This is a bummer. I just started getting into Virgin Comics. I suppose I'm not too surprised. There's so many comics out these days. It's so easy for a new title to get lost in the sea of comics on the shelves each week. We can hope that the "restructuring" will also include the continued release of their titles. We'll have to wait for an official announcement.
Here's what Publisher's Weekly reported:
Virgin Comics, the high-profile 2006 international joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the India-based comics publisher Gotham Entertainment, has been shut down. The company’s New York office and publishing unit has been closed and the eight people that staff it have been laid off.
Sources confirm that the venture has been closed. However, in a statement released by Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan (who is also president of Gotham Entertainment), he also confirmed that the company has closed the New York City office. Devarajan said that the company is “restructuring” and will relocate to new and as yet unspecified offices in Los Angeles.
In the statement Devarajan said that the company would release more information “in the next few weeks” and said, “the decision to scale down the New York operations and concentrate on core activities is due to the current macro-economic downturn.” The closing appears to effect only Virgin Comics’ U.S. publishing operations in New York City and does not effect the operations of Gotham Entertainment, the Bangalore, India-based partner in the venture that produces comics targeted at the South Asian consumer market.
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