Posted in: Boom, Comics, Comics Publishers, Conventions, Current News, Events, IDW, Pop Culture, san diego comic con | Tagged: filip sablik, jamie s rich, sdcc

San Diego Comic-Con Bar Gossip: Jamie S Rich and Filip Sablik

One of the hottest topics of conversation at SDCC was what former IDW EIC Jamie S. Rich and former Boom President Filip Sablik are doing next

As the deluge of publisher and studio press releases slows to a trickle and the Gaslamp Quarter empties out post-San Diego Comic-Con, I'm hearing that one of the hottest topics of conversation throughout the show among industry insiders was what former IDW Editor-in-Chief Jamie S. Rich and former Boom Studios President of Publishing and Marketing Filip Sablik are doing next.

As Bleeding Cool first scooped last month, Jamie S. Rich abruptly stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of IDW on the eve of sending their record-breaking hit of the year, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, to press. Rich who began his career as an assistant editor at Dark Horse 30 years ago, subsequently went on to stints as Editor-in-Chief at Oni Press and webtoon publisher Tapas Media along with an influential run as Group Editor at DC Comics. Since then, Rich has not revealed where he is headed other than to confirm he is staying within the industry and left IDW to pursue an exciting new opportunity causing speculation to run rampant heading into San Diego Comic-Con.

Then just two weeks later, Bleeding Cool reported that longtime Boom Studios President of Publishing and Marketing Filip Sablik also handed in his notice ahead of the publisher's acquisition by Penguin Random House. Similarly, Sablik wouldn't confirm what his plans were other than he was leaving to pursue a new opportunity. At the time, we speculated that due to the timing of their departures and chatter from West Coast insiders that Sablik and Rich were joining forces in some new venture with an anticipated announcement at San Diego Comic-Con.

And new publishers debuting and announcing at San Diego Comic-Con certainly abounded including Scott Dunbier's Act 4, Frank Forte, Chris Thompson, and Dave Kelly relaunching Heavy Metal Magazine, and Kris Longo, Adam Schlagman, Doug Pasko, Mark McCann, and Charles Christopher Chiang on Panick Entertainment and Joe Quesada on Amazing Comics. But as we confirmed earlier, Rich and Sablik were not among the planned announcements and reveals.

And from what I'm hearing, the lack of announcement made a bigger impact than an actual announcement at the crowded show might have. Speculation and conversations about the two of them was a constant throughout the show and nightly BarCon as industry insiders compared notes to try and solve the mystery. And of course, many of them ran back to me to share their theories.

Rich was a visible presence throughout the show, walking the convention floor and meeting up with many familiar faces around the Gaslamp. But Sablik was noticeably absent, that is until the weekend when he dropped in on Saturday and was also seen meeting with familiar industry faces. And we now have confirmation that Sablik and Rich were seen together at San Diego Comic-Con.

Is it time to say "toldja" yet? Perhaps not quite yet, as Rich and Sablik have been friendly for over 20 years going back to Rich's Oni days and Sablik's Diamond days and have been spotted together before. But at this point, we're more than confident the two of them are starting up something and an announcement of some sort is imminent…

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