To be honest, I didn’t have much of a problem with Pierce during my time with Wizard. Sure, he was technically in charge of overseeing the bulk of the company’s activities, but my experience suggested that the most criticized shenanigans going down at Wizard HQ occurred under the direction of people who are still on the Wizard payroll.

A lot of my former coworkers are dancing in the streets about the news of Pierce’s departure, but it’s worth noting that most of them weren’t exactly privy to the higher-level management goings-on at the company — so I’m not sure they have an accurate idea of which policies and/or mandates Pierce was responsible for and which ones they were simply told he was responsible for. Working on Wizard’s website put me in a unique position due to how new that element of the site was, and how their desire to keep staffing low essentially put me (and my department) in the role of being the through-point for anything with an online element. I attended quite a few meetings for upper-level and non-editorial discussions, and saw firsthand the way information filtered to the editorial staff through managers whose primary concern was preventing the mutiny of their very creative, yet exceptionally low-paid, poorly treated staff.

So, Wizard-watchers, what I’m trying to say here is, don’t expect much of a change for the better with Pierce’s departure. This move was likely more a result of cost-cutting than any decision to change the general editorial focus or direction of the company. In fact, if I were a betting man, I’d wager that you’re likely to see a more concentrated dose of the stuff you love to hate in the days to come.

But that’s just my opinion.

Oh, and just in case you want to read more of the online buzz, here are some links to check out:

Shamus subsequently mentions a closer consolidation of the magazine, website, and conventions, which is… kind of new, though given the recently personnel changes, it sounds less like an ingenious plan and more like a thinning staff being spread even wider.

WHICH IS TO SAY: Gareb Shamus is back from the IFL with fresh insights into Wizard. He thinks things could happen there, and that when they happen, those things will be new.

Hudson’s essay reminded me that I had yet to post some items of note I’ve received from current, former and in-flux (a.k.a., “freelance until I can get the hell away and never look back”) Wizard employees.

Ever since I went public with my Wizard Entertainment experiences, I’ve become a magnet of sorts for people who have had negative experiences with the company in one form or another. Among the 3-5 messages I receive each week regarding Wizard, one or two occasionally seem to merit passing along.

Here are some of the items I’ve been saving up in the ol’ inbox:

One former Wizard employee sent me a link to this recent column on Portfolio.com in which Franz Lidz examines the sudden rise and even-more-sudden fall of the IFL, noting:

The change in the U.F.C.’s fortunes did not go unnoticed by Gareb Shamus, founder of Wizard Entertainment Group in New York. The 39-year-old Shamus oversees comic-book conventions and a cluster of niche publications that includes Anime Insider, Special Ops Report, and his flagship title, Wizard, a pop-culture review aimed at nerds with Spider-Man and Angelina Jolie fetishes.

While I think the last line about Wizard being a “pop-culture review aimed at nerds with Spider-Man and Angelina Jolie fetishes” will probably earn most of the attention here, the article is worth reading with an eye toward comparing the decisions made throughout the IFL’s meteoric rise and subsequent crash, and what has become public knowledge with regard to the current decision-making process at Wizard Entertainment.

I also heard from a few more ex-Wizard employees who felt the urge to share their complaints about the company. Here’s an excerpt from one of the messages:

You hit the nail right on the head regarding the work experience there. When I first arrived, I was so shell shocked by the concept of working there that I would have done anything for the company, no questions asked. My boss [name deleted] called it the “Golly-Gosh-Wow Machine”, and I was sitting right in the center of it. I was so stunned by the fact that “My God, I’M WORKING FOR WIZARD”, that I threw all my loyalty into it.

Over time, the folks with the power, especialy editors like [name deleted] seemed to notice my devotion to the company, and started abusing it. Now, I realize that [dept name deleted] is the bottom of the barrel at the company, and we were often given all the crap jobs that no-one else would do. But, in my case, at least, the grunt work felt as if it doubled because it became clear to those in power that I never had the balls to say “no”.

While this pretty much falls in sync with the description of Wizard offered up by many former staffers and myself, it was another line from the same message that really caught my eye:

I spent several years afterwards bouncing back and forth between blaming myself for everything and blaming them for everything. In fact, I could not even read comic books for 2 years after I worked there.

That one hit home for me, as I remember not being able to relax and read a comic book for quite a while after my departure from Wizard due to the bad taste left in my mouth by the whole experience. Of course, this made it that much easier to sell off several boxes of comics I had collected over the previous years (in order to make up for the Wizard severance package I had declined) – but all that time, I really believed that the pit in my stomach that developed every time I considered reading a comic was a unique, personal reaction to the experience. Apparently, I wasn’t alone.

Finally, a current Wizard employee pointed me in the direction of the new weekly webcomic interview series at WizardUniverse.com that debuted this week. As some sites have already noted, anyone who’s been following my current work with ComicMix and the content that debuted on Wizard’s site during my tenure will probably feel a bit of deja vu here. Yes, this is basically an attempt to recreate the same series that Wizard’s former online staff writer and I began on their site two years ago (even to the point of interviewing the same people in essentially the same order we originally spoke to them).

It’s probably worth mentioning that I was only able to get the go-ahead for the original series on Wizard’s site after: A) explaining what “webcomics” were to the rest of the Wizard editorial staff; B) explaining that yes, people do indeed read these “comics on the web”; and C) showing them that the interviews I had already run on the site (before I bothered to broach the subject with the higher-ups) had actually received more traffic than the latest “Smallville’s Hottest Babe” feature.

I still remember portions of the conversation, including at least one Wizard higher-up (who has since been promoted) telling me, “Why would we want to cover any comics people just give away on the web? They’re not REAL comics.”

I was grudgingly given the approval to conduct more interviews with webcomic creators, with the caveat that we should also “figure out how to get them to advertise on the site.”

At one point, I was even told that I should encourage webcomic creators to engage in product-placement of Wizard Magazine in the background of their comics. As was the case with a lot of these types of suggestions during my time with Wizard, I responded with a nod, suppressed a shiver and then immediately put it out of my mind. In this case, I was told a short time later that I should “see if you can convince them they need to be recognized as REAL comics, and that we’re the ones to give them that recognition.”

Looking back on it now, that last bit still makes me twitch a little. I think that the only reason I’m able to remember so much of these conversations now is because of how uncomfortable they made me at the time. In the end, it was this lack of understanding about webcomics or any number of other aspects of the comics industry outside those that have turned a profit for them thus far that allowed me to be entirely unsurprised when Wizard nuked the entirety of those webcomic interviews during the last website redesign. That decision didn’t make sense to anyone who hadn’t worked at Wizard and was puzzled over in the public eye for quite a while, but the thought-process behind it was entirely too familiar to former employees.

Now that Wizard has begun conducting weekly webcomic interviews again, I can’t help but wonder if someone in the editorial office received the same instructions I did more than a year ago. Here’s hoping they have the good sense to ignore them, too.

I can’t go 20 feet without bumping into a former co-worker, with many of them now operating out of the PR departments for various publishers. Apparently, I’m one of the only people to leave Wizard Entertainment (whether voluntarily or by the ol’ box and severance agreement) who continues working in journalism. I’m not sure what to read into that, but they all seem to be doing a bang-up job promoting their respective companies’ products. Notice to publishers: if you’re looking to beef up marketing for your merchandise, Wizard makes a great hiring pool. There are a few recent departures from Wizard HQ I can put you in contact with, too.

My interactions with former co-workers who are still with the company have also been a bit… weird. Most of the former Wizard crew I bump into have been genuinely friendly, but they keep glancing around to make sure no one sees them talking to me. It reminds me of a street-corner drug deal, complete with shifty eyes and nervous, sideways glances. According to a few current and former employees, simply being seen in conversation with me has earned at least two or three people reprimands from the higher-ups.

While it’s upsetting to think that simply saying “hello” to former co-workers could cost them their jobs, there’s a weird sense of pride at becoming “Public Enemy #1″ with such little effort on my part.

One of my favorite quotes from Hunter S. Thompson was something to the effect of, “You know you’re getting closer to the truth when no one will talk to you anymore.”

I’d like to think that’s true here, too.

To that end, I’ve posted a few reports from the show over on ComicMix, including my report from yesterday’s “Mondo Marvel” panel and my Wizard World Chicago 2008: Day One Report.

I also spoke with Warren Ellis yesterday about FreakAngels, his excellent webcomic that holds its own among the ‘Net’s best online comics. Expect to see the interview hit ComicMix around the mid-week mark. It was a fun interview — which is a complete 180-degree turn from my last interview with him. I spoke with him last year during san Diego Comic-Con International, and I’m not sure whether it was the oppressive heat, the fact that I was working for Wizard at the time or simply my line of questions that had him in a bad mood, but it was one of the more difficult interviews I’ve ever conducted. (And I’ve interviewed some tough subjects over the years.) This time around, Ellis was smiling, pleasant and really quite a fun interview. We talked about FreakAngels, online culture, our favorite webcomics and even a bit about Doctor Who. I’m looking forward to getting this one on the site.

Oh, and in other news, no one in Rosemont seems to believe I’m of legal drinking age. At every restaurant and bar I’ve patronized thus far in my trip here, the bartenders/waiters have spent an average of 4-6 minutes scrutinizing my ID each time I’ve ordered a drink. That makes me smile.

Kiel was one of the former Wizard staffers who worked with me to make the Wizard site relevant between mid-2006 and throughout much of 2007, and I’d like to think we achieved some success in that respect, despite all of the problems with Wizard that have been well-documented here and in many other forums. He was also the last remaining person on staff who played a primary role in the site’s development after the purge of Sean T. Collins and myself, as well as the mass exodus of the rest of the editorial and design team for the site.

Basically, now that Kiel has departed, there isn’t a single person left on staff there who was part of the website team when WizardUniverse.com’s traffic was on an upward trend.

Just some food for thought, since I’ve been flooded with messages from people wanting to know my thoughts on Kiel’s departure. I spoke with Kiel yesterday afternoon to offer him some support and, of course, to let him know he’s always welcome as a ComicMix contributor. To any editors out there looking for a talented, hard-working writer who knows his subject matter, provides clean copy and can operate well on his own, Kiel’s your man. I’d be more than happy to recommend Kiel to any and all publishers of print or online content.

In other Wizard-related news, just before the news went out about Kiel I received a series of emails from other ex-Wizard staffers and freelancers. Several of these messages had subject lines featuring variations of “You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Apparently, Wizard World Conventions created their own page on Facebook recently, and then proceeded to send out invitations to “become a friend of” WWC. Among the people receiving these invitations were several former employees who the company “let go” unceremoniously within the last 6-8 months.

Of course, this whole scenario just illustrates one of the many dangers of getting rid of everyone with any history with the company: You’re suddenly left with very few people who have an accurate count of who you’ve pissed off.

Finally, someone recently passed along the news that Rockland Magazine ranked Wizard Entertainment as one of the “Top 10 Places to Work in Rockland County” (or something to that effect – I haven’t seen the article). From Wizard’s widely reported staff purges and broken freelancer contracts to stories of corporate bullying and constant threats of dismissal, one has to wonder exactly what qualities the Rockland Magazine crew look for in a working environment. Maybe just “located in Rockland” is all that matters – but then again, that might change for Wizard in the near future, too.

Oh, and on a side note, I’m told that the Rockland Magazine article includes the line, “When things get tense, employees can unwind with Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii.” I found this particularly amusing, since I can recall at least a dozen former and current staffers there who were reprimanded and/or threatened with termination when they were “caught” playing a videogame during their lunch breaks.

[I unabashedly yanked the image for this article from The Beat. My apologies, Heidi. I just didn't feel like opening up Photoshop.]

My first month was dominated by blogging – both on my own and by bringing new contributors into the ‘Mix. There’s a satisfying momentum that’s developed with that aspect of the site now, so it feels like we’re on the right track. I’m devoting the next month to getting the ball rolling on interviews, reviews and more expanded editorial content of that nature. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes, too, so I’m hoping that the redesigned elements of the site and all of the editorial momentum we establish will intersect around the same time and create a very, very nice package.

As I mentioned earlier, blogging was a big part of last month’s to-do list. Part of that responsibility continues to involve building a reliable stable of contributors. I’m terribly biased, of course, but I feel like I’ve assembled a pretty darn good crew at the ‘Mix thus far. In fact, I’ve discovered (or, in some cases, re-discovered) some writers that regularly impress the hell out of me in one way or another. Sometimes it’s their writing that I admire, sometimes it’s their work ethic and sometimes it’s just their ability to learn on the fly and adapt to an evolving site and the pace I’m trying to keep with it.

Like always, I set a few goals for myself with respect to the pool of contributors. I gave myself 30 days to establish a good, basic foundation of 4-6 contributors, and a 60-day goal to bring in enough contributors to feel confident that, if I decide to take a week off, everything will end up on the site that should be there. With 30 days down, I feel like I’m right on target. Hoo-rah for goals, eh? I’m still looking to bring in more contributors, so if you know someone who fits the bill, put them in touch with me.

Of course (and I’m going to digress here a bit), the process of finding new contributors is made a bit easier when Wizard keeps making bone-headed decisions regarding freelancers. In recent weeks, I’ve heard from a number of contributors who are pretty annoyed with having all of their work “disappeared” from the Wizard website there without any explanation or response to their questions. While it’s always nice to hear from them (and be able to offer them more reliable work, in some cases) it bugs me to no end that they’ve lost all of their interviews, columns and other clips they accumulated prior to the redesign. Since I’m one of the editors who initially recruited many of these contributors and worked with them to develop their writing, it’s especially frustrating.

It’s amazing how much your frame of reference can change over time, though. During my time with Wizard, there were questions hovering over the heads of everyone around me, every single day. Who would be “let go” today? Would I still have a job at the end of the day? If I can’t stay late to finish this, will I be fired? As you might expect, that constant pressure often affected relationships with fellow employees, creators, publishers and, quite often, the contributors. To be honest, I had forgotten what it was like not to have the constant pit in one’s stomach that this type of environment creates.

Now, however, one of the aspects of the ComicMix position I appreciate the most is that I end up putting in long hours because I enjoy what I’m doing – not because I’m being psychologically whipped or afraid I’ll be fired if I take a lunch break. Thankfully, these days I feel like I’m planting a massive, Internet-sized garden instead of building a better bomb.

And so, with that last analogy in mind, here’s the part where I hope for a good harvest, folks. As always, thanks for all of your support along the way.

So thank you, thank you and, in case I didn’t say it enough, thank you. (Now that I think of it, I’ve been saying that a lot lately.)

Oh, and a few more points:

1. Note to self: Kick Gary Tyrell (Fleen) in the shin next time I see him for posting that “Land of the Lost” image alongside the story he posted about me. It was one thing to raid my Flickr account, but this, sir – This Means War.

2. And yes, I am both appreciative of, and frightened by, Esbat and her desire to have my children.

1. Tim Tebow = 2007 Heisman Trophy Winner
No candidate has ever deserved the award more…. with the exception of Danny Wuerffel, of course.

2. Go see The Mist… Do it.
I feel so strongly about this that I wrote up a review on Blockbuster.com/Facebook:

“The Mist” was excellent in all of the same ways that made John Carpenter’s “The Thing” a horror classic. The creatures are terrifying, sure – but the changes the creatures bring about in the cast are even more frightening. Stephen King should be proud of this adaptation of his work. Every member of the cast does an excellent job with their roles, and despite the expectation that the ending would be “mainstreamed” and softened for movie audiences, the finale is possibly one of the bleakest endings to a film since “Requiem For A Dream.” (I had to take a long walk and a cigarette after “Requiem” but “The Mist” kept me silent the entire ride home from the theater.)

3. Assassin’s Creed and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune almost make the Playstation 3 pricetag worthwhile
These are two of the best games I’ve played in a VERY long time.

4. Apparently, I’m still the Editor of WizardUniverse.com
I guess that’s what happens when you lay off the only person who knows how to change anything on the site, eh? Thanks to everyone who brought this to my attention.

“I was an editor for [one of the Wizard publications] in the days when it was good and made money, i.e. before the ‘management’ worked its magic on it. … I saw the writing on the wall once the head [editor] in editorial began making decisions about things he knew nothing about. I would be in meetings being told what [readers] want (which would somehow always correlate with who was spending the most on advertising) and what they find entertaining.

I made the mistake of trying to do the right thing by giving them [notice] once I realized I didn’t want to be part of their evil empire any more (and if you’ve been involved in company strategy meetings you know the name fits). … Just thought it might make you feel a little better (but probably not) that on The Whizz scale of getting shafted, there are many ahead of you. Good luck…”

“As one of the many people that Wizard screwed over. I wanted to say thanks for doing your interview. I was one of the interns they asked back with the promise of a job ‘once something opened up.’ … When I asked for them to act as references, no one would even do that for me to help me in my job hunt. Unfortunately for me, Wizard was the beginning of my career and that has hindered me.

… it’s like you said, they take young, talented people, overwork and underpay them and then spit them out. I feel like they’re creating a community of former employees that now are bound together by their anger at the place. And, again to echo many, hard as it’s been and much as I feel they have hindered me, leaving Wizard really was and is a better thing in the long run than being there.”

“Dude, you totally rock for speaking out about all the bullshit that’s been going down at Wizard instead of letting them sweep it all under the rug. I especially enjoyed the section about starry eyed new workers not knowing the value of their work. … I know you worked harder than anyone on that website and to make it into something great, which makes Wizard’s actions all the more reprehensible.”

“Congrats on getting shitcanned. … I loved your interview on Comics Reporter. I always wanted to publicly do what you did but never had the sack to do it. Bravo. … Their inability to embrace the Internet was pathetic. I was in every weekly sales meeting, I know that if you don’t buy ads or booth space, you will never get coverage. … You’re better off without them and I wish you luck on bouncing back.”

So there you go. More to come, I’m sure…

Life feels like a recipe sometimes. We’re constantly trying to find the right mix of friends, family, love and success. Everyone needs a different proportion to make the flavor just right. Over time, we try different mixes – sometimes adding more friends and reducing the amount of love, and sometimes pouring on the success but only a sprinkle of the other ingredients. Some people find the right proportions early on, some take a long time and some… well, some never find it. Heck, some people force themselves to tolerate a taste they don’t like – just because they hate to cook.

On that note, a few more thoughts on food preparation:

Gary Tyrell of Fleen.com shares some thoughts about my past, present and future – and posts a photo that reminds me why I need to put thought into every image I post on a public site.

Heidi MacDonald of Publishers Weekly comic blog The Beat adds some thoughts of her own to the mix – along with a few commenters who confuse me on so many levels.