Marvel Publisher John Nee Let Go Amid Disney Cutbacks
Marvel publisher John Nee is no longer with the company, ComicBook.com has learned. Nee, who was [...]
Marvel publisher John Nee is no longer with the company, ComicBook.com has learned. Nee, who was responsible for bringing the Warhammer license to Marvel last year, was among a number of Disney employees furloughed as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nee, a longtime veteran of the comics industry, was brought on board as Marvel's publisher in early 2018 to fill a role left vacant after the company promoted Dan Buckley to President of Marvel Entertainment. As of now, there is no one named to replace Nee in the role of publisher, which oversees the day to day health and operations of the comic book publishing side of Marvel's entertainment empire.
Like Buckley, his predecessor, Nee opted to manage largely from behind the scenes, leaving people like Joe Quesada and CB Cebulski to be the public faces of Marvel's comics side. During his time as publisher, Nee oversaw the largest direct-market publisher in the American comics industry, and helped it navigate through some uncertain times.
Nee was not the only one let go amidst the Disney cutbacks as ComicBook has also learned that some other individuals who were also on furlough have also been let go.
Marvel had no comment at the time of publication.
Nee was president of Wildstorm when Jim Lee sold the studio to DC Comics in 1998, at which point Nee joined DC as a Vice President. During his tenure at DC, he oversaw business development for WildStorm and the now-defunct CMX manga imprint. DC promoted Nee to Senior Vice President of Business Development in 2007. In 2010, Nee moved into the tabletop gaming, trading cards, and collectibles industry when he then co-founded and became CEO of Cryptozoic Entertainment.
At Cryptozoic, he oversaw a period of success, highlighted by acquiring high-profile licenses like Adventure Time, Ghostbusters, The Walking Dead, and Rick and Morty.
Marvel remains the top publisher in a certainly changed comics industry, and has managed to stay fairly stable through the pandemic, in part due to the success of the X-Men line and the upcoming Venom crossover, King In Black. It's likely they will take their time finding a new publisher; there were a few months without one in the period between Buckley and Nee.
In July 2019, Comic-Con International presented Nee with an Inkpot Award, given to individuals for their contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fantasy, film, television, animation, and fandom services.