACH and DEATH NOTE. The changes in the sales department, with Brian Ige and Moneka Hewlett moving into their new roles, will allow us to focus more clearly on the two product categories and better serve our retail partners. The wealth and diversity of all our titles allows us to grow and develop manga as a category and to continue to develop new readers for our shojo titles and key imprints. I look forward to making a substantial contribution to VIZ Media’s success on the publishing side while continuing to grow our home video business.”

Some change at our Alma Mater CBG:

F+W Publications Associate Group Publisher, Sports and Pop Culture Jeff Pozorski has announced the promotion of Comics Buyer’s Guide Editor Maggie Thompson to Senior Editor and Comics Buyer’s Guide Managing Editor Brent Frankenhoff to Editor. The changes were effective as of Jan. 1.

“Maggie and Brent have both actively and professionally shared their hobby knowledge with fans for years,” Pozorski said. “Their respective interests complement each other, making a stronger editorial package overall. These promotions reflect their contributions to Comics Buyer’s Guide and its affiliated products.”

Thompson has been CBG’s Editor since Krause Publications (now a division of F+W Publications) acquired The Buyer’s Guide to Comic Fandom from the publication’s founder, Alan Light, in 1983. From 1983 to 1994, Maggie co-edited the paper with her husband Don. Often noted as one of the founders of comics fandom, Thompson has supported the hobby all her life, receiving Diamond Comic Distributor’s Lifetime Fandom Award in 1991 and the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award in 1995 and being named Friends of Lulu’s first “Woman of Distinction” in 2004.

“Being named ‘Senior Editor’ is a nifty tribute,” Thompson commented, “as I enter my 25th year at the helm of the longest-running magazine about comic books. I should point out that the title has nothing to do with so-called ‘senior moments’ and everything to do with the deference paid me by … Hmmm. Well …” She paused. “Never mind. I guess that deference thing is overrated, anyway.” She laughed.

Congrats to our long suffering editors, and more in the link.

Still playing catch-up, the BIG story today is the the shake-up at Wizard, with long-time EIC Pat McCallum let go in among other staffing changes, as tersely revealed in this press release:

Wizard Entertainment today announced several staffing changes, including the addition of several new hires to the publishing and Wizard World tour divisions. Recent additions to the company include; Marketing Director John Ko; General Manager Keith Patrick; General Manager for Dealer Relations Peter Katz; Programming Manager for Wizard Conventions Inc. Adam Dickstein; and Sales Account Executive Bart Sciarraba. Additionally, Wizard announced that Editor-in-Chief Pat McCallum and Wizard Entertainment have parted ways.

“In an effort to grow the company and evolve with our customers, Wizard has made a number of aggressive changes over the past nine months,�? said Fred Pierce, president and COO for Wizard Entertainment. “We have had a record year for both the publishing division and the Wizard World tours, and these staffing changes will ensure even greater success in 2007.�?

Throughout 2006, Wizard leadership has been making moves to strengthen the company. In March, toy industry veteran Jim Silver joined the company as Publisher, while Wizard’s own Rob Felton was promoted to Vice President and Associate Publisher. In September, Wizard introduced a new format for its flagship publication, Wizard Magazine, growing it from comic book size to conventional magazine size. In October, the recently re-launched WizardUniverse.com welcomed a record 2 million visitors. Additionally, the annual Wizard World tour closed its tenth year in November with record-setting attendance and a continuously expanding variety of exhibitors, adding such partners as Spike TV, Video Games Live and International Fight League. 2007 looks to be another exceptional year, with several planned pop culture crossovers in Hollywood, comics and anime, and another action-packed Wizard World tour.

Can YOU spot the discrepancy in paragraph 2, boys and girls? Companies having record years don’t usually fire half the staff.
McCallum was one of the original Wizard founders, a fixture at the company who was often seen at Wizard shows dressed as Galactus. Everyone we’ve talked to indicates his dismissal came as a complete shock. At Newsarama Matt Brady pointed out some of the actual facts behind the “record year:

The magazine itself has also gone through many changes over the past decade, with direct market sales numbers (which do not include subscriptions or newsstand sales, but can still be seen as a valid sales indicator) – which used to hover near the 100,000 mark in the late ‘90s, now coming in at approximately half of that, according to estimates….Some observers are viewing McCallum’s unexpected departure as perhaps one of the final steps of a de facto reorganization of the company, whose roots can be traced back to the hiring of Jim Silver as the new Publisher and Rob Felton being named Associate Publisher at the company in March of this year.

As every site pointing this out has mentioned, it has been a hard year for Wizard. Their convention attendance was down; magazine advertising is also way down (hardly unique in the print world, in all fairness) and their website re-launch has been an embarrassment. Insiders are speculating that McCallum, like convention personnel Stewart Morales and Gabe Fieromosco, was let go simply as a fall guy for the general moribund state of the business. Surely a high-level firing will shake things up, but you have to wonder if Felton and Silver have enough vision to guide what was really the last bastion of 90’s comics culture into the new century.

In the meantime, if you want to be part of the team, you can read the help wanted ad over at Media Bistro — you must register to read it all but it’s free. Here’s a sampling:

Job Requirements Editor In Chief (EIC) – Wizard Entertainment: Wizard, InQuest Gamer, ToyFare, Anime Insider
Job Requirements
SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE:
• Acting as a Brand Manager for Wizard Entertainment’s publications to all aspects of the company, as well as with all partners and stakeholders, with an empathetic knowledge of editorial’s role in helping each area to reach its individual and collective goals
• Consistently position Wizard Entertainment as a thought leader in its respective marketplaces, within its diverse communities as well as to outside media
• Facilitate/moderate public events that Wizard Entertainment sponsors and/or hosts in conjunction with other sponsors or content providers
• Proactively represent Wizard Entertainment at events/forums to ascertain trends, develop content ideas
• Insure the editorial mission and distinct messages of the various publications are achieved
• Oversee the entire online and print editorial process, ensuring that all publications are produced within budget and timelines
• Strategize, develop and manage all content creation for print, web and other rich media
• Proactively engage and manage both internal and external writing and journalism staff
• Draw positive attention to the publication through excellence in journalism, editorial content, print quality and overall media