Comings & Goings old

As of last Thursday, Gareb Shamus is no longer president/CEO of Wizard World, Inc. Being publicly traded, notice of this change had to be filed with the SEC. This includes the company's report:

Via PR. Congrats to Alex! He gets to wear a shiny deputy badge now.

Bon Alimagno is leaving Marvel to take a job with software company The Apollo Group. At Marvel Alimagno worked closely with Senior Vice President, Business Affairs & Talent Management David Bogart on freelancer scheduling and handling. He was formerly the editor at Harris Comics, overseeing the adventures of Vampirella.

Janna Morishima, formerly of Scholastic and Diamond, has just joined Papercutz as Marketing Director. At Diamond Morishima helped spearhead the then-nascent market for kids graphic novels, so working with the Papercutz lineup of such things as The Smurfs and Lego is a natural move for her.

As the leaves turn and fall and the days get shorter, the world churns on, and our wonderful intern DaYoung Jung is moving on to a paid gig doing character designs and backgrounds for video games. Paying work drawing. Bah humbug. What is this world coming to?

Anyway we have another opening for an intern here. Our former interns have all gone on to fame and glory, so consider this the elite of internships.

There is no pay but you get LOTS of free comics and other perks. And if you write anything for the site, magazine or newsletter, you will be paid our regular rates.

Duties include mailing out review copies, coordinating digital review copies, updating spreadsheets, opening mail, and so on. Although we don't require writing ability, it is a bonus, and as mentioned, there are definitely spots for writing -- if you like to write about comics, that skill will be put to good use. Hours are flexible but approximately 10-12 a week.

Oni Press has sent out a call for interns. If you're one of the many comics-lover citizens of Portland, this could be a great opportunity. Info below:

Ruwan Jayatilleke has been promoted to SVP Associate Publisher at Marvel, where he previously held the title of SVP, development and planning. Jayatilleke started has new job yesterday, tweeting: Over the years, Jayatilleke has spearheaded a number of important initiatives at Marvel, including the Stephen King partnership, the Halo GN and tie-ins, and a number of digital and "motion comics" projects, including "N", the Stephen King-based digital comic.

More names of the layoffs at Marvel are drifting out, including Taylor Esposito and Damien Lucchese and Special Projects' Production Coordinator Jerry Kalinoski. A total of 12 people were let go from editorial and production. Also among those laid off: Scott "Pondscum" Elmer, also known as Scummy. Elmer had been with Marvel since the days of Romita's Raiders, a survivor of bankruptcies and Marvelcutions of the past and a figure of some legend to Marvelites past and present. He's shown above in a photo with fellow ex-Marvelites John Czop and Steve Bunche. Our very best to all those let go today.

Rumors of more layoffs at Marvel were the hot topic at NYCC and today, confirmation that editors Jody LeHeup and Alejandro Arbona have been laid off. CBR is reporting that as many as 15 people were let go today in a cost cutting measure.

Over the last few years, all the Wizard news stories have been about who's leaving, but here's a story about a new hire for a change. Kevin Kelly, formerly of G4, io9, Cinematical and so on, has joined as managing editor for web endeavors. WIzard is currently published as a computer- and tablet-friendly PDF about once a week.

Following his stint at BOOM! Studios, Chip Mosher has joined comiXology as VP of Marketing, PR and Business Development, where he'll run the digital distributor's West Coat office. Mosher was in on BOOM!'s early experiments in digital comics, so he'll doubtless bring much of that experience to comiXology, as well as his formidable talking abilities. It's a strong move for both parties. As if you hadn't figured out that digital comics are here to stay, they are now hiring real people for real jobs for, presumably, real salaries.

We're not savvy enough on the West Coast operations of Marvel to know what was behind this, but it's fairly safe to say that Disney cares much more about Marvel Studios than Marvel Comics. Implementation of the Disney-Marvel relationship has been an odd one -- on the one side, you have a corporate juggernaut who wants to reach the boy market for toys and toons. On the other, you have a company that is very much still led by chairman Ike Perlmutter, who, by some accounts, is Disney's second biggest shareholder after Steve Jobs. Marvel Studios is known for knowing the value of a penny -- something Disney also knows. But whereas Disney has controlling costs down to an art, Perlmutter has it down to a science. The relationship is still evolving.