Posted in: AfterShock, Comics, Comics Publishers, DC Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: Lab Press, Mike Zagari

Mike Zagari of Marvel, DC and AMC Joins Start Up, The Lab Press

Mike Zagari of Marvel, Disney, DC Comics and AfterShock was most recently the head of AMC Networks Publishing has now joined The Lab Press.

Once upon a time, we knew Mike Zagari from his work at Marvel, Disney, and DC Comics. Zagari was most recently the head of AMC Networks Publishing until they shuttered their publishing line. And now…. he's back. According to Zagari's LinkedIn page, he's joined a new start up company, The Lab Press. No idea what it is and hey aren't saying ….yet, but fans can follow The Lab Press on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and TwitterX. And I just have.

If you head to The Lab Press company's website — https://www.thelabpress.com/ — you can click on a link to the company's first Kickstarter campaign for an unannounced project to get an email when the project goes live:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1498784643/the-lab-press-presents-essentials-an-original-graphic-novel?ref=4zbht1

"After over 20 years of experience at Marvel, Disney, Lucasfilm, Pixar, DC Comics and AMC Networks, Mike Zagari joined THE LAB PRESS  as both Chief Creative Officer and partner. A native New Yorker, Mike received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts. He has extensive experience developing print (books, comics, storybooks), digital (VR, AR, interactive apps, eBooks), media (TV, film, animation), and consumer product (toys, apparel, collectibles, RPGs) cooperative ecosystems. Throughout his career, Mike has been deeply involved in every aspect of the comics industry. From spearheading and overseeing an entire publishing division, to producing a vast array of comics for major and independent publishers, he has collaborated closely with acclaimed writers, artists, distributors, retailers, printers, and event organizers. Furthermore, Mike has personally created, written, illustrated, packaged, and successfully sold his own self-published comics."

Began working as an illustrator in 2002, Mike Zagari worked as a Designer and then Digital and Print Art Director at DC Comics from 2006. He left in 2010 to become a Creative Director at Marvel Entertainment, before jumping across to Disney, working as an Interactive and Multimedia Producer on Pixar and Marbel properties, then a Lead Producer and Executive Producer until 2016. He the  left to become a Senior VP Brand at AfterShock, followed by Head of AMC Networks Publishing, and an Executive Director of Franchise and New IP Development. He was the principal figure at AMC Networks Publishing involved in bringing in major talent to the new planned comic book publishing line, that intended to work with established and up-and-coming talent in developing, producing and selling fan-focused speciality books, comics, original graphic novels and more. Series would have included Kelly Sue DeConnick and Bill Sienkiewicz's Parisian White. Nights of Lono, by Kirk Hammett, Marcel Feldmar and Christine Norrie, Oubliette by Brenden Fletcher and Tula Lotay. Those first three titles promising a promotional edition comic debut at San Diego Comic Con 2023, series launch later in the year, and a new original graphic novel, Miss Fisher's First Mysteries, based on the Acorn TV series adapted from the novels by Kerry Greenwood and written by Cecil Castelluci was to debut in 2023.

It didn't happen.  Variety reported high-profile cuts made at the cabler since James Dolan, AMC Networks' chairman, released a memo saying "significant cutbacks in operations" were coming and projected "a large-scale layoff as well as cuts to every operating area of AMC Networks." The AMC Networks Publishing CEO Christina Spade abruptly left the company in November 2022, and there were subsequently hundreds of layoffs across the entire organization at all levels. Mike Zagari was one of many let go.

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