Marvel Leaves New York For Los Angeles And Gets A New Editor-In-Chief

Post Summary

Marvel Comics is making a HUGE change to their operations and their home. The company has been a New York fixture for almost 90 years and now they’re moving operations to Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter has a new report that Marvel is moving their headquarters for Comics to Burbank, California. They’ll be in the same place as the headquarters for Marvel Studios and their parent company, The Walt Disney Company.

A Huge Change To The Legendary Comics Company

The relocation was announced on Thursday at a town hall meeting at Marvel’s New York office in Midtown. Employees were informed that the publishing division would transfer operations to Burbank. It also comes with a change at the top of the company. Stephen Wacker, a veteran comics editor and Emmy award winner for Marvel’s animation on TV is the new editor-in-chief. He takes over from C.B. Cebulski, who has been the EIC since 2017. Cebulski is staying at the company but moving to Japan to take over their push into manga as the Editor for Asia originals.

They’re trying to reinvigorate the comics side of the company, which has been living in the shadow of Marvel Studios and their film/TV slate. The company has recently lost its spot as the number one market share leader for the first time this century. The new home in Burbank will streamline the pipeline from comics to Movies/TV and so forth. Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, presided over the meeting and was behind the changes.

They also installed Brad Winderbaum and David Abdo as Head of Television, Animation, Comics, and Franchise and General Manager, Comics, and Franchise, respectively.

Changes Coming For Marvel Comics

Here’s what they had to say about the changes.

“This move will position the team beside our broader creative organization and create opportunities for collaboration across both Marvel and Disney,” stated Winderbaum and Abdo in a letter that was sent companywide after the town hall and obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “Bringing our comics, film, television, and other creative teams together will help us learn from one another, collaborate, and build on the strengths that make Marvel the true House of Ideas.”

For people who know comic history, this is a massive change. New York was the birthplace of comic books from Marvel to DC and everything in between. New York has now lost all of its major comic publishers, including DC, who left in 2015 to head to Burbank as well.

Marvel has been planning this move for a while though. The lease on their building in New York is up next year and it’ll mean that the entire Marvel empire is under one roof. The New York employees will have to move to California by July 2027, around 100 people in all.

As for the new EIC, Wacker is no stranger to Marvel Comics, he’s done runs with Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hawkeye, and Ms. Marvel. He’s won awards for those runs, including the Spider-Man comic that the upcoming Brand New Day comic is based upon.

Cebulski leaves a legacy as EIC as the third-longest tenured leader of the brand.

For more on Marvel, make sure to check back to That Hollywood Show.

Source: THR