Today is my last day as editor of @ComicsAlliance. Your new overlords are @Wheeler and @gimpnelly. Byeeeeee http://t.co/fZqHTzX1yO
— Andy Khouri (@andykhouri) January 22, 2015
As announced on Twitter and expanded on via Tumblr Andy Khouri is stepping down as editor in chief at Comics Alliance, and the dynamic duo of Andrew Wheeler and Janelle Asselin-Moore will shares duties.
Today is my last day as the editor of ComicsAlliance. I’ve chosen to reduce my responsibilities to that of a freelance assistant and consultant, before phasing out completely. I’m very gladly handing the keys to my top choices to run the site: Andrew Wheeler and Janelle Asselin. They will make CA better, I have no doubt whatsoever.
Stepping away isn’t an easy decision, but it’s the right one for me and for the site. There’s a lot pulling me in different directions right now, including some major, long term personal projects that have caused me distraction from my duties (nothing bad or tragic, just very big and time consuming and pretty boring to talk about — I’m fine, we’re all fine), as well as some professional opportunities that really aren’t compatible with running a media enterprise like CA. I’ve only so much time and so many resources, and I’m afraid something had to give.
This is the third comics site to lose its EIC in the last few months. We just mentioned Multiversity’s Matthew Meylikhov announcement he was moving on, and Lucas Siegel quietly left Newsarama a few months ago. DOES THIS MEAN THE DEATH OF COMICS WEBSITES??? I don’t think so, but this is a hard life and as awesome as it is, sometimes you gotta put you first.
I really respected Andy as a fellow journo, shared several panels with him, and always enjoyed catching up with him at shows. He has definitely followed in the tracks of former DA editors Laura Hudson and Joe Hughes and made the site a very strong repository for original features, something badly needed in the hurry up internet world. All that said, Janelle and Andrew are equally awesome and there are two of them, so we have every reason to expect continued good things.
I suspected we’d see the payoff of several looming changes in the business in 2015, and if the first month is any indicator, I was right! Buckle your seatbelt.
PS: DO NOT BE A STRANGER, ANDY, DO YOU HEAR ME?
Laura Hudson leaving CA could have been a slow, painful deathknell for the site, but Andy’s time as EIC not just kept it going but helped it continue to be one of the strongest comics sites out there. (I’m also biased because Andy’s recommendation at CBR back in the day is what began me freelancing for them.) Whatever future projects surface, I know I’ll check them out.
You know, I just found myself wondering the other day what happened to Joe. Didn’t even know Khouri had taken over for him; guess I wasn’t paying much attention.