Two big names in comics publishing are moving on to pursue new projects: Marvel Comics CCO Joe Quesada is leaving the company after 22 years to work on his own projects, and Bill Jemas is leaving his post as CEO of AWA Studios, which he co-founded, to start a new company, Be Good Studios.  Both executives had major roles at Marvel beginning in 2000, as the company began to rebuild after coming out of bankruptcy in 1998.

Marvel hired Quesada as Editor-in-Chief in 2000, and he ascended to the newly created position of Chief Creative Officer in 2010 (see “Joe Q Now CCO”). In his announcement, posted on Twitter today, Quesada said that his goal when he first went into comics was to “create my own characters, stories, and universes,” and that’s what he plans to do now. “I won't ever be too far away,” he said in the announcement, “cheering my Marvel family on and contributing from time to time, including something I'm thrilled about for later this year. I also have several insanely cool projects of my own that you'll be hearing about in the coming months, including a short indie film I'm writing and directing.”

Jemas left Marvel in 2004, having served as COO; on the way out, he sold his Marvel shares, netting about $2.76 million (see “Jemas Cashing In”). Since then he has been involved in a number of comic publishers, including Double Take, the comics imprint of Bioshock publisher Take Two (see “Double Take Launches 10 Titles in September”). In 2018 he co-founded Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc., which later came to be known as AWA Studios (see “New Jemas Comic Publisher Raises $5 Million”); Jemas was the CEO and Publisher of the new company, and former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, who co-founded, is CCO. Jemas resigned from the company on May 25.

In an e-mail announcing his departure from AWA, Jemas described his new company, Be Good Studios, LLC, this way: “We are an entertainment business owned and operated by the artists, writers and artisans who show and tell the stories and work for the business. We publish webtoons, comic books and graphic novels, produce and distribute animation and live action, mint & market NFTs, and license our properties for media & merchandise.”