Stuck in the Middle

Libraries | An editorial in the Lewiston, Maine, newspaper praises a local school board’s decision last week to leave the 2007 comics anthology Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age in the Buckfield Junior-Senior High School library following a parent’s complaints about “objectionable sexual and language references”: “American culture can be graphically sexual and explicitly foul and it’s important that young people learn how to navigate that world in a responsible way. The best possible way, of course, is for parents to steer their children through that process, but not every parent does and many children are left adrift. So, the next-better place to learn is the school library, where a responsible adult can help educate children about their hormone-charged emerging feelings in a confusingly sensual culture.” [Sun Journal]

Business | Wizard magazine founder Gareb Shamus, who resigned earlier this month as president and chief executive officer of Wizard World Inc., will sell most of his shares in the company to his successor, who’s expected to be named next month. [Bleeding Cool]

Creators | The Korean American Experience asks, “Why Are There So Many Good Asian American Cartoonists?” and highlights the work of Jason Shiga, Gene Yang, Derek Kirk Kim, Hellen Jo and more. [Korean American Experience]

Art by Sharon Moody

Creators | Author and comics writer Scott Edelman takes issue with paintings by Sharon Moody that depict photo-realistic images of comic books. (Honestly, when I first saw the images, I thought someone was just tacking a comic to the wall and calling it art). The paintings don’t credit the creators of the comics. “You might ask, but what’s wrong with this? Aren’t these just still-life paintings like any other? Aren’t there many trompe l’oeil paintings that can pass for photographs? Why should an artist be allowed to paint a bowl of fruit but not a comic book? My issue is this—an apple, once you set aside either a Higher Power or human hybridization (depending on your belief system), has no creator, but the pages of art apparently reproduced here line for line do. What’s going on here is at the very least a collaboration with Kirby, Buscema, Novick, and others without those artists’ permission, and at the very most … well … I’ll let others decide whether they want to go there.” [Bleeding Cool]

Alex de Campi

Creators | Laura Sneddon chats with Alex de Campi about her Kickstarter-funded project Ashes, and women in comics: “The only reason the majors don’t have more women creators is they expect the creators to be in their face begging for jobs. Most women creators just don’t care that much (and also the female way of working socially is different), so they’re all sitting on their piles Eisner nominations and critically-acclaimed indie books waiting to be asked to dance by DC and Marvel … but DC and Marvel are too busy doing keg stands with the freshmen boys.” [comicbookGRRRL]

Creators | Paul Gravett translates a paper he presented for a conference on war and totalitarianism in comics, contrasting Joe Sacco’s Palestine with his Footnotes in Gaza, completed 16 years later and under very different circumstances. [Paul Gravett]

Creators | John Allison discusses the event that sparked his webcomic Bad Machinery, his frustrations about the strip’s progress, and more. [12 Books in 12 Months]

Creators | Sean Kleefeld interviews Frank Page, creator of the long-running webcomic Bob the Squirrel. Page recently announced in the comic, which is based on his life, that he is considering ending the strip. “I think it was a combination of everything… the early mornings, the volume of work, my looking back on 3000+ strips and wondering what the next 3000+ would look like… I’ve made it very clear that I haven’t decided one way or another if the strip will end. Bob has become my best friend, he’s very real to me. And, after reading the considerable amount of emails I’ve received, he’s real to a lot of other people as well. How do you say goodbye to your best friend? Would you be any better off doing something else?” He still hasn’t made up his mind, though. [MTV Geek]

Digital comics | Margaret O’Connell gives the online manga site JManga a thorough test drive and finds it promising but a bit clunky. [Sequential Tart]

Commentary | Bill Kartalopoulos writes a lengthy, thoughtful essay on Daniel Clowes’ The Death-Ray. [Brooklyn Rail]

Awards | Clay Bennett, the editorial cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has won the 2011 Lurie UN Award, which is given by the UN Correspondents Association and the UN Society of Writers to promote excellence in political cartooning. Hit the link to see the winning cartoon, an M.C. Escher-like take on the Mideast peace talks, read how Bennett came up with the idea. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Wizard

Conventions | Wizard’s executive chairman Mike Mathews tells Heidi MacDonald that after the resignation of former CEO Gareb Shamus, the company wants to be “a Switzerland of entertainment” and mend fences with members of the industry: “Gareb is one of these types of personalities who has taken strong positions over the years with various people in the industry and brands. And that kind of hurt us because of where we are trying to go — we’re trying to be a Switzerland of entertainment and we want to try to try to reach out to brands.” MacDonald notes the company is offering a $100 credit toward Wizard conventions to former Wizard subscribers whose subscriptions abruptly ended when the magazine was shut down. A new CEO is expected to be named early next month. [The Beat]

Conventions | Image Comics announced several more guests for the Image Expo, scheduled for Feb. 24-26 in Oakland, California. The lineup now includes Blair Butler, John Layman, Rob Guillory, Nick Spencer, Joshua Fialkov, Joe Keatinge, Jim McCann and Jim Zubkavich, among many others. [press release]

Organizations | The Associação da Luta Contra o Cancer is running an awareness campaign in Mozambique featuring images drawn by artist Maisa Chaves of Wonder Woman, Catwoman, She-Hulk and Storm checking their breasts for lumps. [Daily Mail]

Retailing | The Sacramento Press surveys local comic shops. [Part 1, Part 2]

Comics | Greg Elias talks to Dr. Peter A. Hancock about the use of augmented cognition in The Flash. [Speed Force]

The Massive

Creators | Brian Wood reflects on Channel Zero, one of his earliest works, and discusses digital comics, the financial hit he took when his exclusive contract with DC expired, and his upcoming work at Dark Horse on Conan and The Massive: “The Massive is at once both a stylistic and tonal followup to DMZ, and representative of a radical new approach in how I’m writing my comics. It was designed, originally, to be a Vertigo book and follow right after DMZ’s end and capture that same audience, to give those diehard readers something they would enjoy just as much. That obviously didn’t come to pass (conflicts with the new contracts Vertigo was offering, mostly) but the intent is the same. Existing readers of my Vertigo work, The Massive is for you.” [ComicsAlliance]

Creators | Chew artist Rob Guillory is briefly profiled by his local newspaper. [The Advertiser]

Commentary | K. Thor Jensen lists 11 comic characters “that should have stayed dead.” [UGO]

Awards | Houston Chronicle editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson is the recipient of the National Press Foundation’s 2011 Clifford K. & James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning. [The Daily Cartoonist]

Gareb Shamus

Gareb Shamus, divisive founder of the once-influential Wizard magazine, has resigned as president and chief executive officer of Wizard World Inc.

The publicly traded company announced the move in documents filed Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “The resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices,” Shamus wrote in his two-sentence letter of resignation.

Michael Mathews, the former CEO of interclick inc. who joined Wizard World in March as chairman, will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company until Shamus’ replacement can be found.

Shamus founded Wizard: The Guide to Comics in 1991, overseeing the rise of a magazine whose prosperity was inextricably tied to the speculator boom it helped fuel with its price guides, creator hot lists and enthusiastic coverage of new publishers like Image Comics and Valiant. By 1997, Wizard Entertainment had added Inquest Gamer and ToyFare magazines and extended its reach with the purchase of Chicago Comicon, later rebranded Wizard World Chicago, setting the company on its long, and occasionally rough, path to becoming a major organizer of regional conventions (earlier this year Wizard World briefly trumpeted 12 cities before slashing that number to eight).

However, the following decade wasn’t as kind to Wizard or the comics industry, with the magazine seeing its circulation dwindle to about 17,000 copies by December 2010. A month later, Shamus abruptly announced the closing of Wizard and ToyFare, the company’s last remaining magazines, and the subsequent launch of an online magazine, a move he later characterized as “the smartest business decision I’ve made in years.”

But about two weeks ago, the digital magazine that Shamus had boasted reached “millions of people” apparently disappeared from the Internet, just about the time that its founder launched a blog on the Wizard World site. Now that, too, is gone. His new Twitter account remains — although he hasn’t written an update since Nov. 28.

Wizard World hopes to have Shamus’ successor in place by Jan. 15.

Tom Ziuko

Creators | The Hero Initiative offers an update from colorist Tom Ziuko, who was hospitalized earlier this year for acute kidney failure and other health conditions, and then returned to the hospital for emergency surgery about a month ago. “I can’t impress upon you enough how frightening it is to actually come up against a life-threatening medical situation (not to mention two times in less than a year), and not have the financial means to survive if you’re suddenly not able to earn a living. Like so many other freelancers out there, I live paycheck to paycheck, unable to afford health insurance. Without an organization like the Hero Initiative to lend me support in this time of dire need, I truly don’t know where I would be today,” Ziuko said. [The Hero Initiative]

Publishing | CNN asks the question “Are women and comics risky business?” as Christian Sager talks to former DC editor Janelle Asselin, blogger Jill Pantozzi, Womanthology organizer Renae De Liz and others about the number of women who work in comics, the portrayal of female characters and why comic companies don’t actively market books to women. “Think about it from the publisher’s point of view,” Asselin said. “Say you sell 90 percent of your comics to men between 18 and 35, and 10 percent of your comics to women in the same age group. Are you going to a) try to grow that 90 percent of your audience because you feel you already have the hook they want and you just need to get word out about it, or b) are you going to try to figure out what women want in their comics and do that to grow your line?” [CNN]

Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha

Publishing | ICv2 talks to Viz Media’s Senior Vice President Alvin Lu and Japanese Shonen Jump editor Hisashi Sasaki about the publisher’s decision to take the American version of Shonen Jump to digital — despite having a print circulation of 125,000, which is pretty good nowadays. [ICv2]

Retailing | Tony Barry and Jared Whittaker of Superfly Comics and Games in Yellow Spring, Ohio discuss why they didn’t exhibit at this past weekend’s Wizard World Mid-Ohio Con, as well as the interactions with convention organizers that eventually led them to file a Better Business Bureau complaint. [Panels on Pages, via The Beat]

Retailing | ComicsPRO, the trade association for direct-market retailers, will hold its 2012 annual meeting Feb. 9-11 at  the DoubleTree Hotel in Dallas. [ICv2]

Crime | Manga creator Moto Hagio reports that some drawings purporting to be hers that were sold in an online auction were in fact forgeries. [Anime News Network]

From All-Star Western #2

Creators | Co-writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray discuss their work on DC’s All-Star Western and how the attention around the New 52 has brought them new readers: “Some people just say automatically, ‘Well, I don’t like Westerns. I don’t like history,’” Palmiotti said. “And we have a lot of those same people coming up to us and saying, ‘I would have never read a Jonah Hex book but I gave this one a shot.’ We knew we had one chance to get the readers involved, and it looks like it turned out pretty well.” [USA Today]

Creators | Robot 6 contributor Matt Seneca chats with Gary Panter about his new book The Land Unknown, among many other topics. [The Comics Journal]

Comics | David Brothers takes issue with the marketing tactics used by comics publishers (DC and Marvel, for the most part), including blacked-out covers and holding back on details of stories or the creative team. He ends on an up note, though, with an example of marketing that works. [4thletter!]

Analysis | The Drifting Classroom: Formulaic horror story or expose of parent-child relations in postwar Japan? Noah Berlatsky lays out an argument for the latter as part of a roundtable on Kazuo Umezu’s story of schoolchildren whisked away into a threatening wasteland. [The Hooded Utilitarian]

Reviews | David Anderson declares Philip Gelatt and Tyler Cook’s Petrograd “the best way to learn history.” [Spandexless]

Visuals | J. L. Bell points out a particularly nice panel by George Perez from New Teen Titans: Games that features a fight in the Guggenheim Museum, which is a brilliant setting. The paintings are all wrong, though. [Oz and Ends]

Siblings

This week’s interview with Rus Wooton in one sense is long overdue, given that the last time I interviewed a comics letterer at Robot 6 (Todd Klein) was more than two years ago. But in another sense, the timing is perfect, considering that Wooton recently (and amicably) left Chris Eliopoulos’ Virtual Calligraphy (VC) lettering company in order to be free for his own creative projects–writing and drawing. One example of his new projects is his new webcomic project, Siblings, set to launch in July. My thanks to Nate Cosby for helping make this interview happen–and thanks to Wooton some insightful perspective on his craft. In addition to learning how he came to be a letterer in the first place, Wooton also was happy to discuss his ongoing lettering assignments for Robert Kirkman (among many other creators) as well as upcoming Cosby projects.

Tim O’Shea: You became a quadriplegic at the age of 20, were you already training to become a letterer prior to then, or did your pursuit of that career occur after then?

Rus Wooton: That’s a great question that might need a long-winded answer, but I’ll do my best to keep it brief. I’d never planned on being a letterer, but I’d always planned on working in comics in some way, at least since I was a kid in the late ’70s. I had been drawing for as long as I could remember, and I was also into graphic design from a young age, influenced by my Dad who was an Art Director and Creative Director at an advertising agency. He actually designed the CNN logo while working at Sheehey-Dudgeon in Louisville in 1980, and he’d occasionally take me or my brothers to the office evenings and weekends when he was working overtime on a project.

I designed my first professional logo at age 14, for a local roofing company, and my Dad walked me through the steps of making a camera-ready mechanical drawing of it. This was in ’84, long before designing on Macs with Adobe Illustrator or its precursors. In 1990 I was in college with a focus on drawing, working part-time weeknights washing FedEx trucks, and on weekend nights I worked at a weekly classified ad magazine doing ad design and paste-up. They had a total of two Macs then, so a lot was still done with typesetters and people like me laying it out on boards. So I guess the seeds of lettering comics, at least the design side of lettering, were planted long ago for me.

I broke my neck surfing in October 1990, and that put my planned art career in question. The paralysis left me a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the upper chest down, including my hands and parts of my arms. I regained sensation but not motor function, so I had to re-learn so many activities of daily living. I had to re-learn how to draw which was at first one of the most devastating aspects of my paralysis. My first attempts at drawing and writing while in rehab were horrendous, nothing but chicken scratch. I had this splint on my hand to hold a pencil or a pen and had to try to control these fine movements needed to write or draw with the large muscles that lifted my wrist back or moved my arm, much broader movements than I wanted.

I gave up for a while while in rehab, focusing instead on all the other stuff like learning how to get dressed or get in and out of my wheelchair, anything but drawing. After a few months, I finally asked my Dad to bring me one of my sketchbooks; he brought me a brand new one. I still remember sitting in the rec-room at Tampa General Rehab Center one evening, trying to sketch again with a ballpoint pen but trying to just loosen up and go with how my arm was working now. I drew this scribbly triceratops, but it looked decent, and it hit me that I was going to be able to draw again. It took a long time, but that one sketch was the catalyst.

After rehab I went back to school and got a degree in Fine Arts with a focus on Drawing and a degree in Art Education. I did some substitute teaching and was working with my writer friend Mark Thompson on a comic we were going to self-publish, then in ’98 I took a job as web designer in New York at Wizard Entertainment. Remember Wizard Magazine? It wasn’t until I got to know Chris Eliopoulos through my Wizard boss at the time, Buddy Scalera, that I considered lettering professionally. After leaving Wizard in ’01, I was doing freelance design, mostly web stuff, and Chris asked if I’d help him with some grunt work setting up scripts for him to letter. He also started teaching me how to letter. In early ’03, I’d moved back to the warmth of Florida, and Chris started his Virtual Calligraphy lettering studio with Cory Petit, Randy Gentile and me lettering for him, all Marvel stuff.

Phew! Sorry if that was too involved an answer!

O’Shea: What kind of equipment is essential for you to do your work?

Wooton: Adobe’s Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign at the bare minimum for software. I letter on my iMac or my MacBook Pro, usually with a mouse and keyboard. I have a Wacom Cintiq monitor-tablet, and I use it for drawing and sometimes for design, but I’m faster when I letter when I use the mouse and keyboard. That may be because of my paralysis, because Chris Eliopoulos and the other Virtual Calligraphy guys use a Wacom for lettering, at least I know Chris does. With my hands paralyzed, I use the mouse completely sideways and I type with something wedged in between my fingers, currently a toothbrush with the brush head cut off, hitting the shift key with my left thumb. The only lettering I’ve done with pen and ink would be on some of my own stuff nobody’s really seen.

O’Shea: Recently you left Chris Eliopoulos’ Virtual Calligraphy (VC) lettering company, what prompted that departure?

PIGS

Wooton: It was just time for me to completely go it alone as a letterer. Ever since I started lettering INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD for Robert Kirkman, with issues #13 and #19 respectively, I’ve gotten more and more lettering work outside of Virtual Calligraphy’s Marvel stuff, and my regular VC Marvel books had dwindled to three monthly titles after THOR, THE MIGHTY AVENGER was unfortunately cancelled: FANTASTIC FOUR, Stephen King’s THE STAND and DARK TOWER. I enjoyed those books, and I had something like a six-year run on FF, so it wasn’t easy to break away from Eliopoulos and VC, but I felt it was something I needed to do in order to give myself more flexibility. I want to focus more time and energy on my own creative pursuits, writing and drawing, and going solo will help me do that. I may do Marvel work again at some point in the future, but the three VC titles I was lettering are now in the capable hands of VC’s younger guys, Joe Sabino and Clayton Cowles. The last Virtual Calligraphy book by me you’ll see in print will be the manga-style 15 LOVE mini series.

And so no one gets the wrong idea, there is no bad blood between Chris Eliopoulos and me at all. In fact, several of the current projects I’m lettering independently I got from Chris recommending me, including the webcomic THE GUTTERS and the upcoming books with former Marvel editor Nate Cosby at the helm: PIGS at Image (written by Nate and Ben McCool), Jim Henson’s THE STORYTELLER at Archaia and THE IMMORTALS.

I’m proud to have Chris as a friend and lettering mentor; I owe him a lot. He’s an example and inspiration for all cartoonists and creative people in general. His drive, work ethic and the sheer volume of work he does are admirable and humbling.

O’Shea: What books are you currently lettering?

Butcher Baker

Wooton: Well, of course there’s INVINCIBLE and THE WALKING DEAD. Then there are other Image/Skybound books like SUPER DINOSAUR, THIEF OF THIEVES, THE INFINITE and GUARDING THE GLOBE. I just wrapped up the final issue of FEAR AGENT, and another Rick Remender book I lettered is now collected, THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME from Radical Comics. I’ll be lettering a new LAST DAYS series soon, and I’m currently lettering the mini series EARP: SAINTS FOR SINNERS for Radical. Also at Image, I’m lettering Joe Casey’s GØDLAND and the new hit BUTCHER BAKER; I’m lettering more Joe Casey books soon, too, which I’m very psyched about. Other current lettering projects include the upcoming books I mentioned earlier, PIGS and THE STORYTELLER. In Addition to Ryan Sohmer and the Blind Ferret gang’s webcomic THE GUTTERS, I’m lettering Sohmer’s MESSIAH book which I can’t say anything else about just yet. I feel like I’m forgetting something.

O’Shea: Can you talk about certain font choices you make for some of the titles or characters you deal with?

Wooton: I try to use fonts and ballon styles that work with the art and tone of the story, so I’ve amassed a large collection of comic book fonts from both Comicraft and Blambot. I’ve created a few fonts of my own but have only used a couple sound-effect fonts in books I’ve lettered, notably in THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME and SUPER DINOSAUR. Virtual Calligraphy guys use Chris Eliopoulos’s fonts pretty much exclusively, but you won’t see me using those on anything other than the Marvel stuff I lettered as a VC guy. I’ll sometimes take a font and adjust its kerning (the space between letters) or the leading (the space between lines), and sometimes I’ll stretch or compress the letters to get just the look I think works with that book.

I like to get feedback from the artist and writer if I can, particularly on indy stuff when there isn’t already a lettering style in place, because sometimes they have good ideas already before I come to the table, and ultimately I’m helping them tell their stories. So I want them to be cool with the way I do that. Guys like Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Rick Remender, Joe Casey, Nate Cosby–these guys all know the value of good lettering and also know what looks good, what works and what doesn’t, and it’s great lettering books for them. Often they’ll have a certain look in mind and I’ll try to figure out how to make it work, and sometimes they’ll surprise me and suggest a change that I hadn’t thought of. That’s where checking my artist/designer ego is important. Unless someone’s doing their own comic from start to finish, it’s a team effort and as a letterer I know my place in that team; telling stories well is more important than my lettering looking the way I want over the other creators’ wishes.

O’Shea: Recently Kurt Busiek tweeted: “Note to letterers: When lettering in upper/lower case, the words at the beginning of sentences get capital letters. Geez.” What do you think when you see your contemporaries having to make corrections like that?

Wooton: That sounds like it’s either a rookie mistake he’s seeing or a mistake born of work overload and ridiculous deadlines, which are quite common for letterers. We’re the last people in the comic book assembly line, so often we’re expected to letter a book yesterday to make up for lost time. Obviously, Kurt Busiek knows his stuff, and you look at any of his creator-owned work like ASTRO CITY, or one of my favorites SHOCK ROCKETS, and you can tell he’s a man with an eye for quality. I think those were both lettered and designed by Richard Starkings and Comicraft, by the way.

Anyway, if Kurt’s frustration is this mistake he’s seeing before a book goes to press, it’s a different thing than if it’s something he’s seeing after the book’s printed. If a mistake like that gets to print then responsibility also lies with the Editors, because they shouldn’t let that get by them. That doesn’t absolve the letterer by any means; I’m sure I’ve made a few mistakes like that over the years, having lettered thousands of books, and I take full responsibility for those even if they made it to print. That said, I’m inclined to give letterers some benefit of the doubt because I know the pressure of lettering and putting together multiple books at once and having to make changes to dialogue literally minutes before the books go to the printer.

With upper/lower case lettering, the mistake Kurt tweeted about could happen when the script’s dialogue and narration are written in all-caps and the letterer made everything lower case but forgot to capitalize the first word in the sentence. Honestly, I haven’t seen that mistake much at all that I can remember, so I’m not sure. I can understand how it could happen, but that’s not an excuse for it to happen constantly, and it seems that’s where Kurt’s frustration is coming in. It reminds me of when I started lettering; Marvel books were all upper/lower case, and I kept forgetting to make sure the upper case “I” was sans-serif except for the personal pronoun. I don’t think any of those made it to print but I remember it drove Chris Eliopoulos nuts to to see it happen over and over. That’s why I think “rookie mistake” when I read Kurt’s tweet.

One rookie screw-up I made that got to print was a page in FANTASTIC FOUR a couple years ago, long after my rookie period. It wasn’t a lettering mistake but a production mistake; somehow a page I’d made a last minute lettering correction on shifted when it was re-loaded in InDesign, and I was doing production on that book, not the Marvel Bullpen. Neither I nor the Editors caught it, and to this day it knots up my stomach when I think about it. Because yeah, I wish one of the Editors had caught it, but it was my fuck-up, and not even the crazy deadline’s an excuse for me to not catch that before it went to press. It may sound dorky, but I feel like I really let FANTASTIC FOUR fans and readers down on that one; that mistake not only took them out of the story but took part of the story away from them–some of the lettering didn’t make it on that page at all. Yikes. Live and learn!

So, that’s my wordy way of saying I can understand Kurt’s frustration, but I empathize with the letterers, too.

O’Shea: Of your contemporary peers, who do you think is doing some of the best lettering out there–and that in a sense challenges you to work harder?

Wooton: The big names like Eliopoulos, Starkings, Tom Orzechowski, Todd Klein and of course John Workman. I’m always looking to see anything they do that might change things up or add something to lettering I hadn’t noticed before. And anybody who’s familiar with my work will see a John Workman influence on certain books that I letter. Those guys all started out as traditional, pen & ink letterers, so I’m not sure what that says, but their experience is something to be respected for sure. I also like stuff like Patrick Brosseau’s HELLBOY lettering, and I like the lettering Kody Chamberlain did in his book SWEETS and the lettering by writer Jason Latour in the book he’s doing with artist Chris Brunner and colorist Rico Renzi, LOOSE ENDS. It’s always cool and inspiring to see an artist and/or writer who can letter, whether it’s digital or traditional lettering. I should also give props to artists who can letter sound effects into their art; Chris Samnee‘s sound effects in THOR, THE MIGHTY AVENGER, for example, fit his art better than anything I could have come up with.

O’Shea: What is the key to being perceived and respected as an established letterer? Also what does it take to establish an effective rapport with a creative team?

Wooton: An eye for art and design, good storytelling skills and the ability to work under tight deadlines and still produce quality work. As for establishing an effective rapport with a creative team, it takes understanding the story and its tone, being able to communicate well with the other creators and editors, and knowing your place in the team, the ability to keep one’s creative ego in check. That’s not to say a good letterer should just keep his or her mouth shut and take orders; a good letterer picks battles but asserts their expertise when necessary.

O’Shea: What’s creatively on the horizon for you in 2011 and beyond?

Wooton: I’m focusing a lot these days on my own art and writing. I’ve been helping other creators tell their stories for eight years now, and I have my own stories to tell. I’m trying to draw and write daily, in addition to my lettering work. It’s tough but rewarding, and I’ve been remiss in not nurturing those parts of myself enough. I’m hoping to finish a screenplay I’m writing, the story of which is a collaboration with my good friend Mike Fasolo (Emmy winning writer on “Robot Chicken”). Mike and I go way back to 1998 when I started at Wizard. I’m not sure if anything will come of that screenplay, as nothing’s come of the first one I wrote, but just completing a second screenplay will be a good thing for me.

I’m launching a webcomic in July called SIBLINGS, a mix of old school newspaper style comics with stories that might not fly in newspaper strips. It’s a strip I started over twenty years ago but put aside when I was paralyzed as I focused on college and getting my independence back. Another webcomic I’m working on is a back-and-forth teamup with my good friend Pat David. I’m not sure when that will launch, but hopefully this summer. Then I’ve got a couple creator-owned comic pitches I’m working on, so I have no time to sleep.

One thing that I’m looking forward to starting but dreading at the same time is a collaboration with my Dad. Dreading only because I don’t want to fuck it up or for it to come across wrong. He wrote a 12-page book in a mix of poetry and prose twenty years ago and printed up a short run to give away; it was about my accident and the recovery process as seen through his eyes as my father. He did these cool spot illustrations on many pages, too. I was going to redesign the book for him and get more printed, but he recently suggested I illustrate it myself, maybe as a comic book. It’ll be an interesting and beneficial process, I think. I just wish my Mom was still with us to see how it turns out.

O’Shea: What can you tell folks about your upcoming potential pursuits including Blacksmith Jones that may be illustrated by Mario Wytch, and a graphic novel called Homeland?

Wooton: I need to update my website! Mario is in fact illustrating BLACKSMITH JONES, and HOMELAND has been put on the back burner for now. As for BLACKSMITH JONES, we’ve got Rachelle Rosenberg on board coloring it, and she and Mario make a good team. I’m writing, but as we go along, I’m getting ideas and story input from Mario as well. We don’t have a publisher yet, but we’ll be pitching it soon, after some tweaks to the pitch itself.

I’d originally planned on illustrating the book myself, and I even had a preview book with some penciled and lettered pages at the inaugural Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) last year, but with my Mom getting sicker from her breast cancer around that same time, I ended up putting it aside all together, along with some other personal projects. I’ve known Mario since the late ’90s and he contacted me about working on a book together. Of the ideas I had, he was most interested in BLACKSMITH JONES. Mario’s been doing indy comics for years with Bluewater Productions, Viper Comics and Antacrtic Press. He’s got a cool, unique style, and I hope our books goes places.

O’Shea: I was struck by two of your recent tweets in which you said “…I think any creator-owned work that diversifies the comics medium in its content helps us all. We can’t survive on heroes…Nothing against superhero comis, of course. We just need more diversity to grow the audience & more ppl reading.” Care to expand upon your thoughts there?

Wooton: I think that was in reference to a discussion about creator-owned comics. I think that in order for comics to survive, we’ve all got to encourage and promote diversity, not only in content but in readership. I grew up on superhero comics, love them and think there are still great superhero stories to be told. But I think the American comics landscape in particular is too superhero-centric, lacking in non-white characters and in female characters, particularly main protagonists.

We’ve got a bunch of guys in their 30s and 40s writing and drawing comics that fulfill their adolescent daydreams, and the daydreams of readers, most of whom are a bunch of other guys in their 30s and 40s, but how many current adolescents–boys or girls–share those daydreams? For that matter, how many kids under ten years-old are interested in the majority of superhero comics? I was reading comics as a kid in the ’70s and early ’80s, superhero stuff, Archie stuff, Richie Rich, Disney, Godzilla, all kinds of stuff. And there’s a lot of stuff out there today, but the big two, Marvel and DC, are focused on superhero comics written mostly for this shrinking number of 30-and-40-something fanboys.

I get fired up seeing diverse subject matter coming from indy publishers like Image or Dark Horse or some of the smaller publishers. We need that diversity to get new readers, young and old, male and female. And we need a lot of all-ages comics that kids can read, that parents can not only feel good buying for their kids but reading to their kids, boys and girls. I’m encouraged to see Boom! and Ape publishing more all-ages books. I’m not sure how well they’re selling, but I’m hoping there are a lot kids out there discovering comics and enjoying them, kids who’ll grow up reading comics.

Diversity, accessibility and availability of comic books are the keys to comics surviving as a storytelling medium, in my opinion. Like rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, and apple pie, the comic book is an American invention we should be proud of. But comics have more respect in other parts of the world, along with more diversity in content and audience, and most of the top-selling American comics are superhero books from the big two that often just pander to the fanboys who are at their local comic shop every Wednesday to pick up their pull-list. We’ve got to shake things up. Even if you don’t like a certain genre or format of comic, variety is needed so that you can read your new superhero comics for decades to come.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m slagging all superhero comics. I still read and enjoy many, and INVINCIBLE would be at the top of my stack of comics even if I didn’t letter it, along with superhero stuff by Rick Remender, Tony Moore, Jonathan Hickman, Stuart Immonen, Kurt Busiek, etcetera etcetera! I just want to see all kinds of comics being read by all kinds of people in all kinds of formats. Like Ryan Ottley tweeted today: “I’d like Comics to last forever please.”

Fear Itself #2

Publishing | May marked the worst month of the year for the direct market since January as sales of comic books and graphic novels fell 11.21 percent versus May 2010. Chart watcher John Jackson Miller chalks up the decline to a combination of retailers ordering more Free Comic Book Day titles than “for-profit” books and publishers’ summer events heating up a little later this year. Marvel led Diamond Comic Distributors’ list of top comics for the month with Fear Itself #2, followed by the first issue of DC’s Flashpoint. Avatar topped the graphic novel chart with Crossed 3D, Vol. 1. [The Comichron]

Legal | The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has joined a coalition that includes booksellers, media companies and the ACLU of Utah in seeking to permanently stop enforcement of a 2005 Utah statute that would regulate Internet speech that some consider “harmful to minors,” including works of art, graphic novels, information about sexual health and the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth. The law has not gone into effect because Utah consented to a temporary injunction until the case can be decided. [press release]

Awards | A reminder: Online voting ends today for the 2011 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. The winners will be announced July 22 during Comic-Con International in San Diego. [Eisner Awards]

Archie Comics

Publishing | Tom Spurgeon talks at length with Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater about the publishers’ marketing strategy, digital initiatives, and how recently introduced gay character Kevin Keller fits into Riverdale: “You know, with all of the bullying going on in the world today, and all of the issues young people grow up with, it just proves the point that kids are kids, and that Archie, the gang, Riverdale, it’s all-inclusive. That’s how kids are in high school today. The point of his being gay, he’s just another kid. That’s the point of putting him in there. He’s accepted, and everyone should be accepted wherever they go. That sounds a little bit utopian, but why not? Why can’t we at least put that forth? Put forth the fact that everyone no matter what their orientation is, what the color of their skin is, what their religion is, whatever it may be, everyone’s accepted: there is no divisiveness. When you turn on the TV and you hear all this vitriol back and forth between political parties and all this nonsense it’s enough to get you nuts. The point of Kevin was ‘Hey, stop with this craziness. Everyone’s included. We’re all part of the human race no matter who you are or what you are.’” [The Comics Reporter]

Wizard

Conventions | Jerome Maida previews Wizard World Philadelphia, which returns on Friday to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. [Philadelphia Daily News]

Conventions | Lisa Allmendinger looks toward the third annual Kids Read Comics! convention, which kicks off Saturday in Chelsea, Michigan. [AnnArbor.com]

Conventions | On a related note, Snow Wildsmith offers tips on taking children to conventions. [Good Comics for Kids]

Creators | Greg Rucka talks about his upcoming run, with artist Marco Checchetto, on Marvel’s Punisher: “You find yourself in the position of going to your editor and saying, ‘So, who can I kill? Who is on the list of characters we can put a bullet in and is not going to horribly destroy what’s going in the rest of the universe?’ You never want to take a character out of play. It’s easier to take stuff away from the universe than to put it back into the universe.” [USA Today]

Broadway | The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society has filed an arbitration claim against the producers of the $70-million musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark for failure to pay royalties to original director Julie Taymor, who was fired in March. [The New York Times]

Of course, this isn’t surprising. Geek culture and a love of gadgets go hand in hand, and it’s natural that these magazines would lose readership to the internet. Print magazines have a significant turnaround time that keeps them from breaking news, but beyond that, the web has become the gathering spot for fans of individual properties. When you can connect with other fans of Torchwood, Sailor Moon, or RPGs via the internet, paper becomes superfluous. The irony is that the “geek” fan community is probably larger than ever; it’s magazines that have dwindled away to almost nothing.

Mike Cotton

A few different news items related to comic news outlets have come across my desk recently:

• According to the Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital site, News Corp. is planning to spin off the pop culture/video game site IGN, and in anticipation will acquire another pop culture/video game site, UGO.com — both of which cover comics.
• Publishers Weekly Comic Week, the weekly email newsletter edited by The Beat’s Heidi MacDonald, is switching to a monthly frequency. Per a post from MacDonald and PW’s Calvin Reid: “Although we are changing the frequency of the newsletter, the change will not diminish our overall comics coverage. Publishers Weekly will continue to cover graphic novels and comics in the book industry and traditional comics industry, publishing news and feature stories through the PW website and PW Daily as well as in our new monthly graphic novel newsletter.”
• And finally, via press release, Co-Chief Pop Culture Editor of Wizard World Mike Cotton has announced his last day with the company was April 29. By my count, that leaves Senior Associate Producer Carlos Mejia as the last man standing on the now-digital magazine‘s in-house editorial staff.

Wizard

And then there were two — it looks like Wizard’s editorial staff has been cut in half, as two of the four people listed on the masthead for the now-digital magazine were either fired or are leaving on their own this week.

Current “Co-Chief of Pop Culture” Justin Aclin confirmed on Twitter that he gave notice and is leaving Wizard at the end of this week. Before its cancellation, Aclin was the longtime editor of ToyFare magazine and was the head writer for the popular “Twisted ToyFare Theater” feature. Aclin, who is also the writer of such comics as Hero House and S.H.O.O.T. First, is moving on to an as-yet-unannounced new gig.

Second is Creative Director James Walker, who, according to sources, was fired earlier this week. Walker seems to confirm this on his own Twitter account with several messages, including one that seems to confirm he was fired over the phone: “this apprentice show is strange. people are actually fired FACE TO FACE! what a strange concept.”

According to the masthead, that leaves Wizard World Digital with an in-house editorial staff of two: the second Co-Chief of Pop Culture Mike Cotton and Senior Associate Producer Carlos Mejia.

from Wizard World Version 1.3

When Wizard World CEO Gareb Shamus decided to cancel his long-running magazines Wizard and ToyFare, and relaunch them in an amalgamated electronic form as a digital magazine called Wizard World, he did not do so quietly. Well, alright, the initial press release didn’t so much as mention the cancellations themselves, or the employees laid off in the process. But Shamus has been quite vocal about his new project’s prospects for success, as well as what he perceives to be the dire state of the industries surrounding it. In an interview with iFanboy’s Ron Richards, Shamus spoke of the new digital magazine sharing the things its staff likes with “the millions of people that we reach all the time,” in contrast with more traditional digital-news outlets like websites, which he said “are pretty worthless in their ability to have an impact on an audience.” And in the editor’s letter (see above) for Wizard World‘s third issue, “Version 1.3,” by way of explaining why he made the leap to digital publishing, he writes:

The creativity in the comic book industry is at an all-time high, yet it saddens me to see that publishers can’t get new people excited, and are losing existing fans at an alarming rate. The publishers keep doing what they’ve done in the past, but keep expecting better results. Not gonna happen!

Perhaps Shamus’s apparent disdain for comics publishers he deems stuck in the past explains why Wizard World‘s first three issues contain exactly zero articles on currently ongoing Marvel or DC titles. (Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Marvel/ICON book Incognito gets a graf in a piece on comics that should be made into video games, and toys for the upcoming Thor and Green Lantern movies get prominent play, though.)

“I am doing something new…and it feels good,” Shamus writes. “Starting a digital magazine feels like the smartest business decision I’ve made in years.”

Apparently, another decision made in the making of Wizard World was using the URL shortening service bit.ly for all of the digital magazine’s download links. Each issue is available in one of three ways: They are directly downloadable in PDF and Issuu formats, and can also be accessed by downloading Wizard’s iPad app. And by adding a plus sign to the end of any given bit.ly link (eg. http://bit.ly/dYy4I9+ ), anyone can see exactly how many times those downloads have been clicked. As of this morning, here are the stats:

Wizard World for iPad on the iTunes App Store
745 clicks total for all three issues

Wizard World Version 1.1 (aka Version 1.0), March 2
PDF: 4,695 clicks
issuu: 616 clicks

Wizard World Version 1.2, March 9
PDF: 3,277 clicks
issuu: 429 clicks

Wizard World Version 1.3, March 16
PDF: 1,779 clicks
issuu: 260 clicks

Caveats galore, of course: The stats for the iPad app link tell us nothing about how many people went to the iTunes App Store on their own and downloaded Wizard’s app directly, without first clicking through the link Wizard’s website provided. There’s also no way of knowing how many of the downloaded PDFs and issuus have circulated from person to person. And while the Graphic.ly and ComiXology platforms Shamus promised in his interview with iFanboy have yet to materialize, that doesn’t mean they won’t at some point. Maybe that explains the delay for issue/Version 1.4: Originally slated for a March 23 release according to a house ad in #1.3, it has not yet been published.

Archie & Friends 156

My friendship and association with Alex Segura dates back to late 2004 when he invited me to join Robot 6‘s ancestor blog (or however you want to call its relation) The Great Curve. I wear my bias on my sleeve for this interview–I’ve always been a supporter of Segura’s work–be it years at DC Comics, or more recently, his current role as Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing at Archie Comics. In addition to discussing what he’s accomplished to date at Archie (and hopes to achieve in the near to long term), we delve into his own writing and musical pursuits (in the band, The Faulkner Detectives).

Tim O’Shea: Before your first stint with Archie a few years back, you worked at Wizard. So I gotta ask, what’s your reaction to the end of the print magazine?

Alex Segura: On a gut level, it’s sad. Wizard was a big part of my getting into comics – or at least, sticking with them – in middle school and into college. There were times when I wasn’t actively buying any regular comic books but would still pick up Wizard to keep tabs on the industry. Working there was also huge. It was my first full-time job in the industry and gave me a crash course in comics and how they work. I also met some of my best friends there – many of whom I still talk to on a regular basis. Hell, I live with Ryan Penagos, who I first met at Wizard. So, yeah. I have a lot of fond memories of both my time at the company and my relationship with the magazine leading up to that.

Professionally, I’m not all that surprised. There was a time when Wizard was a major tastemaker – they had a big part in the rise of Image and for a long while broke major news from the Big Two. But with the rise of comic news on the web, it just seemed like they got left behind. Hopefully this new incarnation can revive the company. We’ll see.

O’Shea: Give me your top three favorite Archie characters?

Segura: That’s tough. I’ll have to say Archie, Jughead and Veronica. Archie was the character I always wanted to be, Jughead was the character I related to most and Veronica was the most fun to read just because she could be really nice and then suddenly mean. You never know where she’s coming from. But I like all of the core characters and even some of the more obscure ones. I was a pretty voracious Archie reader as a kid.

O’Shea: Thanks to your years in the industry, you’ve made a great many friends. Any chance you hope to get some of your creative friends to take a stab at telling Archie tales? On the other hand, Archie already has some great creators telling tales at present. Who are some of the creators that you hope to use your marketing skills to bring more attention to their work?

Segura: That process has begun in some ways – I’ve reached out to a lot of people that I know professionally and that I think have an affinity for Archie and the Archie characters to see if they’d be interested in contributing. I don’t want to name names just yet, mostly because we’re in the initial stages of conversations and anything can change before the book hits stands, so I don’t want to announce stuff and then spend most of my time answering questions about why X or Y didn’t materialize, you know? You’ll see the first product of those conversations this year. I can’t really say much more beyond that. But suffice to say, you’re right in your assumption and it’s going to be very cool.

O’Shea: Your years at DC were marked with an ability to effectively capitalize on the marketing strengths and advantages of social media. Every year there’s shifts in social media trends. Archie Comics already has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and iTunes–any chance Archie will be popping up on Tumblr, or are you looking to maximize Archie’s social media potential in a different way with its existing social media outlets?

Segura: Coming in, one of the first things I wanted to do was take the platforms we have – namely our site, Facebook and Twitter – and amp them up. Fans respond well when you’re engaged and you’re not just spouting the company line. Within weeks, we saw a marked increase in followers, “likes” and traffic. So, that was step one – and will be ongoing. Fans want companies to be interactive and of the moment, not just reformatted links or the same message blasted through different outlets. It’s a process, though. So, as we continue to engage, we’ll do some new things, like contests and more interactive projects. But it has to be done thoughtfully and not just to do it.

I love Tumblr, personally. I use it as my personal site and for most of my link-blogging on my own time. If we can brainstorm a unique and cool way to make it work for Archie, we’ll definitely consider it.

O’Shea: Correct if I am mistaken, but it never seems like Archie has much of a presence at comic book conventions. Are you looking to change that in the near to long term?

Segura: If by “not much of a presence” you mean we’re not at every show, then you’re right. We’re a smaller company and we have to be more thoughtful about what shows we attend. Is this the audience we want to market to? Was this show successful for us last year? Will it be this year? Unlike some of our competitors, we’re not templated in how we do business. We have the flexibility and knowledge to move and adapt to the marketplace, and that also applies to conventions and the like. I do think, though, that in the coming years we will expand our presence at both comic book shows and retailer-centric events, because we want to strengthen our relationships with retailers on the direct market side and the book market as we continue to learn from our new relationship with Random House.

O’Shea: When Heidi MacDonald interviewed you back in December, you said with your new job you will be: “helping show that new things are happening at Archie and that things are moving forward in a unique way.” Care to detail some of the new things that are happening and/or things that are moving forward?

Segura: I think for a long time the publicity mentality here was that people would react to us and then report on the news, but that only works on some levels. If anything, one of the things I’ve brought to Archie is the ability – via contacts and relationships I’ve built up over the years – to reach out to the press and industry in a more proactive way. Instead of having a story come out and crossing our fingers in the hopes someone will notice it, we have the tools to position ourselves in the press and marketplace more effectively. It’s something we’re constantly working on and tweaking, so you’ve only seen the beginning of that process.

I think a lot of people who are immersed in the day-to-day of the industry forget, because Archie doesn’t have an active superhero universe (key word: active – stay tuned) that the characters we do have aren’t recognizable. It’s quite the opposite. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Reggie are some of the most well-known properties in pop culture, much like Superman and Batman. So that familiarity is a great asset in promoting and discussing these stories. A lot of people grew up reading Archie Comics, and a lot of those people are now reporters, editors, writers and so on across the media spectrum. Having that built-in familiarity is huge for us and very helpful when we get the word out. People want to know what Archie and his friends are up to because they have really strong and fond memories about the time they’ve spent or continue to spend in Riverdale. It’s something we’re very grateful for.

O’Shea: In your free time over the past few years, you’ve written a draft of your first crime novel, SILENT CITY, and are working on a second, DOWN THE DARKEST STREET. Care to discuss either?

Segura: Sure. I’m an avid mystery/crime fiction reader – have been for years. And I always wanted to write. It all really kind of gelled for me a few years ago when I first picked up a copy of George Pelecanos’ A Firing Offense, on the suggestion of my friend and Vertigo Editor Will Dennis. It blew me away. The protagonist was flawed, the story – like life – was messy and raw and the characters felt like people I knew. That’s when it all clicked for me and I realized that writing crime fiction was what I really wanted to do. I didn’t start putting pen to paper then – but that’s kind of when it fell into place. Since then, I’ve discovered so many writers that I literally have stacks of to-read piles just in the crime fiction genre. I’m a big fan of Dennis Lehane, Michael Koryta, Greg Rucka, Megan Abbott, Sara Gran, Richard Price, James Ellroy, Henning Mankell, Duane Swierczynski, Charlie Huston, Tom Piccirilli, Laura Lippman, Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly and tons more.

I don’t want to say too much about SILENT CITY itself just because a lot isn’t really nailed down. Y’know, little things like a publisher, etc. It’s the story of Pete Fernandez, a Cuban-American journalist who’s returned to Miami after his dad’s sudden death. He’s drinking himself to death slowly and in a job he hates. When a coworker he barely talks to asks him to find his daughter, he foolishly sees the opportunity to bring some excitement to his life. Bad idea. When that turns out to be much more than he bargained for, things get interesting. It’s a story of fathers and sons, relationships, battling your inner demons and growing up – with guns, violence and a Miami backdrop.

SILENT CITY was very much a learning process, and continues to be one. After a fitful start, I finished a third draft around July of last year and then took some time to network a bit. I went to BoucherCon in San Francisco and met a lot of people in various stages of the writing process and the industry (thanks to the wonderful Jon and Ruth Jordan for making that possible!), which was a huge help and very informative.

DOWN THE DARKEST STREET is still a ways away from being done. I’m finishing up the third act of the first draft now. It’s a much darker novel than SILENT CITY and that’s been tricky – as a writer I’m learning how tough it is to literally torture your characters. And while first drafts are universally terrible, I’m hoping that by the third or fourth pass on this one, it’ll be in decent shape.

As for publication and those kind of details, nothing’s really final yet. But once I have anything to announce, you’ll know.

DC Halloween Special

O’Shea: Right before leaving DC, you had one of your stories run in a DC Halloween Special. Are you hoping to write more comics in the near to long term?

Segura: We just announced that I’ll be writing ARCHIE AND FRIENDS #156, with Bill Galvan on art. Basically, Archie and the gang get to attend the first-ever Riverdale Comic Con. I’d written some comic stuff before, most notably the Flash/Frankenstein story in last year’s DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL – hat tip to the incomparable Mike Marts, Janelle Siegel, Harvey Richards, Dan DiDio, Ian Sattler, David Hyde and Austin Trunick for helping that come to life. But this was my first full-length comic. It was a lot of fun to write and our president, Mike Pellerito, was really helpful and patient with me. Most of my personal writing deals with guns, murder and the like, so shifting gears and trying to be funny and all ages was a challenge. But one I’m hoping I can keep trying! I got a real kick out of it and had a few “pinch me” moments – like writing dialogue for Jughead or sneaking in a few exciting cameos. The issue hits in June. I’m excited to start seeing some of the art, doubly excited to start on the next one.

I’d love to do more Archie work as time permits. As you know, Archie has a fairly impressive stable of talent already, so it’s not just about wanting to do it – it’s about doing it well. Hard to compete with guys like Dan Parent, Alex Simmons, Tom DeFalco and Fernando Ruiz. In my head, I think I can probably do a script a month. Famous last words, eh? But seriously, yes. I’d love to keep the comic book writing as a regular part of my time here. So long, social life!

O’Shea: In terms of all your prose novel pursuits, what’s the biggest challenge in garnering focus to write after a long day in the office?

Segura: Making time is the hard part. My writing took a bit of a hit when I switched jobs just because with any new job there’s a transition period where you get acclimated to your workflow, commute, etc. But things seem to be settled now so I’m cranking on DOWN THE DARKEST STREET again. I find I do my best writing in the mornings on weekends, or on weeknights when I manage to get home at a decent hour. The key is to get in front of the computer and avoid distractions. Stuff like Twitter, Facebook, email, Tumblr, your telephone – even if it takes you away from the writing for a moment – can be dangerous. And it’s tough – because I enjoy social media as much as the next guy. But your time writing has to be very solitary, otherwise you’re just writing a few paragraphs in bursts and not getting much of a flow.

O’Shea: As if your writing did not demand enough of your free time, you also sing and play guitar in the band, The Faulkner Detectives, along with Elizabeth Keenan: bass; Meg Wilhoite: vocals/keys; and Vanessa Lopez: drums/vocals. Any intention to go into the studio eventually–or do you prefer the adrenaline rush of playing at venues, more than recording?

Segura: I think our big goal is to learn the 10 songs we do have so we can play live. I’ve only played two shows with my last band, so I definitely want to make playing live around the city a regular thing if we can swing it. Considering we’ve only been together as a four-piece for a few months, I’m really pleased about our progress. We don’t really sound like anyone else, which is a good sign. We all get along really well and are like-minded about what we want to do with the band, so I think we’re in good shape.

O’Shea: When do you sleep?

Segura: Believe it or not, I’m usually in bed by 11. Thrilling, right?

O’Shea: Any parting thoughts to share with your Robot 6 Archie Comics fans?

Segura: I’d just like to let fans know that we have a lot of exciting stuff in store – Kevin Keller’s own mini-series, Mega Man in April, Sonic Genesis and a few things that’ll be announced in the coming months. It’s a very cool time to be an Archie Comics fan, so they’re in for a treat.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | The New York Times reports the producers of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark are considering delaying the $65 million musical for a sixth time, until as late as June, a move that would make the show ineligible for this year’s Tony Awards. Speculation about another possible postponement follows a wave of scathing reviews, reports that comics writer and playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had been approached to rewrite the book, and the hiring of veteran conductor and musical supervisor Paul Bogaev to help improve the production. A spokesman for the show would only say that, “Opening night remains scheduled for March 15.” [ArtsBeat]

Comic-Con | Hotel reservations for Comic-Con International will open at 9 a.m. PT on March 9. A preliminary list of hotels included in the Comic-Con block is available on the convention website. [Comic-Con International]

Passings | Robert Samsel, a comics retailer and an early writer and editor at Wizard magazine, died unexpectedly on Feb. 18 at MidState Medical Center in Meridan, Connecticut. He was 46. Mark Seifert has a remembrance. [The Record-Journal]

The Beano

Publishing | Alan Digby, editor-in-chief of The Beano and BeanoMax, is retiring from DC Thomson after 40 years. He’ll be replaced by Michael Stirling, the publisher’s deputy head of children’s entertainment. Digby was only the fourth editor of The Beano since its debut in 1938, stepping into the role in 2006. [The Drum]

Organizations | Calvin Reid briefly spotlights the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. [Publishers Weekly]

Creators | Patti Martinson interviews brothers Ethan and Malachai Nicolle, creators of Axe Cop. [Sequential Tart]

Creators | Crime novelist Ian Rankin, who previously wrote the graphic novel Dark Entries for Vertigo, confirms he’ll pen a comic strip for Mark Millar’s CLiNT magazine. [The Guardian]

Creators | Entertainment Weekly‘s Jeff Jensen sings the praises of a Marcos Martin-drawn page from The Amazing Spider-Man #655. [Shelf Life]

Wizard

When the news broke that Wizard was killing both the print edition of its long-running comics magazine and its sister publication ToyFare, the company also announced a new online publication called Wizard World that’s due to launch this month.

In an interview with iFanboy’s Ron Richards, Wizard founder Gareb Shamus announces that the new, free publication is due Feb. 23 and will be distributed in several different ways.

“It’s going to be free, and it’s going to be weekly, and it’s going to be available everywhere,” Shamus told Richards. “So however people are going to want to read it, whether it’s through their iPad, they’re going to be able to read it online, they’re going to be able to read it through a bunch of different mobile devices.”

Shamus mentions digital comics providers comiXology and Graphic.ly as distributors, noting, “Our intent is to work with everybody to get it everywhere. Because for us, we want the product to continue to be ubiquitous the way the products I’ve created in the past have been.”

Richards also asked a lot of good questions about GeekChicDaily, the Wizard conventions, the new public company and his thoughts on websites, which Shamus says are “pretty worthless in their ability to have an impact on an audience.” About the only ground Richards didn’t — and probably should have — cover were the layoffs and how people were treated. Otherwise what he did ask were some good, solid business questions. It’s too bad the answers themselves come across as (as was pointed out in the comments field) very rehearsed, politician-like and kinda vague.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Broadway | Michael Coehl, lead producer of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, has responded to the thrashing the $65-million production received this week from some of the country’s top theater critics. The Julie Taymor-directed show, which finally opens on March 15,  was labeled by The New York Times and The Washington post as one of the worst musicals in Broadway history. “Any of the people who review the show and say it has no redeeming value are just not legitimate reviewers, period,” Coehl told Entertainment Weekly. [PopWatch]

Publishing | Wizard World CEO Gareb Shamus gives another interview about the abrupt closing of Wizard and ToyFare magazines, his expanding stable of regional conventions, plans for a weekly online magazine, and the state of the industry: “The market’s changed. When I started 20 years ago, I was pioneering in the publishing world in terms of creating a product that got people excited about being involved in the comic book and toy and other markets, and we could do a lot of really cool and innovative things. Unfortunately right now being involved in the print world is very stifling, in terms of being able to leverage your content and your media and your access to the world out there.” Meanwhile, Tom Spurgeon and Martin Wisse comment on Shamus’ previous interview, which is pretty much the same as the new one. [ICv2.com]

Archie Comics

Publishing | Archie Comics Co-CEO Jon Goldwater discusses his company’s digital strategy, which includes a move to same-day digital release in April: “In the music business, we were always falling behind, and when I came in here to Archie Comics, I was determined that Archie would be the leader in new technology, that we would never make that mistake again, and that the company would blaze new trails and see how vibrant new technology is–and, frankly, that it can be monetized. The ability to make serious money by embracing digital is a reality. It’s not just a pipe dream.” [TFAW.com]

Digital piracy | Japanese publisher Shueisha reportedly has asked Apple to stop selling an app for a puzzle video game that illegally uses art from Eiichiro Oda’s bestselling pirate manga One Piece. [Weird Asia News]

Awards | The inaugural jury has been announced for the Stumptown Comic Arts Awards: Michael Allred, Brandon Graham, Laura Hudson, Michael Ring and Jason Leivian. The Stumptown Comics Fest will be held April 16-17 in Portland, Oregon. [press release]

Joe Hill

Creators | Author Joe Hill talks about his acclaimed IDW Publishing series Locke & Key, and the Fox television adaptation, which begins production this week: “All the elements are there. You don’t know what’s going to happen. You can get a whole bunch of talented people together and fail to score and you can have a huge success with Wipeout, a show about fat people flailing  in the mud. You hope all the elements are there and we’ll catch a little luck, that people will get excited and it will take off.” [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Creators | Gail Simone discusses the four-part “Death of Oracle” story arc in DC’s Birds of Prey. [Comic Vine]

Creators | I don’t know whether it’s the title’s hook, savvy PR work or both, but the creators of the IDW miniseries Kill Shakespeare receive a steady stream of mainstream press coverage. Here’s the latest, an interview with collaborators Anthony Del Col, Conor McCreery and Andy Belanger ahead of a weekend appearance in London, Ontario. [London Free Press]

Most of their posts focus in large part, or even in full, in praising the work and character of their co-workers. (There are exceptions, of course: Writing for Bleeding Cool, recently laid-off freelance price guide writer Mark Allen Haverty mostly praises the work and character of…Mark Allen Haverty.) And no one — not even writer Chris Ward, whose comments about the Shamus Brothers are among the most scathing you’re likely to see — has come forth with the full-on “here’s where all the bodies are buried” piece some folks are no doubt waiting for. Nevertheless, the picture that emerges when the remembrances of the Wizard diaspora are pieced together is a clear one: Wizard and its related publications employed a staff talented enough to land on their feet in positions across the length and breadth of the comics industry and pop culture at large; a staff whose bonds of mutual admiration and respect last to this day; a staff that has high hopes for the employees who were let go in this most recent spate of cutbacks (laid-off Research Editor Dan Reilly, an 18-year veteran of the company, and still-standing ToyFare editor Justin Aclin are repeatedly singled out for high marks); a staff that includes many who feel their potential and that of the publications for which they worked were consistently squandered by what they deem the erratic and unscrupulous management of the company. In a way, they indicate that while the death of Wizard is unfortunate, the death of the alternate-universe Wizard that might have emerged from a better marshaling of their talents may be the bigger loss.

Below you’ll find links to a comprehensive list of posts by former Wizard, ToyFare, Anime Insider, and WizardUniverse.com editors, writers, and contributors. It will be updated as more become available.

Alejandro Arbona (former Associate Editor, Wizard; Associate Editor, Marvel): “I’ll be 100% blunt in my opinion: Gareb & Stephen Shamus are dishonest, disreputable, ethically rudderless businessmen playing a shell game.” [Alejandro Arbona's Twitter]

Scott Beatty (former Editor, ToyFare; writer, Batgirl: Year One, Buck Rogers, DC’s Ultimate Guides, etc.): “Any mention of ToyFare should include Editor-in-Chief Pat McCallum, who was the comedic heart and guiding influence of the magazine.” [Points of Articulation]

Rob Bricken (former Editor, Anime Insider; Editor, Topless Robot): “For all the shit Wizard got, I don’t think my writing has been influenced by anything more — that nerdy subjects could be worth of news coverage, critical thought, and a shit-ton of humor. That you could take things like comics more seriously than regular people, but less seriously than insane fanboys. There was a time when Wizard did that before and better than anybody, and I hope people remember that. At least today.” [Topless Robot]

Rob Bricken, part two: “…I would like to call out the gutless shitweasels in charge of the company who had the unmitigated hubris and bastardry to issue a press release today, heralding both the announcement of “Wizard World” and that Wizard is now being publicly traded without ever mentioning the cancellation of either magazine, or the god-knows-how-many people they laid off. Not only it is callous and classless, telling people they should invest money in their company ON THE SAME DAY THEY CANCELED THEIR TWO MOST VISIBLE PRODUCTS… well, that sums up Wizard Entertainment more than anything.” [Topless Robot]

Mel Caylo (former Editorial Director, Wizard Entertainment; Marketing Manager, Archaia): “It really irks me that some people are celebrating the 
demise of Wizard, but that’s the Internet for you. It won’t take away 
all the good times I had and the good people I met at the company.” [Newsarama]

Mel Caylo, part two: “There definitely were a lot of disagreements between editorial and the managerial side of things.” [Meltdown Comics' Meltcast]

Sean T. Collins (former Managing Editor, Wizard; writer, Robot 6, Maxim, Destructor, etc.): “I met, oh, between a dozen and two dozen of the best people I’ve ever known, people with whom I’m close friends to this day. You’d recognize their names as they’re in positions of prominence across the industry and the popcultjourno biz at large; I don’t care about any of that so much as i care about the fact that they’re kind, generous, talented people I’m privileged to know and be associated with. And there’s nothing I can say about Wizard and its management more damning than telling you how poorly so many of those people were treated there, up through and including today.” [Attentiondeficitdisorderly]

TJ Dietsch (former Associate Editor, ToyFare/freelance writer, Wizard and ToyFare; freelance writer, Marvel.com, Maxim.com, etc.): “…I got the news and was floored. I had actually just started writing for Wizard again, though I don’t know whether the piece I finished will ever run or what the deal is. It was fun to write about comics again.” [United Monkee]

Eric Drumm (former freelance writer, ToyFare; freelance copywriter, DC): “ToyFare and the people i met there opened every door that has ever been opened to me.” [Eric Drumm's Twitter]

Ryan Dunlavey (former freelance illustrator and cartoonist, Wizard and ToyFare; artist, Action Philosophers and Comic Book Comics): “WIZARD: It was fun working there, the people were awesome and they all deserved better than what the owners gave them. THE END.” [Ryan Dunlavey's Twitter]

Poe Ghostal (former freelance writer, ToyFare; Editor, Points of Articulation): “The heyday of the action figure industry was around 1999-2004, so in some ways it’s impressive that ToyFare lasted as long as it did, and remained fairly successful for most of that time (as far as I know, anyway). But I also know that all those toy news websites, and even sites like PGPoA, were hammering in ToyFare‘s coffin nails. It’s not at all clear to me how Wizard’s new online venture will fare, and what role ToyFare, or toys in general, will have in it. Here’s hoping the best parts of ToyFare survive, not only in whatever the new website brings, but in the continued success of its many contributors.” [Points of Articulation]

Jim Gibbons (former Associate Editor, Wizard; Publicity Coordinator, Dark Horse): “Between the dire atmosphere Wizard had towards the end of my tenure and the unceremonious and impersonal way I was let go, there was a fair share of anger and bitterness at a company I was once proud to work for. Time heals all wounds and all that jazz—a rad new job certainly doesn’t hurt, either—but I kind of felt I was past really caring about Wizard. I’d had good times there as well as bad and the place and publication seemed firmly set in my past, only occasionally entering my present when my job in comics PR required. It’s for that reason I found the disparate emotions that washed over me this week regarding the news about Wizard to be so unexpected. ” [Enemy of Peanuts]

Doug Goldstein (former VP, Wizard Special Projects; co-Head Writer, Robot Chicken): “From what I’ve read online so far, there’s too much celebration of the downfall of the “upstairs” management, and not enough loving eulogies recalling the good times we had “downstairs” in editorial. It IS understandable though. As Wizard got really big and successful, people “upstairs” thought everyone should suck their assholes because their dicks were too good for ‘em. Maybe that plan works at Halliburton, but the world of comics is a small place where everyone knows each other, loves what they’re working on, and likes to keep it loose. So you can imagine management’s annoyance that their bungholes remained unsucked. Wizard began as a silly fun-time friend and ended as an adversarial bully.” [Doug Is Typing]

Mark Allen Haverty (former freelance Price Guide writer, Wizard; editor, CrucialTaunt.com): “What I find so amusing about the posts here and on other sites is that the same people that ridiculed Alan Moore for his absurd criticisms of comics today, only to admit that he does not read any, is that those criticizing also proudly proclaim that they stopped reading ages ago. If they actually had read, they would know how absurd so many of their criticisms were. There is of course the knocks about Wizard being filled with boob jokes and homophobic cracks, which I rarely if ever saw in my two years in the magazine, and certainly not from me – after all, I did say [I have a] ‘partner’ above, for those of you playing along at home.” [Bleeding Cool]

Rick Marshall (former Editor, WizardUniverse.com; Editor, MTV Splash Page): “Sadly, I remember a time when Wizard could’ve turned the corner & ensured their future, but chose to keep walking toward a cliff instead. My sympathies go out to the Wizard staffers I’m still friendly with. Some of them really are the best in the biz.” [Mind Pollution]

Jim McLauchlin (former Consulting Editor for Wizard; co-founder and member of the Board of Directors, Hero Initiative): “I just had lunch with Mark Waid a couple weeks ago, and I mentioned to him that as much as people like to sharpen sticks and point them at Wizard, they were the only organization left that was willing to fund things such as the Wally Wood feature I wrote a few months ago, which I thought was a very good and very vital piece. I don’t know that there’s anywhere left in comics media that’s actually willing to pay for stuff like that anymore.” [Newsarama]

Ben Morse (former Staff Writer, Wizard; Associate Editor, Marvel.com): “I had a lot of fun during my three years at Wizard and I daresay on our good days we put out some fine content. In that sense, I’m sad to see the magazine go. I certainly know plenty of people have axes to grind with Wizard as an entity and organization and most of them have pretty legitimate grievances. For me, though, my time there was positive and so are my memories.” [Newsarama]

Zach Oat (former Editor, ToyFare; Editor, Television Without Pity and Movies Without Pity): “The company regularly swelled to seating capacity in times of growth only to contract to its previous size after a year or two. I saw at least two or three purges in my time there, which meant a lot of my friends were let go, although many got out ahead of a purge — the purge of early 2008 was what prompted me to leave, since a lot of my best friends at the company were gone by that point.” [Buster of Chops]

Ryan Penagos (former Price Guide Editor, Wizard; Editor, Marvel.com/Twitter superstar Agent M): “I’ve been thinking about all this today. And I’ve been thinking all my friends who were (or are) at Wizard. We, to a man, have all had different experiences. Some good, some bad, some terrible. But I have this great band of brothers (hurr durr) who I shared this time with and will be friends with for life. I’ve been thinking about guys like Andy Serwin and Dan Reilly (two names who, I assure you, you’ll hear great things about from most of us sane post-Wizard folks) who deserve better from the way this shook out. I’ve been thinking about shitty management and bad decisions and missed opportunities and hope for a successful future because there are people who still depend on the Wiz.” [Agent M Loves Tacos]

Kiel Phegley (former Staff Writer, Wizard; News Editor, Comic Book Resources): “I’m having a much harder time getting worked up over this than some of my bros, but then again, I expected the magazine to get killed about a year and a half ago.” [The Cool Kids Table]

Alex Segura (former Associate Editor, Wizard; Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing, Archie): “If you’d told me while at Wizard that I was working with future Marvel, DC, Archie, Archaia, Maxim, Robot 6, WB, Mashable, CBR, Television Without Pity, Bluewater, Topless Robot, Robot Chicken, Cracked and Bleacher Report employees or contributors, I probably would have scoffed. So, while the print magazine may be gone, the spirit of Wizard at its best certainly continues.” [Newsarama]

Alex Segura, part two: “And yeah, I did a lot of cool stuff while at Wizard – got to interview Sarah Michelle Gellar, met a ton of awesome creators and celebs, traveled around the country and networked like crazy. But the moments I miss – the ones that still get me choked up in a happy, ‘Damn, those were good times’ way – are the little ones. Laughing over our lunch break. Hanging out after a long week. Those quiet seconds between conversations when you’re just sitting around and basking in the fact that you’re surrounded by people you care about. That’s what I’ll remember most, and I’m thankful for that.” [Alex Segura's Tumblr]

Steve Sunu (former Staff Writer, Wizard; freelance writer, Comic Book Resources): “Wizard helped me get to where I am today. Some of the most awesome people I’ve ever met came through Wizard. It’s sad to see the magazine go.” [Steve Sunu's Twitter]

Chris Ward (former Staff Writer, Wizard; writer, Political Power: Barack Obama): “…while it’s easy to go with the old ‘Wizard can’t copy edit’ jokes or ‘Wizard has just been shitty boob graphics’ jokes during this time, just remember to direct your ire straight to the top, instead of where good people are not being paid enough to copy edit AND come up with something other than boob jokes AND write Gareb’s masthead letter (he never wrote his own masthead. In other breaking news, Burt Reynolds wears a toupee). And, even then, you almost can’t get mad at the people straight at the top. Because it falls on deaf ears. Because it’s aiming for the slow kid in a dodge ball game. Because it’s like getting mad at yourself for touching the stove every time and finding out, ‘Shit! That’s HOT!’” [World of WardCrap]

Brian Warmoth (former Staff Writer, WizardUniverse.com; freelance writer, Comic Book Resources, MTV Splash Page, etc.): “Used to work right next to the InQuest guys. The debates that went on in there made me look forward to work every day.” [Brian Warmoth's Twitter]

Brett White (former News Editor, WizardUniverse.com; writer, Tales to Diminish): “Wizard’s continued refusal to change with the times has now completely bitten them in their foot which was just shot by the gun their ass was holding. As a former employee who ran one of their websites (Wizard World) I know they are still using a late ’90s Yahoo Business model site. I know they cannot update their site more than 3 times a day. I know that the updating process takes about an hour. I know that Wizard Magazine was irrelevant because every other internet news site was beating us at our own game. But was any money ever pushed towards an up to date website? No.” [Digsy Finally Has a Tumblr]

Brett White, part two: “What hurts the most about all of this, ALL of this, is that it didn’t have to happen. Wizard as a name, as a thing, it’s something that has always existed to me. I started collecting hardcore in 1993 and Wizard was there for it. And when you look at all the great people that have worked there, it really should have always been at the absolute top of its game. Wizard in 2011 should be as popular as Wired in print and CBR/Newsarama/Etc online.” [Digsy Finally Has a Tumblr]

Josh Wigler (former Assistant Editor, Wizard; Editor, MTV Movies Blog): “OK, comment: met some of the best people I know through Wizard. Wouldn’t be where I am today without it. I’m very grateful for those things.” [Josh Wigler's Twitter]

Anonymous (former Wizard employee, let go as part of the cancellation of the magazines): “Honestly, I know [Wizard's new plan] will fail. First off, there is no leadership. The people that are still on staff have no digital publishing experience or seem to want to be there. As more money goes into the conventions, the less the owners care about the magazine side. They plan on publicly trading and launching this app for free with no real advertising. I think anyone who does a little research before purchasing stock will find just how screwed that place is.” [iFanboy]

Collins, Marshall, Oat, and Ward on Wizard’s female staffers

Wizard

Publishing | More details have begun to emerge about the abrupt closings of Wizard and ToyFare magazines, and the announcement of a new public company headed by Gareb Shamus. ICv2.com reports that Wizard World Inc. was taken public through a reverse merger with a shell company, a failed oil and gas venture known as GoEnergy Inc., which acquired the assets of Kick the Can, a corporate repository for the assets of Shamus’  Wizard World Comic Con Tour. Following the acquisition, GoEnergy’s chairman and chief financial officer resigned and was replaced by Shamus. In the process, the new company raised capital through the issuance of $1.5 million in preferred stock. Meanwhile, an anonymous Wizard staff member reveals to iFanboy he was informed that the magazine had folded during a phone call Sunday evening, and was not permitted to collect personal belongings. A freelance contributors writes at Bleeding Cool that he learned about the closing through a Facebook message on Monday morning.

The comics Internet is swarming with reaction pieces: Andy Khouri points out the huge number of comics editors, bloggers and journalists who got their starts at Wizard; Heidi MacDonald does the same, noting that it was “a total boys club”; Albert Ching surveys numerous creators and editors; and Robot 6 contributor, and former Wizard staffer, Sean T. Collins comments on the magazine’s demise and rounds up links.

In related news, GeekChicDaily, the email newsletter and website co-founded by Shamus in 2009, has secured new Hollywood investors. [Wizard World]

Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval

Publishing | Through some solid digging, Vaneta Rogers discovers that the Comics Code Authority and the the Comics Magazine Association of America, which oversaw it, appear to have stopped functioning in 2009, well before DC Comics and Archie announced they were abandoning the 56-year-old Seal of Approval. [Newsarama]

Digital comics | Digital-comics distributor Graphic.ly announced it has raised $3 million in its first round of institutional funding. [Tech Crunch, press release]

Business | Disney Interactive Studios, the video-game division of The Walt Disney Co., reportedly laid off nearly half of its 700 employees on Monday. That follows the closing earlier this month of Disney’s Propaganda Games unit, leading to the loss of 70 jobs. [CNBC.com]

Digital comics | Todd Allen crunches some numbers to come up with a rough idea of how much publishers make for each digital download, and how that compares to print. [Publishers Weekly]

Superman

Legal | The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property has ruled against DC Comics, which had objected to a Swiss company’s trademark for a logo that resembles Superman’s familiar “S” shield. Although DC had never filed a trademark for the Superman logo in Switzerland, it cited the Paris Convention for the Protection of International Property. However, Swiss authorities held that the Superman logo isn’t sufficiently known in Switzerland. [Marques]

Organizations | Executive Director Charles Brownstein provides an overview of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. [io9.com]

Creators | James Kochalka will be appointed as Vermont’s first cartoonist laureate on March 10, an occasion marked by events across the state. Vermont is the first state to bestow the honor. “A cartoonist laureate is the kind of thinking outside-the-box that Vermont supports,” says Gov. Peter Shumlin. “Cartooning promotes literacy and literature, two things we can’t have enough of.” [The Beat, The Center for Cartoon Studies]

Creators | Johanna Draper Carlson talks with Sinfest creator Tatsuya Ishida about the Dark Horse collected edition Viva la Resistance. [Publishers Weekly]

Comics | Three comics recommendations for Valentine’s Day reading. [Technician]

Gareb Shamus

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release relating to Wizard World’s future plans, expectations, beliefs, intentions and prospects are “forward-looking statements” and are subject to material risks and uncertainties. When used in this press release, the words “will”, “future”, “expect”, “look forward to”, similar expressions and any other statements that are not historical facts are intended to identify those assertions as forward-looking statements. Any such statement may be influenced by a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of Wizard World that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected, described, expressed or implied in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur. A detailed discussion of these factors and other risks that affect our business is contained in our SEC filings, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, particularly under the heading “Risk Factors.” Copies of these filings are available online from the SEC or by contacting [contact info redacted]. All information set forth in this press release is current as of January 24, 2011. Wizard World undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events.

–The legal boilerplate disclaimer that accompanied today’s Wizard press release in which Gareb Shamus announced the beleaguered company would be going public, launching an all-digital Wizard World magazine, and soldiering on with its convention circuit — without mentioning the shutdown of Wizard magazine and its accompanying layoffs. The line for investors forms to the left, folks.

Wizard #234

Wizard magazine has ceased publication after nearly 20 years, laying off its remaining staff and canceling freelance assignments. Its sibling publication ToyFare also has closed.

CEO Gareb Shamus followed a morning filled with reports of the magazines’ demise with a press release announcing the February launch of “an all-new digital magazine called Wizard World” that will target the same audience. Curiously the release, which you can read below, doesn’t mention Wizard magazine. Instead its focus is on the news that Wizard World Inc. is now a public company with Shamus as its president and CEO.

Wizard World has since confirmed the closings of Wizard and ToyFare: “Wizard Entertainment is ceasing publication of the print magazines Wizard and ToyFare. Wizard World, Inc. will begin production of the online publication ‘Wizard World’ beginning in February. We feel this will allow us to reach an even wider audience in a format that is increasingly popular and more readily accessible.”

Calls to the Wizard offices this morning office went unanswered. The Wizard bullpen blog Pie Monkey has been taken offline, with assurances from its Twitter feed to “Please stay tuned — there’s a good chance we’ll be up and operational in the next 24-48 hours.” The link to magazine subscriptions on the Wizard website is also dead.

Launched in 1991, Wizard was once a dominant, if controversial, force in the comics industry, with its price guides, Top 10 Writers and Artists lists and annual Wizard Fan Awards carrying significant weight. But in recent years the magazine’s star faded even as its scope expanded — it rebranded itself as “The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture” — becoming known more for its staff firings than for its exclusive coverage. ToyFare debuted in 1997 as a companion publication devoted to toys and collectibles.

Related: Charts watcher John Jackson Miller chronicles the circulation decline of Wizard, from an estimated 100,000 copies in October 1998 — not the height of its popularity, but the last month it broke the 100,000-copy mark — to just about 17,000 copies in December 2010.

Developing …

GAREB SHAMUS UNDERTAKES PUBLIC COMPANY WIZARD WORLD, INC. AND LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE PUBLICATION ‘WIZARD WORLD’

New York, NY (January 24, 2011) – Gareb Shamus, recently appointed President and CEO of public company Wizard World, Inc. (“Wizard World”) (OTC: GOEE.PK), today announced that the Comic Con Tour, which consists of pop culture conference events that provide high visibility marketing opportunities to pop culture brands and companies in multiple venues throughout the year, is now being produced by public company Wizard World. The Wizard World Comic Con Tour intends to cover 12 cities in 2011, including major cities such as New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Austin and New Orleans. The Tour will include sponsors ranging from major movie studios and TV networks to gaming and toy companies to content publishers.

In addition, Wizard World plans to launch in February 2011 an all-new digital magazine called ‘Wizard World’ that will appeal to pop-culture fans, the same audience to which Mr. Shamus has catered to, for over 20 years. Wizard World digital magazine will provide coverage of the world of comic books, toys and superheroes, and the personalities behind them.

“This is a very exciting day for Wizard World and the industries it serves,” said Shamus. “Having the Tour produced by a public company provides additional opportunities to expand and grow the Tour. The new digital magazine Wizard World will give consumers the content they want in a magazine format with which they are familiar, but distributed in a form that is always available at any time on any device. It is a natural evolution for us in this market.”

Wizard World Comic Con will begin its North American tour at New Orleans Comic Con held from January 29 to 30, 2011. The full event schedule can be found at www.wizardworld.com.

Penagos, who many know by the moniker of “Agent M,” works as editor of Marvel’s website, coordinating its content and direction as well as monitoring the company’s reach through social networking. When he started, the site was merely a portal of press releases for the print books, but in the four years he’s been with the company it has expanded to be a hub of information for all things Marvel, with interviews, features, artwork, databases and — most importantly — comics. But this probably isn’t how you know him.

Penagos has developed quite a fanbase on Twitter as @Agent_M, accumulating 1.4 million followers — keep in mind that Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada has just 22,000 and writer Brian Michael Bendis has 28,000. He gets his thoughts out there with Twitter, his Marvel blog and an after-hours Tumblr blog.

Full disclosure: Penagos is one of my editors in the writing I do for Marvel.

Chris Arrant: You’ve long been part of the online world, going back to generating ideas for Wizard magazine’s website when you worked there from ’03 to ’06. Now as editor in charge of Marvel.com, you’re continuing that. What do you think are the big things you’ve learned about writing for the internet audience instead of the print audience?

Portrait by Dennis Calero

Ryan Penagos: They’re not very different, really. Readers want compelling content, humor, news, secrets, rumors — entertainment, however they can get it — regardless of the medium. And you’re competing against a crazy amount of diversions no matter where you’re publishing. We have a stack of magazines and comics at my house that grows and grows, and I’ll never get through it all. Likewise, I’ll never read everything my RSS reader catches. There’s just too much. It’s our job as content creators to give audiences great stuff to read and watch and play, along with a familiar voice and style, so they keep coming back. It seems that people look down at the Internet audience because Twitter and Facebook are so popular — that short messages, random thoughts and short attention spans rule the day. Sure, I get that delivering short-and-sweet content is great, but give me a really great long-form feature or interview and I’m all over that.

Arrant: Can you pinpoint for us what you feel are your big accomplishments since you signed on at Marvel.com in 2006?

Penagos: Hmmmm. The “toot-your-own-horn” questions make me feel like a jerk! I guess giving Marvel.com a proper editorial presence with fresh, new content on a daily basis is the biggest thing. When I came on board, the Marvel digital team was pretty small and the only editorial content was from press releases. As our traffic has increased and our audience expanded, the Marvel digital group has grown. And that includes the editorial team, which is now as robust as an Avengers line-up. Everything springs out from there, ya know? Building our video content has been big and while that’s far from just on me, I’m glad to be a part of it. Also being on the forefront of the “social media” front has been an important point for me. Our Marvel Audience Network—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, fans.marvel.com, etc. — is just as important to me as getting news on the site. We live and die by the fans, and I like being able to communicate with them as closely as we do.

Penagos with rapper Sage Francis at Marvel HQ

Arrant: In many ways, you’ve become the de facto face of Marvel on social media under the guise of “Agent M,” outpacing pretty much everyone else in the industry. Is it work, or just an outgrowth of what you do in a normal day?

Penagos: Fancy that we went right into that question! It’s both work and a normal thing for me. I started tweeting in 2007 under my Agent M persona — a “spy in the House of Ideas” concept that Marvel Senior VP John Dokes and I settled on after he hired me in 2006. It began for me before San Diego Comic-Con that year as a way to keep Marvel fans updated on all things going on at the show. After that, it just became a thing I do as a mix of the job and my normal day-to-day activities. I love it. I’ve made many friends, a ton of connections and I’ve introduced new aspects of Marvel to so many people.

Arrant: How do you think your Twitter postings have affected what you do at Marvel?

Penagos: It’s been good. It’s helped prove how important the social outreach is to any detractors. And there are times when people ask me to tweet about things. I’m happy to do so, as long as it’s not straight shilling and it’s something I’d talk about normally.

Arrant: You’ve been doing exclusive comics over on Marvel.com for over a year now. How’s that been? Any things you learned by doing them for awhile now?

Penagos: It’s been great. Recently we’ve been using some new talent that C.B. Cebulski and the talent management crew have found. It’s a great place to experiment and get new stories, new talent, new ideas out there. And the subscribers love it. As far as what we’ve learned? People like that Wolverine guy.

Penagos at Twitter offices

Arrant: Are you still tinkering with the planning side of what kind of comics go up first on Marvel.com, or is it pretty standardized now?

Penagos: I’m personally not part of that process, but the folks behind it have the exclusives scheduled months in advance. It’s like a science. Digital science!

Arrant: Circling back ’round to where we began, and you began: . There are a lot of ex-Wizard employees who’ve ended up in some key positions in the comic industry, primarily on the promotional and editorial side of things. To what would you attribute that to, and is there any sort of camaraderie over the shared experiences?

Penagos: There’s definitely a brotherhood (it was a very dude-heavy company when I was there). I talk to a good dozen or so of former Wizard guys every day, whether it’s over email or AIM or Twitter. I had two former Wizard guys — DC’s Rickey Purdin and Maxim.com editor Jesse Thompson — as groomsmen in my wedding. My wife and I share a house with former Wizard guy and current DC PR Manager Alex Segura. Everyone I know has had a different experience coming out of Wizard. I’m incredibly thankful for it. I learned so much — particularly from Andy Serwin and Joe Yanarella — and left on my own terms. Others … not so much. Either way, we all made great connections, honed our skills and — I think  —came out stronger and better thanks to what we learned and did at Wizard.

Arrant: Where do you want to be, career-wise, five years from now?

Penagos: Probably in less of a day-to-day content position. More of an overseer. In more of the classic Professor X role, as opposed to the Cyclops role. Also, I’d like to have to have a pet in the office. A Marvel cat, maybe.

Daredevil #7

If news about Superior isn’t enough to pique your curiosity about this week’s issue of Wizard, then maybe this will — the magazine, guest-edited by Mark Millar, includes an article by the Hero Initiative’s Jim McLauchlin on the late, great Wally Wood.

“I found the piece very difficult to write,” McLauchlin says. “The subject matter is not always very pleasant. But I hope that in the end, you as a reader will get a circumspect view of Wood, and see the amazing warmth and his genius that accompanied his tragic, but very human, flaws.”

Wizard gave him permission to post the article on the Hero Initiative website; you can find it here.