Comings & Goings old

James Kuhoric has joined Avatar as Vice President of Publishing and Managing Editor. Kuhoric was formerly Director of Purchasing for Diamond and author of several comics including ARMY OF DARKNESS and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. Avatar has traditionally run a very tight ship so hiring Kuhoric and another recent recruit, sales director Keith Davidsen, shows they are maybe ready to make a run for that contested #5 publisher spot?

CBR is reporting a round of layoffs at Dark Horse including editors Shawna Gore and Dave Land and sales assistant Max Sato. The Beat has learned that Tim Ervin, Gore's ex-husband, and another editor at Dark Horse, were also let go.

Industry veteran Robert V. Conte has long been a behind-the-scenes comics player as owner of Chikara Entertainment, a print broker and book packager who helped with the shift to cheaper Chinese printing, which has allowed many of the lavish but affordable comics reprint series currently available. Conte has announced he's shutting down his business to spend more time with his family. However, he'll stay in the comics world as part owner (with Gary Esposito) of several retail concerns, Brooklyn Comics & More and Manhattan Comics & More, Inc. The latter took over the Cosmic Comics spot on 23rd St.

Archaia is having a busy WonderCon, with a bunch of announcements. Yesterday's big story was a GN based on IMMORTALS, an upcoming mythology inspired movie, and today's is an anthology based on The Storyteller, another Jim Henson project from the past -- this one is a little obscure but fondly remembered by many -- basically an old dude would sit there with a dog and tell...stories. Seems ripe for an anthology.

With a bunch of editorial types going off to California to join Geoff Johns' secret avengers team, there have been a few openings in DC editorial of late, and at least two have been filled.

In a world of empty PR speak the follow pr from Wizard about a new Chairman of the Board reads like it chugged a couple of Rockstars then doused itself with FourLoko before shooting up some crank. Look at these action verbs: excited, accelerate, momentum, increase, velocity -- just in ONE SENTENCE. That is really impressive. Whatever it is that Michael Mathews is going to do it is going to be WILD. And DIGITAL.

Two new positions, one a new face, one a familiar one.

Oni has just announced the promotion of Jill Beaton and Charlie Chu to full editors. “For the last year both Jill and Charlie have given their all to Oni Press as associate editors and integral parts of our editorial team,” editor in chief James Lucas Jones said in a statement. “They each have taken on added responsibility, working with established Oni creators on stellar books and reaching out to bring new creators into the Oni fold.”

Following up on yesterday's new about Tokyopop laying off at least three editors, the scuttlebutt has continued to flow. Some sources are telling us that there are only 7 people left on staff, including founder Stuart Levy and president Mike Kiley -- the rest of the duties of getting out a line of manga being assigned to freelancers. Brigid Alverson is about as calm and rational a person as we have ever met, so tosee her unload as she does in this post about Tpop's history is a fearsome thing. The layoffs, the OEL rights disasters, the silly detours into movies and Web-TV, and over it all the seeming cluelessness of Levy -- Brigid nails it all:

Word is going around that LA manga publisherToykopop has laid off several more people -- including editors Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Troy Lewter. The staff is now reduced to a mere handful of people -- including owner Stu Levy and publisher Mike Kiley. EDIT: Editor Asako Suzuki has also been laid off.

The new DC Entertainment has added another high-powered ex-Disney West Coaster to its roster as Courtney Simmons has filled the position of SVP of Publicity. The current New York-based publicity team of David Hyde, Pamela Mullins, and Austin Trunick will report to Simmons, who has worked for Disney, Sony and Lego -- we'd say that covers it all.

John Shableski, sales manager at Diamond Book Distributors, is leaving the company to start a new line of GNS for JeffCorwinConnect, PW reports. In his three years at Diamond, Shableski had worked closely with book fairs, libraries, and indie booksellers to get more graphic novels on their radar. In his new position, he'll join Animal Planet personality Corwin in starting a line of YA GNs for the trade and educational markets: