July 27th, 2007 San Diego Comic-Con - In a surprise announcement that rocked the comic-book world, BOOM! Studios revealed that fan-favorite scribe Mark Waid will become BOOM!'s Editor-in-Chief effective August 1st, 2007. Waid will fill a key position in the company previously held informally by Publisher and co-owner, Ross Richie.

"BOOM! Studios is the next generation comic book company. They are doing innovative work of astounding quality," Waid says. "Co-owners Ross Richie and Andy Cosby have an incredible vision for the future of the industry and the company, and they approached me to partner with them to realize that vision. 'Here's a comic-book company,' says Ross. 'Go run it, and run it your way.' It's an unbelievable offer."

"Mark is as close to the Leonardo DaVinci of comics as you can get. There's nothing he hasn't done. The man can write. The man can edit. He designs characters, he can do production and layout, I've gotten files on his books back with the colors Photoshop-corrected by the man himself. He knows comics inside and out. And he is just an honest-to-goodness genuine human being who loves this medium and got taught all the right lessons by the heroes he grew up reading. His standing in the comics community speaks for itself," said BOOM! Publisher and co-owner Ross Richie. "Mark is at the top of his game and we look forward to him taking BOOM! into the stratosphere."

Chief among Waid's duties will be to institute a steady hand at a company that has seen explosive growth. Day-to-day, he will oversee the creation of all the BOOM! titles, work with established and non-established talent on new properties designed to ignite the medium's boundaries, and shepherd BOOM!'s exciting slate of licensed properties.

"BOOM!'s exploded - quite literally -- in the last two years. Mark's two decades of experience will help us bring our A-game to the fans," co-owner Andrew Cosby said.

Waid's relationship with BOOM! grew organically given his involvement with the company since its inception two years ago.

"Back when BOOM! started as four guys in a barn, they corralled me into writing for their first comic, ZOMBIE TALES, and the experience was terrific. They earned my trust, so I brought them my new creation, POTTER'S FIELD with artist Paul Azaceta. That led to the E-I-C offer. Working with Ross and Andy and all their little office Boomlets has been a pleasure," Waid said.

Fans who enjoy Waid's mainstream superhero series such as FLASH or BRAVE AND BOLD need not fret; the award-winning writer has no plans to abandon his outside commitments, but BOOM! will serve as the home for his upcoming--and numerous--creator-owned projects.

While most recently in the spotlight as part of the writing team that spawned DC's sales mammoth 52 which Waid wrote on a weekly basis along with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Geoff Johns, Waid began his career as an editor. Waid's editorial accomplishments include Morrison's run on DOOM PATROL, LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, SECRET ORIGINS, and a host of one-shot titles. Waid has written stories for every major comics publisher, including well-loved stints on DC Comics' THE FLASH and Marvel Comics' CAPTAIN AMERICA and FANTASTIC FOUR. Waid and Alex Ross' seminal graphic novel, KINGDOM COME, is one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time.

The relationship with Waid solidifies BOOM! as a leader in the industry, particularly on the heels of Thursday's announcement regarding the acquisition of THE GODFATHER license. THE GODFATHER will be one of the many titles Waid will oversee in his new position when it launches Winter 2007.

BOOM! has gone through a growth spurt like no other publisher this past year. At the 2007 Book Expo in New York, BOOM! announced their new mass market book distribution deal via Perseus, a unique relationship for a comic book publisher that positions BOOM! with one of the market leaders to book retailers. Perseus just recently acquired Publisher's Group West and continues to grow and expand its reach into the mass market.
By the end of this summer, BOOM! will be offering a line of trade paperback graphic novels collecting their popular series, including TALENT, HERO SQUARED, TAG, DEATH VALLEY, and X ISLE.

In the last twelve months, BOOM! has sold three of its comic book series to Hollywood: THE FOUNDATION was just bought in a preemptive pre-publication bid by Paramount Pictures, while Universal Studios bought TALENT and TAG last year.

Last December's launch of WARHAMMER 40,000: DAMNATION CRUSADE initiated a new, successful series of comic books and graphic novels followed up by the summer's launch of WARHAMMER: FORGE OF WAR. BOOM! enjoys the unique position of being one of only four licensors of Games Workshop material, and will continue to grow and expand its line of WARHAMMER 40,000 and WARHAMMER series.

Following on the heels of its success with these comics, BOOM! announced a comic book and graphic novels license with Epic Games' mega-selling GEARS OF WAR video game. This fall will see a huge launch for this exciting new property.

Prior to joining BOOM!, Waid was under exclusive contract to DC Comics.

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The volume is VERY low, so I've made a WMA file with the volume adjusted:

http://www.comiclist.com/images/Mark_Waid_Boom.wmv