News briefs

Gareb Shamus, founder and Chairman of the Board of Wizard Entertainment, told ICv2 that “the parting was amicable, and we wish Fred well in his new endeavors.” Shamus indicated to ICv2 that he is open to the idea of filling the position held by Pierce, but has no plans to do so at this time.

In no way do I believe that the principals and pay that should be applied to a major, potentially global endeavor should be applied to the grassroots press or small publisher, and I want that to be absolutely clear. For two years I helped run a publishing company putting out fiction novels from non-agented, beginning writers. We paid 10%-14% on gross sales (that’s gross, not net), put no holds against returns, held no “costs” or “administration fees” against the writer, and paid bi-annually so that writers were getting paid within six months of publication with a thorough summary of what sold where for how much. And we had a damn good grassroots free marketing campaign. Not once did we pay an advance.

1. Anything by Rob Liefeld.
The artist may be the laughingstock of the comics industry, but his hilariously awful drawings of hysterical ponytailed men with extraordinarily improbable anatomy, an abundance of shoulder pads and pouches, and machine guns the size of Buicks define an entire era of superhero comics.