Fred Pierce Joins Valiant Entertainment

[JCVaughn]

Fom today's Scoop -


Former Wizard top gun Fred Pierce has joined Valiant Entertainment, LLC as the company's new President and Publisher. He was, of course, with the original VALIANT before moving to Wizard.

It seems reasonable to expect an announcement of some projects in the near future.

Congratulations, Fred!

Scoop

Phil

No press release about this on the VEI site, despite that it is apparently public knowledge? I would hope that they (VEI) are not so guarded that they won't even announce stuff like this, unless the hiring isn't yet confirmed?

Could they have more issues to address like keeping their main portal of information more up to date?

Any clearer answers on the role of Walter Black now that their is a new (apparent) publisher?

Well, Fred handed me his business card and said I could break the news in Scoop, so that's more than confirmed enough for me. It wasn't a setting that lent itself to an extended Q&A, but given Fred's background I'm sure that some announcements will be forthcoming.

Likewise, I bet those announcements will take longer than some folks around here would like.

[leonmallett]

Fom today's Scoop -


Former Wizard top gun Fred Pierce has joined Valiant Entertainment, LLC as the company's new President and Publisher. He was, of course, with the original VALIANT before moving to Wizard.

It seems reasonable to expect an announcement of some projects in the near future.

Congratulations, Fred!

Scoop

Phil

No press release about this on the VEI site, despite that it is apparently public knowledge? I would hope that they (VEI) are not so guarded that they won't even announce stuff like this, unless the hiring isn't yet confirmed?

Could they have more issues to address like keeping their main portal of information more up to date?

Any clearer answers on the role of Walter Black now that their is a new (apparent) publisher?

Well, Fred handed me his business card and said I could break the news in Scoop, so that's more than confirmed enough for me. It wasn't a setting that lent itself to an extended Q&A, but given Fred's background I'm sure that some announcements will be forthcoming.

Thanks for the clarification JC.

Likewise, I bet those announcements will take longer than some folks around here would like.

I would be one of those folks that is guilty as charged.

I see it as a neccessity to try to see through the miasma of silence.

[Geomancer]

Any votes for Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" as an official theme-song?

[Draco]

Any votes for Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" as an official theme-song?

The longer it all gets left the longer the hardcore fans get *SQUEE*.
As the main core group are the ones who would go the extra mile to help move, promote, sell and generally be that extra drive behind what VEI do, its getting to the point where i just dont hear more than a small handfull of guys still in support of them, which is a real shame.

[Geomancer]

The waiting was bringing me down a while back. That (and life away from the 'net) gave me a long break.

But I just ran across news of the new lawsuit, so i had to check in here.

Purely from a fan viewpoint, its a morale blow to know that my dream scenario came so close to happening - but won't now. VEI + Gold Key properties + Shooter.

I imagine plan B - a VEI/Dark Horse interactive universe isn't any more likely.

Now I'm down to just hoping one or both companies puts out the kind of comics universe I've been missing for so long.

Worst case scenario is that a fresh lawsuit leads to more years of nothing at all.

[iggy101us]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager for Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industry experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

[StarBrand]

Any votes for Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" as an official theme-song?

The longer it all gets left the longer the hardcore fans get *SQUEE*.

I thought *SQUEE* meant drunk in England.

[400yrs]

Is there any advantage to this method that anyone can think of?

The ONLY thing that I can think of is that they want to keep things under the tightest wrap ever known and then EXPLODE onto the scene!!!

But a belly flop is more likely into this market.

Or possibly, none of these people are actually signing any kind of contracts and VEI doesn't feel confident that anyone will stick with them.

So again, is there any advantage to this method that anyone can think of?

[iggy101us]

Is there any advantage to this method that anyone can think of?

I can't think of any.

You would think that key hires such as the "President and Publisher" should have an employment contract in place. But then again, it appeared from the court docs that Shooter never signed an official employment contract. Hopefully VEI has learned from that experience.

[xodacia81]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager from Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industy experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

That's what A LOT of us have been saying. For a long time.

[MoonChild]

I agree iggy, I really don't understand that method.

[Draco]

Is there any advantage to this method that anyone can think of?

The ONLY thing that I can think of is that they want to keep things under the tightest wrap ever known and then EXPLODE onto the scene!!!

But a belly flop is more likely into this market.

Or possibly, none of these people are actually signing any kind of contracts and VEI doesn't feel confident that anyone will stick with them.

So again, is there any advantage to this method that anyone can think of?

This was always my main guess as to why they do it how they do it.
Had their sneaky back door route worked with all they apparently tried to set up, then the impact of all they could have achieved behind closed doors would have been massive indeed.

As for the way things are being done now, well as far as the boards are concerned they no longer have the vote of confidence, so they probably dont feel the need to keep the former loyal fans in the loop and rightly so.
not that im condoning their actions here, just saying being in their shoes, they must feel kind of low right now and till we know all the details of the who is right and wrong its hard to get a full read on it all.

[leonmallett]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager for Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industry experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

Just two concerns:

1. Wizard has allegedly been on the decline - I can't comment because I don't consume their products or services except through secondary markets; if this is the case where did Fred Pierce fit in in that time?

2. Frangos was Vigin Comics' marketing manager? I read and bought almost all of their books and really supported them as best as I could - I cannot say they were well marketed.

My point is - are these guys proven in their roles into which they are entering? That is my only worry to add to the concern that VEI are announcement-shy.

[Elveen]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager for Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industry experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

Just two concerns:

1. Wizard has allegedly been on the decline - I can't comment because I don't consume their products or services except through secondary markets; if this is the case where did Fred Pierce fit in in that time?

2. Frangos was Vigin Comics' marketing manager? I read and bought almost all of their books and really supported them as best as I could - I cannot say they were well marketed.

My point is - are these guys proven in their roles into which they are entering? That is my only worry to add to the concern that VEI are announcement-shy.

My counter to this is that at least they (apparently) hired someone. Someone is better than no one. What's that line ...... showing up is half the battle?

[leonmallett]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager for Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industry experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

Just two concerns:

1. Wizard has allegedly been on the decline - I can't comment because I don't consume their products or services except through secondary markets; if this is the case where did Fred Pierce fit in in that time?

2. Frangos was Vigin Comics' marketing manager? I read and bought almost all of their books and really supported them as best as I could - I cannot say they were well marketed.

My point is - are these guys proven in their roles into which they are entering? That is my only worry to add to the concern that VEI are announcement-shy.

My counter to this is that at least they (apparently) hired someone. Someone is better than no one. What's that line ...... showing up is half the battle?

Fair comment, and point well made.

Let's hope they have indeed actually hired some people. With contracts and stuff...

[xodacia81]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. More details on the venture soon."

Who's Mark Frangos? I did more googling and found that he was the Marketing Manager for Virgin Comics from 2006-07.

I know I am beating a dead horse here, but VEI needs to make annoucements about these hires. When companies bring on new people, that's exciting news. I do not understanding the silence at all about new hires. Look at the companies out there (not just comics firms), when they have new people, they make annoucements. This keeps people interested and throws your company's name out there. They don't need to write some long thing about the hires. Just something simple like: "VEI is pleased to announce the hiring of Fred Pierce as the President and Publisher. Pierce has X years of industry experience and previously worked at Wizard as their President and COO." That's it, a simple statement like that, nothing fancy. They need to take advantage of the press. Instead we are hearing news from blogs and such.

Just two concerns:

1. Wizard has allegedly been on the decline - I can't comment because I don't consume their products or services except through secondary markets; if this is the case where did Fred Pierce fit in in that time?

2. Frangos was Vigin Comics' marketing manager? I read and bought almost all of their books and really supported them as best as I could - I cannot say they were well marketed.

My point is - are these guys proven in their roles into which they are entering? That is my only worry to add to the concern that VEI are announcement-shy.

My counter to this is that at least they (apparently) hired someone. Someone is better than no one. What's that line ...... showing up is half the battle?

Fair comment, and point well made.

Let's hope they have indeed actually hired some people. With contracts and stuff...

Maybe this is why FP is now in charge instead of WB?

[leonmallett]

Has there been any public statements from Fred Pierce and/or VEI about his appointment (assuming it has actually taken place), or the position of Walter Black?

[yardstick]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. ...."

...

curly?

[xodacia81]

I googled to see if there's any official news about Pierce as the new President and Publisher of Valiant. I could not find any but did find this photo and caption (about middle of blog) from PublishersWeekly from their 10/20/2009 blog.


"On the left, Mark Frangos; on the right, Fred Pierce, two of the folks behind the newly re-launched Valiant Comics. In the middle — their Diamond rep, whose name we have forgotten. ...."

...

curly?

It certainly isn't Shemp...

[iggy101us]

Glad to finally see the official annoucement today.

I noticed that back in 2009, Pierce supposedly joined as President and Publisher but today's CBR article said Pierce is just Publisher.

Maybe more annoucements to come in the near future.

[IanAlexavier]

Glad to finally see the official annoucement today.

I noticed that back in 2009, Pierce supposedly joined as President and Publisher but today's CBR article said Pierce is just Publisher.

Maybe more annoucements to come in the near future.

So has Pierce been with VEI since then? I would assume so. He must have been there to see Shooter come and go