Matt Brady posted the news on the main site that Wizard COO Fred Pierce was let go from the company this week. The news has spread like wildfire around the internet, particularly among former (and now ecstatic) Wizard staff members, of which there are many.
The first place I saw the news this morning was on Agent M’s Twitter feed. Agent M, AKA Ryan Penagos, used to work for Wizard and now is an editor for Marvel.com:
The news is that Fred Pierce, tyrant and the man who was (in my mind) crushing Wizard (as he did Valiant) has been fired. It is good.
Sean T. Collins also posted about it on his blog and included a YouTube video of the jubilant Ewok celebration from the end of Return of the Jedi. Former Wizard.com editor Rick Marshall then weighed in in the comments section of that post:
True, it’s a step in the right direction… but there are a few (dozen) other people there who need the ol’ cardboard box treatment in order to salvage anything from that sinking ship
Ouch. More former Wizard staffers discussing it can be found here and here.
Meanwhile, Heidi adds commentary and wonders who is left at Wizard:
Everyone knows that magazine publishing isn’t exactly a huge growth industry these days, but an observer can’t help but think that things must be very dire at Wizard World for a fixture like Pierce to be let go.
Who’s left? EIC Scott Gramling, Joe Yanarella and Mike Cotton are the best known names.
Observers we spoke with were shocked, and the prognosis for Wizard’s continued health is considered questionable. Others, however, saw the often confrontational Pierce as a major impediment to moving forward with a new direction.
And finally, Tom:
It’s been almost two years since major shake-ups at the magazine publisher and convention organizer were initially announced, a time that has seen massive turnover in personnel and other signs — a potential sale for the building, lackluster convention performances — that indicate things aren’t exactly well with the company. If true, and the company has yet to confirm, and if it holds, this will officially be the highest-profile departure to date.
Update: Rick Marshall has more thoughts here.
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Reading Wizard in the last couple of years made me feel like an utter moron: horrible articles, tasteless bathroom humor, and those stupid word balloon captions filled the rag.
The only good thing was the price guide, but then Wizard ruined that too by touting “Graded Books” and slabbing everything for higher values. Geez, whatever happened to collecting comics as a fun hobby?
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
The Beat blog should also have ‘The mouthpiece for Marvel’ as thier tagline.
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Mabye now the Marvel advertising magazine will actually highlight more of DC and others!
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:31 pm
@Nightwing:
DC…What’s that? and what do you mean others….
October 4th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I appreciate having the last word here, but I just want to say for the record that I was up before Matt, Heidi and Rick Marshall’s comment. I moved my time stamp later in the day to reposition the piece, but I watched and reloaded all the sites just to see when it popped up.
I’m never timely, so I want credit when I’m nearer the front of the line than the back!