Publishers Weekly is reporting that Virgin Comics, the joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the India-based comics publisher Gotham Entertainment, has closed down.
The company published comics based on Gotham Entertainment’s Shakti line of comics and with ties to Hollywood creative talent. Hugh Jackman, Nicolas Cage, Guy Ritchie and others had comics lined up with the company.
Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper is definitely worth seeking out, while it’s still findable, as is Garth Ennis’ take on Dan Dare.
The company recently announced comic books by Stan Lee and Grant Morrison that now seem unlikely to ever see the light of day.
– Matt Price
August 26th, 2008 at 11:53 am
It’s sad to see any publisher go under, but I tried some of their stuff and couldn’t quite get into it. At SDCC I did hear some stuff I was intrigued by and I’m very sad the Grant Morrison project isn’t going to happen.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Comic Book Resources: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17848
Apparently this is now being called a restructuring, though all the NY employees were laid off.
Sharad Devarajan, CEO, said, “We remain excited about the business and partnerships we have built through Virgin Comics and are working towards a restructuring that properly takes the business forward. The decision to scale down the New York operations and concentrate on core activities is due to the current macro-economic downturn and is in no way a reflection on the dedicated and valuable employees we have had the privilege to work with.”
– Matt