On Wednesday morning, The New York Times revealed that Lion Forge Comics and Oni Press are planning to merge, which would lead to big changes for both publishers in the future. The company’s combined publishing efforts will reportedly be based out of Portland, Ore., and overseen by Oni’s publisher, James Lucas Jones, who will be president and publisher.
The article contained some hints that there would be staffing changes at both companies:

The merger will combine assets from both companies and require an examination of staff levels — just over 20 at Lion Forge and just under 20 at Oni. “We’re going to take a look at efficiencies and identify a number of areas of growth as well,” Mr. Steward [Lion Forge co-founder] said.

Now, further details confirming layoffs from both companies have emerged. Among those laid off is Andrea Colvin, Lion Forge’s editor in chief, as confirmed by Publisher’s Weekly. Associate editor Christina “Steenz” Stewart has also been laid off according to her tweets.


In addition, Desiree Wilson confirmed her layoff from Oni Press shortly after news of the merger broke.
https://twitter.com/swindlesoiree/status/1126165574470397953
Lion Forge editor Jasmine Amiri and senior editor Amanda Meadows tweeted more cryptic statuses.


Oni Press warehouse assistant Scott Sharkey also tweeted that he was laid off.


This tweet from Magdalene Visaggio also seemed to confirm that Melissa Meszaros, Oni’s director of publicity, was let go:


Meszaros’ Twitter account now lists Oni as a “past” job.
Meanwhile, several in the industry have expressed their thoughts on the merger, including Cheryl Lynn Eaton, whose thread has been widely shared. There was widespread dismay that so many editors who were women of color had been let go.


In a statement made to Publisher’s Weekly, Lion Forge publicist Jeremy Atkins confirmed there have been “staff reductions.”

Some Lion Forge staff, he said, were offered positions “within the Oni structure” in Portland and others were offered positions “within the Polarity umbrella,” which encompasses a number of companies. In addition, he said “some positions were eliminated outright or consolidated.”

Atkins also clarified what the merger will look like from the consumer’s perspective via Twitter.


Asked to comment on the downsizing, Oni/Lion Forge responded with this statement:

“While we do not comment on personnel matters, we do wish everyone who has worked within our organizations nothing but continued success in their careers.  It is worth noting that Lion Forge and Oni each bring impressive track records of championing under-represented creators and fans with inclusive, authentic content.  By combining our efforts, we get to do that powerful and important work at a whole new level, with a diverse and experienced management team, and with the leadership and ownership team that is a majority people of color. Stay tuned.”

On Thursday, Newsarama reported that Oni Press co-founder Joe Nozemack is stepping down as company president, with Jones taking over as publisher and president post-merger, as noted above.
“Oni Press was started with the mission to publish comics and graphic novels that would appeal to a diverse group of readers and broaden the audience for the medium. 20 years later, I couldn’t be prouder of the books we’ve published and the wide array of new readers and creators who have joined our community,” Nozemack said, via Newsarama. “It was obvious from our first meeting that the Polarity/Lion Forge team had these same passions and goals as the Oni Press team. And I have complete faith that the pairing of the two is going to continue that mission to make sure that there is an authentic and inspiring comic book for any and everyone who wants to join the comic-book faithful.”
The outlet further reports that Nozemack will move into an unspecified “board and advisory” role, per Polarity, Lion Forge’s parent company. Polarity also told Newsarama that Oni’s senior management team will lead the “creative and business operations” for the comics division of the newly-merged company. That team includes Sarah Gaydos as Editor in Chief, Charlie Chu as Executive VP of Creative and Business Development, and Margot Wood as Director of Sales.
Additionally, Newsarama reported on Friday that Kayra Tan, Lion Forge’s Production and Logistics Coordinator for the comics divison, was also laid off during the merger. Comics veterans Rich Johnson and Syndee Barwick reportedly left following the merger, also according to Newsarama. Both Johnson and Barwick began working with Lion Forge in 2016. Johnson, who previously founded Yen Press and worked as DC’s vice president of trade book sales for nine years and currently teaches graphic novels and publishing as an adjunct professor at two universities, was Lion Forge’s vice president of sales, marketing and business development. Barwick, who previously worked at DC for 18 years, started as Lion Forge’s director of marketing and product development before being promoted in 2018 to vice president of marketing, merchandising and product development.
Rumors of more editorial restructuring are widely circulating as the situation continues to unfold. The Beat will update this post with more details as they are received.
Lion Forge previously laid off 12 employees in November following a company-wide restructure.
According to reports, the goal of the Lion Forge and Oni Press merger is to create a more robust line of comics and graphic novels, as well as to help both companies leverage their characters to other media platforms, including animation and film. The news follows an earlier announcement that Polarity  plans to launch an animation studio.
Disclosure: The Beat is owned by Polarity, which also owns Lion Forge Comics.

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16 COMMENTS

  2. i’ve been through 2 mergers and a few acquisitions in another industry and i’m seeing a ton of familiar things in the PR and messaging around this announcement. The things they have in common was there there was always one side driving it, and the two companies came together because they already knew how to get to the Moon by themselves and they have aspirations to get to Mars. It’s a new company completely, with new business goals and priorities, even if you see some of the same faces and legacy products around in the short term. Initial messaging is about coming together, but that fades away and becomes about the new vision in the coming weeks. Company priorities/products/people are are all evaluated based on how they fit within the goals of the new company. Just because people and products were successful at one place, doesn’t mean they will have a role in what the new company wants to be.
    Merger’s are one of the most complicated business and legal operations around. It takes weeks/months of negotiating, planning, legal approvals and internal evaluations. Lawyers, accountants, consultants, leadership all working on this big secret so you to get to the point where you can announce it publicly and get through the messy transition as fast as possible. The first round of layoffs, leadership re-structuring, office moves and all that weren’t decided and accepted yesterday that’s for sure.

  3. Thanks for this coverage.
    This affects friends of mine — I’ve known Sharkey for something like twenty years, and I know Desiree through him — so that certainly colors my opinion of the situation. But even if I didn’t have that personal connection, this would still be an upsetting story. Touting your reputation for diversity while laying off your only black employee is not a good look.
    It feels a lot like the same old story: publishers see comics as IP investments, but see the people who actually make them as disposable.

  5. Tearful Trevor writes “This merger smells of building an IP farm. ”
    They were never interested in selling comics to a large number of people so they have to do something to pay all those oppressed people on the payroll.
    Thud writes: “It feels a lot like the same old story: publishers see comics as IP investments, but see the people who actually make them as disposable.”
    The people who make comics today see readers as disposable. The last thing the average creator spotlighted on the Comics Beat thinks of is their readers/customers.
    “i’ve been through 2 mergers and a few acquisitions in another industry and i’m seeing a ton of familiar things in the PR and messaging around this announcement. The things they have in common was there there was always one side driving it, and the two companies came together because they already knew how to get to the Moon by themselves and they have aspirations to get to Mars”
    You fail to mention why mergers happen in the first place. Sometimes, they are the result of two faltering companies pooling their resources together to do something they could not do independently, “earn a profit” or as you call it “going to Mars”. Why can’t those greedy @#$@#$ be happy with getting to the moon? Why? Why? Why?
    Profits aren’t really important anymore. What is important is inspiring the representation e

  6. Sad to hear about all these layoffs. Did Oni Press acquire Lion Forge or did Polarity acquire Oni Press? I’ve only just discovered Lion Forge – they’re exactly what this industry needs, a place of new voices and representation. Love their books. It’s sad to read so many people who worked there, have been let go. Hope they land on their feet soon.

  7. Rich H – Ok this is being framed as a merger but what happened is Lion Forge (Polarity) bought Oni. Oni is sinking. One person over there in particular – Charlie Chu – is the culprit. He came from working at a film studio where he was never anything more than an assistant, but he’s a backstabbing, two-faced, wannabe Machiavelli who sees comics as nothing more than his route into (finally) being a big man in the film world, even though he’s nothing more than a little troll. He sunk Oni by changing their output from comics to disguised film pitches. It hasn’t worked. He’s now suckered Lion Forge – who wants to do the same – into buying them. Lion Forge has money; just google the guy’s billionaire dad to see where it’s coming from. But they’re a new company, daddy’s getting impatient, and LF needs to show results. Which this ‘merger’ (acquisition) does – LF gets publicity and the Oni ‘cred’, Oni gets the cash it needs to survive and that odious Chu gets to continue doing bad things to good people. Speaking of, check Twitter for all the layoffs – these are all people who could challenge him. Some people out there may like him, but that’s only because he can use you in some way. He may seem nice but he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing; a bad, bad person and should be the real focus of this story.

  9. “He sunk Oni by changing their output from comics to disguised film pitches”
    Oh, yes, I’m sure Oni was doing very well before he came along.
    A very similar thing happened at Marvel in the late 1990s. People were brought in to turn the comics into movie pitches because the comics were becoming unprofitable.
    Anyone who thinks J. Michael Straczynski entered comics in the late 1990s, around the time cgi technology was advanced enough to make superheroes appear believeable on screen because was PASSIONATE about comics, and wanted NEW COMIC READERS as opposed to more movies or tv shows made off his writing is full of it.
    Marvel’s success story of turning itself into an IP farm has inspired an entire generation of opportunists.
    Image Comics is full of upper middle class twits with connections producing movie pitches disguised as comics
    The entire comics industry is full of upper middle class twits with connections producing movie pitches disguised as comics.
    Charles Forsman does not care about comics or anything tangentially related to the medium.
    Nor do many people reading this. Let’s be honest.

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