In a pair of press releases sent Tuesday, Marvel Comics officially announced the hiring of Dan Buckley as Publisher of Marvel Enterprises, rumored and discussed in the past week right here in Rich Johnston's Lying In The Gutters. In addition to the Buckley announcement, a number of other changes were made. Former Publisher Bill Jemas is obviously out as Publisher and has been named Chief Marketing Officer, "a new, non-executive position at Marvel" according to the release. Marvel also announced that Joel M. Safir has been named Vice President - Finance. Within Marvel Guy Karyo saw his position elevated to EVP of Operations and Chief Information Officer, taking over the operational and fiscal management of the publishing business. Buckley will report directly to Karyo.

Both press releases are reprinted below. The first is the release posted to Business Wire, the other was sent out by Marvel Comics' Marketing Department to the comics press.

Marvel Enterprises Expands Management Team to Position Company for Next Phase of Growth

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2003--In a move designed to enhance its existing management team, Marvel Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) announced today two strategic hires and the re-alignment of existing management to position the Company for the next phase of growth. Dan Buckley has rejoined Marvel as Publisher, a new position at Marvel Enterprises, and Joel M. Safir has been named Vice President - Finance.

Shifts in existing management to re-align key managers with growth initiatives include Bill Jemas, who has been named Chief Marketing Officer, a new, non-executive position at Marvel. Dan Buckley, Marvel's new Publisher, will report directly to Gui Karyo, Marvel's EVP of Operations and Chief Information Officer, who will take over the operational and fiscal management of the publishing business.

Allen Lipson, Marvel CEO, said, "As we continue to expand our business, leveraging new opportunities in all divisions, we acknowledge that our existing management team needs to be broadened. The first step was adding Tim Rothwell as the President of Marvel's Worldwide Consumer Products Group. These refinements of our management team and structure are intended to provide greater management resources to support our long-term growth goals, which include entering new markets. Both Dan and Joel have the requisite industry experience to seamlessly integrate their expertise with the rest of our senior management team, and we expect them to begin providing valuable contributions to Marvel immediately."

Dan Buckley has been appointed to the new position of Publisher. As Publisher, his primary responsibility will be to oversee all aspects of Marvel's core comic book and graphic novel publishing operations, including editorial, sales and marketing. This additional layer of management support provided by Dan Buckley will allow Marvel to improve the quality and distribution of its primary comic products as well as for new initiatives such as Young Adult prose novels like this summer's successful launch of Mary Jane. Mr. Buckley has more than twelve years of publishing and marketing experience, including the last six at the Omnicom Group, Inc. where he most recently held the position of VP - Operations and Communications for Omnicom's Radiate Group, Inc. a network of twenty plus experiential and marketing agencies. Mr. Buckley previously spent over seven years at Marvel serving in diverse operations including international publishing and marketing.

Joel M. Safir has been appointed to the new position of Vice President - Finance. He will report directly to Ken West, the Chief Financial Officer, and will focus on implementing continued improvements to the Company's internal control structure. Prior to joining Marvel, he served for two years as Vice President Finance at ACTV, a software development firm.

Bill Jemas, who has served as President of Publishing and Consumer Products since February 2000 and Chief Operating Officer since January 2002, will transition his role at Marvel to that of Chief Marketing Officer. The shift in Mr. Jemas' management responsibilities is designed to leverage his strong management skills, analytical abilities and creative expertise in a new role that will be focused on expanding synergies between Marvel's three operating divisions. The Chief Operating Officer role will remain vacant at this time.

Allen Lipson commented, "Since February 2000 when he returned to Marvel, Bill has played an important role in the turn-around of Marvel's publishing business while also shepherding our Licensing division to new heights."

Marvel's Press Release:

NEW YORK - Continuing its aggressive ongoing efforts to expand the company's

already profitable publishing business and cultivate new comic book readers,

Marvel Enterprises, Inc. announced today that Dan Buckley has been appointed

to the new position of Publisher. The announcement was made by Marvel CIO &

EVP of Operations Gui Karyo.

Buckley brings to Marvel more than 12 years of publishing and marketing

experience, including the last six at the Omnicom Group, Inc, where he most

recently held the position of VP - Operations & Communications for Omnicom's

Radiate Group, Inc., a network of 20 plus experiential marketing agencies

located in North America, Europe, Latin America and the Pan-Pacific. Prior

to his tenure at Omnicom, Buckley spent over seven distinguished years at

Marvel Enterprises serving in diverse operations ranging from international

publishing to new product development, and last served as VP - Marketing

Services.

As Publisher, Buckley's primary responsibility will be to oversee all

aspects of Marvel's core comic book and graphic novel publishing operations

- from editorial to sales and marketing. This additional expert management

support provided by Buckley will allow Marvel to improve the quality and

distribution of its primary comic products as well as provide additional

management capacity for new publishing ventures, such as Young Adult prose

novels like this summer's successful launch MARY JANE.

Commenting on the appointment, Marvel CIO & EVP of Operations Gui Karyo

stated, "Having already successfully rebuilt our core publishing business,

we knew the key to taking the next step - aggressively expanding the overall

comic book and graphic novel marketplace and continuing to improve upon

Marvel's position as market leader - was having a Publisher in place to

direct and coordinate these initiatives. We never expected to find a

candidate so strong or as qualified as Dan Buckley.

"Marvel publishing is a key element of our strategy for character and brand

management which has had unprecedented recent - and growing - success in

licensing and has made us one of the hottest names in Hollywood and in the

consumer products industry. Dan brings with him both invaluable previous

experience here at Marvel and a strong background both as an operations

expert and a strong marketer."

During his tenure with The Radiate Group, Dan was instrumental in developing

the company into the world's leading experiential marketing network working

with universal brands such as Sony, Xbox and Nokia. Operating in the areas

including entertainment and retail, his marketing expertise and operations

acumen helped the company grow from a three agency U.S. network into a

global entity with over 25 member agencies representing well over 350

brands. As part of his responsibilities, Dan managed the internal and

external marketing of the company, handled alliance initiatives and created

a comprehensive knowledge management system for the entire network of

agencies.

"I cannot communicate how excited I am about this opportunity both

personally and professionally," commented Mr. Buckley. "To be provided the

opportunity to participate in the stewardship and growth of characters that

are a core piece of American pop culture is awe-inspiring. Plus when you

factor in my personal passion for these characters with the chance to work

with Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and the editorial and creative teams they have

assembled, this is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Dan's return to Marvel is a welcomed one. Outside of being one of my

closest friends for years, he's one of the smartest and most likable people

I've ever met in this industry," added Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada.

"He also possesses a love for comics that is often hard to find. While I was

a freelancer Dan was always there to lend helpful advice, and when Marvel

Knights was in its infancy, he was instrumental in our success. I'm looking

forward to working with Dan to take Marvel to the next level. There's a

dynasty being built here and it's just great that Dan is back to be a part

of it and to help take us even further!"

Buckley is a 1989 graduate of St. Lawrence University with a Bachelor of

Arts degree in Economics. He was awarded an MBA in Marketing and

International Relations from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1991, which

included study in Japan as part of the International University of Japan's

MBA Exchange Program. A native of upstate New York and long-time New York

City resident, Mr. Buckley returns to the New York Metro area from his

current Florida home.