Publishers Weekly is reporting that Virgin Comics has been shut down, its New York office closed, and the staff of eight have been laid off. Virgin Comics formed in 2006 as a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Indian comics publisher Gotham Entertainment.
According to PW, Virgin Comics CEO Sharad Devarajan issued a statement confirming the closure of the New York office, but claiming the company is “restructuring” and planning to relocate to Los Angeles. He also said that more information will be forthcoming “in the next few weeks” and “the decision to scale down the New York operations and concentrate on core activities is due to the current macro-economic downturn.”
Devarajan is also the president of Gotham Entertainment, but the move seems to affect only Virgin Comics, and specifically the US publishing operations in New York City. In the company’s two years, they published more than 15 different comics series, about as many trade paperback collections, and three hardcover titles. The company’s web site has no mention of the closure, and seems to indicate business as usual. Some of their “currently” featured titles include a crossover title called Devi/Witchblade, Guy Ritchie’s Gamekeeper (series 2, issue 5), and the oversized hardcover Dan Dare (collecting the first three issues of the series).
The Virgin Group website still links to this page about Virgin Comics.