Multiple news sources, including The Beat, have reported that David Gabriel, SVP Print, Sales & Marketing at Marvel Publishing Worldwide, has been laid off as part of a round of layoffs at Marvel and its parent company Disney (see “Disney Plans to Lay Off Up to 1,000”).
Gabriel joined Marvel Comics in 2003 as Manager, Sales Administration, Publishing (see “David Gabriel Joins Marvel”); prior to that, he was the President and Founder of the New York City Comic Book Museum. In 2005, he spearheaded a marketing push for House of M #1 that led to sales of over 200,000 copies (see “‘House of M’ Got Biggest Marvel Marketing Push in Years”), and in 2006, as VP, he worked a shift behind the counter at Orlando’s Coliseum of Comics (see “Marvel VP Goes Behind the Counter”). Gabriel shepherded Marvel through the early, often contentious, days of digital comics (see “Marvel to Include Digital Codes with All $3.99 Comics”) and supported retailers with programs such as an improved website (see “Marvel SVP on Retailer Website”) and the New Stores Initiative for newly opened brick-and-mortar stores (see “Marvel Gives New Stores a Boost”). Also on his watch, in 2010, Marvel poked DC Comics by offering retailers free copies of the Siege #3 Deadpool Variant in exchange for unsold copies of DC comics that were part of the Lantern Promotional Rings Campaign (see “Response to Marvel-for-DC Swap ‘Overwhelming’”). And in 2017, his comment that “What we heard was that people didn’t want any more diversity” drew fire from many quarters (see “Top Five Comics Business Events in 2017”), although Gabriel later clarified that retailers were more concerned about the abandonment of core characters than the introduction of new ones.
Marvel was the top publisher in the comics industry for most of Gabriel’s tenure, and in 2016 ComicsPRO recognized him with its Industry Appreciation Award (see “ComicsPRO Industry Awards”).
Marvel did not respond to ICv2’s request for comment.
Source: ICv2
